I am setting up this thread for permanent purpose. It should cover the ability for anybody to post and comment on shows they visits or events at their dealers etc. I will short term use this post to report on my visit to the South German Hifi Tage in Stuttgart which I visited yesterday. And the upcoming Milan show at the beginning of October. These two events should give it hopefully a permanent home for all of us to post and comment on any event you visit.
For those who follow my High End Vienna report - no worries I also will finish that one before I go to Milan, so we have also closed that report (still a fair bit to go).
The landscape of shows in Germany has changed over the time. We have now a series of hifi Tage which is a medium sized event in several parts of Germany represented through the big cities. Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. In addition there is a similar type of event in Leipzig (will be in the beginning of November and is rather large). Unfortunately the dealer events in Germany have become a bit less than 10 years ago….., while I have a hifi dealer (not my dealer), which is only 10k away and they have quite often very interesting events…, you have seen reports on that before in this forum.
So I had tentatively interest in Stuttgart. And I had something if I get up to pee and I feel fresh I go otherwise I will skip it. So you guess I went. And after a 2,5 hours drive arrived at the hotel besides the airport which hosted the event on two floors. One floor with meeting room type of rooms and another floor with hotel room type of setup. As I stayed a bit longer at some of the rooms I couldn’t cover the full 100% of the rooms, but the coverage would have been possible if I wanted to.
Normally I would always also enjoy the presence of Naim/Focal on these type of shows but unfortunately the distributor has chosen a different strategy…., I guess they still might join Leipzig though as they also where present last year with entry level setup.
The overall quality of the rooms was okish while it doesn’t come even close to the Deutsche Hifi Tage which have been presented in a fantastic venue in Darmstadt some years before….., unfortunately this event has been stopped.
Most of my hearing impressions have been related to the later workshop on exclusive discs in this room. But I was a bit earlier so I could also hear some music before. I have heard this combination of speakers and electronics quite often and have to say that I am quite enjoying this combination. The soundsignature of the Esoterec is quite foottapping / musical, and the speakers have a very fine quality in presenting perfectly the female voices…., so a good room for the later workshop.
Emily Sage - not known to me, but a nice one
Carolin No - nice rendition of her voice, high end is smooth and airy
Solveig - similar type of sound as before, while her voice is less airy and grounded.
Need to comment this. This combination is brilliant in female voices (Diamond tweeter)….., and like other ones they tend to play 80% to their strengths…, so a bit of a focussed demo. Some others go over the whole spectrum and accept that also the weaker sides get presented. I am not implying that the presented electronics and speakers are not good - as they are in this good very good…, but it’s a tendency….
This was the part where the workshop of Matthias Böde one of the guys from stereo magazine started. He is well known in the German speaking area for his interesting workshops on all kinds of of themes at shows and dealers. He combines competence with a good dose of funny remarks…., making it interesting and pleasant to listen. This workshop was about Exclusive CD’s or called Edel Discs…. Obviously constantly comparing the different version of the same song accross multiple disc types.
Paul Kuhn - first on a normal but already well done CD…, going through my mind CD replay when done well can sound still well. Then same song on UHQ version of the CD. Night and day difference. The sound has more air, better soundstage, sounds fuller…., and the cd is only 7 euros more expensive than the “standard one”.
This UHQ format has been according to Böde developed by Andy Lam from Hong Kong to get to a more ultimate listening experience on CD. A different polymer is used, silver cover and also some changes in the placing of the pits …(most probably using the wrong words) but bottom line a series of improvements on the standard CD to reduce jitter etc…
Scotty Wright - first on de special CD from Andy Lam a cover of the sounds of silence. I find it as such different to digest as Scotties timing is quite odd in this cover, but anyhow…. Now Böde comes with a special crystal glass version of the same CD (price 1600 euros)…..so comparing an already extremely good version UHQ against an even better version of glass. Again more air and better definition, easy to hear the difference….while 1600 euros is of crazy….., but some people would easily drop it on the table to get such an exclusive disc.
Jacintha - this one is a know standard audiophile album…., however we start with a special black CD version of this one. This already gives you an analogue and ultra high end feeling…., but of course he also has a glass version of this one. This time the price is 1900 euros for the disc. And as expected a significant uplift in sound more soundstage, more emotion and more laid back.
Oscar Peterson - one of my audiophile favorites. First impression records had a certain mastering process which gives the impression that the upper high end is more rounded and pleasant to hear. They then produced it by directly burning it from the mastertape (price 500 euros for CD). As I know this very well I am surprised that it sounds better than my already remastered high res version on my ND555. In general I would say more precise than my own version. However he had of course again something special from his safe which was especially developed for him also direct burned but now with gold cover and some other magic. And again of course better - especially in bass and drive….
So conclusion - special CD’s can outclass even the best, while it would be interesting to also compare it to the best masterings etc on high resolution files. As one would argue that on paper that should even have more potential….
Ps. Please reply every now and then so I can continue my report.
I have to ask you Bert, why do you attend so many shows?
