Into tomorrow…

The headcount is in for the 2019 edition of Munich High-End: 551 exhibitors from 42 countries (up 3.8%), 21,180 visitors (up 6.5%), 8,208 trade visitors from 72 countries (up 8.6%). That’s a total of ∼30,000 visitors and a turnaround from last year’s minor downturn on the 2017 event.

Whatever the numbers or trend, the greatest audio show on earth is done and dusted for another year. Tomorrow, it will be yesterday’s news.

So – what’s next?

Audio shows like Munich High-End are delicious tasting plates but they lacks the substance and nutritional value of at-home reviews. Last weekend’s M.O.C. show beat is already beginning to bear review unit fruit. The NAD Master M10 arrived at DARKO HQ this morning (see above) and Berlin-bound soon will be MrSpeakers’ Ether2 headphone.

Ken Ball handed me a selection of Campfire Audio IEMs in Munich; I’m on a train to Prague as I write this and the Polaris’ hybrid driver array (one dynamic, one BA) is a terrific match for Daniel Avery’s Song For Alpha B-Sides & Remixes.

AURALiC will send me their newly announced Sirius upsampling processor when it goes into production in a month or three. The same goes for Hegel’s H390 integrated – a review for which I’m already planning something a little offbeat. Somewhere in there will be new gear from Schiit (Sol? dunno yet) and a pair of Devialet’s Phantom Reactor.

Before that, the Dutch & Dutch 8c review, having endured two false starts and a long delay in between, should see the light of day before the end of June. After that, the dCS Bartók will get the video review treatment.

But first: a week off.