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Analog Domain's Angel Despotov showed his Isis integrated/amp—with headfi output if you pay attention to these things—whose understated industrial design with super-fine finishing recalled the earlier nut on finishing costs. DIYers in particular are quick to point fingers at HighEnd's pricing. And much indeed goes to various margins embedded in our antiquated distribution/retail system. But that doesn't obliterate the very real costs of being in business in the first place (overhead, employees etc.) and paying for quality metal work.

It's one thing to stick chip-amp guts into bolted-together aluminium plates à la Clones Audio. It's an altogether different game to build something like the Isis and stomach the high chassis reject rates this invariably entails. When I queried his claim for Excalibur circuit originality—the German Rieder Ampino circuit reads conceptually similar—Angel had a relaxed grin. Apparently he'd patented his many years ago. His website has as many specifics as he's willing to divulge. I wager an educated guess. The Isis is one of those sleeper products awaiting discovery for a big bang.

The Finnish delegation of the next room combined Apoll Acoustics ICEpower amps with unusual modifications; Existence speakers (sadly not the Voxativ model I'd hoped to hear); and Graditech adaptable cables.

Apoll's man explained their use of marble for the chassis. It's not cosmetic bling. It's to run their ICEpower board hotter than all their metal-chassis competitors where the material itself creates cooling. The Finns insist that ICEpower sounds better run warmer, hence an enclosure which maintains higher internal temps. Even the roller-bearing string-fixed footers were unique in their low-rider profile.


Astell&Kern showed their new AK100II portable hi-rez player whose duded-up cosmetics and enlarged display made my original AK100 look like yesterday's news. Or as a character in the TV series Klondike put it, "you're either gettin' or you're gettin' got".

Here is our unmarried Xuanqian Wang once more—his mother must be working hard behind the scenes to change that status—demonstrating the AURALiC Aries user interface to a visitor. Xuanqian of course could feel that a wife would just slow him down. In fact I seem to recall him saying exactly that.

Horns and tubes are like peanut butter and jelly. But not always. Here a pair of Azzolina Audio horns made that point.

Here is Bassocontinuo's new flagship Aeon rack with low-mass carbon-fiber struts and shelves. A visitor gushed over its looks and finish with "these Italians really have it".


Which brings me to a speaker I missed at the Kempinski but badly wanted to hear: Wilson Benesch's new Endeavor, a super monitor in 3-way guise with downfiring reverse-cone woofer ensconced in carbon-composite skins. I'm all with the Kaiser Kawero!/Crystal Cable program of eliminating the speaker enclosure from the audible equation. I simply prefer a low-mass approach not only because it's inherently less prone to energy storage but because physically lighter speakers are so much friendlier to move about. Alas, no Endeavor for me (which, if you recall, was also Inspector Morse's well-guarded middle name). The Endeavor was only one of the products I knew I missed as soon as a drove back to Switzerland. About the others I'd find out in show reports from colleagues elsewhere.


Greece's Black Pearls Audio had a new preamp and power amp in their growing catalogue. I've committed to testing the pair later in the year so we'll leave the details for then.

B.M.C.'s front-to-back systemic approach reiterated Kevin Scott's Living Voice recipe for success. Enter reader and former contributor Bill Armstrong: "Just a quick note to say hello and to thank you for your entertaining coverage of the Munich Show. It's interesting that you still put the Living Voice speakers at the top of the pile. I also wonder how much it might have to do with the Kondo amps? I recall hearing a complete Kondo Audio Note setup about a decade ago. It was so far ahead of everything else I'd previously experienced, it was a little sobering. I think in fact I've subdued the memory to a degree simply because the Kondo gear really does fall into the 'forever unaffordable' category! The speakers I am sure sound fab but for me at least it's a shame they have such an eccentric Edwardian/steam punk aesthetic."


Well of course. All that goes without saying. It's implicit in hifi per se. Kevin's system relied on a full set of Kondo gear, Kondo cabling, C.E.C. transport, battery power and setup expertise, not just the speakers which as the biggest piece of kit tend to attract all the attention. It's always about everything and how well it is combined. And it's always about not having a clue which part is doing what, exactly, unless one systematically swapped and compared to grow a clearer notion. Just entering an unfamiliar room prepares one for nothing except to comment on the overall sound. With Balanced Music Concept, a single designer controlled the entire signal path and it showed. This was a very very good sound and considering the HighEnd, for a surprisingly friendly hit on the ol' wallet. As the next photo shows, this aluminator speaker duplicates its two-way driver array of the front on the diagonally upfiring rear. Not all one-brand systems deliver. I never cottoned to Linn's speakers for example. With B.M.C. it was very different. I'd consider this complete setup in a New York minute. Carlos Candeias knows his stuff!