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High End 2018 SnapShots 1

Details: Written by: News Editor; Category: Photos; Created: 12 May 2018

A random selection of photos from High End 2018, held May 10-13 in Munich, Germany. All photos by Doug Schneider.

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 3

Details: Written by: News Editor; Category: Photos; Created: 12 May 2018

Companies featured in gallery below: Focal, Diapason, Stenheim, Simaudio, Gryphon Audio Designs, Hegel Music Systems, Elac, Vimberg, PMC, Audio Physic, Nordost, Göbel, Wilson Benesch, Brinkmann Audio

High End 2018: Marantz KI Ruby

Details: Written by: Al Griffin; Category: Features; Created: 12 May 2018

Marantz is using the occasion of High End 2018 to release its new SA-KI Ruby SACD player and PM-KI Ruby integrated amplifier. The KI in there stands for Ken Ishiwata, the company’s brand ambassador, who is celebrating his 40th anniversary with Marantz (hence, the Ruby designation).

High End 2018: Flemming Rasmussen and Life Beyond Gryphon

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Features; Created: 12 May 2018

I first met Gryphon Audio Designs’ Flemming Rasmussen at High End 2001. Back then, High End was held in Frankfurt, Germany, at the Kempinski Hotel. The hulking black class-A amps of Gryphon were new and fascinating to me. Over the ensuing years, I spent time with Flemming at shows and corresponded with him over e-mail. I came to know him as a kind, caring man with a great passion for music and music reproduction. During the past 20 years, I’ve reviewed many Gryphon products and grown a tremendous admiration for the brand in general -- but there was no separating Gryphon and its products from Flemming Rasmussen. He was -- is -- the heart and soul of Gryphon.

High End 2018: Roger's Field of Streams -- Simaudio and Ayre Acoustics

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: Features; Created: 12 May 2018

Some of my SoundStage! colleagues give me a bit of a hard time because I don’t stream music. Maybe this will be the year that I finally break down and subscribe to a streaming service -- or maybe not. But at this year’s High End 2018 show in Munich, I saw a couple of high-end streaming devices that just might make me change my mind.

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 2

Details: Written by: News Editor; Category: Photos; Created: 11 May 2018

Companies featured in gallery below: SGR Audio, Paradigm, Estelon, Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems, Bassocontinuo, Ayre Acoustics, EAR, YBA, Aurender, AudioSolutions, Cocktail Audio, Cayin, Cambridge Audio, Cary Audio, SME, Clearaudio

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 1

Details: Written by: News Editor; Category: Photos; Created: 10 May 2018

Companies featured in gallery below: Raidho, Scansonic, Crystal Cable, Vitus Audio, Luxman, Von Schweikert Audio, EgglestonWorks, TriangleArt, dCS, Thrax, Sonus Faber, Auralic, Vivid Audio, Lumin, Furutech

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphones and Earphones, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2018; Created: 10 April 2018

The 2018 CanJam SoCal headphone show, held at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live hotel in downtown Los Angeles, wrapped up on Sunday. As one of the most high-profile headphone events in the world, CanJam SoCal always hosts a slew of new and recent products I haven’t seen before. I’ve already reported on several new headphones and earphones, as well as new amplifiers and a headphone processing app. Here’s the last of my three CanJam SoCal reports, again focusing on headphones and earphones. All products are presented in alphabetical order with prices listed in USD.

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphone Amps and More

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2018; Created: 10 April 2018

At the CanJam SoCal headphone show last weekend, which took place at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live hotel in downtown Los Angeles, most of the action in new products was in headphones. But I did spot a few interesting new headphone amps and related products -- a couple of which came in at refreshingly low prices. Here are the most interesting ones I found, with all prices listed in USD.

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphones and Earphones, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2018; Created: 09 April 2018

CanJam is a series of headphone shows that take place at locations around the world. This year has already seen shows in New York, Singapore, and Southern California, with shows in London, Denver, and Shanghai coming later this year. Last weekend, I attended the Southern California show, at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live hotel, located in downtown Los Angeles, and came away with photos and info on numerous new headphones, earphones, and headphone amps. Here’s the first batch of cool headphones and earphones I found, presented in alphabetical order with all prices listed in USD.

