For those visiting the show in the coming days, the Kii demo is quite nice with 3 x BXT for LCR and 4 x seven for surrounds. There was a guy with an African styled shirt taking care of the quality of it today.
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High End Munich 2025 - May 15-18
- Thread starter Martijn Mensink
- Start date
Might that guy have been Bruno Putzeys? ( who often favours African attire)
Keith
Keith
I am seriously worried that I won't like my KEF Reference 3 Meta + KC92 sub combo anymore after visiting the place and will crave some random 100.000 € system, even if all the evidence shows that isn't really anything that can improve upon this system, measurement wise. 
Also I will have to hold back and try not to play "hifi bullshit bingo".
Also I will have to hold back and try not to play "hifi bullshit bingo".
Certainly in the atrium rooms there was never a great deal of returned bass, simply because of the fibreboard walls between rooms, on the plus side we never had an issue with ‘boomy’ bass.
Keith
Keith
phoenixdogfan
Major Contributor
Had me lusting until I saw the Silly-Tech cables. After all, not often do you see a pair of statuesque blond floorstanders with .7 waist to hip ratio!
Looking? Never seen paintings and sculptures there. A video won’t replace sitting in front of speakers playing and enjoying (or not)
Todd k
Active Member
It took me a hour to scroll thru all of his pics. My Eyes hurt from looking at all that uber expensive bling. Who buys those ridiculous looking things. I’am sure some of that stuff sounds incredible. I think I will stick to my revel salon 2’s
Mundorf AMT?
In my understanding, prices in high end lost contact with reality several decades ago. I would not go to such show expecting some exemplary sound-quality-for-money approach or excellent performance everywhere. For some people it is fun to spend more money than necessary. If you see the whole circus from a relaxed point of view, it can even be fun studiyng the different designs and level of craftsmanship which definitely has improved a lot.
Even if resonating light walls might suppress room modes rather than getting the full boost in the lowest octave, they can nevertheless contribute to boomy, muddy upper bass or lower midrange. It happens a lot at shows, and might be a reason why companies like Kii are so successful.
Jean.Francois
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By the end and including the ‘de-luxe’ show and any other off-site venues there will be 70 odd pages!
Keith
Jean.Francois
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I find that it's not easy to have a very objective opinion when listening, as I don't listen to my reference tracks, so I can only give an opinion based on the tracks I've listened to.
What I can say is that listening was very pleasant, with dynamics and above all a nice tonal balance, without being harsh. A rather natural sound.
Here's a new video(link)
Enjoy
DTTOM37
Active Member
This visual tour through this year's high-end show offers a revealing glimpse into the ongoing transformation of that industry. It's becoming increasingly clear why the exhibition halls in Munich are permanently too small — and why the event is moving to Vienna.
What we’re seeing are no longer rooms for auditioning gear — they’ve become gigantic halls of abundance. If you’re willing to drop 250K on a pair of speakers and hundreds of thousands more on cables, you likely won't hesitate to install your own cathedral of excess at home: full of natural light, acoustically optimized, and architecturally voluminous.
If I imagine a (still fictional) optimized endgame setup — with Purifi monoblocks, speakers from Kroma Atelier - like the MacBeth (yes, overpriced) - maybe a streamer/DAC combo from Eversolo, or even WIIM/RME — the cost of some of these power supplies and cables on display there would already exceed the entire system budget. And that’s without a single signal-processing component included.
To me, the industry’s increasing focus on luxury goods is killing the spirit of this hobby. Financing R&D and marketing through the ultra-high-end lane does not strike me as a sustainable business model. Then again, neither is clinging to formats like Qorno or Qrono or whatever MQA is called these days — at least from my (admittedly subjective) point of view.
What I find most fascinating, though, is the target audience for this kind of “merchandise.” Most buyers in that tier are financially independent but often no longer capable of any real auditory discrimination beyond psychoacoustic suggestion. But hey — that part of the industry certainly knows how to pull their generosity trigger.
Just up to page 30 of Leo’s ( My Hi-End) coverage, if we discount the ‘jewellery’ Elephant’s foreskin cables which makes up what 70% of the product, I don’t think I have seen for example one pair of loudspeakers under £10k and generally speakers are ten or twenty times that or far more.
I have only seen Kii ( so far) trying to do anything remotely interesting and that involves selling $40-50 per month ‘curated immersive streaming.’
We should cherish the measurement led companies, who are actually striving to improve sound quality.
Keith
I have only seen Kii ( so far) trying to do anything remotely interesting and that involves selling $40-50 per month ‘curated immersive streaming.’
We should cherish the measurement led companies, who are actually striving to improve sound quality.
Keith
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What is that?
Not that many tunes to choose from.
Keith
Keith
Sorry but this is a delusional take. Yes, there are sadly a lot of bad sounding expensive loudspeakers out there, but there are also some very good high end speakers which will sound overall much better than KEF Reference Meta speakers and of cause will also measure overall better.I am seriously worried that I won't like my KEF Reference 3 Meta + KC92 sub combo anymore after visiting the place and will crave some random 100.000 € system, even if all the evidence shows that isn't really anything that can improve upon this system, measurement wise.
Uhh spicy take from yourself. Please provide examples with measurement links.
Rules:
- must be passive
- must have a clear reason for "sounding better"
- can't be KEF Blade
- just more low end extension doesn't count since were talking pairing with sub here
I apply a loudness correction to my KEFs, don't think I like "flat" linearity at all. The reason Iove flat speakers is that they allow you to apply reliable EQ and shelfs.
As for the fair, I didnt feel like bringing the heavy and bulky Nikon via train. But I will make some raw pics from my Zenfone and postpro them.