High End 2023, the show’s 40th edition, took place from the 18th to the 21st of May, 2023, at the MOC in Munich. High End is the largest and most important audio show in the world, occupying most of the sprawling MOC for four days of high-end audio demonstrations and presentations. The show’s first two days were reserved for manufactures, distributors, dealers and the press, while the last two were open to the public. Among the features of this year’s show were:
- The High End Kolleg lecture series, addressing a range of topics in audio and audiophilia. You can view the High End Kolleg discussions here on the High End Society YouTube channel.
- The World of Headphones, a separate area of the show devoted to high-end headphones, headphone amps and DAC/amps and DAPs.
- Sounds Clever, an initiative to present affordable systems, with a total cost of €5,000, or less.
Over the four days of the show 550 exhibitors from 54 countries presented over 1,000 high end brands to an audience of 22,137 visitors. The media was also well represented, with 529 journalists from 43 countries covering the show. Separate from High End 2023, but running in parallel with it (from the 19th to the 21st of May, 2023), a short distance away at the Marriott Hotel, was another, much smaller and newer show, hifideluxe 2023.
It isn’t possible to produce a comprehensive report on so extensive a show. What I will try is to give my overall impressions of the show, with some discussion of particular systems. An audio show is a challenging place to assess audio components and systems. The listening rooms are unfamiliar, as may be the some of the components in the system, and the music. Noise may also be a problem, with systems playing in adjacent rooms, and conversations outside the listening room, and also inside it. Strangely, exhibitors often also bring to shows brand new equipment, which hasn’t been fully broken in. So a component or system that fails to impress should not be written off as bad. It may be a victim of issues with the setup or the environment. However, when something sounds really good, you know that it’s capable of excellent performance, and that it’s definitely worthy of further consideration.
World of Headphones
Headphone listening is an increasingly important part of the high-end audio adventure. High-end headphones provide a listening experience that is different to, and complementary to, loudspeaker-based listening, offering several advantages.
All of the leading manufacturers of high-end headphone gear were on hand, displaying and demonstrating a vast range of headphones, in-ear monitors, headphone amplifiers, headphone DAC/amps, digital audio players and headphone cables. Here’s a selection of images from the World of Headphones:
HED Unity
Among the interesting headphone introductions was the HED Unity, a WiFi headphone. You can stream audio up to 24/96 directly to the Unity, giving you the benefits of wireless listening, without the quality compromises of Bluetooth. There’ll be more on the HED Unity in a following page of this show report.
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