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High End 2017: BACCH Is Back (and Even Better!)

In last year’s High End report, I raved about Princeton University professor Edgar Choueiri’s great demo of his BACCH-SP system, which uses in-ear microphones to measure the way your ears perceive the sound from your system, then uses digital signal processing to cancel crosstalk between the left and right speakers and produce an incredibly realistic stereo soundstage. Great as the demo was, though, the $54,000 processor seemed more like an awesome science project than a real product.

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High End 2017: Desktop and Compact Systems, Part 1

Sure, Munich’s High End is mostly about component audio, but many of the companies now offering component audio gear see how much more popular today’s simpler, compact all-in-one systems are, and many are moving to get in on the act. Here’s my first of two reports on desktop and compact music systems from the 2017 High End show. Prices in euros or USD as indicated.

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The British Are Coming! Affordable Loudspeakers from KEF and Monitor Audio

It really is a terrific time to be an audiophile on a budget. Terms like low-fi and mid-fi are, to my mind, pretty condescending to an integrated amplifier or floorstanding loudspeaker that happens to cost less than $2000 -- and possibly far less! -- but may punch far beyond its weight class. Thanks to the rapid advances in Chinese production and quality control, once-boring vinyl-clad, folded-box loudspeakers have flourished into surprisingly handsome and grown-up furniture. I am continually surprised when, every few years, the heavy hitters of audio update a range of speakers and, for a modest increase in price, offer a disproportionately large jump in material and build quality, to say nothing of aesthetics. Such is the case this year with KEF having updated its Q series, and Monitor Audio its Silver series of loudspeakers, with both storied English brands having airdropped their wares a thousand kilometers due east of Normandy.

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High End 2017: Headphone Amps

Much of the action in headphone amps has shifted over to portable music players and amplifiers, but there are still plenty of people who want to plug their headphones into a high-quality amp, sit at home in a nice, quiet environment, and listen to their music in peace. The High End show has plenty of new headphone amps on display. Here are my favorites I’ve seen so far, with prices in euros or USD as indicated.

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Pushing the Envelope: Loudspeakers from EgglestonWorks, Estelon, and Wilson Benesch

Every High End show seems to bring with it a raft of monstrous new loudspeakers from boutique brands with retail prices comfortably in six-figure territory. Most are tall, heavy, and a bit gaudy to behold, and they nearly always sport off-the-shelf drivers. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. As one unnamed manufacturer mentioned to me today, “You could sell anything to somebody at this show.” I don’t doubt it. But I’d much, much prefer to dedicate my time to loudspeakers that aren’t just drivers in a big ol’ box. For less than €50,000/pair you could own any of the loudspeakers below and be secure in the knowledge that you couldn’t do much better -- if at all.

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High End 2017: Product Coverage Gallery 2

Companies featured in gallery below: Vitus Audio, Crystal Cable, Octave Audio, Dynaudio, D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, Sonus Faber, Amphion, DALI, Monitor Audio, Engström, T+A Elektroakustik, Thorens, Triangle, Musical Fidelity, Gryphon Audio Designs

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High End 2017: Earphones

In Europe, where transportation by train, bus, or plain old feet is more common than in North America, it’s hard to get through the day without a good set of earphones. So I wasn’t surprised to see several new models on display when I began walking the halls of Munich’s High End 2017. As with the headphones, High End showcases a wide range of product, from fairly mass-market stuff to the finest products currently made.

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Scan-Speak's Ellipticor: These Are the Drivers for Many of Next Year’s Speakers

Scan-Speak, based in Denmark, has a prominent nest in the High End, as its Illuminator and Revelator drive-unit families feature prominently in some of the world’s most highly regarded loudspeakers. While many top brands source and design their own cabinets and crossovers, it seems to be more often than not that firms turn to Scan-Speak to meet their driver requirements. It’s significant, then, when the industrious Danes excitedly announced a press event at the Pullman Hotel Munich, not far up the road from the Munich Order Center, where the High End show is hosted, to share the details of their new flagship line of drivers: Ellipticor.

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High End 2017: Headphones, Part 1

When it comes to headphones, Munich’s High End audio show has a few things that are tough to find in North American consumer audio shows. First, it has not only higher-end, enthusiast-type headphones and earphones, but also some more mass-market products. Second, it showcases some products that have either a lower profile in the North American market or that aren’t available at all in North America.

