The HIGH END, hifi show in Munich will offer visitors a variety of interesting talks, presentations, demonstrations and workshops with high-profile speakers on the topic of consumer electronics.

Here is a small selection of what’s on offer:

How exact  is the human  ear?
Elac electroacustic GmbH, atrium 3, first floor,  room F102
11th May – 15.00
Matthias Böde – Stereo  editor

Our hearing is far more sensitive  than you would think. Just a few millimetres difference  in the position of the sound source can significantly affect your audio impression. If you want to discover  this for yourself, drop by Elac to find out how exact the human ear is in a short workshop  with STEREO editor Matthias Böde.

Music as pure lifestyle.
Elac electroacustik GmbH, atrium 3, first floor,  room F102
Marco Kolks – Hörerlebnis  editor
Meik Wippermann – Hörerlebnis  editor

What is good music? The simplest  answer  to this question is given by Marco Kolks: “It‘s the music that you personally  like.” The genre is not very important. It doesn‘t  matter whether it‘s classical, jazz, folk, pop or whatever kind of music is preferred. The most important thing is that listening to music arouses your emotions  and moves you.
The musicologist  Marco Kolks is a professed jazz lover. He cites a selection  of tracks  which he explains at length. At the same time he gives us some insight into the everyday  life of an editor and talks about his own personal audiophile understanding influenced by almost four decades of intensive  work with High End.
Meik Wippermann is as equally skilled in technology as he is in music. His interests are in the professional scene  as well as in high fidelity. He has close contacts with recording studios  and their technical  designers. Meik Wippermann  is also personal friends with a lot of musicians. He presents the world of classical music in an entertaining and knowledgeable way. The program  of presentations will remain a secret until the exhibition.  A notice at screening room F103 (Atrium 4, first floor) will inform visitors in good time.

“State of the Art” in home  cinema.
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
4k – four times the resolution  compared to Full HD. Everything revolves around this topic at Sony this year. Alongside professional equipment, such as cinema projectors and studio cameras, Sony also offers high-end home cinema systems, televisions  and blu-ray players with 4k technology. Sony is probably  the only manufacturer in the world that can boast  a complete 4k range for the living room all the way to the Hollywood studios.

“Digital Concert Hall” – technology partnership with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
Best picture and sound quality – this is the focus of the technology partnership with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sony are working together in this framework of technologies to continue to enhance the sound of audio products, as well as to provide live concert recordings and their digital streaming with better picture and sound quality.
The online streaming  service  “Digital Concert  Hall” makes it possible for classical fans all over the world to enjoy concerts performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the comfort  of their own living room.

Sound demonstrations
Sony Deutschland  GmbH
Atrium 4, first floor, room F 130 and room F 128
Talking about music is like dancing to architecture. This is why Sony is inviting visitors to this year‘s HIGH END to enjoy the sound of the AR1 loudspeaker themselves in a small sound demonstration.

High-end audio and multimedia systems based on the Microsoft Windows platform.
Technology stage,  Hall 3, D10
Daniel Mayerthaler AG  – Mr Daniel Mayerthaler

In future, computer-based solutions  will be increasingly used for high-quality audio and image playback. The Swiss company, Mayerthaler, is taking a new and innovative path, which the user can greatly benefit from. The DMA (Daniel Mayerthaler Assembly) concept is based on the completely open, and extremely  powerful Windows platform from the global software leader,  Microsoft.  The latest versions  also feature a generously dimensioned audio and multimedia subsystem. However, using high-quality electronics for the digital/ analogue conversion and analogue signal processing continues to be the key to providing the ultimate in musical pleasure. The modular DMA solutions enable individual customised high-quality audio and multimedia systems.

High Quality Stereo Reproduction with a Center  Channel.
Talk by Christof Faller, Illusonic GmbH, Uster, Schweiz

Christof Faller, AES Fellow and co-inventor of MP3 Surround,  will give a presentation at the HIGH END 2013 show about optimal reproduction of stereo music with three loudspeakers. This topic has been the subject  of heated debate for decades. The soundstage is only perceived faithfully in the so-called sweet spot with conventional stereo playback. The presented technique, based  on latest scientific results in acoustics and signal processing, allows reproduction of stereo signals with a high quality center channel, such that a stable soundstage is perceived from anywhere in the room.
An accompanying demonstration will be given in Room E221. Illusonic will present its
Immersive Audio Processor.