Munich 2015

Tour the Clearaudio Booth at High End Munich 2015

Michael Fremer  |  May 19, 2015

Germany-based Clearaudio displays bi-annually at High End Munich. Last year was their "off" year.

This year the company put on an impressive show of their manufacturing diversity and quality. The company showed its full line of turntables from the least expensive to the Statement Mk2, its extensive cartridge and electronics lines and even its growing catalog of vinyl reissues.

We took a stroll through the display—one of the show's single largest.

COMMENTS
volvic's picture
Submitted by volvic on Tue, 2015-05-19 21:22

Nice that they also bring their reissue vinyl to sell. I hope you can also video some of the vinyl sellers. There is a fellow who comes in from Austria has an impressive collection of classical and opera records; DG, London, EMI etc., would be great if you could record some of the software sellers at this show.

PeterPani's picture
Submitted by PeterPani on Wed, 2015-05-20 03:08

I bought the Anna Netrebko / Verdi: Arias and Duets From La Traviata. The vinyl is extreme noisy, the voice digital low resolution and the dynamics are compressed. Additionally the volume over the record is very low, so that I have to turn the volume high - resulting in more surface noise. Firstly, a company like Clearaudio should not issue anything digital on vinyl. Secondly, how can mastering be done so badly and after that sell such a low-quality-vinyl for $75? I will never buy a Clearaudio cartridge based on this experience, missing any reliability. Sadly, also an opportunity was missed to give Netrebkos voice in it's prime time at least one time an analog treatment. The same I have to say about the $90-record Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazón / Duets which was to me the same experience all over again. I will, for sure, never try again to buy DG from Clearaudio. Only good thing is that I got the doublegate cover with the red sofa signed in big letters from Ms. Netrebko after an opera performance here in Vienna. That looks quite impressive now :-) And she was very impressed, too, that she could sign a record cover (must have been the first time for her) and not a tiny CD-case.

briweed's picture
Submitted by briweed on Sun, 2015-08-02 19:08

I cannot seem to find a tone arm on the CA website that matches the one in your video. Any idea what it is called?

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Tue, 2015-08-04 08:06
Are where manufacturers often show upcoming products so expect to see that one in the Fall...
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