HIGH END 2019
HIGHLIGHTS FROM MUNICH
Highlights from the hi-fi show in Munich, guaranteed to get the hi-fi drool ducts flowing.
HIGH END 2019 ran in Munich from May 9th to 12th, the 38th consecutive staging of this German show which has become an essential part of the hi-fi calendar, and which again delivered everything from the small and handy to the gigantic and horny.
Let’s start small with Astell&Kern (below), which launched the new SP2000 in its A&ultima range of high-res portables, the first using new flagship Asahi Kasei DACs (the AKM AK4499EQ). It’s capable of 32-bit/768kHz bit-to-bit playback of high resolution PCM audio and native playback of DSD512; the SP2000 is promised to Australia in July at $4999. Also interesting is the $1199 SP1000 AMP, which docks
with the SP1000 player to deliver high gain balanced
10V rms and unbalanced
6.2V able to drive powerhungry headphones.
French speaker folk
Focal used Naim’s Statement amplifier to drive its Stella Utopia EM Evo speakers, and also had an attractive new finish for its Scala Utopia Evo (pictured right) and Maestro Utopia Evo models, using “an exceptional batch of French noyer” (a type of walnut) from a onehundred-year-old tree from the Ain region of France, and is using it for special light and dark (foncé) versions of these models. The alarmingly vast Grande Utopia EM Evo speaker was on static display (opposite).
D’AGOSTINO DEBUT
The Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression Integrated amplifier got its world premier at Munich (inset picture opposite), which perhaps lacks some of the sheer ‘wow’ factor of the larger green needled modules from the DD’A range so far, but which nevertheless promises the sonic goods with 200W into 8 ohms and 400W into 4 ohms, also using the new toroidal
winding technology employed in the Momentum M400 amplifier, which promises increased power output for its size. It has options for a phono stage or a digital input module, the latter adding coaxial, optical and USB inputs plus networking via Ethernet allowing access to music services and Roon.
DD’A also had a full Relentless Monoblock system on demo at the show (main image above); those appropriately green-needled black boxes on the outside of the system are not D’Agostino creations but rather German ‘Stromtank’ S5000 HP independent power sources.
TURNTABLES
Munich is the place for showing new high-end turntables, and the numbers were, if anything, higher than ever. One surprise was Kalista from French company Metronome Technologie, usually more a digital specialist which last year launched a high-end ‘CD turntable’ available in a version with 24-karat gold trimmings, no less. This year they had a prototype of a vinyl turntable (pictured below), due for release next year... >>
It was exciting to see Garrard with a turntable at Munich, following its purchase by SME last year, but despite reports of a new ‘301’ to be available by July, the 301s on show at Munich with SME M2-12R tonearms seemed not new production models as such, rather built from parts taken from Loricraft, which has held the brand and has undertaken Garrard refurbishments for the last several decades.
More real-world were the four turntables pictured below. Top left below is the new Wilson Benesch GMT One, announced as having Omega Drive — “the world’s first axially orientated, precision magnetically geared turntable drive”. Omega’s magnetic gearing removes the need for belt, idler or direct drive, and claims “unprecedented levels of accuracy and virtually zero noise”. At the other end of the alphabet its ‘Alpha Isolation System’ isolates the turntable using a microprocessor-controlled pneumatic system. Three new tonearms have been developed for use with the GMT One.
Top right below is Touraj Moghaddam’s latest and most affordable Vertere turntable, the DG-1 Dynamic Groove, “as close as you’re going to get to ‘plug and play’ in a high-end, high-performance record player”, with 24-pole Precision Synchronous motor and tungsten-carbide ball-based bearing housing.
The clean lines of the Brinkmann Taurus continues the company’s direct drive range, building on the bespoke, magnetic-field motor of the company’s Bardo, but with a massive 40mm-thick Duraluminum chassis — so it might be considered the little brother of the Balance or the big brother of the Bardo.
And not forgetting the extraordinary TechDAS Air Force Zero turntable, which weighs half a tonne and will sell in Australia for $570,000 (that’s the base model). For more info and contact details, see last issue p13.
SPEAKERS & SYSTEMS
Pictured above is Dynaudio’s Confidence 30, the smallest floorstanders in the new range, being driven by Moon electronics at the show. Dynaudio also launched the new Xeo 10 — the successor to the award-winning Xeo 2 wireless active bookshelf speaker (see elsewhere in
News). Indeed Dynaudio went all out at Munich, building a full recording system in shipping containers positioned outside
Halls 3 and 4, a glassed-in front allowing visitors to see the music being produced inside, and hear it through an external sound system. Those involved included Steven Wilson (above right), who was a brand ambassador for the show.
Our final two pics show dCS Vivaldi and Rossini electronics driving Wilson speakers (dCS also debuted a new Bartok networked DAC), and finally the Harman room, with JBL’s L100 Classic, Revel PerformaBe series speakers, and Mark Levinson electronics including two new 5000 series integrated amplifiers, the No. 5805 and No. 5802.
There’s so much more! — see also our reports from Munich on AVHub.com.au. HIGH END 2020 runs from 14-17 May 2020.