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High End 2017: Product Coverage Gallery 1

Companies featured in gallery below: Einstein, Albedo, Zellaton, EgglestonWorks, dCS, Focal, Ascendo, MSB Technology, Wilson Benesch, Rockport Technologies, Absolare, Voxativ, Estelon, Harbeth

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: ELAC/Audio Alchemy -- Standout System

I love delivering good news.

When it comes to picking standout sound at an audio show, I rarely get the chance to offer up a system that normal folks can afford. It’s usually some sort of stratospheric system with at least four zeros involved in the price. And that’s reasonable, I suppose. Big speakers make large bass, lots of watts help along the way, and cost-no-object construction generally points in the direction of exceptional sound.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Bryston -- The Fixture

Walk into a Bryston room at any show and you’ll see consistency that’s maintained with corporate attention to detail. The layout is consistently good, the products are always arranged in the same manner, and -- most importantly -- VP James Tanner is sitting in the right-most of three director’s chairs, iPhone in hand and constructing playlists on the fly.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: New Products 2

Considering the local, regional nature of the Montreal Audio Fest, it’s a tribute to the show’s reputation that a number of big hitters take the time to augment the smaller distributors and manufacturers. It’s gratifying to sit at the bar in the Hotel Bonaventure, pecking away at my keyboard, and see within my peripheral vision at least three of the big names in audio. While the trend in shows seems to be going toward manufacturer and distributor support for dealer-based rooms, there’s still enough of a large-scale manufacturer presence to lend an air of authority to shows like the Montreal Audio Fest -- so that means a number of new product introductions. (All prices in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.)

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: New Products 1

The Montreal Audio Fest is three short months after CES, so product debuts here are rather rare. But the Canadian audio scene is quite active, with many local fans and a fair scattering of Quebec- and Ontario-based companies. So it wasn’t surprising that a good number of the new products we could find were from north the border. (All prices in Canadian dollars.)

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Plurison -- Doing It Right

A good night’s sleep and I’m a whole bunch less pissy this morning. Late yesterday afternoon, after I launched into a snarky tirade about the Wynn Audio room, I wandered into Plurison’s expansive suite and was gobsmacked by a sleek, Matrix-like succession of small, stylish, otherworldly sections. Plurison is Canada’s largest audio distributor.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Black Car, White Car

After four hours of sleep, a 5 a.m. departure from Toronto, and a five-hour drive in shitty, snowy conditions, I was not in a patient, receptive state of mind. I usually arrive at the Hotel Bonaventure, site of the Montreal Audio Fest (formerly called Salon Son & Image), later on Thursday night and start meandering around the show on Friday morning, fresh after a nice breakfast and an imperial quart of coffee.

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Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker

In my write-up about the unveiling of Sonus Faber’s Homage Tradition lineup of speakers, which took place on February 2 in New York City, I described acoustical engineer Paolo Tezzon and industrial designer Livio Cucuzza as being to speaker design what Mick Jagger and Keith Richards or John Lennon and Paul McCartney are to rock ’n’ roll songwriting. There’s definitely a synergy and timelessness with what the Italian speaker-making duo creates.

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Sonus Faber Homage Tradition Loudspeakers

When it comes to luxury products -- clothing, cars, furniture, you name it -- the Italians have a sense of style that is unmatched worldwide. Some will consider this a generalization, of course, but if you’ve ever been to Italy, or even seen an Italian film, you’ll know that there’s a uniqueness about them and what they make that helps to define their culture. As a result, it’s not surprising that when the Italian speaker maker Sonus Faber presents new hi-fi products, it has a knack for doing it in ways that leave the rest of the hi-fi world in the dust. The company is based in Vicenza, about an hour or so by car from Venice.

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CES 2017 SnapShots!

A random selection of photos from CES 2017. All but one of the photos were taken by Doug Schneider.

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CES 2017: Mass-Market Headphones (and More), Part 2

As I write this, CES 2017 has wrapped up just one hour ago, so I’ll be using this article to cover everything I didn’t get a chance to fit into my other CES 2017 headphone reports. Some of what I’m featuring here isn’t especially “mass market,” but it’s all still worthy of attention, and some of the products are far more technically interesting than your average headphone. All prices in USD.

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