Doug Brady hi-fi will be exhibiting the new Super HL5-plus monitor from renowned British loudspeaker 
manufacturer Harbeth at the Cranage Hall Show Nr Knutsford in Cheshire on Sunday the 15th June
This will be the first opportunity to hear the new model of the speaker in the north of England. Hifi Pig reviewed the previous model some time ago and you can read the review in full here.
Speaking to Harbeth at Munich they are very excited with the new model and we are looking forward to hearing it when we visit the Doug Brady room at Cranage Hall.
The show is free, you can book your ticket online here and as the shows exclusive media partners, Hifi Pig will be sure to bring you lots of photographs and opinion from the show.
This is the first full length album for Elekfants Daniel and Leo who first met over 20 years ago when they played together in a blues band. Daniel is well known in his native Brazil and is something of a local hero where he is considered one of the country’s finest Djs. Leo on the other hand is a professional drummer, singer and composer and has played with some of Brazil’s best known artists.
Dark Tales and Love songs is accessible and in parts poppy but always in the same house/tech tradition – it’s also beautifully engineered by D.O.Cs (the label) boss Gui Boratto. To me, musically it’s a little reminiscent of HotChip at their best and that’s a good thing I think! More »
The Chord Company has made a minor name change to its Ethernet cable range. All existing 
Ethernet cables will be renamed ‘streaming cables’. The move has been implemented to recognise the cables’ primary intended usage.
The following cables will be renamed ‘streaming’ instead of ‘Ethernet’:
Chord C-stream streaming cable (£40, 0.75m)
Chord Indigo Tuned ARAY streaming cable (£850, 1m)
Chord Sarum Tuned ARAY streaming cable (£1,600, 1m)
(Additional lengths are available, plus custom lengths to order)
The Neutral Cable USB DH (Dual Head) is a USB cable with separated 5V power supply aimed at 
further improving USB DAC and USB/SPDIF converters performance using a dedicated power supply.
This USB cable has the power conductors (5V and ground) completely separated from the data conductors and each group of conductors is terminated with USB type A connector. Both the group of conductors flow into a single USB type B connector.
The Neutral Cable USB DH is made of Teflon insulated conductors and both groups of conductors have shielding against EMI/RFI. The complete separation between data and power conductors has a double purpose say Neutral Cable:
1. To supply the USB DAC or the USB/SPDIF converter with a clean provided by a linear power supply or battery.
2. Distance completely the data conductors from the power conductors to avoid any crosstalk between the data transferring and the emf of the 5V conductor to reduce jitter and other distortions.
“The sonic improvements of a separated 5V power supply made using the USB DH cable are evident in soundstage, dynamic, separation between instruments and detail. These gains can be achieved also with a small usb power supply like the ones used for tablet or smartphone (having an usb port). Of course the better is the quality of the separated power supply, the bigger are the improvements” said Neutrsal Cable’s Fabio..
Neutral Cable sells directly to customers and ship world wide.
Prices: USB DH cm 80 – € 140 / USB DH cm 120 / € 180.
Hot on the heels of their ASU-100 wall mounted shelf which we reviewed some time ago, Audio 
Suspension, has launched 2 new supports for hi-fi equipment.
Audio Suspension Modular Reference Rack
Hand-made in Sussex, and designed in conjunction with graduates of Imperial University and the Royal College of Art, Audio Suspensions Modular Reference Rack is the latest design in their search for the ultimate combination of aesthetic beauty and audio clarity. The shelves are made from the same high grade 20mm acrylic as used on the ASU-100 and also used by several high end turntable manufacturers. The acrylic is hand flame polished to give a mirror surface and every shelf has an inbuilt spirit level as well as a cut out on the back for cable management. “This low resonant material is perfect for reducing the effects of unwanted micro-vibrations and rumble that can muddy audio quality” says the companies press release. All the legs are individually hand turned and polished from the highest quality stainless steel and feature silicone seals at the top to further isolate the shelves. The spikes on the legs are Track Audio.
