⌈ STATEMENT in High Fidelity is an award jointly awarded by two audio magazines - German HIFISTATEMENT.net and Polish HIGH FIDELITY, starting from 2019. The award has two editions - German and Polish - because it is presented twice a year - in May during the HIGH END exhibition in Munich and in November during the AUDIOVIDEO SHOW exhibition in Warsaw. ⌋

FTER TWO YEARS, the time had come again: HighFidelity.pl and hifistatement.net were able to present the STATEMENT in High Fidelity Award to the winners in person and not just congratulate them via Zoom or Skype conference - albeit with a considerable delay. Actually, the award ceremony should have already taken place in May.

⸜ From left to right: colleague Wojtek Pacula, RCM owner Roger Adamek, HEM owner Marcin Hamerla and the author

As early as the Audio Video Show 2019 in Warsaw, my colleague Wojtek Pacula and I agreed to present one award per magazine at both the High End in May and the Audio Video Show in November. In the meantime, it has become customary to speak of a "German Edition" and a "Polish Edition" respectively. The awards we presented in Warsaw at the end of October were the ones that should have been handed out to the winners at the - unfortunately cancelled - High End in Munich, with the full name "STATEMENT in High Fidelity German Edition 2021".

By chance, however, the colleague and I decided both on Polish manufacturers without prior consultation, so that in this case one could also speak of a "Polish edition" of the awards. Be that as it may, our choice had an advantage that should not be underestimated: At least for three of the four participants, the journey to Warsaw was not excessively far. And after reviewing the Ferrum HYPSOS and the equally impressive Ferrum OOR, I had planned a story about his company with HEM and Ferrum CEO Marcin Hamerla.

All that was needed was good scheduling to realise the meeting of all four participants of the award ceremony in the Stary Dom restaurant in Warsaw. Since I had already reported on a visit to HEM more than seven years ago, my colleague Finn Gallowsky took over this time. His article will go online next week.

⸜ Marcin Hamerla among the team that realised the HYPSOS

But back to the winners of the awards: Wojtek Pacula’s chose - as already reported in May - the large phono stage by RCM Audio, the The Big Phono, which fulfils the expectations of the audiophile in terms of the power supply - it takes up one of the two rather large housings - but not when it comes to active components and the circuit design: In the - for me surprisingly - unbalanced RCM, integrated circuits take over the amplification. But Wojtek Pacula is fortunately not primarily concerned with technical solutions, but with sonic performance. And that's where The Big Phono has convinced him all round. With his choice, the colleague made me so curious that during the presentation of the awards I agreed with RCM owner Roger Adamek that his German distributor would also send a Big Phono to Gröbenzell one day. I will keep you informed.

⸜ Birgit Hammer-Sommer and Dirk Sommer at the award-giving dinner

After Finn Gallowsky's and my involvement with the Ferrum HYPSOS, we agreed that this power supply brings equipment delivered with (digital) plug-in power supplies to an even higher sonic level than the linear power supplies we have used so far and thus deserves a STATEMENT in High Fidelity. This impression has not only been consolidated in combination with other components such as the ADOT media converters. Our colleagues Helmut Baumgartner and Wolfgang Kemper have also tried out the power supplies from Poland and purchased two of them each for their systems. So there are no two opinions about the HYPSOS in the editorial team.

Shortly we will announce the winners of the "STATEMENT in High Fidelity Polish Edition 2021" here. Let's see when and where we can present the awards. ■

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▌ STATEMENT in High Fidelity

⸤ 2020 Polish EDITION:
Ayon CD-35 II HF Edition, review HERE
Transrotor TRA9, review HERE

⸤ 2020 GERMAN EDITION:
Gryphon ETHOS, review HERE
Melco S100, review HERE

⸤ 2019 POLISH EDITION:
Nordost QPOINT, review HERE
Audioquest Niagara 1000, 5000, 7000, TORNADO, THUNDER, NRG-23