AUDIO VIDEO SHOW WARSAW 2024 REPORT PART 2 – THE SOBIESKI

Join Stu and Lin for the Audio Video Show Warsaw 2024 Report Part 2 from the Sobieski Hotel.

AUDIO VIDEO SHOW WARSAW 2024 – THE SOBIESKI HOTEL

The Radisson Blu Sobieski contains a mixture of rooms from larger conferencing spaces to smaller bedrooms and a mix of high-end gear and more affordable, there are also a lot of local brands and brands that you might not find at other shows, exciting and very busy.

There is a different feel here to the Golden Tulip, and the Stadium, each venue has its own vibe. The Sobieski is also the social hub of the show, with the press, and many exhibitors, staying there, which gives it a great buzz and lively bar, both during the show and after hours, a great place to rub shoulders with HiFi legends and do some business in a relaxed atmosphere.

We take you through the Sobieski show floor by floor, starting at the top and working down, though we did have to take a break when it got too busy on Saturday.

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FLOOR SEVEN

AUDIO ANATOMY 1

ZINGALI, PATHOS, JAVA HiFi and German Physics were shown in this room. I’m a big fan of the JAVA HiFi brand from New Zealand but sadly we were only offered a static display in a room with only two seats. The Zingali Quantum Array 2.8 Plus speakers were interesting. The full system we got to hear was Pathos InPower MKII amps, Pathos InControl Pre and Audia Flight FLS250 SACD player.

AUDIO ANATOMY 2

The second of the AudioAnatomy rooms had smaller standmounts and a less complex system overall than the first…and I thought it was a better sounding room. Speakers were the AudioAnatomy 5, with Audio Flight and an Auris turntable and Auris Genoa Integrated amp, which was also very cool looking.

CLOSER ACOUSTICS

Closer are a bit of a favourite of mine out of Poland and the little OGY speakers with the new bass unit sounded fab with a J Sikora turntable and Closer Acoustics Provocateur Signature (AS) 300B amplifier that we have reviewed in the past. This amp weighs 20Kg more than the standard Provocateur and costs double the price of the standard version. You’d hardly believe you were listening to vinyl in this system as it was super clean and completely lack of clicks and pops. A lovely sounding system that I’d be well happy with at home. Between the records when nothing playing the system (despite the valve nature) was absolutely silent…not easy to accomplish with valves and super sensitive loudspeakers.

PEINE BRZMIENIE STUDIO Hi END

New Art speakers from Scotland. These have been developed with a new birch ply construction. There are three ranges with different prices of drivers etc.

The amps were also Art, but not the same brand. They were the Adagio mnonoblocs and the Conductor phonostage. Certainly nice-looking amps and speakers. The cartridge is very cool and called the Homogenix silver from Poland.

8MM AUDIOLAB

Room 710 was fronted by a Technics SL 1200GR turntable with an AIDAS Durawood Bee Gold SE cartridge which went into RADA tube electronics Phono Silver SUT, Precious Silver phono stage, and Precious Silver Pre and mono power amplifiers. Cables and power conditioning was by Audiollex and the speakers were the 8mm Audiolab PIU MK3s. Playing a very cool version of Whole Lotta Love. It was a very understated system that seemed really effortless in its presentation.

FALCON ACOUSTICS AND LUMIN

The Falcon LS3/5As are a fantastic and authentic recreation of the original BBC design and are obviously very, very famous – we have a pair. Electronics were all from Lumin in the form of the U2 and L2. The amp was from the Italian brand Norma.

SZEMIS AUDIO CONSULTANTS

I recognised this room as soon as I entered and in previous years was blown away with the effort and sound. This year was no exception. The full system was the Sugden Sapphire DAP 800 pre. And FBA pure class-A Power amps for the left and right with a Sugden Masterclass integrated dealing with the centre channel. Speakers were all Type-A. The front left and right were the 92dB 3 way design we have heard before – very impressive. Front and rears were prototype 3 ways. The sub was a REL Gibraltar.

The whole system was set up for surround and playing Mike Oldfield was very impressive. Very cool!

FLOOR SIX

Ø AUDIO AND ELECTROCOMPANIET

After a successful year of growth, Norwegian brand Ø Audio made an impact at the Warsaw HiFi Show by unveiling three new models, starting with the highly anticipated Frigg 02.

Partnering with Norwegian electronics giant Electrocompaniet, Ø Audio showcased its speakers powered by Electrocompaniet’s flagship amps – we use the excellent AW800M as our reference at HiFi PiG Towers. Needless to say this was impressive…but then I’m somewhat biased. Even at a volume I assumed would over power the relatively small room, this system sounded dynamic and controlled. A very, very nice partnership from Norway.

This was a first outing for the Frigg 02 speakers that were only finished a couple of weeks ago. In November the brand will introduce the Verdande loudspeaker.

