High-End Munich 2024 Audio Show Review – Music Fun In Germany
High-End Munich, held in Munchen Germany is the world-wide largest annual audio show that takes place in Europe, and this year we had the best time so far, as we learned a few tips and tricks from the previous year, but we also learned about the new launches from every company present here. This article will explore how to get the best out of the event itself and what are the best products to look forward to for the rest of the year.
Introduction
Every year, people flock to hear the best music and audio at High-End Munich. Thanks to the excellent organization and large space employed by High-End Society, here you can get a taste of products from all price ranges, talk with the designers, and even meet musicians, all while having the best tasting beer in the whole world. Munich is one of Germany’s most popular cities, with endless green landscapes, beautiful architecture, and a rich industry. Coming to the High-End Munich you’re always met with hospitality, to the point where we even got a trip back to the airport, included in the ticket, from the event to the Munich airport. Among the tricks that we learned from our previous experience, it is a great idea to get a hotel close to the event, as it is likely you won’t want to travel 1-2 hours in the morning to reach the event. It is also a great idea to travel to the Munich Airport rather than Memmingen, as transport between those two cities takes a lot and can be rather pricey.
As a listener, you won’t generally need to come with anything, like a source or earphones with you, but those can be useful, if you’re seriously planning to purchase something and want to listen to it in a combo you’re used to. We don’t need to have a Pro / Con part when reviewing a show and the best products here, but I find it fun to stick to a general format for my reviews. The show is basically walking between booths and listening to products from each company, and I will present the products I’ve heard in no particular order, as everything has been interesting, and our path has been chaotical more than planned, so let’s dive in and see what we found to be interesting and also best sounding this year at High-end.
This year we managed to get a good audition with most products, but those are still fresh, first impressions, so please take them with a grain of salt, as the environment is still fairly loud and most impressions might change with more listening, different source pairing and in your own home with your own music. As this time we traveled mostly in the evening, the sceneries have been beautiful, with dazzling skylines, and a more comfortable schedule for us. During today’s review I will use “I” or “We” when describing my opinion, but that’s actually because Mary, our Photo / Video artist has been with me every minute of the show, and we share the input and opinion, plus all the image you’re seein is her hard work, as we’re a team.
Most companies will allow you to chose your own music and bring your own guns, but with certain products the process can be complex, or access to the streaming services can be complicated, so I would recommend getting used to a few popular bands, such as Metallica, or Iron Maiden, or at least knowing the OST to Genshin Impact, which was shockingly the most played thing at the event that you could find in the history of the music equipment. The pricier setups, especially for stereo will not offer much flexibility in choosing the music, but that’s because the listening room is generally already full and you have to queue, but where you will be able to get a spot, some courageous companies like SVS will allow you to play your own music on their speakers.
PROs – High-End Munich is the largest audio event, situated nicely at the heart of Europe, excellent organization and large space. Large number of brands, food available on the spot, fairly good schedule and strong support from the event itself with free magazines, maps of the whole event.
Cons – It can be expensive to participate for those coming from Asia or the USA, First 2 days of the show are not open to the public, only for business.
Soundz
Soundz is a company from Greece, and they design + create Custom IEMS, plus universal versions of those. They have been the only company to have brought an actual professional audiologist to the show. It was possible to take impressions right on the spot, and this year we decided that I have to get some impressions and experiment a bit with a custom fit IEM.
From Soundz, we already have reviewed the flagship, the Avant IEM, and we also have in house the Blade and Flame models, so we spent less time listening than we spent taking the customs and experimenting with a special product they have, an IEM with an active microphone to allow for a crossfeed of outer sounds into your music, with variable volume. This is a really interesting tech, and I can see it implemented in live converts quite a lot.
The company also has been listening to customer feedback, and they have been adding better cables for their IEMs. If you plan on getting a custom impression or a custom IEM, this year Soundz has been kind for it.
HIFIMAN
One of the best Headphone makers and designers in the whole world had their doors open for music lovers, with a proper listening room for you to enjoy their best headphones. Starting with the Susvara, this is a headphone that’s as ubiquitous as electricity is at High-End Munich, over 30% of amplifier and DAC producers using it to showcase their setups. We are really hopeful that this year we will get to review a Susvara personally, but so far my experience has been that it is indeed the best sounding planar magnetic headphone I’ve heard, having a laid-back, open and wide soundstage, and an exceptional resolution.
