Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 10

Stuart Smith over at Hifi Pig has “syndicated” his coverage of the High End Show in Munich. Many thanks for letting folks on the wrong side of the pond in on the action!

 

In this part of the show report from Munich High End 2013 we have a listen to the new Gryphon Audio Vitus II loudspeakers, have a chat with Norbert Lehmann from Lehmann Audio and have a chat with newcomers Van de Leur who are launching a new valve pre and class D power amp. We also have a listen to German Physiks omnidirectional loudspeaker, Estelon loudspeakers, 3D Labs electronics and Jean Marie Reynaud loudspeakers. We warm our toes in the Gato room, get a look at some carbon nano tubes in the van den Hul room and have a look at some new kit from Chord.
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In Focus: Nagra Jazz and MSA

I probably should make a joke here about how the word ‘Nagra’ is defined as “high-end audio jewelry”, but I suspect you’ve already heard that cliché. And if not, you’re welcome to just pretend that it was a good joke and that I carried it off well. Insert hearty laugh here.

As with most clichés, there’s more than a bit of truth buried in there, which makes sense, but it’ll be hard to capture with words — that’s why there are pictures! Anyway, here goes: the casework on the Nagra Audio Jazz and MSA amplifiers is absurdly fine. Look at the shots — even the edges and corners have been finished. That’s weird! In not a “good way” — in a great way. Dunno why that’s weird? Go get up close and personal with your Denon or Marantz receiver. That’s some decent work, pretty good for mass-produced bent-metal. Now, go stick your face on an Accuphase. Nice face plate, right? But what about the sides? The bottom? The rear? Better than the Denon, but … snore! With Nagra, it’s as if they’re expecting the gear to spin around on a spotlighted display platform. The units are a pleasure to see, touch, and taste (ahem). I’m impressed. No, really. As in, this is the nicest casework I can think of.

More: the knobs feel like they’re fitted together in the same way the elements in a Patek Philippe are fitted together. This is what they mean by “Swiss Made”. The dials all turn with just the right blend of ease and resistance, like, say, a vault door. There’s this reassuring and entirely satisfying solidity and precision of execution. And here I am, three paragraphs in, still talking about the build quality. Yeah. Continue reading

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Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 9

Stuart Smith over at Hifi Pig has “syndicated” his coverage of the High End Show in Munich. Many thanks for letting folks on the wrong side of the pond in on the action!

We’ll come back to the main listening rooms in the next installment of the show report from Munich High End but in this part we’ll look at some of the exhibitors who had taken static stands and were not actually playing any music or we were unable to get a listen. Continue reading

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Hifi Pig in Munich Part 8; A Bird’s Eye View v3

Stuart Smith over at Hifi Pig has “syndicated” his coverage of the High End Show in Munich. Many thanks for letting folks on the wrong side of the pond in on the action!

Bird: UK slang meaning a woman/wife/girlfriend, synonyms: broad, chick, dame, girl, lass.

‘Turn it up, bring the noise’

It’s Saturday already so time to pack our bags, eat another huge breakfast and set off for our last day at the show.The fantastic staff at the NH München Deutscher Kaiser are looking after our bags until we come back for the train tonight, we don’t leave until very late so we can actually have another full day here.

The plan was to have a day seeing a bit more of the city but so many people have wanted to meet up with us that we still haven’t got round all of the show, so off we trot like good little piggies.

The weather is a bit wet again but not too bad and the underground is packed with people in ‘drinking trousers’ as we have come to call Lederhosen, and Bayern Munich football shirts, it’s a great atmosphere but more on that later.

First stop is a meeting with Pim van de Leur of Van de Leur, Dutch AudioDesign. Continue reading

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Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 7

Stuart Smith over at Hifi Pig has “syndicated” his coverage of the High End Show in Munich. Many thanks for letting folks on the wrong side of the pond in on the action!

Living Voice

For those that don’t know Living Voice here’s a brief introduction as to who they are. Living Voice is owned by Kevin and Lynne Scott who also own the retail business Definitive Audio. The company is based in Derbyshire in the UK, was founded in 1991 and makes the Vox Olympian Horn Loudspeaker, the Auditorium series of loudspeakers and the G8 Equipment table. Their retail business includes brands such as Kondo KSL and Trafomatic Audio, so you know that their room is going to be special right? Well no actually. I’ve heard loudspeakers from Living voice a few times at the Hifi Wigwam show and I always found them lacking a bit – very nice and polite but not just my cup of tea… but I’m well aware that many people heaped praise on them in the same listening environments. With this in mind I was prepared to be under whelmed. Playing in the Living Voice room when we went in was the company’s OBX – RW loudspeakers. Electronics in this system included the Kondo M77 pre, Kondo Kegon amplifier, Kondo Ongaku Pre M77 and Kondo KSL M7 Phono. Sources included an SME 30 (I think) turntable, Wadia CD and DAC and a Canary Audio CD-300 CD player (Again I think the model number is correct).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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deepblue coming soon from Peachtree Audio

I heard the deepblue system this year at AXPONA, and it was a hot little demo. There’s just no reasonable way that such sound was coming out of such a teeny box. Hopefully, we’ll be getting one of our very own to play with at some point, but in the meantime, the rest of you folks now have a crack at it, too. Check ‘em out. I’m positive that your eyebrows are gonna crawl right off your face, catch a flight to the Keys, and sip margaritas while you try and figure out WTF just happened.

Info and pics after the fold.


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TIDAL at the High-End Show in Munich

Like TIDAL Audio? Well, Doug White of The Voice That Is, a high-end audio dealer in the Philadelphia PA region, has a video from Munich’s High-End Show this past weekend that you might find interesting. Thought I’d share. Enjoy!

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Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 6: A Bird’s Eye View v2

Bird: UK slang meaning a woman/wife/girlfriend, synonyms: broad, chick, dame, girl, lass.

‘Oh no, it’s raining again’

Friday dawns and I’m feeling totally refreshed after a great night’s sleep at the München Deutscher Kaiser. NH hotels have their beds specially made and they are very, very comfortable.

It is, however, peeing down on Munich and most of Europe by the look of it, luckily we are used to this kind of inclement weather and it won’t put us off. Continue reading

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Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 5

Stuart Smith over at Hifi Pig has “syndicated” his coverage of the High End Show in Munich. Many thanks for letting folks on the wrong side of the pond in on the action!

We’ll start this chapter off with a look at the Nola room and their Baby grand Reference Gold loudspeakers.  Continue reading

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Hifi Pig in Munich, Part 4: A Bird’s Eye View

Bird: UK slang meaning a woman/wife/girlfriend, synonyms: broad, chick, dame, girl, lass.

At Hifipig.com we have a lot to say about the Munich 2013 show, but I wanted to give you my views, as a first timer who isn’t a techy, doesn’t necessarily know all the science bit but knows a good sound when she hears it.I also like my hifi to look great too.

Being the photo monkey of the outfit, I didn’t take notes like Mr Hifi Pig who will be giving you a more in depth report of the rooms and exhibits, so my thoughts are very much based on what stood out for me.

Obviously there was a hell of a lot of kit at the show so it did take a lot for things to stand out, some really great hifi that you would be amazed by in someone’s home set up, won’t even get a mention but please don’t take it the wrong way….I just got a bit of hifi fatigued at some points and my brain got a bit overloaded.

Right then, let’s buckle up, climb through the wardrobe and down the rabbit hole into the crazy, wonderful world that is the High End show, Munich 2013. Continue reading

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