Munich High End 2025 Video 1

so much great new analog gear at this show! Will take many videos to cover it all

2025 was the final Munich High End show. The MOC convention center is going to be "re-purposed" or torn down so following 21 great years, the show next year will be moving to Vienna, Austria. Everything all of us did had that "this is the final time" feel about it that at times felt sad and at other times felt like relief. Instead of comfort, next year will be an adventure.

Munich High End 2025 was a feast for analog lovers. New turntables, tonearms, phono cartridges, phone preamps and accessories. There was so much news it will take many videos to cover it all—unless I post a three hour spectacular, which i will not do!

There was a big announcement from Ortofon, I interviewed one of the partners re-launching an improved version of the legendary Decca/London phono cartridge, and so, so much more! Yes, there were costly product launches, the kind that drive the trolls nuts, but there were also announcements of lower priced but higher quality products as you'll see in this first video, which, admittedly begins with a look at a costly system featuring Cessaro horn speakers from Germany Alieno hybrid electronics from Italy and from Australia, a Döhmann Helix One turntable fitted with two arms: a Supatrac Nighthawk and a Wilson-Benesch Graviton arm—the first time the arm has been used on a turntable other than the W-B GMT or Prime Meridian. It's a spectacular looking and sounding adaptation as you'll see.

Then we go to European Audio Team's Jozefina Lichtenegger who runs us through all of the new phono preamps and turntables from her company, and then to husband Heinz who does likewise through an even larger number of new products, some improved models of previously existing ones, and some new less costly adaptations that will bring excellent turntable performance for $3000 and under. Heinz also shows us new Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista phono preamps, a portable system packed in a snazzy flight case and more. Then it's over to Thorens, which has a new, enhanced and upgraded TD-124DD turntable, a new series of less costly direct drives and a new portable Bluetooth phonograph that turns Audio-Technica's cool Sound Burger into a far more costly Filet Mignon. I swear the editing is tight and there's no "fat" in the video, yet it takes 45 minutes just to get through these few companies' new offerings!

Comments

2025-05-19 06:59:44 PM

Come on wrote:

There were a few really good rooms this year and more than the years before imo it got obvious how different and better the best turntable centric rooms sounded compared to pure streaming setups. While I repeatedly admired rooms like the Aries Cerat, my personal best sound experience this year was the Zellaton/Schnerzinger room with an incredible realistic and lively sound.

Otherwise I was surprised again how many rooms played weak recordings or weak pressings of well known records/better pressings.

Another topic to notice: not only record player hardware (say for example tonearms) seem to reach unbelievable guiding price levels. Long gone are the times of 5k top range tonearm prices, 10k seems entry level top class, 20k seems top class average and double or more for a tonearm not really something to get excited about. Similar with some other product categories.

Some unofficial but honest background conversations with few (not only one) manufacturer of certain hardware categories surprised (or didn’t) with statements like „the market demanded to offer a product at 2 times of our previous top line price level. We can’t really make the previous product that much better, but added this and that feature and material upgrade to be able to explain the higher price.“

Sick business, but probably not much different than (just meanwhile the same as) watches and … you name it.

As always it was so nice to experience some great, fantastic sounding new music from the one or other playlist.
- 2025-05-20 05:29:34 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  Yes the Zellaton room sounded excellent and the phono preamp used got insanely "rocking" sound from the usually stately Grado Epoch 3 cartridge.
  - 2025-05-20 07:14:17 PM
    
    Come on wrote:
    
    I heard an on/off demo of the Schnerzinger active HF cancelling devices…that was a no way back experience, it had the realism impact we all look out for, huge.
    
    Liked your Jerome Interview in the Acoustical Systems room (just saw it on YouTube, wasn’t there anymore that day). Jerome really is a very smart and eloquent person, his personal approach in all things music and record production is very convincing!