HIFIMAN also showcased a new headphone system, namely the Mini Shangri-La, composed of a separate headphone and DAC/AMP. We managed to interview Mr. Fang, the audio mastermind behind HIFIMAN about the Mini Shangri-La, and we learned that you will be able to purchase the headphones separately from the DAC/AMP, but also get it as a whole setup. My impressions have been ultra-positive, and despite it being proposed to cost just a fraction of the cost of the Maxi Shangri-La, it actually delivers a similar level of enjoyment, and it also delivers a tuning that’s more fun, akin to how Arya Organic sounds compared to the Original Arya. We took more video materials during our HIFIMAN interview, but for the photo session, we got two girls from the High-End Munich Staff to join us in enjoying HIFIMAN and their unique signature.
We also happily had a chance to hear the HE-R10P, a limited edition headphone, and it is quite different from the Audivina, with a much more natural midrange, fuller bass and more balanced overall sound. I would say it is not just fully worth the money, but also an excellent headphone, as it offers a soundstage as wide and holographic as Audivina, but feels more natural and comfortable on my head. We will hopefully be making reviews about Susvara, and Shangri-La Mini in the near future, but we are also working on finishing and sharing our reviews exploring the Serenade, Prelude, and Svanar Le soon.
Sennheiser
You likely know who Sennheiser is by now, as they had the longest listening queue at the show, but the more surprising part has been the new model, namely the Sennheiser HD 620S which seems to have been officially launched at the High-End Munich event in 2024. I spent a while talking with the engineer behind them and their sound, as they shared that the magic in the new 620S headphones comes from the driver itself, Sennheiser having spent a considerable amount of time developing the drivers. The earpads are also fenestrated in the part touching the headphone to allow for more air movement and the inner driver plate has a thin damping material, to control the amount of feedback that’s combined with the music coming directly from the driver.
This creates a very open sound, despite the HD620S headphones being closed-back. From my listening experience, the signature is close to HD600, and sounds more neutral and sharper than HD650, which is a welcome change from the HD 380 PRO, which I also used to own back in the day. Generally, if you like HD600, you will love the HD 620S, as it improves the resolution, clarity and precision, while presenting a somewhat larger soundstage, being a combo of the musicality seen in HD600, improved resolution seen in HD 660S2, and comfort seen in the HD700 or HD800 series. The earpads are more comfortable, headband padding thicker and softer, so I would really recommend the HD 620S a lot for how well they’re designed as a general product.
I also got to spend more time listening to and enjoying the HD800s and Hd820 models, which have always been favorites of mine. Unfortunately, I never really owned either, having had listens, but hopefully, this year we will get to make in-depth written and video reviews about all of those models. I really like the bass and the whole sound of HD820, which is comfortable, but also has a fuller, punchier low-end, combined with a large soundstage, and fun sound. When it comes to the Hd800S, it clearly improved the bass response compared to Hd800, but it also made the midrange smoother, and the treble slightly less sharp. HD800S is still the sharpest sounding Sennheiser Headphone though, and the model I would recommend the most if you want the most neutral tuning.
Final Audio
While Final Audio has always been present at high-End Munich, this year we finally heard a working prototype of their X8000 Headphones, and it was a blast. For the earpads and sound to work, at the show, the earpads were a more generic design, than the mesh the company is going for in the final release. This should have a large impact on the sound too, but X8000 sounded really detailed but also really warm, with a good instrument separation and generally a very musical and pleasing midrange. Perfect for female voices and rock, the tuning seems to be as good as the design, which made those the lightest headphones we’ve seen so far. While we don’t have an exact release date, we know that X8000 should be ready sometime this year, and we promise to write a full written review exploring them.
The most interesting headphone from Final Audio has been the D8000 PRO, which really impressed me in resolution, clarity and bass depth. While Final Audio generally makes headphones and IEMs that can be considered boutique, D8000 PRO sounds super open, impactful, and detailed, to the point where I will hopefully make a full video and put it against HE1000SE or even the Susvara this year, as I have a feeling it offers a comparable level of resolution and detail, but would be impossible to say for sure with such a short listen. I absolutely loved the D8000 PRO and we will hopefully make a full written review exploring it soon.
