High End Munich - trade fair report Part 1

HighEnd Munich 2022 is over. It was exciting, loud, inspiring and also a bit tiring. 😅 And even though Head-Fi, or everything related to headphones, only made up a relatively small part of the trade fair, it was still worth it!

We had great discussions with some of our manufacturers, potential new Partners and were able to try out a number of exciting products—and even take two of them home with them. But more on that later. 😉

Special thanks go to Spirit Torino, which enabled us as co-exhibitors to present some Cayin products with their headphones.

Spirit Torino

Spirit Torino was represented by four employees and presented their entire range of headphones and a wide selection of materials, demonstrated construction and design, and even had three brand new products up their sleeve.

These aren't industrial products like those of most competitors—they're handcrafted—artisanal craftsmanship of the highest order. With the exception of the drivers, which are custom-made by the supplier in South Africa, every single headphone, every single part, is made by hand in Turin, Italy, and you can see, feel, and hear it.

New products

We start with a variation of the Mistral, the Mistral Radiante (Pro)In contrast to the open Mistral (Pro) The Mistral Radiante is a closed headphone which, like the eponymous "Radiante" headphone, has a passive external radiator to to regulate the pressure in the closed chamber. The result: the same tonality as the Mistral, but with more bass pressure and, of course, acoustic isolation from the outside.

The Mistral Radiante is available as a Bluetooth (+cable) and a pure cable version (Pro).

Spirit Torino had been looking for a while for the "Valkyria" perfectly suitable amplifier, but not satisfied with any of the devices on the market. So they decided to build such a device themselves.

In the "Ring of the Nibelung" In Richard Wagner's opera, Sigfried, the hero, and the Valkyrie Brunhilde are a couple. Andrea Ricchi wanted to achieve nothing less when he created Spirit Torino's new Hybrid amplifier "Sigfrid" which was perfectly tailored to the "Valkyria.

I witnessed firsthand how the former head of a well-known German headphone manufacturer listened to the combination of "Sigfrid" and "Valkyria," jumped up from his chair after a while, looked at Andrea Ricchi and the people in the room, and said that this was the best combination of headphones and amplifier he had ever heard.

Even the founder of Meze, Antonio Meze, spent a whole hour with this combo and then left the room with a pale face.

The "Sigfrid" will soon be officially available and, like almost all Spirit Torino products, can be freely customized. You can choose from various woods for the front, various designs for the side panels, and various colors for the volume control. It's worth mentioning that the "Sigfrid" naturally also brings out the best in other headphones! 😉👍

Last but not least, my very personal highlight: Completely unexpectedly, I suddenly spotted a version of the "Valkyria" dressed entirely in black in the Spirit Torino listening booth.

My questioning face met Guido Haschke, Co-founder and long-time advisor of Spirit Torino, who just smiled and said this was not a Valkyria but the new sister model "pulsar". Of course, I immediately wanted to know what it was all about and what the differences were.

He told me that the "pulsar" would be fundamentally identical to the "Valkyria" and would even use the same drivers as its big sister. The goal was to make the sound of the "Valkyria" accessible to more customers without sacrificing its essence. Instead of titanium, anodized aluminum is now used, and the cable has been replaced with a simpler, yet very high-quality silver-plated copper cable.

Since the production of the "Valkyria" is extremely complex due to the titanium used, a lot of money could be saved, which is ultimately reflected in the price: The Spirit Torino "Pulsar" is available for a price of 6000 CHF/EUR (instead of 12,000 CHF/EUR at the Valkyria). That's still a lot of money, but the sound offered is definitely worth it in my opinion!

The "Pulsar" is not simply a slimmed-down "Valkyria," and calling it a "little sister" is almost a bit cheeky of me. 😅 I sincerely apologize. "Twin sister" would probably be more accurate, because as a customer, you don't have to make any compromises in terms of build quality or configurability.

The most important thing to note: The sound is damn close to the Valkyria! You get the same signature, the same power, verve, and grandeur as with the Valkyria. Only a listening session on the "Sigfrid" revealed small but subtle differences.

Due to the different resonance behavior of the materials titanium and aluminum as well as differences in the cable, tonal deviations arise, but these are not huge.

While the Valkyria operates with "weightiness," the Pulsar is a bit more light-footed, with a slightly airier top end and a slightly leaner bass. Vocals are just as clear, natural, and haunting as with the Valkyria.

One thing is clear: The "Pulsar" is just as much a flagship headphone as the "Valkyria"!

I would recommend the "Valkyria" to music lovers who already own a suitable flagship headphone amplifier or are planning to purchase one and simply want the maximum of what's technically possible.

The "Pulsar" is a slightly more accessible dream headphone for half the price, but without compromising on sound quality!

The surprise came at the end when Andrea Ricchi showed me his very first "Pulsar" (serial number 1/1000 🤩) wrapped up, signed, and gave home so that our customers can test these exceptional headphones for themselves as soon as possible!

There is only one thing left for me to say:

"Thank you very much, Andrea. Thank you to the Spirit Torino team for this era!"

You gave your all to present your wonderful products at HighEnd.

Cayin & Satin Audio

As already mentioned, we brought a few Products from Cayin and Satin Audio for testing, which were presented in the Spirit Torino cabin.

The new big Cayin HA-300MKII Tube headphone amplifier and the portable Cayin C9 were able to demonstrate their skills with Spirit Torino's Valkyria, among others. The highest quality source was the new Cayin N8II Digital audio player.

High-quality connections were ensured by a specially designed Satin Audio Perseus Cable (4.4mm Pentaconn to dual XLR) and a specially manufactured Satin Audio Perseus jumper cable (4.4mm to 4.4mm).

In the next part our HighEnd Munich Conclusions we visit Ferrum Audio from Poland and introduce a few new acquaintances and products.

Stay tuned! 😉👍

HighEnd Munich - Trade Fair Report Part 2