Esoteric had a whole room to themselves, demonstrating their full range of excellently crafted equipment. It was quite a sight to behold! New for this year is their A-100 tube integrated amplifier. Priced at USD 19,000 it boasts of a host of advanced technological features aimed at not only achieving a high level of sound quality, but also to make it extremely user friendly.

A view of some of the Esoteric gear on demonstration.

P-03 and D-03 transport and DAC combinations, with the G-0Rb Rubidium master clock at the bottom

A-100 tube integrated amp.

Ortofon had a sizeable static display for all their wears, and this includes various tonearms, different cartridge ranges and a number of cables models that are very popular in Japan.

Some of Ortofon’s famous SPU models

More SPU cartridges

Kontrapunkt and Rondo series

The new 2M series and some affordable MCs

The new RS-212 D ‘Dynamic Balance’ tonearm.

I have always admired the products of Sutherland Engineering, a small specialist manufacturer of high quality phono stages. In Munich, they were showcasing their top-selling PH-3D battery powered phono stage. It looks very well made and features dual mono layout with provision for all manner of cartridge load adjustments. Equally as impressive is the retail price of only USD 1000!

View of the inside of the PH-3D, with batteries on the left

Close-up view of the circuit board.