FiiO
This is the first year FiiO has attended High-End Munich as far as I know, but they left a very positive impression with both the listeners in the public, but also with the B2B distributors. FiiO has revealed both a vinyl turntable, as well as a much larger speaker setup, compared to the SP3 Bluetooth that we’re working on reviewing right now. We’ve also seen a large number of DAPs, and I’ve heard and seen the M23 DAP at many other booths being used as a source. Hopefully we will get a chance to review the M23 too, as we do have iBasso DX180 on the way, and M23 would make a good comparison to both DX180 and DX260. FiiO also has a very fun sounding pair of headphones, FT1 if I recall correctly, and they look impressive.
While checking out the FiiO Booth, I had the chance to also see the R7 streamer which is impressive, and we also had a chance to meet with Mr. Lieven from Headfonia in person, and he’s a really great guy. We actually have traveled in a similar fashion, with our significant other, as Mary has always been with me, and it was fun seeing someone else do a similar setting, with Mr. Oscar (now he’s working with HIFI Pig) being the other reviewer who seems to follow the same formula, and with whom I managed to even catch a few selfies during the Munich event.
An event like High-End Munich brings everyone together for Music and Love, and FiiO has been doing a similar service to us music lovers, as they’ve been the gateway company for me to to start getting more serious about audio and allowing me to experiment with high-end audio products back more than 10 years ago.
Topping
While we did review a few select models from Topping, it usually has been through a bigger seller, such as Aoshida Store, so it has been enlightening to see more of the flagships designed by the Chinese company at High-End Munich. We had a chance to learn more about the stacks, and the DX9 DAC/AMP, but we didn’t get a long listen, as it was one of the first booths we stopped by on the first day of the event. We are looking forward to making a full review exploring the DX9 as well as the E2X2 interface this year, as Topping is a professional and friendly company which has far more interesting products than the mere E30 DAC we’ve covered.
Aune
Aune brought a few new products during the event, and the most surprising one has been the SR7000 Closed-Back Headphone, which has been presented by their local distributor. Those are headphones designed on the same chassis as AR5000, and they get to have a similar, but deeper, punchier sound, with a fuller bass, and a somewhat punchier and more dynamic treble too. They don’t need a lot of power to sound good, but we got to explore the M1P Music player, which actually sounds excellent, and is in line with the quality of the competition in the same price point. Aune also has a dongle-in-a-wire unit coming soon, the ARU1, which has a good power, but is a minimalistic solution for those who don’t want a dongle DAC nor a DAP, but still want to enjoy the quality of a wired connection.
Campfire
While we just published our reviews exploring the Cascara and Bonneville IEMs, but Campfire has so much more to offer. During the show, we learned about two new excellent sounding IEMs, the Moon Rover and the Fathom. I also tested the Trifecta, the ultimate flagship of the company, and it left a deep impression on me, almost as deep as the bass of the Trifecta is, as that is the flagship IEM with the fullest, deepest bass I’ve ever heard as a reviewer.
Trifecta is basically the ultimate IEM you can get if you want bass, precision and resolution, and while it looks large and like it would have a crazy design in the photos, it is a comfortable, well-fitting IEM in person and offers an enjoyable listening experience. Sonically, Fathom seems to be replacing the Andromeda, offering a similar degree of resolution and clarity, and more, while Moon rover seems to be the bassier option, for those who want top notch detail and clarity, but won’t settle for less than bombastic in the lows.
Plixir
BAC400 has been one of the best ways to improve a setup, especially when noise was coming from somewhere but you couldn’t isolate it, so it is with pleasure that I share that Plixir has been working on making a 2nd version of the BAC400. We took the time to learn about the other products from the company, and while I’d love to review every single one of their products, some of them are simply way too heavy for the company to reliably ship our way, with the larger power conditioners weighting more than 50 kG, and while the a single toroidal transformer that I tried to lift has around 17 kG in weight.
I love the build quality and how open / friendly the folks working at Plixir are, so we will surely be reviewing more products from them in 2024, and we simply can’t miss upgrading our own listening setup back at home, with the improved BAC400 that Plixir will be releasing soon. With a bit of luck, we may be able to offer more information about how different the swound is when using a BAC400 vs BAC1500 with a system that draws a lot of power, such as my current listening setup composed of Keces S300+ and Pylon Audio Diamond 30 MK2.
EAHibrid / Mystj / Lu Kang
While this is a new company that we haven’t seen a lot of products from the previous year, they had an interesting approach to the more esoteric part of the hobby, with high-end ethernet switches, and batteries to isolate you from the noise of Switching power supplies. Together with Mystj and Lu Kang, the listening rooms those guys had prepared impressed me deeply with the depth, clarity and precision of the whole setup they had prepared, and although Keces did not have a listening room prepared for music lovers, even from Day 1, we managed to spot a Keces Ebravo streamer implemented in the listening chain from EAHibrid and Lu Kang.
