The Roma model Angelo speaker
(€15,000) comes with its own bling! Werd LOL! Now before you dismiss these as all show and no go, look at
the cutout photo with all the detail, special design, high quality crossover parts, etc that make them all show
and go.
The Fiio X5 ($349 street price) employs the Ingenics 4760B dual-core 600MHz CPU for fast GUI. The X5 supports DSD, APE, FLAC, ALAC, WMA, WAV, AIFF, HE-AAC with 32 and 64 bit resolution. This is one of, if not
the most complete set of supported formats to date for PMP units. BTW, for those curious
Apple plans to use their proprietary ALAC format for high resolution music files, but
shhh don't tell anyone this advanced info until it is, well, officially announced. So, officially speaking, you didn't hear it from me. There are two microSD card
slots within the Fiio X5, great GUI with EQ and so many other features, especially at this low price! The Fiio has earned my
Award For Best Value PMP Unit here at High End 2014 in Munich.
Here is Patty from Perfect Sound wearing their D901 ($780) and they'll be launching the m100 headphones with 40mm driver soon. You can change the driver within the ear piece if you desire. Interesting!
Over the years I find myself maturing as a sports car driver and loving the
Lamborghini over Ferrari was an easy choice. Especially when it comes to how Lamborghini treats their customers and servicing costs and parts availability. Passion is great provided a company also fully supports their customers and here is where Lamborghini is head and shoulder above others. Have heard great things about the new McLarens too.
Antelope Audio Zodiac Platinum DAC with 10M Rubidium atomic clock handles, well, all digital formats
(€5000 for two box and a fully fleshed out version with their incredibly accurate Atomic Clock is
€10,800). Many recording studios rely on Antelope Audio as their designs are far ahead of the mainstream design curve from custom designed chipsets to fully balanced analog
circuitry.
The Samsung Booth was showing their UHD TV as we all enjoyed our Galaxy Note 3 phones. FYI, took this pic for my
corporate and engineer friends high up in Samsung. Hi guys!
The AVM room was playing Pink Floyd “Welcome to the Machine”. In fact i can't recall hearing much of any typical ‘audiophile’ whiney chick singer with piano music here in Munich. Maybe the Germans, with their Kraftwerk and Rammstein, are ahead of the curve. Just puzzles me about Hasselhoff tho. AVM is here at the High End 2014 show in Munich with their premiere of the Evolution ML 8.2 model with SSD storage for digital music data. This unit has a vast set of functionalities paired with their new algorithms for the CD-ripping. AVM's newest category of products is a combination of streaming client, DAC with DSD, analog preamplifier with two line inputs and Class A headphone amplifier. Also included is a IR & RF remote control with color display. Of course they also have a free AVM app for phone and
tablet users. The two new Evolution models include the SD3.2 with all SSD and SD5.2 with tube line stage instead of solid-state. The CS 5.2 produces three channels of 330 Watts whilst the CS 2.2
has two channels producing 165 Watts.
Fink Audio Consulting had the new Triple Concept speaker
(€30,000) that uses flat drive units. The manufacturer these themselves via a special firm that has taken great care in the driver’s dispersion within its’ specific frequency range. They showed me some very interesting measurement charts and graphs. Very promising!
Nordost now offers new headphone cables for Audeze, AKG, Sennheiser, etc. The wire itself is from their Heimdall 2 series
with Blitzer wire configuration. They are specifically mechanically-tuned for optimum performance. Audeze
two-meter is $799. The cable itself features Nordost's proprietary micro mono-filament construction that creates a virtual air dielectric. The wire itself is silver-plated OFC solid-core conductors and has FEP insulation throughout.
Mytek is here at High End 2014 in Munich launching their new Manhattan DAC/headphone with preamplifier
($5000). You want to decode everything? Well then, this baby handles DXD
32-bit/384kHz and DSD 256 too! Both balanced and unbalanced pre outputs, variable gain headphone amplification, all the usual digital inputs,
world clock input and output, etc. Looks to be a winner.
---> Bonus coverage
and my awards for best sound at High End 2014
High-Performance Audio Reviews
