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High End Munich 2025 - May 15-18

I've watched a lot of the videos of Audiophile Junkie but only MBL challenged their €€€ speakers with some rock ( track by Chevelle). Most other music I didn't think it was all that hard to play, but yeah, I wasn't there, so I could be wrong.
 
When I see these decadent and full or deceptive snake oil audio fair always the text of the really great German audio journalist Jürgen Egger (RIP) come to my mind (electronic translation):

There is a restaurant at the edge of the universe.
Actually, it's not a restaurant, it's a nasty, stinky diner,
in which exclusively greasy, dark lumps with a slimy, light-coloured saturation supplement
will be served. Always the same. Every day. And all you get to drink is warm Cherry Coke.
In this restaurant at the edge of the universe, all the high end guys are locked up,
who have sinned in their earthly lives.
You meet people there who, one or more times, have stated amplifier power in horsepowers,
who have made a fortune with cable, spray or appliance base voodoo,
who cobbled together their dirty loudspeakers for a pig's fee to the
junkie buyers who were stupefied by the trade press.
By the way, one or the other hi-fi journalist sits around there as well.
In this restaurant Chris de Burgh of Mini-Disc runs the whole day through a permanent
clipping pre/amplifier combination and six-way speakers with broken midrange drivers.
This is how I once dreamt it on a restless audio fair night.
I don't know how much truth there is in this dream.
But it is an immensely soothing perspective.
 
Anyone heard the Børresen speakers?
They're very hyped in the audiophile world
 
Interesting snake oily finds @ HiEnd Munich ...

 
Jean.Francois said:
Here's a video (link) with the manufacturers presenting and describing the technical features of their systems.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. Although I am very reserved when it comes to big horns covering a broad range, the Ø Audio looks very promising (Who chooses a company name with an Ø which 99.9% of the world population cannot even type or know how to pronounce it???).
 
Pearljam5000 said:
Anyone heard the Børresen speakers?
They're very hyped in the audiophile world
Click to expand...
Erin measured one of those, he completely held back on comment even though you know he just itched to distill his tremendous headshake into words.
I am not exaggerating, the results are horrible.

Børresen X3 Floorstanding Speaker Review

Børresen X3 Floorstanding
www.erinsaudiocorner.com
 
Just got back from the show and wanted to share my honest impressions. Hopefully useful for others who couldn’t make it or are reflecting on what they heard.



Material Trend: TeXtreme Everywhere​


One of the things I noticed most was the rise of TeXtreme membranes. Borellsen had them, even Gryphoon did too. I keep spotting this material more and more. Looks like it’s becoming the new state-of-the-art membrane material.



‍♂️ Snake Oil of the Show​


At the far end of Hall H1 or H2, there was a “Taiwan” booth with a guy showing off a €2,500 USB stick that "improves sound" — even without being plugged in. And yes, he insisted “it really works!”
I smiled, nodded, and left.



Disappointments: Canton & Room Setup​


The big Canton Reference models were underwhelming — a bit harsh and bright. Might’ve been the room: almost no acoustic treatment.
Oddly enough, the smaller Canton models sounded better. Maybe due to the lower tweeter axis, which didn’t excite the room as much.



✅ Positive Surprises​


  • Gryphoon and Wilson Audio really stood out.
  • A massive Chinese PA system sounded phenomenal — although not fair to call it HiFi, given the sheer scale. Way too big for any real room, but they had a huge booth with an unfair advantage.
  • Rooms rich in diffusors sounded great. Some had no treatment at all, others doubled down with great effect.


Genelec: Clear Winner​


Across all sizes, Genelec completely wiped the floor with most of the competition. Yes, it’s a bit unfair since they used SAM (Smart Active Monitoring), but still — impressive.
The 8381s are insanely good. Visually? Not ugly, not pretty — but definitely not something I’d put in my living room.



⚠️ Too Much Audiophile Voodoo​


A recurring theme: so much voodoo processing. Most systems sounded way below their potential.
I really missed seeing modern amps like Hypex, Purifi, Topping — nothing. Probably not enough money in it?


So many turntables… often routed through 4–6 devices, ending up with probably -50dB SINAD and wild HF distortion. And of course, plenty of R2R/NOS DACs and tube amps.



Back Home: Reality Check​


The moment I got home, I tested my system with tracks I had Shazamed during the show:
KEF Reference 3 + NCx500 — and yep, wiped the floor with almost everything I had just heard.
My room isn't even done acoustically (still dealing with floor-ceiling flutter echo), but now I’m motivated to finish proper treatment.



Missing Brands​


I was a bit sad not to see:


  • KEF — would’ve loved to do a true 1:1 comparison against Reference or Blade.
  • (Though Rotel had some nice white Blade 2s in H1)
  • Kii – never found them
  • Perlisten – didn’t bother waiting in line
  • Burmester – didn’t buy the special ticket
  • Geithain – couldn’t locate them


Takeaways​


  • I feel even more confident in my KEF + NCx500 setup. Correlation between measurements and actual "niceness" is definitely real.
  • Got a better feel for room acoustics just from visiting booths. I realized I made some dumb assumptions at home (eyeballing diffuser placement etc.). Time to fix that with actual planning.
  • Some Ultra High-End speakers really do have something special going on — Gryphoon, Wilson Audio come to mind.


Bonus: Best Schnitzel + Pizza Ever​


I combined the trip with a beautiful walk through Munich's old town, parks, and museums.
Also had the best Schnitzel and Pizza of my life — at the same restaurant, just outside the main train station:
Münchener Stubn – highly recommended!



