Kharma, David Chesky, Purist Audio Design, Zesto Audio, Tri-Planar And Merrill Williams
HIGH END 2019 Show Report By Steven R. Rochlin

  HIGH END 2019 in Munich success was far beyond even my wildest expectations. Not only were many people wearing lanyards with 'Enjoy The Music' on them, every single business meeting (and there were many) resulted in major success for all involved. It felt like the stars within this galaxy aligned and were smiling gleefully. Of course with so many business meetings beckoning, it also meant there was no time to visit many of my friends. Enjoy the Music.com is growing and expanding at a terrific rate, and as such it also means business before pleasure. So my friends, if we never saw one another during HIGH End 2019, there are many other shows we'll have time (I hope) to discuss life, love, music, cameras, mechanical timepieces, racing....

First up was Kharma with their EV2D (€600,000). Living large means you can buy the very best, and here's an awesome way to invest into your love of musical pleasures. With cabinets constructed from five-axis CNC-milled Bullet wood, there is a single 1" diamond concave tweeter, and two each 2" tweeter, 7" and 11" Kharma Omega-F drivers. The sound was fast, clean and extremely cohesive. They look, and sound, like true luxury.

You see many incredible people at HIGH END, and here's composer and record producer David Chesky (notice the lanyard). David also helps music lovers who desire true lossless music get their groove on at HDtracks. If you're tired of compromised compressed music, or schemes with very deceptive names, then you must visit HDtracks where you can buy exceptional music in the best quality.

Purist Audio Design, Zesto Audio, Tri-Planar and Merrill Williams teamed up at HIGH END 2019. Purist Audio were excited to unveil two new products this year! Their Diamond Limited Edition power cord and Diamond Neptune power cord to be exact. Enhanced Fluid formula for the Neptune AC power further reduces noise and vibration. Second, they utilized the exquisite Furutech NCF power connectors (US FI-50M NCF or EU FI-E50 NCF and 15A IEC FI-50 NCF). Nano technology silver wire and all the wonderful bits too.

Also exhibited was Zesto Audio's impressive Leto 1.5 preamplifier ($7500), EROS 300 vacuum tube monoblocks ($19,900/pair), and Allasso step-up transformer ($2995). The challenge designing the Eros 300 monoblock for the company was great power yet without vacuum tube noise. After 79 circuit designs, they had their solution! This Class A design runs hot, sure, yet has less distortion and high dynamic range with impressive transparency. Their preamplifier is also great according to those I trust. For those who use low-output moving coil (MC) cartridges, Zesto Audio's Allasso step-up transformer provides MC loads for 40 positions in Mono and stereo. Recommended output load is 47kOhm @ 200pF for the MM input. Inputs are both XLR balanced and RCA single ended, with output being unbalanced RCA. Typical frequency response is from 0.4Hz to 100kHz (-3dB).

Verity Amaris S Speakers are lovely in person. Have heard various speakers from them over the years and have always came away impressed musically. Never one to etch or offend, they are lovely in sight and sound. Their Amadis S has optimized proportions of the cabinet for ease of integration into any luxury home. They are also relatively efficient @ 93dB/w/m and so work well with amplifiers of 15 Watts on up easily. A Neo-ring soft dome tweeter is mated with a proprietary 5" midrange and 10" woofer. Wide bandwidth too, rated from 20Hz to 50kHz. As for the finish, they’ve always been beautiful with hand done Italian lacquer.

Merrill Williams R.E.A.L. 101.3 turntable ($7995) is a pulley/belt drive design that uses a patented R.ubber E.lastomeric A.coustic L.aminate along with other innovations such as Energy Management Design principles. Other features include 0.75" polished stainless steel spindle, inverted adjustable hemispheric feet, a polyoxymethylene platter, plus rubber cork compound mat. There's a built-in strobe disk to verify speed and stability. The outboard motor power unit is microprocessor controlled to ensure stability. WOW and flutter is a very low 0.02%. Overall, my listening notes from this room say smooth sound, nice harmonic structure and very good imaging.

---> Back to main HIGH END 2019 show report page.