AXPONA 2025

At Munich High End 2024, my biggest discovery was Switzerland’s Wattson Audio. It’s easy to hear a sonic kinship between Wattson and its new owner, CH Precision—an affinity that helped explain CH’s acquisition of the company last year.

New York–based dealer New Life Audio teamed up with California distributor Hear This—representing WestminsterLab and Von Schweikert Audio—to build a system around those two brands. On a Bach Violin Concerto, played with characteristic sweetness—if not period authenticity—by Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux, both tone and texture came through with striking fidelity.

Steve Jain of Fidelity Imports seeks out high-quality audio brands poised for greater recognition. While some, such as Wilson Benesch—now distributed in the US by Fidelity—are already well-established in the industry, Jain’s commitment is evident in his support of respected manufacturers like Perlisten, Knosti, QED, Unison Research, and Audia Flight.

Jon Baker, co-founder of Monarch Systems Distribution in Englewood, Colorado, assembled a striking system built around B.audio electronics from France, a British-made SME turntable, and Italian Chario loudspeakers.

Once again, my time in the Vandersteen room provided copious pleasure. Plus, it came in two installments: listening time in the inner sanctum, and chat time with Richard Vandersteen and Brad O’Toole in the entrance chamber. If that sounds rather exotic for a two-room hotel suite, you needed to be there.

Refined Audio’s room 688 featured an almost entirely new system, with the exception of Dave Slagle’s familiar EM/IA gear. (Slagle, co-founder of EM/IA and a specialist in transformer-based designs, is known for his minimalist, high-purity audio components.)

In room 1521, I caught up with Wayne Colburn—longtime preamp wizard for Pass Labs (and Threshold Audio before that)—and Kent English, the company’s veteran head of sales. Colburn was debuting his new 85 lb XS Pre 2 line-stage preamp ($55,000), which he called a step up from the XP-32.