This year saw the celebration of milestone anniversaries from great heritage brands like Naim, McIntosh, Wharfedale, JBL, and Musical Fidelity, to name just a few. It was about them looking back over their illustrious careers, and 'reimagining' legendary products using today's tech wrapped in the aesthetics of yesteryear. These offerings appeared just as popular with people who weren't around for the first incarnation as those who may have loved and lost the originals. Is 'newstalgia' here to stay?

Although the show is predominantly themed around luxury products, there was something for everyone – not least the freshly reborn Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amp. This classic late-eighties solid-state Class A design by (the sadly now deceased) tube legend Tim de Paravicini, is now on sale again to charm a new generation of music lovers. Just when you think Munich is an elitist show full of crazily-priced, aspirational toys for overgrown boys, then esoteric but affordable designs like this pop-up…

At the other end of the price scale, the latest Dohmann Audio Helix One Mk3 turntable was wowing vinyl fans. Costing over fifty times the price of the aforementioned Musical Fidelity amplifier, it's a take-no-prisoners analogue disc spinner with a welter of advanced engineering touches and exotic looks to match. At its best, analogue is capable of stellar sound – still head and shoulders above hi-res digital – and here it was, singing in front of our very ears, all the way from Melbourne, Australia.

For us though, zany loudspeakers are what make the Munich show so special. US-based Fleetwood Sound Company obliged with its Deville standmounters, which sounded incredibly beguiling – delicate and nuanced, but with firecracker dynamics. It was an unexpected surprise, unlike the Western Electric 12B loudspeakers in the Silbatone Acoustics room, which have been at the Munich Show as long as we can remember. People never tire of hearing these behemoths, first made in 1927 for Warner Brothers. The 'snail horn' design drives a huge room without so much as breaking into a sweat, even from Silbatone's small but perfectly formed tube amps. Like so much at this show, it was a sight for sore ears!

The Munich show is also the ideal opportunity to see new technologies being showcased for the first time, with the likes of Wilson Benesch and MOON continuing to develop in-house solutions. Meanwhile iFi Audio, for example, is readying new lines to accommodate the latest IEM driver tech, with the iDSD Diablo-X bridging the gap until then.

With over 550 exhibitors from 54 countries and over 1,000 brands on display, it is impossible to provide full show coverage or even critically assess everything on offer. We'll deep dive into the new products in the coming months as we get hands-on with them in a familiar (and much quieter) environment in due course, so watch this space…

With countless kilometres covered across the 30,000 square metres of exhibition space in the MOC by our collective team from Asia, Australia & New Zealand, and the UK, and with our social media feeds in overdrive with rolling footage from the show, this year’s experience and memories will stay with us for some time. Meanwhile, we’ll leave you with a small selection of images from some of our favourites below, and of course, you can view the entire 600+ photo gallery here. Also, if social media is your thing, you can hit our YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook pages for even more content. Enjoy!

High End Munich 2023 Image Gallery