After a decade of holding the annual High End Society show in Munich, Germany, this year the society moved to a new city and country. The show decamped to Vienna, Austria. Most of the people I spoke with seemed happy with the show's new home, as it offers lots of room and a more open and spacious feel than the crowded hallways at the old Munich venue. I found that overall, the sound of the rooms was better, although most, while big enough for most systems, were too small for big systems and speakers.
There was no shortage of new phono-related debuts at the show. Here are some that caught my eye.
Ortofon showed a new flagship cartridge, the MC Vertex ($16,999, top photo), which features a new stylus profile, also called Vertex, mounted on a diamond cantilever. Ortofon also introduced the flagship in their affordable MC X series of moving coil cartridges, the MC X50 ($1699, above). With a boron cantilever and a nude MicroRidge stylus, the X50 crosses over into the price range of Ortofon's midpriced Concorde series. When I asked Ortofon's Louis Dorio whether the X50 would outperform the Cadenza Red, he was mostly noncommittal but leaned toward the newer model.
Audio-Technica showed a new flagship cartridge, also with a diamond cantilever, the MCD1 ($11,000). Designed as a follow-up to the extremely limited edition AT-MC2022, this latest edition uses an all-new version of the one-piece diamond cantilever/stylus, this time with a newly developed variant of the Shibata stylus profile.
Thorens exhibited a new version of the TD 124 DD reviewed by Ken Micallef in 2021. The TD 124 DD Exclusive ($17,995) has an extended chassis to accommodate a new 12" tonearm, the TP 124 12".
TechDAS showed the new Air Force 20, which fills the gap between the Air Force III Premium and the truly massive Air Force One. Like all TechDAS turntables, it features vacuum hold down for the record and an air bearing for the platter. The price was not available, but think well-equipped Mercedes E-class money.
The Wand. Simon Brown from New Zealand-based The Wand was showing a 12" version of the Dark-Light tonearm. I reviewed the standard version last year and was suitably impressed. Simon explained to me that the 12" length actually helps the tapered arm's resonance performance, delivering benefits beyond improved geometry. European price is €8900.
Acoustic Signature celebrated its 30th anniversary with the Thirty NEO turntable, a three-motor model capable of handling up to three tonearms. The platter has a highly reflective gold or silver rim, which everyone kept telling me looked like a Rolex watch bezel. I don't see it. Anyway, the European price is just under €25,000.
Ortofon showed a new flagship cartridge, the MC Vertex ($16,999, top photo), which features a new stylus profile, also called Vertex, mounted on a diamond cantilever. Ortofon also introduced the flagship in their affordable MC X series of moving coil cartridges, the MC X50 ($1699, above). With a boron cantilever and a nude MicroRidge stylus, the X50 crosses over into the price range of Ortofon's midpriced Concorde series. When I asked Ortofon's Louis Dorio whether the X50 would outperform the Cadenza Red, he was mostly noncommittal but leaned toward the newer model.
Audio-Technica showed a new flagship cartridge, also with a diamond cantilever, the MCD1 ($11,000). Designed as a follow-up to the extremely limited edition AT-MC2022, this latest edition uses an all-new version of the one-piece diamond cantilever/stylus, this time with a newly developed variant of the Shibata stylus profile.
Thorens exhibited a new version of the TD 124 DD reviewed by Ken Micallef in 2021. The TD 124 DD Exclusive ($17,995) has an extended chassis to accommodate a new 12" tonearm, the TP 124 12".
TechDAS showed the new Air Force 20, which fills the gap between the Air Force III Premium and the truly massive Air Force One. Like all TechDAS turntables, it features vacuum hold down for the record and an air bearing for the platter. The price was not available, but think well-equipped Mercedes E-class money.
The Wand. Simon Brown from New Zealand-based The Wand was showing a 12" version of the Dark-Light tonearm. I reviewed the standard version last year and was suitably impressed. Simon explained to me that the 12" length actually helps the tapered arm's resonance performance, delivering benefits beyond improved geometry. European price is €8900.
Acoustic Signature celebrated its 30th anniversary with the Thirty NEO turntable, a three-motor model capable of handling up to three tonearms. The platter has a highly reflective gold or silver rim, which everyone kept telling me looked like a Rolex watch bezel. I don't see it. Anyway, the European price is just under €25,000.