I have to say, even after just one floor of the Warsaw Show, I’m very impressed with the quality of the rooms. People have clearly gone to a great deal of effort to ensure the rooms are set up nicely and sounding at their best.

SISOOUND

The Solidus S loudspeakers by Sisound from Poland were playing along with Extraaudio electronics – specifically the DAC1 MK3 Dual R2R Ladder DAC and the X800 MK2 hybrid integrated. The speakers are 90dB sensitive and go down to a claimed 26Hz. They have a planar ribbon mid and tweeter along with a more conventional bass unit all housed in an infinite baffle (sealed box). Interestingly enough, both Oscar and I last night remarked on how much we enjoy sealed box designs.

Another nice sounding system, though this was the second time in as many rooms that we heard St James Infirmary – could this be the new Keith Don’t Go?

MORE AUDIO & AUDIOFORM

Two new brands for me but sounding very, very nice with some unknown (to me) blues tunes. The speakers were AudioForm along with MuzgAudio streamer and DAC both proudly handmade in Poland. The More Audio CS100 is a single-ended design.

BRYSTON & VICOUSTIC

I’d not heard the Bryston Mini A speakers before but they seem to be a very capable standmount speaker. The streamer DAC was the BDA 3 from Bryston and the amp was the Bi-200.

Vicoustic makes acoustic panels and has just moved into a new purpose-built factory and you can read the full news about that here.

AUDIUM

Fantastic to see the Audium brand from Berlin at the Warsaw show. They are an excellent sounding loudspeaker in my opinion and represent a system that is pretty much all-in-one plug and play. You can read the review of the Audium Comp Air 8.3 here. This is a lifestyle kind of speaker but one that I totally get. If you don’t want a whole load of boxes in your living room then you could do a lot worse than taking a listen to these speakers. That point source driver and active sub work very well together to give an audiophile experience in a system that is remarkably home-friendly and excellent sounding. Source was from B.audio, another very stylish and home-friendly brand.

72 AUDIO AND POPORI ACOUSTICS

The speakers are a full range electrostatic design by Hungarian brand by Popori Acoustics The 72 Audio brand is also from Hungary. The cartridge, MC etc were all from the 72 Audio brand is so named because the boss was born in 72. Nagra reel to reels were also shown along with Stellavox.

72 Audio and Popori were next door too and using Audio Hungary Qualiton phono and amplifier with a VR3 Popori speakers. The turntable is Micro Seiki 1500x with a Dynavector cartridge XX2. Cables were Bonsai Audio.

AUDIO NOTE UK

Stalwarts of the UK audio scene, Audio Note UK were showing a system full of their own components at the Warsaw Audio Show and it sounded fab. The full system was The Meishu amp. CD2.1x, AN-E speakers, TT-2 turntable with ARM tonearm and IQ cartridge.

FLOOR FIVE

BARE BAFFLE

A Western Electric amp was at the heart of this system with some interesting speakers by Schetl topped by AirBlade tweeters.

ELINS AUDIO

Another new to me brand is Elins Audio. The system was made up of Elins Audio electronics and cables. The intergrated am is the Concerto, the Opera amp is powered by ICE modules with 2000W a channel. The brand is from Poland and all the cables were by Elins. The phono stage in the room was the Cello.

KII AUDIO

I was SO looking forward to this room because they’d agreed to play Reality Asylum by Crass…and they did. The Sevens are brilliant and very good value for money. We heard these speakers at the Eindhoven show a couple of weeks ago and they never fail to amaze me with how they play music. Compact, all in one and insanely good sounding. I’d have a pair tomorrow!

Definitely one of the sounds of the show so far for me for realistically priced kit.

HOMOGENIX

A massive pair of horns fronted this system and it sounded great, showing of the Homogenix cartridges which are tiny works of art, made from ancient wood.

RETHM

Angie Lisi is the undisputed queen of high end audio and had flown over from Canada for the Warsaw Show. They hadn’t got the speakers until the last minute. The Rethm Maarga speakers are 15000 US $ pair which to me seems a bit of a bargain in the world of high-end audio. The point source wideband speaker allied with proper bass gives you the best of both worlds. Rethm were paired with Phasemation MA2000 300B amps, Lampizator Poseidon Tube DAC and wired with Transparent cables. Great sound at a great show.

Another fabulous room and lovely to see Angie in Europe.

AUDIOFORTE

Acoustic Solid are a German turntable manufacturer that make record players that really should cost a lot more than they actually do. At the Warsaw Show they were partners with the Atoll electronics from France. And a pair of Atohm GT Series loudspeakers. The show really was filling up at this point and nice to bump into the legendary Michael Fremer in the room.

