Munich High End 2024 - The Greatest Show On Earth - Part 1

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Wow, what a show. Munich High End 2024 was truly the greatest show on Earth. Sure, there were some very unfortunate exhibitors who couldn’t tame their rooms enough to get good sound, but you won’t hear about any of those from me. There were so many good rooms and so much positive energy at the show, that I could wear out my keyboard writing it all up. Again, what a show!

In Part 1, I’m focusing on the new products or upgrades to existing products that I saw at the show this year. In part 2 and part 3 I will focus on the immersive developments, and my favorite sounding rooms of the show, respectively.

Something New

There were so many new product and upgraded product announcements that I lost track a week before the show even started. What a time to be an audiophile! Here are eight introductions that caught my attention.

Dynaudio - The first minute of the first day of the show, Dynaudio was already firing on all cylinders. The company had a wonderfully crafted space on the main floor of the MOC, that must’ve taken months to design. I don’t envy the team packing it up right now, as I sit in my hotel room sipping a cold beverage.

Dynaudio introduced four new products this year, and I’d say it nailed them all. OK, it introduced 5 products, but only nailed 4.5 of them. One is a turntable! As The Computer Audiophile, I can’t accept that! Only joking.

The Contour Legacy (passive design), Confidence 20A (active design), Contour 20 Black Edition, and a prototype named The Bookshelf were all announced. “The Bookshelf is a joint project between Dynaudio, Keiji Ashizawa Design of Tokyo and Karimoku of Japan.” According to Dynaudio. I love the look of this loudspeaker and hope this partnership last a very long time.

I spent a brief time listening to the Contour legacy and Confidence 20A during a press conference. These two both look excellent and will no doubt sound just as good in one’s home. I had an awkward seat during the demo, but heard promising results from these designs.

I really wanted to make it to the Dynaudio automobile that was onsite, but when the final show buzzer sounded, I had only seen it from the outside. I’d love to get a demo of one of these vehicle sound systems, but it’ll have to be on another day.

Master Fidelity - Technically this DAC was at the show last year, but now it’s real. I’ll be receiving one for review shortly. The NADAC D (DAC) and NADAC C (Clock) are unique designs, unlike anything else in the industry. Master Fidelity, with its Merging Technologies DNA, is a believer in the benefits of DSD. To this end, the company designed its own true 1 bit chip, and had it fabricated by TSMC, at an astronomical cost. This is the first true 1 bit chip in decades. According to Master fidelity, “[We] chose to have professional IC manufacturers customize Audiophile Grade components, thus realizing an Advanced ASIC based Discrete DAC.” I’m looking forward to receiving the review unit soon.

Wilson Audio - The WATT/Puppy has returned! It’s only fitting that Wilson Audio releases a new WATT/Puppy on the company’s 50th anniversary. The W/P is THE aspirational loudspeaker that caught my ears and eyes as a young budding audiophile. I’ll never forget the first time seeing it in person and hearing it that day. Fortunately I’ll be hearing the new W/P very soon. Stay tuned.

Constellation - Constellation dropped a bomb on me this year, a very good bomb. “Every unit from all four of its main product lines has internal and external improvements,” according to Constellation’s Irv Gross. As members of the Audiophile Style community know, I’ve used Constellation amps and preamp for several years, with great success. Constellation gear is what every component that enters my room for review, is played through. I’ve literally spent thousands of hours listening through Constellation gear, and I’m in a great position to evaluate the new improved signal paths and Power Factor Corrected (PFC) power supplies. While I spent time listening at the show, I ran out of time to circle back and do additional serious listening. I love what I heard, but have my fingers crossed that I’ll get to hear the improvements in my own dedicated listening room.

In addition every component in the Inspiration 2 Series, the Revelation 2 Series, the Performance 2 Series, and the Reference 2 Series will now be a very rich looking champagne color, that looks even better in person than it does in photos.