Price and availability
The Modular Reference Rack will be available from mid June with prices starting at £1200 for a 2 tier rack £2400 for a 4 tier rack.
Audio Suspension Isolation Plinth
Using the same 20mm high grade acrylic as the other Audio Suspension products with an inset spirit level, the plinth also features aluminium legs. These use a 5/8” Chrome steel bearing (Grade 100) to support and isolate. The principle used to isolate, is based on minimising contact between the supporting surfaces within the foot, bearing and isolating base plate. Contact points are literally no more than a hairline width.
The combination of chrome steel, aluminium and nitrile rubber rings within the foot combine to act as a barrier against unwanted vibrations, the combination of materials helps to absorb a wide variety of unwanted sound frequencies.
“Some of the benefits experienced can be heard in a tighter bass response and improvement in the soundstage when fitted to turntables and a general reduction of transmission of unwanted noise and vibration within your equipment” .
The Isolation Plinth will be available from mid June with a price of £350.
The penultimate show report from me of this years High End Munich show. There’s are loads of photos and a few comments about individual rooms. enjoy! More »
I hate Munich High End, I really do. It’s not enough that the humans subject me to endless sessions 
of stuff they laughably call music throughout the year but then they abandon me to go off to some place in Germany to listen to it all and, I’ve been told, have quite a nice time of it. That’s me on the right by the way – pretty aren’t I!
Well I certainly don’t have a nice time of it and I think my position needs to be highlighted!
Last year I was sent to cat prison for a few days. I didn’t see any of the other inmates whose owners must also have gone to the High-End show as I only came out to feed at night so as not to lower myself to their level of integration with the humans.
This year was even worse! It was a full week. Things started off badly enough when I was unceremoniously tipped into a plastic holding cage and placed on the back seat of the car. As soon as this happens I know no good will come of it…it’s either the vets with his thermometer or prison. I was making my consternation known to the humans with my plaintive howling but you will never guess what indignation followed. That’s right, I was joined on the back seat by another holding cage containing none other than my arch nemesis “He Who Must Not Be Named” (that’s him underneath!),
though I understand that since he’s been ill the humans have given him the name of Salvador! Outrageous!
What the hell was he doing in here with me? I don’t share my back seat with lowly common outside cats like him and this outrage did shock me into silence. He however was quite vociferous and I’m not surprised as I believe he’s been probed by the man they call the vet and his thermometer quite a few times recently due to his fighting injuries.
We arrived and were greeted by our warder for the week and led to our cells that would be our homes for the duration.
I didn’t come out again during the day but it did seem that the place was full of other felines. He Who Must Not Be Named got quite a bit of pampering due to his wounds and inability to consume the prison rations properly, but I stayed put, knowing that if I showed my face the warders would try to make friends with me.
The only thing for it was hunger strike and I refused to consume anything but water for the whole of my stay.
Of course after I’d done my porridge the humans arrived and put me back in the box and took me home. Since then I’ve tried to be quite friendly with them and have even been talking to the one they call Stuart in public. Little do they know that I’ve been scratching the furniture when they are out of the room. I’m also eating properly which is quite nice as I do like my food.
I’ve heard by listening in to the humans that He Who Must Not Be Named has something called cat AIDS and isn’t allowed free association but he does seem to be getting rather a lot of attention. I don’t mind this as he tries to make friends with me when we’re in the garden together – of course I have never succumbed and a hiss and growl have always seen him off!
Anyway, I hate Munich High End.
Editors note – Clio will be in prison again for a night while the adult humans visit the Cranage Hall Hifi Show on 15th June in NW England.
There are certain manufacturers that can be relied upon to always put on a good show at Munich High-End. More »
My First Hi-fi show! More »
The guys at Triangle, who we recently paid a visit to in Bordeaux, sent us details of their latest 
loudspeaker range, the ESPRIT EZ Series.
Triangle say that the new EZ series is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of their Esprit range.
They add that the Esprit Ez Series is a lively and dynamic loudspeaker that draws the listener into the musical experience.