Is it because:-
1. You simply enjoy listening to systems other than your own? Or…..
2. You are constantly hoping to discover components that you could afford which you feel would improve the sound quality your own system provides? Or……
3. Some completely different reason?
Like many here, I enjoy following your reports & am just curious as to why you do it.
not at the Warsaw audio video show ! A lot of young people visiting the show every year with a high number/level of female presence (visitors and staff as well).
I wonder if the gold cd was a copy ripped by HDTT of the Oscar Peterson “We get requests” album because I know they did offer this as a service at some point in the past. I’ve always felt the DSD128 download I purchased from them was the best digital source of that album I’ve ever heard.
How he described it was directly burned from mastertape, so one on one. I can understand how it would work, however have never seen a picture of such a process to get a vivid imagination.
Hi good question, never thought about it when you asked.
At the beginning when I was still an somehow active buyer of equipment it was to get a good oversight of what is offered on the marked. Especially about 10-15 years ago visiting the high end. But even right now on my mobile setup I am ok and I am most probably done buying stuff - unless I get to win this famous lottery ticket.
A bit of curiosity in what I would now buy when I start again completely from scratch.
Just listening to very good systems especially the ones outclassing my own - gives me pleasure.
I love to find great music I was not aware about yet. I always come back with some pointers to great music from a show. While of course also a lot is repeat music, but just finding two new pieces I like is for me a kind of reward.
Better understanding the aspects which could improve the sound. For instance I plan to move to Spain in a good year, so I collect currently a lot of knowledge where possible on room acoustics, room isolation etc. It is partly also a curiosity of knowing more about the hobby. And not because I am a devices freak as I am not, but more about how can one even further optimize the listening experience.
Obviously I like to also interact with people and exchange about my favorite hobby.
I feel like I want to give something back to this community who has giving me so much input on music, settings, tuning etc… enabling people to “light” experience what they could have experienced when they would have had the ability to visit.
Some of the presenters as such are an entertainment for me to watch and enjoy their stories and learn about their experiences. On the one hand you have the great DJ type of people - some of them I could listen hours to giving us a great flow of unique music and also the connected stories about the background of the recording. Other variant is the workshop from people like Matthias Böde.
….and perhaps more, I am often especially in the smaller ones deciding ad hoc if I feel like it, and when yes I go.
True. But the last two or three have not been very inspiring. Very few systems catch the ear. A lot of repetition from previous shows. Two much audio-video and (dare I say) lifestyle products. Loads of headphones and vinyl.
Listening rooms not helping in the Sobieski. National stadium rooms having dreadful sound with gear set up randomly.
I just get the idea it isn’t really aimed at audiophiles anymore.
Haevn - same pattern with music in the background and voice, sounds good while I am not sitting ideal in front of the left speaker
Joel Brandenstein - a nice song for German speaking audience
Melanie de Biaso - now sitting in a much better listening position in the middle of the third row. Don’t like so much the dry drum sound and lack of reverb, but guess is more the recording than the system
Fully correct observations, but the mix audio/video, lifestyle products and headphones & vinyl attract the young(er) generation and for some of them a door towards “hifi” opens.
Sevenn- now have the feeling that this system has real limitations in the quality of the source. Sounds dry and the emotions don’t come so well across
Mikhail Bennett - a bit of a combination of dire straits feeling with the blues, sound I am missing details and the emotional layer is not 100% presented by the system
AC/DC - misding a bit the slam I expect from Ac/Dc, also a bit edgy on the snardrum and higher notes of the guitar. Might alone that the recording is just bad
Philter - seems like electronic music works better than other music on this system
Can’t unfortunately tell you what this belonged to, but at least photographed it - perhaps somebody on the forum knows. Might have been in the room of SV Audio….
This one was a bit where I went away with a double feeling. On the one hand I liked a couple of aspects of the sound. But at the same time I missed the impact of the bass. The funny thing was that the owner / developer talked a lot about how he managed it well without leading to booming…., but funny enough you miss then something, ….while during the demo I got more into it and started to appreciate the sound signature. Positioning was a joke against the drapery….
The company was apparently in business since 12 years. The speakers where on the market and you could buy. The tube amplification was still in development. He was clearly proud and explained us about materials used etc and that he intended to build products which would hold long. The smaller speaker pair took care of middle tones and the higher tones. The bigger speakers (I guess more than 2 meters) took care of the bass. The sensitivity of the speakers was rated at 95DB and they would set you back 69K.
The tube amplifier he said didn’t deal or have negative feedback - mentioned it while I know the word in German I actually don’t know what it technically means.
The first demo was a woman voice and a big band singer the famous song fever. I couldn’t find the artist via Shazam. As he argued that there was no resonance and booming in the bass, I was at the same time misding something which you normally have in a big band recording a bass feeling and also the hump…, the voice was a bit unpleasant - piercing
Norah Jones - normally the bass gives some body but now this is sounding in that part a bit thin. While I also have to say that I am at the beginning not sitting in the ideal position in the front row…., and the big speakers are very high at the same time.
