The shock and awe of High End at Munich to someone who has not attended previously is palpable.
This is the mother of all shows in my books, because to me it stands heads, and shoulders above so many others due to the inherent cultural, social, and continental panache it exudes. Just the sheer mix of men, women, teens, couples, children, and families who flock to the MOC’s halls, rooms, and atriums to see, and hear all that Europe, and the world has to offer to the acolytes of high fidelity is something you have to experience to understand. I know I’ve touched on this previously, but I felt it needed to be mentioned one more time.
This is not a show just about equipment, tone sweeps, impedance charts, DIY, frequency dips or that portion of older, predominantly white, male attendees who seem to overtake North American shows. No, it is about the celebration of music through playback with friends, families, and loved ones, not the celebration (or exhortation) of playback through equipment. To me, Munich is all about sharing music, and sharing high fidelity’s love of recorded playback in service to that music, not in service of measurements, graphs or test records.
These photos are small portion of the number of images I made at High End, and I’ll include many more in my closing wrap-up post on Munich soon. I hope you enjoy them, and the diversity of people, and equipment which I tried to capture in making them.
–Rafe Arnott
Great photos. Thanks. Next year i’ll go myself.