SOtM - It was great to see May from SOtM at the show this year, with the company’s gear in two of the main rooms (with Egglestonworks, J.Sikora Turntables Doshi Audio in one room and with Absolare and Rockport in the other). SOtM launched its new sMS-2000 server / player, that’ll be just what the doctor ordered for audiophiles who’ve long wanted to use the custom SOtM motherboard (sMB-Q370), USB card, network card, and advanced clocking, but didn’t have the time, skill, or knowledge to assemble a server themselves. The sMS-2000 contains all the SOtM goodies, and is ready to play without any assembly required.

Innuos - A big thank you to Amelia and Nuno from Innuos for giving me a chance to play a track that I know and love, on the company’s new ZENith NG. I enjoyed talking to the team about everything that went into the new models, including the new electronics and software platforms with the PreciseAudio mainboard, NGaN regulation module and Sense 3. According to Nuno, “These are the result of almost 3 years of intense Research and Development.”

It’s hard to believe how far Innuos has come as a company. It now has 47 employees and a factory designed like Foxconn! Seriously, this company has taken everything to another level, and I hope to visit the great people of Innuos in Portugal soon.

MUTEC - A few weeks before the show MUTEC sent out a press release announcing its new MC1.2+ bi-directional digital to digital converter. As the show came to a close, with literally minutes left on the clock, and other manufacturers already lining up boxes to be packed with gear, MUTEC’s CEO Christian Peters graciously spent time with me, going over the MC1.2+.

This product has so much potential and has flown under the radar, although admittedly it has only been a few weeks since the announcement and no products exist in the wild yet. However, there are so many uses for the MC1.2+ that it’ll take an entire community like the one we have here at Audiophile Style, to find only some of them.

The first thing that came to mind when seeing the MC1.2+ is DSP / room correction. High end music servers don’t offer built-in room correction, but they have AES. S/PDIF, or USB output. That’s all we’ll need to run audio out to the MC1.2+, then into a computer or Raspberry Pi for processing using something like Accurate Sound’s Hang Loose Convolver, then out to one’s DAC of choice.

I’m very excited about the MC1.2+ and think most people should be as well. Its uses are only limited by one’s imagination or one’s digital audio needs.

WADAX - 2024 has been a revelation for me with WADAX. Since bringing fellow Minnesotan Brandon Lauer on as the Director of Sales and Marketing, the door has been opened for me to learn more about the company rather than just read about its otherworldly Reference series of products (DAC, Server, PSU, Cable). Admittedly I was hesitant about WADAX for several years. I didn’t know anything about the company or its products, other than the price. Then I started hearing more about the performance of the products. Without great performance, I had no need to know anything else, but now I had reason to investigate. This year, I was fortunate to spend time with Brandon, Cayetano Castellano (COO), and Javier Guadalajara (CEO). I say fortunate because scheduling at this show is crazy, we’re all double-booked back-to-back with meetings or listening sessions and I had nothing officially on the books with WADAX before the show started. AND, even more important, I discovered really like these guys as people. Yes, the products are important, but if/when something goes wrong in shipping or with a product years after a purchase, you want to be working with the type people at WADAX.

The company introduced its new Studio Player at the show this year. I absolutely love the look of this product. I think the photos look great, but the look and feel of it in person are next level. The Studio Player oozes quality.

I spent some time listening to the Studio Player, but to be honest, I had a great reason to not play any of my room clearing heavy metal, in order to get a better feel for its sound quality. I had respect for everyone in the packed room already listening to something unfamiliar to me, but wonderfully enjoyable to them, and I’d recently lined up a Studio Player to hear in my own listening room. I really liked what I heard in the WADAX room, but given the limited amount of time at the show I thought it wise to only confirm my suspicion that this product COULD be something special, and wait until I get it in my own system to confirm if it really IS something special.

Time To Check-in For My Flight

That’s a wrap on the new items that caught my attention this year at the 2024 Munich high End show. There were so many other items that I would’ve loved to see and hear, but I just ran out of time. I think I needed a week long show this year because it was so enjoyable.

I look forward to sharing the immersive audio developments, they were fantastic, and awarding my best of show for Munich High End 2024, in parts 2 and 3. Just like the show, I’ve run out of time here in Munich. I still need to check-in for my flight, pack up all my stuff and goodies I purchased for my wife and daughter, and get some sleep before heading home in the morning.

What a show!

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