XtoneBox
XtoneBox is a smaller company from Europe, but they have a solid sound for their products, as this year we’ve been able to get a good listen at their speakers and amplifiers. They go for a sound that’s exactly as you’d expect from the design, vintage, warm, smooth and fuzzy, with good imaging. The speakers have a low vertical dispersion and are rather directional, so if you managed to get a listen at High-End Munich, I hope you did so while sitting because the speakers are designed for you to enjoy them while on a sofa, much closer to the ground level than while walking. The amplifiers look great, and we will hopefully finally review some of their products this year, because ever since 2023, Mary has been asking me to add them to the queue, as she likes the design and we feel they will look great in photos.
Lamborghini
While High-End Munich does not host driving tests, you can get to test some audio systems made for cars too, and I noticed this while staying in Germany, most cars there have a super nice sounding audio system. The trick is, we stayed far enough from the event that we had to travel, but we didn’t have access to any kind of public transport. As carrying the camera equipment was hard both because it was heavy, but also conspicuous looking, we used Uber and Bolt to travel, and we found that folks living in Munich listen to music all the time, and people do actually invest in upgrading the sound system of their cars, with the sound being comparable to an 1000 – 2000 USD home setup from what I’ve experienced (something along the lines of a Burson Funk driving a pair of NHT C3 Speakers) in most cars that took us from the hotel to the event. This being said, with a Labo, you buy the car too, so that’s where most of the price comes from.
Astell&Kern / Meze Audio
The booths of those two companies were so full that we can only promise to make full written and video reviews later this year, with Meze having launched a new “Meze 105” headphone that’s priced in the midrange! We briefly listened to the new Liric 2nd generation, and it sounds quite awesome, somewhere in between the neutral and precise Empyrean, and the bassier, heavier sounding 109 PRO we reviewed in 2023. With a bit of luck, we will add Liric 2 to our review queue, as well as the new Empyrean II and Elite. For Meze, we plan to start filming outdoors for our video review once the headphones reach us.
Meze Audio and Astell Kern are two popular companies that go together well, as I’ve used the SP2000T and SE180 a lot to drive the Meze 109 PRO, and Astell & Kern are as professional and popular as Meze, at the show having had one of the fullest booths with long queue times. After a brief impression, Astell&Kern are still making incredible sounding DAPs or Music Players, including the new SP3000T, and we will hopefully be reviewing the new DAPs in writing and video during 2024.
Erzetich
Ever since I reviewed the Thalia, more and more of you have asked me to review more products from Mr. Blaz, and it looks like Erzetich is a super popular brand in Asia, along with Europe. The company designed a new Thalia, with a much more solid sound than the version I’ve reviewed, and with a far more comfortable fit. First time I ever heard the Phobos and Charybdis during the event, I was immediately blown away. Despite those being quite unique in design, the fitting is excellent, and the resolution / clarity of the sound has been top notch.
I spent more time at Mr. Blaz’s booth listening and enjoying some great music than I did taking photos, but I’m hopeful that this year we will be reviewing The Phobos and Charybdis headphones, and then we’ll get the chance to take proper photos and videos of them. A video segment was not possible, as we started filming on day 3, and by then, the booth was too full for us to even get close, but I’m glad everyone had a chance to test and enjoy the Erzetich sound. The Deimos Amplifier was also on full display, and the kind of sound it produces has thunderous bass, but fine control, exceptional dynamics, and a musical midrange too.
Drop
Also a first for High-End Munich, we got to learn about the Drop x Grell OAE1 Headphones, a pair of open-back headphones designed by Mr. Axel Grell, the man who made the HD600 and HD800 headphones, with a little twist. From what I spoke with the team at Drop, the design of those headphones comes from the Ms. Grell, wife of Mr. Axel Grell, and upon listening I immediately recognized the natural sound that impressed me with the Grell TWS1 Bluetooth IEMS too.
This is a headphone that almost sold out during the show, and sales started just at the beginning of the show, so I know everyone agrees with me on the quality and comfort they offer. As soon as more units are ready, we will publish a review on them, likely in 1-2 months, as the company plans to make more and bring them to you. You can expect a really open experience, with no constraints.
