Hifi Pig

Monster, the headphone brand, has announced it is collaborating with luxury watchmaker Hublot  to create Hublot Inspiration – a luxury noise cancelling headphone that offers an “unprecedented music listening and lifestyle experience”.  The lightweight, rock-solid black and carbon fibre Hublot Inspiration over-ear headphones will be available this summer at Hublot retailers for EUR 1.750.00.  UK price to be announced.

At this year’s High End show in Munich, visitors can experience high end audio not just limited to the home but also in three high end motor cars.

Pagani and Sonus Faber

The exhibitor Audio Reference  from Hamburg is presenting one of the most exciting sports cars on Earth, equipped  with the exclusive Sonus Faber system.  In future, Pagani, the Italian producer of luxury sports cars, will be fitting its vehicles with these exclusive sound systems. One of the ultimate dream cars with a price tag of around  €1.4m will be at the show. (All pics are of this system)

Porsche and Burmester

The Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer Porsche and the high-end audio company Burmester from Berlin have been working closely together for years now.

All in all the new Porsche  Cayenne boasts 16 speakers with a total diaphragm area of 1,400 cm2. Providing in excess of 1,000 watts of output. This is enough to produce over 120 decibels  of sound pressure in the vehicle, meaning that a large orchestra or hard rock band can be listened to at the original volume. Each of the 16 loudspeakers is controlled by its own preamp and power amp. Technologies and materials used from Burmester’s home audio range are used in the car’s system.

Volkswagon Touareg with Dynaudio

This year Dynaudio is presenting the Volkswagen Touareg with the Dynaudio Confidence premium sound system. 620 watts, 12 speakers and the latest DSP technology are boasted. All the chassis fitted in this Volkswagen are hand-finished components from Dynaudio’s main plant in the Danish town of Skanderborg.

Atlas Cables has announced the launch of a new range of USB cables for computer audio applications.  Available now, the Atlas Element USB comes in either A/B or A/B Mini form in multiple lengths from 0.5 meters to 5 meters.

Made up of parallel lay twisted-pair silver-plated high-purity OFC copper conductors encased in a high quality foamed Polyethylene dielectric, Atlas has paid particular attention to ensure that every conductor is identical in length.  Using precision equipment to measure and micro-cut each conductor “ensures there is minimal time difference between each pair”.

To combat crosstalk between the twisted pair, the ground and the power conductors, Atlas uses a triple shielding technique that isolates the differential data, power and ground conductors from each other as well as providing an integral shield around the entire cable to help reject noise.  In addition, the 95% outer screen prevents unwanted noise getting into the signal conductors, with its low inductance providing excellent transfer impedance at high frequencies.

The metal plug and head-shell connector has been designed to keep the characteristic impedance of the cable as stable as possible “to reduce jitter even further”.  

Commenting on the new Atlas Element USB, Kevin Kelly, Managing Director of Atlas Cables said, “Every aspect of our new USB cables have been designed to enhance sound quality by reducing the jitter issues normally associated with USB cables. By stripping away the problems inherent with USB and overcoming those issues with applied engineering, we feel we have developed a product that will re-set the bar to which premium USB cables will need to be judged.”  

0.5 metre  £35.00
1.0 metre  £37.50
1.5 metre  £42.50
2.0 metre £47.50
3.0 metre  £57.50
5.0 metre  £77.50

Stewart Wennen takes a listen to the little Clones Audio 25i integrated amplifier and likes it a lot.

Read the full review of the Clones Audio 25i Integrated Amplifier.

Clones Audio, the Hong Kong based manufacturer of gainclone amplifiers have announced the latest addition to its product range – a power supply for the latest generation of Mac Mini called mPSU.

The ultra low-noise power supply replaces the original switching power supply in the Mac Mini and the manufacturer claims it dramatically improves performance. The simple installation takes just take 10mins and can be easily reversed for warranty issues.

Package includes:
– Custom cable for the power input of Mac Mini
– Special DC power cable for the mPSU to Mini
– The mPSU ultra low noise power supply unit

Price is $499

The HIGH END, hifi show in Munich will offer visitors a variety of interesting talks, presentations, demonstrations and workshops with high-profile speakers on the topic of consumer electronics.

