Munich

Dynaaudio had as usual a messy presentation of their products. So couldn’t really audition, and moved on. Their sound bar sounded on the surface quite ok....

Dan Agostino with Sonus Faber was again very impressive with a live version of Miles Davis  Time after Time. But what a shame to present your products in such a bad setup room. They do this already for years and have no proper listening setup. I tj8nk we would be amazed when they would properly set it up. It could compete in the top 5 of the show I think.

Bert Schurink posted:

With AVM I had two strange experiences. Normally they pair with Gauder speakers and compete for the best sound at the show. Detailed, natural sound - you normally can throw anything to it. Now they focused on something completely different. Some strange looking speakers, which so7nded better than expected, but at the same po8nt left me a bit with question marks as if I missed something. They also had a long layer which was demoed.

Then the 2nd part of the strange experience is that I think it was Michael Fremer who walked in or it was another American similar looking journalist. And he started picking records out of his bag to be played. All kind of styles. Ending with a unique pressing of who’s next. And the amazement was that the speaker dealt quite well with it while I had the feeling that i still wanted to hear a stronger foundation. 

Hard to imagine the domestic decor-scheme into which those speakers would blend. 

Saw another demo / workshop of Matthias Bode at the Bumeister boot. Showing us that Black Gold and Streaming can be very close from a perspective of sound quality. Given the speed - not enough room to digest it well.

Bert Schurink posted:

Dan Agostino with Sonus Faber was again very impressive with a live version of Miles Davis  Time after Time. But what a shame to present your products in such a bad setup room. They do this already for years and have no proper listening setup. I tj8nk we would be amazed when they would properly set it up. It could compete in the top 5 of the show I think.

 

I had the opportunity with Finkfan to hear this set up at the Windsor Show UK last year, we were both very very impressed.

They are certainly very big bold boxes, and very expensive, also you would need a seriously robust rack to put them on. 

Sound wise superb....

The Burmeister show itself was not as special as I had hoped. Huge speakers, huge monblock, good sources. But hell were is the emotion. It’s so controlled so right, but so cold in many ways. What worked very well was Renee Fleming just in a small setting that’s where it excelled. Of course I am complains on a very high level, but my expectations are in line with what I should expect. Still love the sound of Burmeister in a car however, much better than my Harmon Karton in the BMW.

Overview of the crowded Burmeister review...

Piega a nice warm sound, but could do with more detail....

Astell and Kern - for me the one close after the Sony beast. Detail, extension up and down, but missing a bit boogie for me in comparison with the Sony..

Much better engineered then the original ones. But not in the same league as the Sony and the Astell and Kern...

The Canton demo was divided in two rooms. One with the smaller thing, one with the new mid level reference speaker. On the four demoed speakers it comes clearly across that you get good value for money. They also started to step in the world of active and had a good offer there. Also one of the only ones daring to demo AC/DC so that also gives some respect. 

This years report of the high end has come to an end. It was a pleasure to share the things I saw and heard. If you disagree with some things, please remember it’s just my opinion or what I registered in the limitations which were there. So you can just ignore it or violently disagree, I am ok either way. After this post I will only react to questions but stop producing new content as their is no more. This odd product is a good end of the journey. I am already looking forward to next years one. While it might be less exciting for me as I would already have the ND555 up and running.....

Excellent work Bert, very informative. Many thanks.

Suggest you put your feet up for the evening.

Fantastic work Bert, thanks so much for your reports, its really given me a flavour for the interesting as well as wacky stuff that has been on show in Munich this year.

Bert, 

A fabulous write up. Many thanks for sharing your experience and taking the time to create such a detailed report. Its certainly one show I’d like to attend at some point!

Bert Schurink posted:

For PMC fans, they had quite impressive speakers at the show. Nice overall. While the played pieces didn’t give me a good understanding of their capability for the higher end of the tones. It was clear that bass and mid end is great. While I lost had the feeling that the bass is a bit too prominent in the mix and sometimes even gave a feel of boom. I guess these speakers will need room and also very good room treatment to show the full potential. I liked it and would assume they will score good in reviews...

 

PMC Fenestria doesn't look like a design success to me. The young sons takeover could spell trouble for the company. I would rather take the tried and tested MB2 XBDse, at some £8k cheaper.

Tremendous work Bert, I have very much enjoyed reading your posts over the past few days.

Not much of it falls within my budget, however I have discovered some new music (to me) and will shortly be placing my order for a copy of Sohn - Tremors, I might even splash out on the vinyl LP.

I hope the wait for your new streamer is not too long.....

Mike

Top job Bert.

Thank you very much Bert. I've enjoyed your reports very much and again, I thank you for your time and trouble.

Yes, Bert. Must add my thanks. You've done a sterling job for us all. 

What's this? Did I spot a youngster in one of the photos a bit earlier on?

In general, great to see the the grey hair and bald men I expect at these events.

Bert Schurink posted:

This years report of the high end has come to an end. It was a pleasure to share the things I saw and heard. If you disagree with some things, please remember it’s just my opinion or what I registered in the limitations which were there. So you can just ignore it or violently disagree, I am ok either way. After this post I will only react to questions but stop producing new content as their is no more. This odd product is a good end of the journey. I am already looking forward to next years one. While it might be less exciting for me as I would already have the ND555 up and running.....

 

Seems to be a device that supplies pure battery power to your audio system. It totally disconnects audio systems from the grid to avoid DC voltage, high level frequencies and other interferences that reduce audio quality. Yours for a mere 39000 euros...

Wonderful report Bert, we need you to report back next year on the Statement streamer, thanks in advance

Gazza

Excellent report Bert. TYVM. Was a great motivation to be there next year.

William posted:

Bert Schurink posted.

And an apology to William who I met at the show. I went on quite quickly as I wanted to hear the next demo.

Not a problem Bert, it was nice to bump into you and I have to confess I only had 2 and a half hours time at the show in total as I had to catch a train out of town.

The Naim room was a highlight for me, I enjoyed talking to some of the guys from Salisbury and hearing the NDS/Statement/Focal. I belong to the group that consider the Focal design to be an aberration in the context of Naim‘s image and design philosophy but boy did that system sound good.

Two more highlights were catching up with Roon and meeting the man who built and recently upgraded my Metrum Pavane DAC. He showed me how I could easily swap out the USB for an i2s board and connect the DAC via i2s to Metrum Acoustic‘s Ambre, which is Roon Ready.

Now enjoying catching up reading your comprehensive report Bert. Thanks!

Who from Roon was there William, any Roon news?

I see we have quite similar systems with Naim amplification/ Speakers and Roon source. The Pavane looks interesting, how do you rate it?

.sjb