Munich 2015: The Greatest Show on Earth page 3

Only in Munich! Rumor has it that this huge Realhorns apparatus located in the MOC’s atrium serves as only the tweeter section. Thank God, this rumor proved to be false. Fact is, this is the Realhorns’ woofer section of Germany where they actually build surround sound horn systems for public/stadium/DJ affairs (check their website http://www.realhorns.de/index.html).

Covering a show this size with veteran show-goer and ST instigator Key Kim made it much easier. Sporting our well-worn Canon cameras drapped around our necks, together Key and I captured plenty of sites for your perusal…

Always a gentleman, when Kurt Hecker – who also serves as chairman of the High End committee – isn’t participating in press conferences and the usual day to day affairs surrounding this huge, he and his wife were greeting visitors at his Kurt Hecker Marketing exhibitor’s booth.

Impressively built digital components took the spot light in many of the rooms I strolled into. As did this Total DAC stack.

Meridian Audio launched Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) at CES eariler this year. I did’t go but heard mixed reviews on its performance. MQA purports to bring the original studio recording standard CD quality (16/44) or even lo-rez MP3 files in a way that has never been done before. Meridian has a storied past due to their brand appeal and excellence in the home theater and two-channel market along with their help in the creation of both BluRay and SACD. As a result, MQA has already got the music streaming giant TIDAL boasting MQA technology and I’m told will have MQA music titles available by early June.

Unfortunately, the demo I attended at the show proved uneventful. I heard an overall quality of sound that was not pleasing to my ears. On certain songs I was unfamiliar with the music sounded okay. But on songs I knew, like Frank Sanatra singing Live at the Sands, it was not very good sounding at all. I am not giving up on the MQA because it was the only exciting thing at the show that sold for only $300.00. And for that reason alone I will ask for another chance to hear it again (another NYC demo is taking place in early June). I’ll report my findings so stay tuned.

Some more interesting sights from the Munich High End 2015 …

Jeff Lin, chief designer at Telos had some interesting products on display at this year’s show. Hopefully, I’ll get a review sample of his newest Quantum Noise Resonator.

Caught up with Stein Music’s Holger Stein of Germany showing off his latest Blue Sun passive room energizers (although the ones used in this room were actually white). In my hand are a pair of Stein’s latest products called Quantum Enhancers. Stein mentioned he would enjoy my feedback on these products. Our own David Caplan gave high praise to the mysterious Blue Suns in his latest review (here).