Munich High End 2024 Show Highlights
RA Acoustics
Prior to hearing the speakers in this room, RA Acoustics was unknown to me. And to be honest, based on their appearance, I probably would not have given them a second look. But after hearing them, I am reminded again of not judging a book by its cover!
If there’s one aspect that this room emphasized, it is that the room matters. A LOT! As one of the very few rooms at the show, I could detect zero room modes, and there were no other room issues at all, either. Just a blissful, linear, fast, hugely transparent, immediate, and incredibly expressive sound. The Soulution system with two 701 mono power amps may seem “overkill” but the combination clearly worked its magic, culminating in a performance that reminded me a bit of the Lansche Audio speakers. The treble performance was, of course, very different between the two, as the RA speakers did not have the Lansche’s plasma tweeter’s superb delicacy and lack of added character, but otherwise, the balance was similar. These are one heck of a nimble, fast, and expressive pair of speakers deserving closer inspection.
Ubiq Audio Lab with Wilson
Ubiq Audio Lab had one of the largest rooms of the show and with the Wilson Chronosonic XVX, a large speaker system to match. The cabling was top-tier Transparent Audio.
The sound of this system was “Wilson-typical”: robust, full-bodied yet tonally natural, impactful and lively, and very dynamic, if not as spacious as I am usually accustomed from Wilsons in general. But of course, that is predominantly a product of (placement in the) room, and show conditions are very hard to control.
The air conditioning in this room was working well, leading to a pleasantly cool room ambiance, but also leading to the system sounding a little cooler than I think it would have in a warmer room. Nevertheless, when seated in the front row, the system sounded well-controlled and very evenly balanced. I don’t think I’ve heard Wilsons sound this linear before, which probably says something about the room and setup, but also a lot about the electronics driving them.
The Finite rack contained an Aurender (I believe W20) with external Aurender clock, a Burmester power filter, dCS DAC, the gorgeous HSE Audio Phono Preamp Masterline 7, and a Ubiq Audio Lab Ubiquitous 300B preamp. On top was the Dohmann turntable.
As the name suggests, the Ubiq Audio Lab Ubiquitous 300B preamp contains two 300B tubes, beautifully built in.
In fact, all Ubiq Audio Lab components are built in a stunningly beautiful manner. The amplifier below is the left channel without a top, I believe this is the Ubiquitous Mono.
Below is what I believe is the Ubiquitous Mono Extreme.
Off to the side was what I automatically assumed to be a subwoofer. On closer inspection, I found that it turned out to be a power amplifier called Ubicube.
The website only shows the mono model, but this is the stereo version. It has an unusual shape for an amplifier, but I have to say I am a massive sucker for symmetry, love industrial design, and am a big fan of square shapes in general. It’s always good to see when manufacturers dare to be different, and I was impressed with this little amplifier’s build quality.
Great coverage, Christiaan. Are you certain that the new Halcro preamplifier was hooked up and in the signal path? Several show photos show XLR in (analog source) and out on the back of the new MSB Cascade DAC. The volume display on the DAC also suggests that it was acting as both DAC and (passive) volume control.
Good question! As it turns out, the Equinox was indeed not used all the time. Part of the demos have been done with the volume control of the DAC directly connected to the monos. Alas, I can no longer ascertain if what I heard had the Equinox in the signal path or it it was the MSB Cascade DAC connected directly.