by Michael

Audio Note at Munich HiFi Deluxe 2019

Recorded about 35 rooms in 24bit 96kHz at Munich,

and if you click through the rooms, and listen carefully to the Audio Note room, YOU will HEAR the difference [and if you listen REAL carefully, you can hear the difference the new AN prototype DAC makes! (the PLAYLIST: Munich 2019 in 24bit 96kHz).

This is the idea behind making high resolution recordings – so people do not have to rely on reviewer$ to tell them which rooms sounded best. Unfortunately I missed several rooms that, for example, JV thought sounded ‘best’ so this year we cannot prove the facetiousness of this year’s choices [but, seriously? What a ludicrous world we live in these days].

It does help if you have some kind of decent speakers and audio electronics for your computer when you hear the videos. And it may take a few listenings to start telling them apart – it takes some time to get over the shock of hearing this quality of sound on youtube videos of an audio show – and until you do, ALL of the room videos sound awesome.

All told uploaded about 70 videos of both the Munich High-end show and HiFi Deluxe show. Very busy and did not get to spend NEAR enough time in the Audio Note room [but Neli did :-)]

My other choices for good sounding rooms are Askja [Neli LIKES the look…], the TuneAudio horn speakers, and, yes, the Peak Consult room was fun too [more in the official Show Report]. These are other rooms where I wanted to stay and hear more, More, MORE music.

Back to DACs… Heard several top DACs at Munich. Aries Cerat [interesting speakers though], MSB (?!) DCS [in one of Kharma’s rooms. What a bizarre sound. Speakers sounded very capable but… Should have recorded this for posterity – somehow never got back there].

About once a year we talk about jumping on one of the “bandwagon lines”. You know the kind. You read a lot about how great they are but when you finally get to hear them they sound like poop. People still(!) seem to buy them for some reason so it would make good business sense for the store if we carried them. Typically they are SO expensive(!?). But if we carried them, we would have to LISTEN to them on a daily basis, and OMFG we LIKE listening to music [not sound effects]. So every year we decide they’re not a good match for us. So it goes…

And so…. believing our ears…. it looks like we are going to have to make serious changes to our plans here so we can fit in this new AN DAC when it comes out [it’s THAT big a leap forward in digital. No need for hyperbole folks, just listen to it]. *sigh*. We make plans and budgets and then something like THIS happens.

For those of you who have now or who will purchase the Audio Note Fifth Element/Fifth Force DAC/power supply – this will be a factory-installable upgrade, this new DAC is an addition to the Fifth Element’s circuitry.

Anyway, for us, we now have a [new] clear goal and path forward – for both our personal system and the store.

We are so spoiled.

We are so fcked.

We are not made of money. We have a budget. We want best sound for the buck and we are extremely critical of what we listen to

I know, I know. This is all just typical audiophile angst AND budget-busting wishlist heartburn. Nothing new about THAT, is there my friends…. 🙂

Like we said from day one: “Use the ears, Luke”. Listen, read not. If you can, try and listen closely to the recordings. Compare and contrast. Rinse and repeat.

 

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 by Michael

Peak Consult, Ypsilon and Dohmann at Munich High-end 2019

Recorded in 24bit 96kHz at the Munich High-end show on May 10, 2019.

This was freaking loud and freaking awesome.

For one, it is so refreshing when a room does not play “audiophile music”. Luckily, at Munich, about 20-30% played real music.

It is even rarer that they play real music at volume.

The sound was, to my ears, very even handed top-to-bottom, very controlled, a little dense and not quite as much separation and ultimate dynamics as one might want… but it was awesome. This was a well designed system, IMO.

Peak Consult speakers, Ypsilon electronics, Dohmann turntable.

 

 

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 by Michael

TechDAS Air Force ZERO turntable at Munich High-end 2019

Music and the video presentation recorded in 24bit 96kHz at the Munich High-end Show on May 12, 2019.

Closeups of the $300K TechDAS Air Force Zero recorded the previous day.

I spent about 20 minutes here the previous day [day 3] when the Air Force ZERO was NOT playing. Had to change a battery or card or something, and I just sat and listened. Not a fan of these particular Vivid speakers [the bass sounds constrained and separate from the rest of the music. Other Vivid speakers we have found to be excellent, so a little surprising] and though the CH Precision gear has sounded awesomely wonderful on Magico speakers in the past, I have been having a hard time appreciating their sound on other speakers lately, including these here Vivid speakers [often sounding harsh and even a little bright].

When I peaked in on the last day [day 4] I was very happy to catch them playing the Air Force Zero turntable . I listened again.

What a difference!

I am NOT one of those that think the “source is the most important component”. In fact, the opposite: I think “the amp-speaker combination is the most important component[s]”.

But the music with the “Zero” was now fleshed out and nuanced and dynamic and it sounded Good. Yes, if you try you could still hear the flaws in the system, and as you listen to the 24×96 audio recording, you can hear that it does not sound as good as the Aries Cerat recording, even though the Zero here is a much, MUCH better source.

I brought Neli and Florian back here to hear this and I know Neli agrees this is something special [Florian thinks the Zero is ‘ugly’?! It definitely does have a utilitarian look about it, but I could live with it :-)].

So many people praise mediocre turntables, including a few in the $$$$$ price range. But to my ears, the Walker Proscenium, the Acoustical Systems APOLYT, the Clearaudio Statement and this Air Force Zero have immediately audible superiority over most other turntables.

Yep, some [all?] of these have what could be considered a particular sound and other ‘fatal flaws’ [in addition to price! and floor space required!].

And there are other statement turntables I have not heard or not heard in a manner that allowed me to clearly hear the effect of the turntable.

But, yeah, this was a room worth visiting [the 2nd and 3rd and 4th times] this year.

 

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