The design is sleek and modern and available in a number of finishes with the drivers being highlighted by aluminium trims and with no visible screws. The whole speaker sits on a glass pedestal that has adjustable spikes and I imagine they’d look great in most homes.
The speakers feature a new mid range driver constructed from natural cellulose that reduces weight and increases rigidity. The diameter of the midrange has also been increased to give a smoother transition between the tweeter and the woofer.
The tweeter will be familiar to those who know Triangle loudspeakers as it’s a moulded horn with phase plug. It combines a titanium dome with a compression chamber and is of high efficiency.
There are 4 speakers in the range: the Voce EZ central speaker, Titus EZ (from €350) two way bookshelf, GAIA EZ floorstander and the top of the range Antal EZ (from €1000) floorstander. Prices are dependent on finish but it seems you get a lot of speaker for your money!
We currently have a pair of Triangle’s Signature Alpha loudspeakers in for review so watch this space for our thoughts!
Pure Sound contacted Hifi Pig to announce the UK arrival of the Japanese made Aurorasound 
PREDA line level Control Amplifier.
PREDA is a solid state preamplifier with analogue IN / OUT and employs an autoformer type volume control system. The transformer taps are switched using reed relays from UK manufacturer Pickering Interfaces and incorporates 54-steps. Unlike the conventional resistive attenuator, this transformer system loses no part of the signal as heat and enables more accurate control of the listening level say Pure Sound. PREDA also includes Aurorasound’s newly developed discrete amp-modules. PREDA was developed adopting a completely new modular concept and deploys independent blocks comprising power supply, input and output stages for each L/R channel. A heavy duty solid aluminum chassis, extruded knobs and anti-vibration isolating feet are employed.
Features
6 Inputs. 2 x Balanced via XLR, 4 single ended via RCA sockets
2 Outputs. 1 x Balanced via XLR, 1 single ended via RCA sockets
Maximum 10 dB Gain
54 step transformer attenuation switched via UK made Pickering Interfaces reed relays.
Input selection, volume level, balance & phase reversal all accessible via IR remote control.
Newly developed wideband (12MHz) gain modules for input/output buffering.
Fully independent L/R architecture for true dual mono operation.
Substantial aluminium casework & isolation feet.
Price in the UK will be £7999.95
Funk Firm, Harbeth, Bespoke Audio Company, Chord Electronics, Graham Audio, JoSound, KEF & Arcam, Neat, Roksan, Cyrus & Hifi Racks, PMC, Q Acoustics, Living Voice. More »
Headphones and Headfi at Munich High End More »
Boenicke, Tune Audio, PMC, Martin Logan & Moon, Constellation Audio & Wilson, Existence & Apoll & Graditech, Existence Speakers & Apoll Acoustics and Graditech, Azzolina Audio plus hORNS & Zontec & Albedo More »
McIntosh, Audio Research, Sonus Faber, Wadia, Basso Continuo, Meridian, Krell, D’Agostino, Velodyne. More »
Chord, Cabasse, Octave, Brodmann, Hifi Racks & Cyrus, Leedh & Swissonor, Hornfabrik, Absolare, Backes and Muller, German Physiks, Estelon More »
Hifi Pig’s coverage of the High End Munich hifi show has started. You can read all about it by following 
the link or clicking on the image to the right. We’ve got loads of pictures to add over the next few days as well as what we thought about the show.
Always popular is Linette’s “Bird’s Eye View” series of articles, the couple of which are now live! Don’t miss it!
Wow, what a show! More »
TAD, Silbatone, Fono Acoustica, Nola, Voxativ and JoSound. More »
A round up of some of the press events we were invited to at Munich High End 2014. More »
Last year was my first ever High End Munich Show and I did indeed get myself quite worked up at the prospect of hearing Avantgarde Acoustic Trios for the first time. More »
The newcomers part of Munich High End is a great idea and gives those company’s that are relatively new to the industry the opportunity to showcase their products without having to shell out huge amounts of cash for a stand or room proper. It’s a great thing that the High End Society does and I for one hope they continue this tradition in the future!
