It’s that time of the year again (a little earlier this year)! Munich High-End 2024 is nearly upon us.
I love CanJams as they are more intimate environment to chat and catch up with members from the community but Munich High-End is the show that I look forward to the most each year for the sheer spectacle of it all.
Due to COVID, the releases for the last two years have been few and far between but I personally know of some pretty exciting releases happening in the lead up to Munich which gets me even more excited about the releases I don’t know about!
Anyone here attending the show this year? If you are, keep a look out for myself @Resolve and @GoldenSound !
Hope is the last thing to hang on to but seeing that I just got my flights to Sicily on the 8th (until the 18th), I guess that hope also left the building
For those who have the possibility to attend and haven’t decided to, go for it, it’s well worth it!
Currently on the flight to Munich right now (Wi-Fi is spotty but I think of that Louis CK bit whenever I think about complaining)
This seems to be the first year post-covid where companies are in their release cycle to release major things for Munich this year!
Some new releases being announced this week in the lead-up to Munich and I see Meze has some new headphones on the horizon as well. Shaping up to be the best Munich High-End yet!
Wi-fi seems to be working reasonably back here for us poors. Then again we’re not used to such luxuries. All we see is the curtain drawn so as not to accidentally get a glimpse of the good life up there.
@taronlissimore thanks, when I searched it it didn’t pop up and I only saw the posts for the previous years.
First time in Europe, second time out of North America. Locked and Loaded, honestly bummed cause I planned my trip for 4 days at the show but they only let trades people in the first two days. Hopefully I’ll be able to knock it all out with two days. Always prefer to go to each room twice.
Quick post as I am dead tired. Day started at 4am with Round 2, Game 1 of the Vancouver Canucks vs the Edmonton Oilers where the Canucks rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 and make waking up at 4am entirely worth it! However, it did mean that by the time the show opened at 10am, I was already ready for bed.
Standouts from Day 1:
Hifiman Mini Shangri-La - This came out of nowhere. I went into the Hifiman booth and couldn’t identify the headphones I was looking at so I looked at the side for the name and saw “Mini Shangri-La”. Turns out, it’s brand new and Hifiman just put it on a table in Munich without telling anyone. I enjoyed this the most out of the Shangri-La line-up. Great bass detail for an estat and it wasn’t tuned overly bright. Extremely comfortable as well. No price is set for it yet but I feel it will be very competitive wherever it does land.
Meze Audio Alba - New IEMs from Meze Audio. I heard these at Axpona last month and was shocke to hear they are only $149. Warmer tuning with great, punchy bass. This is the best Meze IEM in my opinion.
Final Audio X8000 - These were first shown off 2 years ago at Munich High-End and seemed like a completely radical product then but at the time, Final Audio was not allowing any listening. This show, they are. I expected it to not be my cup of tea as most Final Audio products just aren’t really in my wheelhouse but this one surprised me in a good way. The unit is still a prototype so unsure if this is the final tuning but it’s going to be a very interesting entry onto the market.
I’ll chat more about some of the stuff this weekend when Jet Lag has dissipated but for now here’s a photo dump.
Abyss headphones have never really been my cup of tea and these didn’t change my opinion on them. I think people who enjoy Abyss will likely like these. I did find them more comfortable than the MR fwiw.
I know Andrew and Cameron filmed some impressions though.
I’d about concluded that Andrew was the second coming of Grumpy Cat. But he can smile, so there’s that. You just need to get technical - HRTF - with him.
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