Roger's Montreal Moon 888 Adventure

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: Roger Kanno; Created: 04 April 2018

In his February 2017 SoundStage! Hi-Fi editorial, “The Best of the Worst CES in Decades: 2017,” Doug Schneider named Simaudio’s Moon 888 mono power amplifier one of the best new products of CES 2017 -- and it’s easy to see why. Weighing in at more than 250 pounds and rated by the manufacturer to deliver 888W into 8 ohms or 1776W into 4 ohms, this massive $59,444 USD behemoth monoblock ($118,888/pair) is an all-out assault on the state-of-the-art in amplifier design. It also just happens to be one of the most gorgeous solid-state amplifiers that I have ever seen, with a shining machined-aluminum faceplate offset by the matte-black, cast-aluminum heatsinks and a swooping top cover with an inset Moon logo.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 3

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 25 March 2018

So many new speakers! Year 2018 was an anomaly, with more speaker introductions at Montreal Audio Fest than I’ve seen in recent memory. Let’s get to it with our third installment on loudspeakers -- all prices in Canadian dollars.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Turntables and Phono Stages

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 24 March 2018

It’d be fun to view the penetration of analog into the Montreal Audio Fest and its prior years’ incarnations as a graph. It’d be a long, flat, straight line with a few small upticks through the early 2000s, then a gentle rise as the format slowly regained its popularity. Then, back in 2016, the curve reached the knee. The year 2017 found further acceleration toward the vertical. This year, ’tables were everywhere. Not necessarily actively playing, mind you, but it seemed that nearly every room had a record player holding down the street cred.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Conditioners, Cables, and Accessories

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 24 March 2018

It’s never good enough in audio. It can always be better. That’s the prevailing sentiment among audiophiles. And that’s why we decorate our systems with cones, pucks, cool wires, and ancillary boxes, like magpies collecting shiny beads.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Electronics

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 24 March 2018

Oh sure, there were tons of new speakers at Montreal Audio Fest 2018. But they won’t so much as squeak without electronics to drive them. We couldn’t find nearly as many electronic product debuts, though there was enough to keep us busy. All prices in Canadian dollars.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 2

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 24 March 2018

It seemed like this year the Montreal Audio Fest had more than its usual quota of new speaker introductions. They were everywhere. Here’s a bunch more, with all prices in Canadian dollars unless indicated otherwise.

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 1

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2018; Created: 23 March 2018

A lousy sleep last night. I rolled into Montreal’s Hotel Bonaventure, which is home to the Montreal Audio Fest (MAF), at around 9 p.m., threw my bags in my room, and hustled to the bar. The lobby bar in the Hotel Bonaventure is a wonderful admixture of recently renovated white paint and neon tastefully clashing with ’70s Moonbase Alpha concrete.

CES 2018: My Favorite Things -- and the One Thing They Have in Common

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: CES 2018; Created: 14 January 2018

At this year’s CES, I heard some products that really captured my attention, and even though they were quite different, they have something in common: the Athena project. This experimental research project was conducted at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC), in Ottawa, more than two decades ago, and it sought to define the type of sound listeners would prefer from a loudspeaker. Researchers identified a “target curve” for frequency response that listeners preferred, and at that time they experimented with making the in-room response of a speaker more closely meet that preference by using digital signal processing (DSP). Back then it wasn’t practical to implement DSP in a loudspeaker, but many loudspeaker manufacturers still designed their products to meet that target curve acoustically -- and they still do to this day, both acoustically and now with DSP.

CES 2018: Brent's Grab Bag

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2018; Created: 13 January 2018

At every audio show, I find numerous cool new products that don’t fit the categories we’ve created, or that fell through the cracks of our other articles. Of course, CES 2018 in Las Vegas was no exception. So I’ll wrap up my CES 2018 coverage with a column full of the odds and ends that caught my eyes and ears. Here they are, with all prices listed in USD.

CES 2018: Cables Everywhere -- and More Speakers

Details: Written by: Roger Kanno; Category: CES 2018; Created: 13 January 2018

During my time at the 2018 CES, I came across several new cable introductions of note and a few more speakers that I had not included in my previous show reports. Here’s the last of my new-product coverage. All prices in USD.

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High End 2018 SnapShots 1

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 3

High End 2018: Marantz KI Ruby

High End 2018: Flemming Rasmussen and Life Beyond Gryphon

High End 2018: Roger's Field of Streams -- Simaudio and Ayre Acoustics

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 2

High End 2018: Product Coverage Gallery 1

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphones and Earphones, Part 2

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphone Amps and More

CanJam SoCal 2018: Headphones and Earphones, Part 1

Roger's Montreal Moon 888 Adventure

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 3

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Turntables and Phono Stages

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Conditioners, Cables, and Accessories

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Electronics

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 2

Montreal Audio Fest 2018: Speakers, Part 1

CES 2018: My Favorite Things -- and the One Thing They Have in Common

CES 2018: Brent's Grab Bag

CES 2018: Cables Everywhere -- and More Speakers

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