HEDD
HEDD Phone Two or HEDDPhone 2 is a high-end model made by HEDD, and this is literally one of the best studio tools we’ve seen at the show, and with Adam Audio somehow missing to be a part of High-End Munich, HEDD has been the highlight for those who came to hear and see studio equipment. Model TWO from HEDD is a headphone that’s lighter than the original, but has a solid fitting on your head, they have a super detailed sound, but they are not fatiguing. They are widely used in studios, and we will hopefully be reviewing them this year, plus , thanks to the super support of HEDD for music lovers, we might have a special deal for those who are looking to purchase a pair. Please keep an eye on Audiophile-Heaven if you’re likely to want a pair, and get a special pricing. HEDDPhone TWO has been one of my favorite sounds for this High-End Munich event, and I really enjoyed them, considering them to be a pair that will really open up new production possibilities for you.
oBravo
It was a cool idea to review the most expensive flagship IEM in the whole show, so oBravo is the company happy to deliver it. Among many unique things about them, oBravo has a unique MMCX connector which is sturdier than the vast majority of MMCX out there, but they also have the RA Copper, also named oBravo RA C-Cu which costs nearly 9999$ USD. This IEM has the juiciest midrange, most impressive dynamics, and one of the most solid designs, as they use an AMTII Driver, straight from Taiwan.
The only downside is quite evidently the price point, but the company has an Aluminum version, although the sound is very different between the two. I got the chance to enjoy both, and if you want to get the full experience, I recommend going for the Copper, although we will hopefully review it in depth soon, along with the oBravo headphones, which will get a new version, lighter and more ergonomic this time around.
Lotoo
Mjolnir made by Lotoo has been one of the best sounding units from 2023, and we still have not made a full written review exploring it, but Lotoo will have new flagship music players, as well as a new interface for computer, and especially for Mjolnir, a unique smartphone adapter, which can wirelessly stream data, in lossless. This is achieved using a unique protocol especially designed by Lotoo, and we will share more news as the product is launched and as we will be able to hear more of it. The short version is that I could not believe that there is finally a device which can have a lossless data rate in wireless, with Lotoo being the guys to have finally made it.
Spirit Torino
This year, I think we can count over 30% companies coming from Italy, and at the front is Spirit Torino, a company known for their romantic, pleasing sound tuning, but also for their unique designs when it comes to their headphones. The jewel of the company is now the AmplificaTORINO, a headphone amplifier made for their headphones, and which uses a cup from the Super Leggera as the volume wheel. While our video exploring the Twin Pulse Beryllium is not yet live, the written review is, and I spent a large portion of the event listening to the Centauri Headphones, which now received an upgrade with a removable driver baffle, which is placed right inside of the earcups.
A tech designed after developments on the Twin Pulse Beryllium have been made, the new tech can tighten up the soundstage, offering a more precise instrument separation, and a cleaner sound, while making the soundstage slightly narrower and bringing instruments closer together. You can now use the Centauri in your studio, with the help of the new tech, and the upgrade baffles can be purchased and applied by owners who already have the Centauri. I heard that the company is also working on new models, but each has a complex story behind, for example the top plate of the Amplificatorino having the map of the Torino city embedded on it.
Keces
Keces has been present, as always, but at the main booth, you couldn’t listen to their products. This being said, the Ebravo streamer was a favorite used by many of the other listening rooms, and Keces even offered a special coffee shop with a better flavor / more artistic take for music lovers, and while my video exploring the Ebravo is still in the works, the written review exploring it went live right a day or two before the High-End Munich show started. Keces is preparing a new version of their E40 integrated speaker amplifier, which we are eager to review, but they also have super neat power conditioners and other equipment that we are looking forward to reviewing in 2024.
The S300+ Amplifier from Keces is still the most powerful, and best sounding Speaker AMP that we have in our inventory and history of reviews, and while we don’t brag much about it, we have over 700 products that we reviewed to date and which are available for us to make comparisons between, and do pairings with at the moment, so that says quite a lot about how good the S300+ is.
Tracer / Divini Audio
Tracer has a new Mini Amplifier, named TS-10, a unit which is super compact, made to be as small and easy to transport as possible, all while having a dynamic, punchy sound. We got to listen to the silvery amplifier, and it has a really high driving power, and it packs a punch, despite the rather tiny size and design. The construction quality is solid, and I was impressed by the resolution, so hopefully we will get to share more about how it sounds in a fuller review this year.
