GOLDMUND - Swiss Made High-End Audio Equipment

In the very very stupid battle of the future audio digital formats (96kDVD-vs-192kDVDA-vs-SACD), the most prestigious (or at least they were before…) manufacturers throw stones at each other every morning trying to impose their format by force, winning nothing… None of the new format is ready to compete yet, none has any decent software to propose, all existing machines use old tricks to achieve the unnecessary standards. All will be obsolete soon. However, uneducated customers run behind, believing they absolutely need 192k or whatever else, when the standard they try to purchase is not even stabilized and is sounding 2 times worse than the good established ones… The resulting confusion stopped the sales of good quality Digital Audio in 1999 and is believed to stop them further in 2000.

In order to take some fun out of this mess, some of our customers have recently shown a quite stupendous demonstration of Goldmund technology : a 192k D/A Converter that sounds better than any other ones (follow our eyes, they are not many). Their small experiment is worth relating, even if the technology behind is quite incorrect. They took 2 small D/A converters using Alize 2 (in fact 2 x Stellavox ST2 but you can do that with 2 x Goldmund SRDA2 or 2 x JOB DA96) and used them in separating right and left channel to decode a 192k DVD Audio (probably the only one existing, which shows the futility of the today’s battle). And miracle, it works…

Of course the demonstration is technologically incorrect. But the fun of the experiment is that the other 192k (real) D/A converters you can compare sonically were not sounding as good, and cost a bundle by comparison, being already obsolete by their early start in the battle. There is one morality to this story : customers should stop being abused by the unethical approach of most Audio manufacturers. They should stop buying standards which are not established, not usable, and concentrate on formats where the music is getting the best for the moment (like DVD Video with 96kHz tracks), waiting for whatever comes after is finalized and sounds better.

The best sounding 192k D/A converter on earth ?

In their latest “2000” version, the new Goldmund SR2 and SR3 are not only much lower in noise, more dynamic and more powerful. With their attractive low price and exceptional sound quality, they are probably today the best bargains in the Goldmund line of products. The Japanese product introduction has been a splashing success with the best Japanese reviewers having immediately adopted them for its own personal use.

More, if they were initially designed for budget (Goldmund-like) Home-Theater systems, and if they still appear in our lowest price SR line, they are now very quickly adopted in much more ambitious Home-Theater systems, or for the SR2 as the best deal in our lines for the basic stereo amplifier. Capable of more than 150W per channel with ultra-dynamic Job circuitry, their universality is becoming obvious to lots of customers. They are well started to become our record product for 2000.

We wish you all a very happy new year. And you already made ours…

Goldmund achieved in 1999 its record year for the 20th century. With a Business Volume growing by 20% and a net profit by more than 40%, our company is preparing a much stronger future, having made more money than most (if not all) the other high-end Audio manufacturers, which means being able to invest more in research and technology than all its competition. The results should be visible as early as the new year 2000 where more new products, more new advanced technologies, more sound quality will appear.

This result is not only due to our wise management, high product quality or smart previous investments. It is mostly due to our customers appreciation, support and good understanding of where quality really is.

Thanks to you all.

To better support our numerous projects and better present them to you, our company has hired several new members in its team starting in January 2000.

First, a better customer support will be assumed by Lorenzo Mandelli who is taking the position of Technical Director in our organization. You should all benefit of his strong determination to make Goldmund the best company to deal with.

You already see his work everyday when visiting our web site. David Marioni is also joining us with the difficult task to manage our visual and marketing image. You should see soon the result of his work on this web site.

Tiziano Leidi is our new Software development manager. He is working both for AudioNetworks and Goldmund and will insure that the software we develop is more reliable, better documented and giving you more satisfaction.

Ninn Langel is taking the difficult position of IT manager. Not only responsible of our fast computer network growth, with now more than 20 machines of different natures to master, but he will also be a great help for the development of our future computer-based Goldmund products.

Welcome to all of them in the team.