Set the controls for Munich, this week sees the High End show taking over the MOC exhibition centre with more extreme audio than you can shake a 12inch arm at. As well as Wilson Benesch’s new rack and the NADAC DAC already mentioned we are expecting the following high resolution gems.
Kronos Sparta 0.5
A Kronos with one platter means this Montreal brand can offer its remarkable craftsmanship for $21,500 USD. And here’s the craic, it can be upgraded into a full dual platter Sparta, hence the 0.5.
Chord Electronics
Chord Electronics is set to launch an as yet unnamed reference-level product which may or may not look like the beasts below.
Marten Coltrane 3
This ‘scaled down’ version of the Coltrane Supreme 3 from Marten is still no lightweight, it features seven Accutron ceramic mid/bass drivers and six rear firing bass units.
CAD 1543 MkII
There will be a new version of the excellent CAD 1543 DAC at Munich, as well as an as yet unspecified new product from this uncompromising brand.
Focal & Naim
No specifics are available as yet but Focal has a complete new range and Naim will unveil four new products.
Aurender N100H
Available with or without hard drive the N100H is a high resolution server/player with playback from an SSD cache.
Credo
Swiss electronics brand Credo will premier the CS125 Ref loudspeaker, The Amp and give a preview of the matching The Pre.
Audioquest
The cable specialist continues to expand its range of portable audio components with JitterBug, a line and data conditioner for cleaning up the USB output of a PC. And Beetle, a micro desktop DAC with asynchronous Bluetooth.
Nordost Odin 2
The latest addition to Nordost’s modestly named Supreme Reference Cable Range the Odin 2 makes its debut.
Métronome Technologie Music Centre
French disc spinning specialist unveils first high resolution streamer, don’t worry it still plays CDs. They also have Le Player, an “entry-range” CD player and DAC, as well as the C8+ a “big converter” that can also decode DSD.
Watch these pages for full coverage next week.
Jason Kennedy