SHOW REPORT
56 Australian Hi-Fi
DSDor768kHzforPCMand
incorporatesMQAdecoding.
Asyoumightimagineallthis
hardwarehasitsprice,and
thatis $US48,000eachfor
transportandDAC.
MonitorAudiohasa new
Goldseriesoflavishly-fin-
ishedloudspeakers.Therange
consistsofthreestereomodels
andthreeforhomecinema
systemsandtheysharea pla-
nartweetercalledMPD,a ce-
ramic-coatedmidrangeonthe
three-waysandsandwichcone
bassdriverswithanalumin-
iumandceramicouterskinatopa honeycombcoreandcarbonfibre
cone. The Gold 100 standmount (£1,400) has a 165mm mid/bass driver
in a rear ported box, Gold 200 (£2,900) is a floorstanding variant on this
with a midrange and two bass drivers plus a nice outrigger base. Gold
300 is the biggest floorstander with dual 203mm bass drivers that stands
more than a metre high. The Gold 250 (£1,100) centre-channel emu-
lates the 200 in a horizontal array while surround duties are provided
by the Gold FX (£1,700 pair) leaving the low end to the W12 (£2,100)
subwoofer with its pair of 200mm ABR drivers and a 600-watt Hypex
Class-D amplifier. Magico launched its M2 floorstander back in 2018 but
this was the first time I’d heard them, and given the presence of MSB’s
top Select DAC and Soulutions finest amplification it was an under-
standably impressive experience. The M2 is notable for its carbon-fibre
cabinet, diamond-coated beryllium tweeter and graphene-impregnated
midandbassdrivers,andinthecontextofthesystem’soverallsound
quality,$US68,998seemsalmostreasonable. JasonKennedy Sugden built a
special four-sid-
ed version of its
Signature A21SE
Integrated to show
the different front
panel colours that
are available. Top to Bottom: Tech Das unveiled what might just
be the most expensive turntable in the world ever at
$US450,000. Its Air Force Zero has an air bearing and
a five-part 100kg platter. Vertere’s latest is the DG-1
which comes with a cunning arm bearing based on nylon
threads for both vertical and horizontal movement. The
Wilson Benesch GMT One turntable isn’t available yet,
but this is what its field coil drive system looks like.Dynaudio has put
the finishing touches
to the Confidence
range and was
demonstrating the
Confidence 30
with a Moon system
to great effect
Esoteric likes to push disc-spinning technology as far as possible and
in the appropriately named Grandioso transport and DAC the company
has gone further than most. The P1X Super Audio CD transport is a
two-box heavyweight with separate power supply and a VRDS-Atlas
transport that claims ‘the highest rigidity and the heaviest construction
in the history of VRDS’. This uses a proprietary ES-Link5 connection to
the D1X DAC so that it can send DSDbetweenthetwo,theDACalso
inhabits two chassis but here
each box contains a different
channel, taking dual mono to
its ultimate. It can accept sam-
ple rates up to 22.5MHz with Technics SL-G700 is an SACD/CD
player with a multiroom capability with
Chromecast, balanced and SE out with
volume control and MQA compatibility.
It’s also a very capable streamer.