TIDAL FOR BUGATTI – Munich High End 2023

In the world of the audiophile even the expression “no words” might be a well worn cliche but in the case of Tidal Audio’s Bugatti Royale system – presented for the first time in public at Munich high end last week – it’s so agonisingly difficult to describe and even perhaps understand what we all heard, that “no words” really was my first reaction when Tidal’s MD Jorn Janczak asked me to commit my reaction to paper.

Any story about this system must begin with the Bugatti Veyron hypercar, something that greatly influenced Jorn from its very inception. It was an automotive product that made him understand that better is better, not bigger. And if you could build something completely unique like that which went beyond everything else, and was approachable and useable to both the driving enthusiast and also perhaps his wife or other family members, then people would most definitely buy it. So not many people know this but before Bugatti began their selection process and investigated and met with many many different Hifi manufacturers all over the world in 2019, Tidal had already designed and conceived this system. It was there already waiting to happen several years before.

So really the Bugatti system is something that is positioned outside of the regular audiophile environment. This partnership of theirs with one of the greatest brands on earth, has represented a mouth watering opportunity for Tidal to explore a whole new world of creative possibilities and future technological heights. By forging a completely new path aimed primarily at the non-audiophile Bugatti customer, the eventual blossomed fruit can be something completely different. This is a system which refuses to play ball with regular high end conventionality. Rightly so, because whilst I counted 7 or 8 absolutely fantastic first rate rooms at Munich this year, nothing … and I mean nothing, was like this. Not sonically, visually or in form factor. In those 7 rooms I heard every time a truly stunning hifi system but this, this wasn’t that at all. It simply does not sound like hifi reproduction as we know it. One prestigious publication has already pronounced the Bugatti system the easy best of show for 2023 and I understand from the grapevine that others will soon conclude similarly.

You would expect something pioneering and incredible sounding of course given the brand association with the people who make the world’s most desirable hypercars, given the lofty price tag and given that the regular vanilla Tidal gear always books itself a prize in the best 2 or 3 rooms here at Munich each year, but still, nothing you have heard up to this point can really prepare you for this experience.

If you have the means then Tidal for Bugatti leapfrogs you to a point far beyond the decades long marathon of gradually curating a state of the art system of many many boxes plus a veritable rats nest of indispensable wires and ancilliaries. The single unit Bugatti setup is a final end point, a whole new way of bringing the suspension of disbelief into your home and connecting to the music. I spent a lot of time in that room and everyone who I saw sat in those seats – customers, distributors, reviewers, other dealers, manufacturers – they all exhibited the same revelatory and startling reaction, genuinely aghast at what they had just listened to. Limitless dynamics, resolving power and insight; the feeling of ‘a system’ and even the mere notion of electronic reproduction, is simply never there in the room with you. It was utterly inexhaustible, in power, bandwidth, harmonics, dimension; it never ran out of anything and never made its presence felt and thus was totally invisible even at enormous volumes. Quite simply, it did not sound like a hifi system as we know it and some people were either laughing at the shock surprise of its dynamics and realism or actually moved directly to tears at the sheer beauty that percolated forth on some tracks. Even off axis or at the other end of the room where the regular Tidal equipment was stationed, it still sounded alarmingly special and different.

Something truly inspirational then, something life affirming that ignites your passion, something that makes you smile and grin and converse for days afterwards, regardless of whether you will ever be lucky enough to ever be an owner or not. And for those who can spend that kind of money, like all the best luxury purchases it’s a very very easy decision to make simply because it is such an inspiring and powerful experience when sat in front of it.

In summary, I can offer no finer praise by stating that if I had the means, I would buy this system for myself in a heartbeat. For me, right now, this is currently the pinnacle of what is possible and the frontier of the industry. Other publications/reviewers who had the chance to hear the system share that same opinion too.