I was also at the Munich High End today and was very impressed by the Tidal demo; not so much the Magico Q5 demo. There were two other demos I heard using the Magico speakers (different models) that I found more attractive than the Q5 demo.
There are so many variables in play that no real conclusions can be drawn - you just have to go with your impressions. Lots of other demos to listen to mean that you can't spend too much time at one particular room if it is not grabbing you from the start. So it was with the Q5s playing a long classical piece.
On the other hand, the Tidal demo was first class.
My favourite demo was Andrew Jones showing the TAD player with Constellation Audio preamp, TAD amps and TAD Reference One speakers. Part of the reason I ranked this demo at the top was Andrew's presentation - moving between SACD, Redbook, Redbook from hard drive, and hi-rez PCM from hard drive, he kept it interesting and the sound was simply stunning.
There were many other enjoyable demos I heard - but the Magico Q5 was not among them.
Regards,
There are so many variables in play that no real conclusions can be drawn - you just have to go with your impressions. Lots of other demos to listen to mean that you can't spend too much time at one particular room if it is not grabbing you from the start. So it was with the Q5s playing a long classical piece.
On the other hand, the Tidal demo was first class.
My favourite demo was Andrew Jones showing the TAD player with Constellation Audio preamp, TAD amps and TAD Reference One speakers. Part of the reason I ranked this demo at the top was Andrew's presentation - moving between SACD, Redbook, Redbook from hard drive, and hi-rez PCM from hard drive, he kept it interesting and the sound was simply stunning.
There were many other enjoyable demos I heard - but the Magico Q5 was not among them.
Regards,