DMS, Andrew Lissimore, Taron Lissimore and myself have been travelling around Europe a bit ahead of the Munich High-End show itself and visited some pretty neat places.
It’s been a great time so far! Go subscribe to
The Headphone Show if you want to see the videos we will be posting on the visits before the show and coverage of the show itself!
Starting in Ireland we visited Sennheiser whose factory was something out of a Sci-Fi movie. The level of automation and precision was incredible. Unfortunately no filming was allowed inside, but this was a seriously impressive factory. Not just in terms of the level of sophistication in production itself, but in consistency and testing they do for every unit. Seeing a voice coil being wound, joined, moved on and loaded into automatic acoustically isolated GRAS rigs for measurement was quite neat to say the least!
Ireland itself is absolutely stunning, and luckily we had some time to head up into the mountains and enjoy the view. Ireland being green is no stereotype, it’s absolutely stunning.
And of course…plenty of Guinness along the way. It genuinely is better in Ireland than anywhere else.
Then we headed over to England and visited Warwick acoustics. They have some exciting things coming in future, and getting some behind the scenes looks at the development and team really gave some context as to why the APERIO in particular is such an exceptional product.
Their location is also quite exciting as they’re based on the MIRA technology park, the UK’s hub for automotive development. Lots of stuff to sign just to get on premises, and plenty of exotic cars in camouflage around the test track and park at large. Though of course, the audio gear was what we were really there for and I believe it’s safe to say Warwick is a name you will be hearing a lot more in future…
Next up, Chord electronics. This has been the highlight of my trip so far, in large majority due to the attitude and ethos of the people there.
I won’t show too many photos as we will have some video content coming up and you should keep your eyes peeled for that! (Subscribe to
The Headphone Show if you've not already! We're gonna have plenty of coverage of the show!)
Chord was incredibly open in terms of what DMS and I could film, in fact when we asked what we could or could not film, the response was simply ‘go nuts!’.
Their location is also probably the most characterful ‘factory’ I’ve ever visited. And I’m looking forward to showing you in the upcoming videos!
I particularly have to highlight that when we were there, we noticed that one of their technicians was working on what looked to be a quite old amp. Turns out this was over 30 years old, and Chord continues to service their products of any age. Their sustainability approach and how understated they are about that was honestly quite heartwarming, and the passion of the people there and WHY they’re doing what they do is inspiring.
But with the manufacturer visits in the UK finished, DMS and I headed to visit Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm shop up in the Cotswolds.
Got myself some Hawkstone beer and Bee Juice which I’m looking forward to trying once I’m back home!
DMS came over to my new studio for a bit before we headed back into London for one of the best Indian meals I’ve had, and DEFINITELY the best Old Fashioned I’ve ever had. Seriously if ever you’re in London, you owe it to yourself to make a visit to Dishoom.
Andrew and Taron went to a Premier League football match, and a pint with the lads after
And now we are in Berlin, where the first stop was of course to pull up and hop out at the
afterparty zoo because....capybara...
I'm currently enjoying some music on the A&K SP3000 and an IEM which is likely going to shake things up a bit once it's out.....
Very excited for this week! Hope to see lots of you at Munich! We will be covering the show on
The Headphone Show so subscribe and keep your eyes peeled!
well you know it if you are.
(had a listen to lots more, will share later)
