Munich High-End 2023 Show Report

Hello, SECRETS readers! We are excited to let you know that we will be covering this year’s Munich High-End show for the first time since 2018. Munich High-End 2023 will take place from May 18^th to 21^st at Munich’s giant MOC Convention Center. This show has long been recognized as the largest and probably most important show on the audio calendar, and with over 550 exhibitors representing over 800 individual brands, it is going to be a beast to cover.

Secrets Editor-In-Chief, Carlo Lo Raso will be our man on the scene bringing you regular coverage, posted on this page and our social media channels, both during and after the show. Several brands will be using Munich High-End to announce major product launches, and we’ll be doing our very best to bring them to you! One of the fun things about Munich High-end is that, while we will certainly see familiar brands and products on display, we will no doubt be bringing coverage of some more unfamiliar, and unusual brands along with just some downright surprises that we will surely uncover. Oftentimes products that we see at this show, that don’t yet have a presence in the US market, find one after showing here. So, in that sense, Munich High-End serves as kind of a “sneak peek” at gear that might eventually find its way to us on this side of the pond.

Every year the Munich High-End Show announces a show ambassador who acts as the public media face for the event. For this year’s show (the 40th anniversary) Jazz-Fusion guitar virtuoso, Al Di Meola was announced as the show ambassador. Al will be at the show’s opening press conference and no doubt be involved in other events over the course of the show. If you are any sort of guitar fan, it’s exciting stuff indeed!

And finally, we want to mention that our Munich High-End 2023 coverage this year has been made possible through the support of our friends at Fidelity Imports. Fidelity Imports is the US distributor for several superb audio brands including Perlisten, Unison Research, Opera Loudspeakers, Goldnote, Audia Flight, Michell Audio, Soulnote, Acoustic Energy, Diptyque Audio, and more. We are grateful for their sponsorship to help us bring you the high-quality show coverage that SECRETS is known for.

So friends, keep an eye on this page along with our Instagram, and our Facebook feeds as we start filling you in on the awesomeness that is Munich High-End 2023 starting next week!

Note that all prices, unless otherwise noted, are in USD.

And so it begins! The sheer craziness of Munich High-End starts now!

First up at the show were the newly announced Linn 360 loudspeakers. The Piano Black versions are active speakers while the golden-brownish colored speakers called “Single Malt” were the passive versions. The active speakers were displayed as part of what the gracious Linn representative coined a “3-box solution” using the Linn Klimax DSM streamer and the Linn Klimax LP12 turntable as the sources. Basically forming a 150K Euro turnkey system!

Being their first new “ground-up” speaker design since 2005, Linn is justly proud of the new 360. The active versions we’re playing during my visit and the level of transparency and effortlessness was immediately apparent. A Scottish Chamber Orchestra track was playing to show off the size and detail of the imaging. Then a Stanley Clarke track revealed tight, abundant, and pitch-perfect bass.

Then, who should I run into just after the doors open but PSB’s Paul Barton and Rob Nichols. They were actually going to get a chance to walk around and explore the show instead of spending it answering questions for press yahoos like me!

Here is a video of my interview with Dan Roemer discussing the new Limited Edition Speakers.

DALI is celebrating its 40th Anniversary and it did it at Munich High-End with tremendous style! First the company premiered the Epikore 11 loudspeakers (40K Euros). With much of the technology of the flagship DALI Kore speaker trickling down to this new model which will be about half the size and price of the Kore and adding in a new tier above DALI’s Epicon series. Having heard the KORE speakers personally, the new Epikore 11 sound very much in the same vein as their kin. Powerful, musical, and dynamic. Especially as they were hooked up to the new NAD Masters M66 preamp and two M23 power amps being run in mono.

A word on the M66. This preamp is something I personally, along with a few other people I know, have been eagerly waiting for. A 2-channel preamp with room correction, bass management and correction for up to 4 subs (courtesy of DIRAC), and most importantly utilizing some of the highest quality parts in the signal chain. If it performs as well as I think it could, it will be a complete game-changer leapfrogging over anything else that is comparable.