Two and a half years of pandemic life have rung some significant changes at Darko.Audio. In 2020, I embraced Patreon and as 2021 drew to a close, I dialled back my interest in DACs to clear more editorial space for room correction software and subwoofers. Last weekend, with the world’s biggest hi-fi show, Munich High-End, running for the first time since 2019, I finalised my testing of a new approach to hi-fi show coverage: no more videos on what kind of music gets played at hi-fi shows and no more room-by-room reports tied to new product announcements. Against a backdrop of manufacturers and show attendees publishing their own room/hall sweeps on social media in close to real-time, written post-show reports are beginning to look very long in the tooth. By their very nature, room-by-room posts are far less likely to thread the needle through themes and trends.
Back in April, I invited manufacturers reading this website to submit their Munich news for a preview podcast that would go live two weeks before the show. That preview podcast gave would-be High-End attendees advance notice of what to see in Munich, thus broadening the audience of the any new product announcements to 1) leave yours truly free to sweep up other products of interest with Instagram and then 2) a week later – thoughts fully percolated – deliver a helicopter view on what went down in Munich in podcast format. Also discussed with co-host Michael Lavorgna are my plans to substitute all post-show coverage with pre-show reporting for Munich High-End 2023.
Listen via SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn or the embedded player below:
👉🏻 As mentioned in this podcast…
NEWS
dCS Lina
https://darko.audio/2022/05/dcs-readies-lina-a-summit-fi-headphone-listening-station/
dCS Bartók 2.0 update
https://dcsaudio.com/edit/bartok-20
Adam Audio A Series
https://darko.audio/2022/05/adam-audios-a7v-is-an-active-monitor-with-a-twist/
Marantz CD60
https://darko.audio/2022/05/marantzs-cd-60-is-a-cd-usb-media-player-headphone-amp/
MUNICH HIGH-END 2022
Dali Kore
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cd6XYBGg8WQ/
Monitor Audio Concept 50
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cd53RViAxA5/
Mission 770
https://darko.audio/2022/03/back-to-the-future-missions-770-loudspeaker-is-born-again/
Dynaudio Focus Series
https://darko.audio/2022/05/best-of-munich-2022-dynaudios-focus-series/
iFi Go bar
https://darko.audio/2022/05/all-that-glitters-is-not-g-oh-wait/
Astell & Kern HC2
https://darko.audio/2022/05/astellkern-readies-hc2-a-4-4mm-balanced-dongle-dac/
Mark Levinson No. 5909
https://darko.audio/2022/01/mark-levinsons-no-5909-is-a-999-bluetooth-headphone/
T+A Solitaire T
https://www.ta-hifi.de/en/high-end-2022/
Pro-Ject / Metallica turntable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNX0HS3oykw
MUSIC
Cathal Coughlan – Black River Falls (2000)
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40825493.html
https://www.discogs.com/release/401575-Cathal-Coughlan-Black-River-Falls
Z.O.A. / Boris – Refrain (2020)
https://dogknightsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/dk150-z-o-a-boris-refrain-collaborative-12-lp-2