The speakers that were connected to it are every bit as impressive, and I had a lot of fun at this one booth, with Tracer being much better than my expectations. Those speakers are named Divini Audio Reference 8, and they sound every bit as full and spacious as you’d imagine, with exceptionally high vertical and lateral dispersion, so the sound will be great even if you don’t stand right next in front of them. I was taken aback by how low the distortion was and high high the resolution, so let’s hope we will explore them too in a complete review.
Moondrop
If you’re a music lover or Audiophile, you surely have heard about the new Moondrop smartphone, which comes with a 4.4mm headphone amplifier / DAC inside, and we had a chance to see and test the phone. It is fairly ergonomic, and practical, although from my understanding, the legal clearance for sales to take place in Europe is still underway, so you’re likely to see it hit the shelves in a couple of months from now. This being said, the product that took me by surprise from Moondrop has been Cosmo Flagship headphones, which are as amazing as they come. This is a full sized headphone which will compete with Sennheiser HD800 in comfort and design, but they can withstand their ground against Arya Organic in resolution and clarity.
I am still in awe after hearing a warm, bassy sound with a large stage coming from a company before known for their anime-centric products and open marketing. We will hopefully get a chance to review the MIAD01 Smartphone and the Cosmo Headphones this year, as well as more products, as we are also working on our own Visual Novel which draws inspiration from the same style as the imagery typically found on the Moondrop website.
Fosi Audio
One of the most unlikely participants to be so fun to hear at High-End Munich has been Fosi Audio, as they brought a new pair of speakers, but also showcased the power of their affordable, entry-level amplifiers. Most of their products now fall below the price point I am even working on reviewing, but on the bright side, they gathered a large number of fans and listeners, and the new V3 Mono and the ZA3 are fairly good with the driving power and resolution.
More surprising was the new Fosi Audio Partner Brand / Subsidiary, Mamoritai, which will be focusing on high-end products, and the amplifier has a beautiful, glossy finish, with the sound being just as exceptional. You can see the reflections of me taking photos and all the people in the room in my photos, so it will be interesting to review it in person and learn if it is scratch prone or scratch resistant with my typical usage.
Pylon Audio
If there was a company where it was absolutely impossible even to take photos, it would be Pylon Audio, one of the most popular producers of high-end speakers from Poland. They partnered up with Fezz this year, and both produce excellent sounding setups, with Fezz being specialized in amplifiers, and Pylon Audio in speakers. As I could not listen to their speakers due to queues being really long at the booth, I can give you the first impressions that I have with the Diamond 30 MKII speakers, which I already have at home ready for review, currently taking impressions and burning-in. I would say that Diamond 30 MKII is the first speaker that made me give up on using a subwoofer, as they really don’t need one, the bass reproduction goes low, down to 35 Hz, but they also produce a really natural, quick, and punchy, almost thunderous bass. Even more surprising is how well they handle directionality, as you can be anywhere around them, and they will still sound awesome, both on the lateral and on the vertical plane.
While at the show, many speakers have a narrow vertical dispersion, and as soon as you’re not at the level of the tweeter, the sound basically gets lost, but with Pylon audio, you can sit, stand, or be anywhere in a 90 degree cone around the speakers and you will get pretty much the same sound as if you were positioned perfectly. Those speakers are also not sensitive to room treatment or placement, so they are a blast to listen to, with more info to come in my full written review. I am hopeful that we will be working on reviewing more models from the company, as they have so much to offer and I’m sure they’ll replace what the default best purchase is in everyone’s mind around the price point once they hear their products. I also can’t wait to start reviewing the Fezz Amplifiers, as I heard the match-up between the Pylon speakers and the Fezz amplifiers is phenomenal.
Pathos
We return to Italy, one of our favorite locations for vacations and music, and Pathos has a selection of amplifiers so beautiful and so good sounding that everyone who is in the hobby heard about them at least once. The company wanted to make a piece that is not just good with the sound, but also is beautiful, and since they were placed right next to Hegel, it was quite evident who went for the prettier design.
Even the cooling fins on the Pathos amplifiers are designed with their logo, rather than being straight metallic fins, so you will have a beautiful piece to showcase if you go for one of their amplifiers. Sadly, we couldn’t get to listen to a setup, but we’re hopeful that this year we will bring you a surprise written review and video regarding pathos, a company we had to explore because Mary was really enthusiastic about how beautiful the amplifiers look.
