High End 2008 Show 
High End Society Munich Germany

Thursday

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  Nice to see more American brands taking advantage of the devaluation of the US dollar here at the High End 2008 show as Britain's Cambridge Audio was here in full force, distributed by Taurus High-End. They also had Magnepan, Cardas and Jeff Rowland products from America. Speaking of Magneplan, i loved their Magnepan MG 3.6 loudspeaker.

 

Stax had their new SR-007 MKII now in full production form (2621€) that comes in black and silver depending on the market where you live. Of course the 'phones feature Stax legendary electrostatic drivers. If you do not already have an amplifier, you'll also need to purchase one of those. Your choice of Stax brand amplification can be either tube or solid-state depending on your taste and budget.

 

GREAtech, makers of my fave award winning µVac tiny tube amplifier (see my review here), now offers a wireless system dubbed the Zound Link (398€). It enables you to sending and receive an analog single wirelessly using what appears to be the same type of system employed by Audioengine. Unlike older system, this type of system has virtually zero latency and provides CD quality sound.

 

Naturally Germany-based recording label TACET had a booth here at the Munich High End 2008 event with all of their excellent recordings. This label enjoys great recorded performances and tube amplification in the recording chain, including Neumann U47 microphones and such. Recording engineers and audiophiles take note as they have two CD/SACD that showcase different microphones as employed within different recordings so you can get an idea how simply changing a microphone can make a drastic difference in the recorded sound.

 

Lyric Services distribution had the Turtle Series (Lyric branded) with the interesting silver CD16 (4000€) that has 16-bit, zero oversamping and a lovely tube amplifier that may be purchased with either 211 or 845 for output tubes (6000€). For rectification they chose solid-state, while output tube biasing is automatic.

 

Norbert Lehmann of Lehmann Audio was showing off his new little babies such as the Black Cube Rhimelander (350€) headphone amplifier and the Black Cube SEII (800€) phonostage. The primary features of the phonostage, besides normal RIAA correction and amplification, is a bass management feature, enhanced connectors and better casing then the company's previous models. Like other Black Cube MM/MC phonostages, you can use a standard set of various resistors/capacitors or insert your own custom values. I wish more phonostage manufacturers provided these flexible options and sometimes you want a value not offered as stock, or perhaps prefer a special brand of a certain part. Way back in 1999 i reviewed the Lehmann Audio Black Cube.

 

Here at High End 2008 there is plenty of music available on all commercial audio formats. Also note the amount of visible lighting fixtures at the top of this photo, as this should give you only a small glimpse as to one of the three... make that four... make that five sections of this show.

 

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