Munich High-End 2008 (Off Topic)

by madprofessor , 27777 Ganderkesee, Germany, Saturday, May 03, 2008, 10:18 (5829 days ago) @ Bert

I also was at the Munich Show and want to list some of my subjective impressions.
First I think, the demonstration rooms are all suboptimal, having at one side from floor to ceiling windows and at the opposite side the entrance door and corresponding wall, also made of glas. To make things even worse, the walls between the show-rooms are very thin and resonating. There was a lot of acoustic treatment in the show-rooms. I think, best worked the rigs, where there was a kind of partition, eliminating at least somehow the effects of one glass-wall.
Also the power-system - simply wall outlets, I guess contaminated by a lot of digital gear, and loaded by all the electronics, are less than optimal.
Comapred to 2005 / 2006 the sonic quality overall has significantly improved. I think the exhibitioners learned how to get the best from the show-rooms.
In comparison, to real good systems, like for example the one Bert has, I recognized an overall tendency to exaggerated trebble, going to the harsh, glassy side and somehow uncontrolled, soft fluffy bass. I think, that has mostly to do, with the rooms described above.
But there were still some rigs, I liked to listen to: Continuum, Tenor, Kharma; Hovland, Avalon; Acoustic Plan ( in one of the cubicles at the ground floor, also mentioned in the link, Bert posted)
I see a tendency, to use for interconnects better and cleaner Materials.
Interesting newcomers: The amps from Tenor using a valve-gain-stage and MOSFET outputstage. Very nice work of engineering.
The EMV-shielded computers from Hush - a source like that I could accept to feed a DAC in a system!
Nice program at the booth of Dr. Freickert to adjust pickups for optimal azimuth and VTA. At a very reasonable price!
My conclusion: I´s worth to go to the show, to see some gear, to learn, what´s new. But it´s not the place for serious listening!