DUTCH AND DUTCH

Dutch and Dutch speakers have a great reputation in the some circles in the UK and I get it. They have onboard DSP that allows them to make a crappy sounding room sound good. Indeed, their advertising at the show says “Bad Room? Great Sound with Room Matching. They were playing some vocal jazz that wasn’t really up my street but I get the speakers which were the 8C on this occasion. So an all in one system that just works! Price is about 16K Euros but that includes speakers and onboard amps.

FLOOR FOUR

EPO SOUND

Last year this brand had a static display of their wood and resin speakers but this year we got a chance to listen to them and they are very good. But just look at them – very beautiful!

AMPHION AND SPL

The concept in the Amphion and SPL room was to showcase how easy it is to set up and operate a “professional fidelity system which allows you to enjoy mastering-grade sound without the price tag typically associated with high-end audio products”. The system was made up from Amphion One 15 and Two 18 studio monitors along with the Amphion FlexBase Bass extension system.

Electronics were from SPL in the shape of the SPL Director and SPL S9000. I’m particularly keen on the design aesthetic of the SPL kit that is compact and interesting looking. Sounds great too, though I’m yet to hear Amphion speakers sound anything less than excellent. Playing some Floyd for us this year.

FORUM DIY

A busy DIY room…including the cool ‘Lego’amp that loads of people were talking about!

5FE

A full system of polish brand including 3 way speakers and a hybrid amplifier. The full system is around 38k euros.

SKALA AUDIO

The Skala Audio speakers were being used with some super-tiny electronics but sounded very nice.

The model is the Kaliope and they cost 4000 euros which seems a very reasonable price for a fair bit of speaker. Sounded very good in this room with the wave-guide treble unit.

WILE

Absolutely packed!

FORUM AUDIO STERO.PL

I love that Adam allows rooms at the show for enthusiasts like this.

AUDIO ATELIER

It’s late afternoon and the rooms are getting VERY busy but this room was a bit of an oasis of calm where we could sit and enjoy the music that was playing…if only it wasn’t opera.

KONSBUD AUDIO

HARTLAB AND OEPHI

Hartlab are a brand we first met on the Newcomers stand at Munich quite a few years ago. A cool aesthetic feature is you can select the colour for the LED that illuminates the logo on their products. A great sounding system which comprised of their Tune Two preamplifier and Tune Three hybrid power amplifier, paired with OePhi Reference 3.5 Speakers and connected using OePhi Reference cables. Turntable was a beautiful Tentogra.

AUDIO ATELIER 2

Grandinote electronics and speakers with Luna cables.

NOTTE SOUND LABS

A new name to me but a lovely sounding room that was just very natural sounding. The brand is Polish and I reckon one of the most lovely rooms we have been in this afternoon. A very cool and unforced kind of sound.

GENELEC

FLOOR THREE

STORGAARD AND VESTSKOV

The whole set up in this room was from Denmark and showcases what a centre of audio excellence the country is fast becoming.

Taking centre stage in this room was the new bookshelf loudspeaker that is claimed to have a bass response under 30Hz and flat to 38KHz. This is a very, very good looking standmount that just oozes class.

Also on the room were the ZIKRA AUDIO LCR tube preamplifier and 211 tube monobloc amplifiers, both of which were making their debut at the Warsaw show. The DAC in the room is designed by Ole Nielsen and is by NEWONTECH. It concentrates specifically on “ultra-high-resolution” audio and supports 32bit/192kHZ files utilising advanced USB integration. Cables were by DYRHOLM.

Good sounding speakers and that bass down to 30Hz is not an exaggeration. I really do like a good standmount and these are rather beautiful in both the finish and their sound. Imaging is spectacular as you would expect but they are also very dynamic speakers. Looking forward to having a pair of these at home for review so I can give a proper opinion in a system I know well.

The finish is equally spectacular and is called Tiger Bamboo with a Bentley copper finish on the from baffle – and Bentley have given them permission to use this name. Price is 15.5K euros for a handmade speaker that sounds like this and looks incredibly luxurious doesn’t seem outrageous.

We went back in this room on the Sunday to hear the Fenia floor standers at 58,500 Euros. Again, a VERY nice sounding pair of speakers and I can see this new brand doing great things around the world very soon. A very professional team too!

RADA

A REED turntable fronted the system with a DAVA Soul cartridge into RADA SUT, Phono and amplifiers. The speakers are their Resound open baffles (5000 euros a pair). Everything is made in Lithuania. A very nice sounding system and an excellent way to kick off our final day at Warsaw Audio Show.

ELLA SONIKA

Ella Sonika are from South Korea and make the full digital amplifier and speakers. The cables are from Athena Muse also from South Korea.