If anyone has other impressions or counterpoints — happy to discuss!
And if someone did find Kii or Perlisten, let me know how they sounded!
 
A7DF51F5-18C4-4C3E-8D54-F67FE6B09EF8.jpeg
 
anphex said:

If anyone has other impressions or counterpoints — happy to discuss!
And if someone did find Kii or Perlisten, let me know how they sounded!
Click to expand...
Kii was an experience like no other.
I'm not a MC guy and I have stated lots of times that only one such system did it for me, one set-up by pros.

So I was curious about it and yep, they do the trick.
They absolutely do it.
 
'A massive Chinese PA system'

Any chance of remembering the name? Sounds interesting.
 
d3l said:
'A massive Chinese PA system'

Any chance of remembering the name? Sounds interesting.
Click to expand...
ESD Red Dragon, the $4 million one posted above with fans.
And I beg to differ, it was bad last year and even worst this one.
 
kolestonin said:
I think he refers to that one which was indeed sounded great
Click to expand...
Huh wait, that's a different one, but yeah it was ESD. And now that I think of it, it wasn't super impressive (especially at close range), but the bass was phenomenal.

1747641637983.png
 
Thanks for the impressions, where you Sunday? How where the crowds on Sunday compared to Saturday?
 
Sokel said:
ESD Red Dragon, the $4 million one posted above with fans.
And I beg to differ, it was bad last year and even worst this one.
Click to expand...
Ah that one, thanks. I really love how they placed the subs few meters behind the mouths of the horns. I bet the phase is spot on...
 
TheKoC said:
Thanks for the impressions, where you Sunday? How where the crowds on Sunday compared to Saturday?
Click to expand...

Nope, Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. Gosh, my feet hurt so much. Then again I was kind of stupid for wearing my flat semi-business-sneaker.
The crowd capacity was kind of okay. I always got a spot, often even a seat to listen to all speakers. I don't know how it was on Sunday.
 
Last edited:
anphex said:
Just got back from the show and wanted to share my honest impressions. Hopefully useful for others who couldn’t make it or are reflecting on what they heard.



Material Trend: TeXtreme Everywhere​


One of the things I noticed most was the rise of TeXtreme membranes. Borellsen had them, even Gryphoon did too. I keep spotting this material more and more. Looks like it’s becoming the new state-of-the-art membrane material.



‍♂️ Snake Oil of the Show​


At the far end of Hall H1 or H2, there was a “Taiwan” booth with a guy showing off a €2,500 USB stick that "improves sound" — even without being plugged in. And yes, he insisted “it really works!”
I smiled, nodded, and left.



Disappointments: Canton & Room Setup​


The big Canton Reference models were underwhelming — a bit harsh and bright. Might’ve been the room: almost no acoustic treatment.
Oddly enough, the smaller Canton models sounded better. Maybe due to the lower tweeter axis, which didn’t excite the room as much.



✅ Positive Surprises​


  • Gryphoon and Wilson Audio really stood out.
  • A massive Chinese PA system sounded phenomenal — although not fair to call it HiFi, given the sheer scale. Way too big for any real room, but they had a huge booth with an unfair advantage.
  • Rooms rich in diffusors sounded great. Some had no treatment at all, others doubled down with great effect.


Genelec: Clear Winner​


Across all sizes, Genelec completely wiped the floor with most of the competition. Yes, it’s a bit unfair since they used SAM (Smart Active Monitoring), but still — impressive.
The 8381s are insanely good. Visually? Not ugly, not pretty — but definitely not something I’d put in my living room.



⚠️ Too Much Audiophile Voodoo​


A recurring theme: so much voodoo processing. Most systems sounded way below their potential.
I really missed seeing modern amps like Hypex, Purifi, Topping — nothing. Probably not enough money in it?


So many turntables… often routed through 4–6 devices, ending up with probably -50dB SINAD and wild HF distortion. And of course, plenty of R2R/NOS DACs and tube amps.



Back Home: Reality Check​


The moment I got home, I tested my system with tracks I had Shazamed during the show:
KEF Reference 3 + NCx500 — and yep, wiped the floor with almost everything I had just heard.
My room isn't even done acoustically (still dealing with floor-ceiling flutter echo), but now I’m motivated to finish proper treatment.



Missing Brands​


I was a bit sad not to see:


  • KEF — would’ve loved to do a true 1:1 comparison against Reference or Blade.
  • (Though Rotel had some nice white Blade 2s in H1)
  • Kii – never found them
  • Perlisten – didn’t bother waiting in line
  • Burmester – didn’t buy the special ticket
  • Geithain – couldn’t locate them


Takeaways​


  • I feel even more confident in my KEF + NCx500 setup. Correlation between measurements and actual "niceness" is definitely real.
  • Got a better feel for room acoustics just from visiting booths. I realized I made some dumb assumptions at home (eyeballing diffuser placement etc.). Time to fix that with actual planning.
  • Some Ultra High-End speakers really do have something special going on — Gryphoon, Wilson Audio come to mind.


Bonus: Best Schnitzel + Pizza Ever​


I combined the trip with a beautiful walk through Munich's old town, parks, and museums.
Also had the best Schnitzel and Pizza of my life — at the same restaurant, just outside the main train station:
Münchener Stubn – highly recommended!



If anyone has other impressions or counterpoints — happy to discuss!
And if someone did find Kii or Perlisten, let me know how they sounded!
Click to expand...
How the 8381 sounded in comparison to 8361?
 
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