[Show Reportage] Munich High End 2025 - A visit

Reporter: Hartmut Quaschik
The show took place from May, 15th through May, 18th 2025 at the M.O.C. facilities, in Munich, Germany
Originally written: May, 2025
Website with plenty of resources: High End Society

Line Magnetic

This was real fun. It was the first time that I had the chance to listen to the gigantic 212 tube. Before, I had only seen pictures in audiophile magazines describing weird Japanese hifi setups.

Needless to say, this power amp indeed could drive the speakers. This is how the Kondo should sound like.
[Line Magnetic]

Linkwitz

Linkwitz is famous not only for his loudspeaker crossover innovations, but also for his dipole speaker designs. The sound was flowing free in the air right between the speakers. If you have a big room, and if you can place your loudspeakers freely, then this is the way to go. You can buy finished speakers (around 30,000 EUR), or get the plans for DIY, as Linkwitz is related to Nelson Pass DIY realizations.

Martion

As I was not at the Munich show last year, this year was the first time that I could listen to the newest generation of Martion corner horns called the Aeonor. The Aeonor came with concentric midrange horns. Transparency, power, timbre, the Aeonor did all this. This is much like a Silbatone loudspeaker, but modernized to the maximum. The Aeonor showed all its qualities when playing a live recording of Kraftwerk's Autobahn. Considering the sound quality, the Aeonor with a retail below 100,000 EUR/pair was not overprized. And the smaller coaxial Bullfrog loudspeaker is well below 10,000 EUR/pair. Both speakers are not demanding considering the listening room. The Bullfrog can be positioned against the wall, and the Aeonor can be put right in the corners.

What I did not like during the demonstration was the "hush" shouts, when someone dared to whisper to his neighbor. Are we in church or are we having fun listening to loud music?

Ojas

These days, there is something like a hype around the Ojas hifi components, which might be considered as Japanese flavored lifestyle products.

Since I have seen some YouTube videos about this, I was looking forward to see what all the fuzz about it is. I missed the Klipsch-Ojas demonstrations at the Munich show area, but found a note that there would be a demonstration in a small art gallery right in the center of Munich. I managed to get there before closing time, found a parking, and could only listen for 15 minutes. But as soon as I entered the room, I was rewarded. While the underdamped room was less than perfect, and the bass quite overloaded the room obviously, this was simply the most satisfying demonstration of the show. There was some kind of musical flow and rhythm, which enabled complete emotional immersion into the music, including goosebumps.

I liked the music immediately, as it provided some kind of inviting flow, similar to recordings from Alice or John Coltrane. When I tried to identify the record with the Shazam app on my mobile phone, Shazam failed, and I had to take a photo from the album cover. This was one of the records, which I had to buy after the show.

The setup consisted of the Klipsch-Ojas speaker (10,000 EUR/pair including stands), Audio Note Oto Phono SE (full function phono integrated tube amplifier with single-ended output), Technics SL1210G with Ortofon headshell and Denon-Ojas DL-103 (this is kind of a Denon DL-103R in acrylic body) and Consilidated Audio (Michael Ulbrich from Berlin) moving coil step-up transformer. The total costs of this could be a bit more than 20,000 EUR, not including the beautiful USM Haller rack. In my view this setup not only sounds good, but is also astethically pleasing to the eye. There are not too many boxes, no glossy materials or fancy cables. The Technics looks very much like its cheaper sibling, the SL1210Mk.7, and the Audio Note with its hammer finish painted front plate resembled very much the old NAD 3020 integrated amplifier. This is understatement gear rather than hifi porn. There is just what is necessary for satisfying sound reproduction.

Unitra

Unitra is a polish company name from the past, which has been virtually unknown in Germany so far, as they sent their products to the USSR in the past. They re-established the brand to produce vintage looking high quality gear. Their new integrated amplifier costs around 5,000 EUR. Production is entirely in Poland, and not in China. They also make their own vinyl test records, and I bought one.

Next stop

In the next and last part, you can read all about records which I had to buy after the show.