HIGH END 2022 Show Report
High End Society Munich Germany
Show Report By Carlos Martin Schwab

  If there is something that has always characterized HIGH END Munich is the number of turntables on display. In this regard, Kronos Audio Products introduced the Discovery, a turntable with a double counter-rotating disc and an exoskeleton structure that helps improve energy dissipation (studio-worthy technologies), and two Kronoscope carbon arms. It included the SCPS-D power supply. For the Kronos, that is boosted by its own dedicated super-capacitor power supply, meaning the Discovery is fed by two super-capacitor banks operating in series.

And, as the technology impacts the final sound and is not cheap to develop, one of the most expensive of the show. In a relaxed talk with Louis Desjardins, CEO at Kronos Audio Products, he told me: "Carlos, you came from pro audio. That's a completely different world. In pro audio, everything is a tool to be used creatively and technically. High-End audio is Formula 1." I agree. And the measurement to compare results on it is way more subjective than the timings of a stopwatch.

High-end audio cables are a topic with a lot of points to consider: metallurgy (core material), low dielectric absorption, highly effective shielding (to reduce electrical and mechanical noise), topology (sizes, twists, and turns), and connectors (robust, non-magnetic and electrically inert). The Dutch company Siltech adds a neat aesthetic to all of them. The company showcased two new cable lines: Royal Single Crown and Royal Double Crown, both using a six-core construction of pure monocrystal silver conductors with Kapton, Teflon & Wide-range shielding as insulators. The existing Triple Crown is incorporated into this new Royal Crown series.

From the Crystal Cable brand, there were two lines on exhibition: the Future Dream 22, made with two conductors of monocrystal silver and silver-gold alloy and insulated by the best Dupont Kapton and Teflon foil available, and the Art Series, made of tenth generation, Infinite Crystal Silver (ICS) conductors.

WBT launched the WBT-0120, a completely different RCA plug. its new design with an oblique angle ensures intelligent cable routing and therefore also provides optimal strain relief. Handling is rendered much simpler by the integrated eccentric lever. No more laborious twisting open and closed of the sleeve with narrow RCA socket spacings. A clamping-spring mechanism connected to the eccentric lever ensures permanently elastic optimum contact pressure of the contact unit. The connector assembly has been rendered much simpler. The inner connection is made using soldering or with­ a push-on cable shoe. For simple adjustment also to thin cable diameters ensures a collet chuck lock with kink protection. As with all WBT RCA plugs, the central contact unit is made under the tried and tested nextgen principle, and the contacts have been gold-plated using the new WBT-PlasmaProtect procedure. Thanks to Melanie Fritsch-Schuster, from WBT, for the technical data. 

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