Here is a small selection of what’s on offer:

How exact  is the human  ear?
Elac electroacustic GmbH, atrium 3, first floor,  room F102
11th May – 15.00
Matthias Böde – Stereo  editor

Our hearing is far more sensitive  than you would think. Just a few millimetres difference  in the position of the sound source can significantly affect your audio impression. If you want to discover  this for yourself, drop by Elac to find out how exact the human ear is in a short workshop  with STEREO editor Matthias Böde.

Music as pure lifestyle.
Elac electroacustik GmbH, atrium 3, first floor,  room F102
Marco Kolks – Hörerlebnis  editor
Meik Wippermann – Hörerlebnis  editor

What is good music? The simplest  answer  to this question is given by Marco Kolks: “It‘s the music that you personally  like.” The genre is not very important. It doesn‘t  matter whether it‘s classical, jazz, folk, pop or whatever kind of music is preferred. The most important thing is that listening to music arouses your emotions  and moves you.
The musicologist  Marco Kolks is a professed jazz lover. He cites a selection  of tracks  which he explains at length. At the same time he gives us some insight into the everyday  life of an editor and talks about his own personal audiophile understanding influenced by almost four decades of intensive  work with High End.
Meik Wippermann is as equally skilled in technology as he is in music. His interests are in the professional scene  as well as in high fidelity. He has close contacts with recording studios  and their technical  designers. Meik Wippermann  is also personal friends with a lot of musicians. He presents the world of classical music in an entertaining and knowledgeable way. The program  of presentations will remain a secret until the exhibition.  A notice at screening room F103 (Atrium 4, first floor) will inform visitors in good time.

“State of the Art” in home  cinema.
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
4k – four times the resolution  compared to Full HD. Everything revolves around this topic at Sony this year. Alongside professional equipment, such as cinema projectors and studio cameras, Sony also offers high-end home cinema systems, televisions  and blu-ray players with 4k technology. Sony is probably  the only manufacturer in the world that can boast  a complete 4k range for the living room all the way to the Hollywood studios.

“Digital Concert Hall” – technology partnership with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
Best picture and sound quality – this is the focus of the technology partnership with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sony are working together in this framework of technologies to continue to enhance the sound of audio products, as well as to provide live concert recordings and their digital streaming with better picture and sound quality.
The online streaming  service  “Digital Concert  Hall” makes it possible for classical fans all over the world to enjoy concerts performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the comfort  of their own living room.

Sound demonstrations
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
Talking about music is like dancing to architecture. This is why Sony is inviting visitors to this year‘s HIGH END to enjoy the sound of the AR1 loudspeaker themselves in a small sound demonstration.

High-end audio and multimedia systems based on the Microsoft Windows platform.
Technology stage,  Hall 3, D10
Daniel Mayerthaler AG  – Mr Daniel Mayerthaler

In future, computer-based solutions  will be increasingly used for high-quality audio and image playback. The Swiss company, Mayerthaler, is taking a new and innovative path, which the user can greatly benefit from. The DMA (Daniel Mayerthaler Assembly) concept is based on the completely open, and extremely  powerful Windows platform from the global software leader,  Microsoft.  The latest versions  also feature a generously dimensioned audio and multimedia subsystem. However, using high-quality electronics for the digital/ analogue conversion and analogue signal processing continues to be the key to providing the ultimate in musical pleasure. The modular DMA solutions enable individual customised high-quality audio and multimedia systems.

High Quality Stereo Reproduction with a Center  Channel.
Talk by Christof Faller, Illusonic GmbH, Uster, Schweiz

Christof Faller, AES Fellow and co-inventor of MP3 Surround,  will give a presentation at the HIGH END 2013 show about optimal reproduction of stereo music with three loudspeakers. This topic has been the subject  of heated debate for decades. The soundstage is only perceived faithfully in the so-called sweet spot with conventional stereo playback. The presented technique, based  on latest scientific results in acoustics and signal processing, allows reproduction of stereo signals with a high quality center channel, such that a stable soundstage is perceived from anywhere in the room.
An accompanying demonstration will be given in Room E221. Illusonic will present its
Immersive Audio Processor.