SVS
While my history with SVS so far has been that I reviewed the Prime Wireless PRO, they just launched a selection of high-end flagship-grade tower speakers which I am super eager to review. The listening room of SVS showcased their speakers, and I am thrilled to mention the outstanding vertical and lateral dispersion, so you will get exceptionally good sound in any point of your room, but also the thunderous, deep-hitting bass.
SVS has been primarily known for their top of the line subwoofers, but recently they decided to make speakers, and the new line has those geometrically aligned in such a way that the sound from the woofer drivers arrives to your eardrum at the same moment as the sound coming from the tweeters, which are right in the center of the speakers, resulting in a cohesive, coherent sound. I love the resolution and natural texture of the sound SVS is able to produce, and despite the tweeter looking fairly similar to the one found on the Prime Wireless PRO, it was actually upgraded to offer a much better clarity and definition, as the company used a DLC coating, or Diamond-Like Coating, similar to what we see with IEMS and Headphones.
Pro-Ject
While we did review a few products from Pro-Ject, the company expanded a lot recently, both in the turntable and vinyl but also in the wireless / mini speaker parts of the hobby, and we learned that they designed a little stereo system that should come in a little suitcase, with the name being Travel SE1. The Evo 2 line of colorful Turntables also looked awesome, and we will hopefully review more from Pro-Ject, as I was enthusiastic about the sound of the brand, while Mary about the design and colorful take on bringing a more aesthetic take for our hobby.
Crosszone
I would call Crosszone a rising star, as the team behind is enthusiastic about their products, and also proud of their achievements, all while taking notes and learning from their customers. The CZ-1 model is right now the most popular that the company has to offer, but CZ-10 is also a rising star. I’ve seen a large number of reviews popping up, exploring the CZ-8a model, so that one’s also getting a lot of attention from the international market, with Crosszone just having signed contracts with more distributors, so that you will more easily be able to hear and enjoy their models locally. As with any growing company, early feedback helps, so make sure to get a chance to listen to the new models, as we have a CZ-8a Enhanced and CZ-10 Enhanced reviews ready for you and soon to go live, those being upgraded models for their CZ-8a and CZ-10 Headphones.
Java Hi-Fi / Audio Solutions
Java Hi-Fi is a company making high-end prestigious speaker amplifiers, and this year they teamed up with Audio solutions, a speaker designer, to showcase their Carbon integrated amplifier. The setup sounded really natural, but also had a slightly warm midrange, with excellent resolution, and outstanding vertical and lateral dispersion. The Blue color of the speakers surely is a change from the monochromatic design we’re seeing with most speakers, but the Java Hi-Fi amplifiers really stand up to their name and price. I’ve been curious to review them in-depth ever since I’ve seen them last year, and after hearing the Carbon this year, I will hopefully get the chance to review the Carbon, as it is simply that musical and dynamic, it made me think we were already in the price brackets above 50K USD. As it is a combination of the speakers and amplifier, i will do my best to try and review each individually, to describe each and how they sound.
Ferrum Audio
I did hear about the Wandla + Hypsos DAC and power delivery and the OOR Headphone amplifier, but I never heard it in person before. After attending High-End Munich last year, I was left a bit bitter that we missed hearing them in person, but this time around, we did find a moment to listen to the ultra-impressive setup, as it was driving a pair of HIFIMAN Susvara. The dynamics and midrange are simply out of this world, especially in warmth of the midrange, resolution and clarity, plus there is an outstanding control, even for headphones such as Susvara, which are known to be hard to drive. The build quality is rather excellent, and Ferrum Audio is a popular company not just directly for music lovers, but also for B2B, as they are now getting more distributors and partnerships, being one of the more crowded booths at High-End.
Wandla will have the option for you to purchase a firmware update, which has a few tricks up the sleeve, including special DSP processing to enhance your listening, While it will still sound quite excellent without it, those enhancements can spice things up for you. Hypsos is getting an upgrade too, with the Dual Output version, that will not require the splitter to power a Wandla + OOR setup anymore, and now you can simply use the Hypsos Dual Output to get power to both. As Wandla does not require a lot of power, but OOR can draw quite a bit with hard to drive headphones, the Dual Output has special Main for devices that draw a lot of power, and Aux for devices which require less power. All of those should be available starting June 2024, and we will try our best to review both the new Hypsos Dual Power and Wandla, in time trying to cover all the products made by Ferrum Audio.
Audio Analogue
This time we got to hear the Absolute PA, a stereo Amplifier made by Audio Analogue to drive and control all the speakers out there. While the design language sure is superb, so is the sound, following a similar experience with what we’ve heard on the AAdac when we reviewed it, but Audio Analogue has a large selection of amplifiers, Preamplifiers, while AAdac is still the DAC they are using in most systems. What surprised me the most are the Airtech ATS01 Speakers, which use a unique tech, and which sound unbelievably alive when heard in person, with the mention that they are very directional in the vertical plane, but have strong dispersion in the horizontal plane.
This means that horizontally, you can be anywhere in the room, while vertically, you have to be at their level to hear them best. Happily, Audio Analogue set up a listening room where you could sit to listen to their speakers, but I personally moved a lot while taking photos, and could notice that they have to be placed at the ear level to sound their best.
Elipson
Elipson has a few pretty interesting looking speakers, and while the Heritage XLS 7 left me fully shocked by how small they are in person, the model which was playing music when I visited their listening chambert, was a ball model, the W35 Xi Absolute Sphere model. This is a Sphere, which has absolute vertical and lateral dispersion. As it is common with this kind of designs, they were made to fill a room and entertain a party, and so they did, as the sound did not change much regardless how I was positioned relative to the speakers, even if I was above them, in front of them, or just around them.
The company also has ultra-modern looking models for dolby atmos to project sound not just frontally, but also upwards, those models being aimed at home theater. The model which was on display was a Horus 6B combined with the Horus 6 ATM, but the company has way more models that we will hopefully get to review and explore this year.
WOD Audio Presents iFi Audio
iFi had a whole team and room with the iFi Museum where they presented the rich history behind their products, plus you could get a listen to iFi products at most headphone booths, but WOD Audio, the german distributor took things one step further, and actually allowed you to purchase iFi products on the spot, offering most of the iFi product range for listening and enjoyment.
I had a chance to allow Mary to rest a bit while I explored products such as the xDSD Gryphon, iDSD Diablo 2, and Neo iDSD 2. We have a review in works exploring the new Zen DAC, but we will hopefully get to review the other models too. If you’re from Western Europe, make sure to check out WOD Audio, as they have a rich product selection, including Westone, and even speakers.
Feliks Audio x RAAL
This year I actually spent a lot of cumulative time listening to Feliks Audio Amplifiers, such as their amazing Envy and Euforia Evo, and we will hopefully get to review the Euforia Evo soon, as well as Elyse, but the most surprising thing they brought was a prototype electrostatic amplifier, which managed to pack a real punch and actually deliver bass and impact with Stax headphones. I was actually so taken back by how punchy and detailed the sound was, that I forgot to take photos, mostly taking Video B-Rolls for the upcoming video exploring the event and our experience with it. The reason we took only videos or only photos for certain booths was how crowded the place was at the moment we were there, and how practical it was taking those, as we had just one camera and one camera girl, Mary.
There is also a special RAAL headphone, the RAAL Imanis, a headphone which will eventually get a special edition Feliks Tube Amplifier, to match the finish, so both will have the same wood pattern and color, for a fully matched setup. Imanis was in top 3 headphones I heard this year at High-End, and I was a bit sad to let it go off my head, but Mary was taking B-Rolls most of the time instead of Photos, as I was having a great time and she was trying to capture the moment. I am really hopeful I will get to full and officially review the Imanis headphones, as ever since I heard the SR-1b the previous year I’ve been in love with how interesting Raal headphones can sound.
Conclusion
This has been an amazing year for High-End Munich and the numbers speak louder than words, as the show had excellent figures with people from all over the world having come to listen to their favorite products, make business partnerships, and just generally to have fun in the modern yet idyllic city of Munich. While for us it has been a full week of work, if you’re ever wondering what the best show to attend is, High-End Munich clearly would be it, and this whole article has been done out of our own budget, as Audiophile-Heaven has no affiliation with any of the companies presented in the article, the whole review / article having been done to give you a virtual visit of the show.
As we fly back home, we hope that we will continue to bring you the best reviews, and that we will be able to review all of the products we’ve heard, to offer you a more complete image of how each one of them sounds like, and how they compete with each other after a longer listen, but if you want to support us, don’t forget to subscribe to our youtube channel, and read our written reviews when they go live. Thank you for reading, and we hope we brought you at least a tiny bit of the fun we had at the event and that our first impressions posted here have been insightful. If you want to help us, please check our Youtube Channel as we will make a video soon there too – https://www.youtube.com/c/AudiophileHeaven
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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