SOUND SOURCE

AUDIO ANALOGUE are from Italy and we’ve always really enjoyed their kit. The amplifier was the Maestro 2 (18K) that gives 200 W into 8 Ohms and double its power into 4ohms. The DAC is is the 4250 euros The speakers are also from Air Tech ATS01 (45K). The streamer is the Think Audio Stage 4 that was a prototype with an external PSU so everything is separated. The speakers are magneto static with a panel that’s full range with a 17cm Morel woofer and the panel similar to the Magneplanar concept. A very natural sounding system that was just effortless.

UNITRA

At quarter past 10 in the morning we were told to come back in 20 minutes which sadly we just didn’t have time to do at a busy show like Warsaw…got some pics though.

SOUND SOURCE

Nice to see Leema at the show and a pair of ATC SCM50 PSL speakers. The Tucana 2 integrated and the Antila II ECO CD player which we have at home. The DAC was Mola Mola,

BONA WATT

Made in Poland the Bona Watt kit seemed to be very well priced. The Triton uses Class D and tubes ad costs 6900 euros. Signal conversion is handled by 16 parallel op amps and the amp has card slots on the back that allows for expansion down the line. This is the latest amp from the company and has an output of 250W a channel into 8Ohms. Played an excellent version of Kashmir by young Poish guitarist Marcin – well worth checking out.

REMTON AND FONOLAB

The wonderful Thorens TD124 fronted this system with the Remton phono stage, pre and power amplifiers. The Remton 481 is the latest phono stage from the company that has a separated PSU, zero-negative feedback and is made in Czechia and costs around 3K euros.

SOULNOTE & GRAHAM AUDIO

I have a lot of time for Soul Note and this system was excellent, though there was a lot of noise bleeding from the room next door. The D2 DAC and Integrated made up this system into the well known British brand Graham BBC-esque loudspeakers. A big sounding room playing Tin Pan Alley – think this was the first time we heard this show favourite at Warsaw.

CIARRY

Polish brand Ciarry make open baffle loudspeakers, a concept that seems to be having a bit of a moment. The bigger speakers are the KG5040 at 12000 euros.

WK AUDIO

Designed and handcrafted in Poland these cables are a new brand to me but they have had good reviews by Alan at HiFi+. There are the RED line which is 6K for a 1.5m power, 4500 for interconnects and 12K for 2.5 m speaker cables. The Ray cables are the cheaper series.

FLOOR TWO

TR AUDIO AND KASATO

Absolutely nuts but in a good way. Analogue from front to back and excellent sounding.

ANCIENT AUDIO AND FRAM

This year Ancient Audio was presenting a new CD player. This is a more simple model with the main difference being the cabinet of the unit which is made from hard glass and aluminium. There was also the Class A SE power amplifier. The speakers are the second series from FRAM and look absolutely mad and have just won a very prestigious design award.

We got to listen to a couple of tunes and these speakers are absolutely mental in how they fill a room and cost 55K zl. A great sounding system in my humble opinion.

ASC ZAORSKI

A very interesting set of speakers with a couple of tweeters on each side. The speakers don’t have a name and are built to order and are 100% Polish built.

LUCARTO AUDIO

The full set up of Lucarto. The system is their DAC (5.800 euros), the Power conditioner is 3000 euros and the amplifier also 5.8K. The streamer is 3000 euros.The whole system was connected by Tellurium Q.

They get the prize for the first outing of Keith Don’t Go but reprieved themselves by playing Lin’s fave Giorgio by Daft Punk. Excellent!

SOUND RITE

Active speakers from Poland

BELLOGUROFF

A small room dominated by a HUGE pair of speakers and Belloguroff electronics. A very natural sounding system from Lithuania.

MW SYSTEM

The speakers are the TYP 3W2 based around the Beyma 12xa30nd coaxial driver. These went LOW!

SOUNDAWARE

A new name to me but not a new company as they have been around for 15 years. The system is made up off there SOUNDAWARE Music APP source, DAC, amplifiers. Another system using Tellurium Q cables.

CUBE AUDIO

Both Lin and I are big fans of the CUBE audio speakers and this time we got to hear the Jazzon 2 that made their debut at the Munich show earlier this year. They are widebanders that really do work very well at digging low whilst remains very fast. The amp is the TEKTRON Neptune, a gorgeous Italian amplifier.

NEAT ACOUSTICS

Based in the North east of England, Neat are a bit of a legendary name on the audio scene and I’ve been a long time fan of their speakers. This time we got to her the Momentum JET-S that use isobaric bass loading to give a very big sound for what are pretty small standmounters. The ribbon tweeter also makes for an airy and extended top performance. At this show the NEATS were being powered by a Primare prism Pre and amplifier. A great sounding room.

MOZZAIK AUDIO

The Mozzaik Audio branding suggests that we “Embrace Distortion” which I thought was bit of an odd one. The system is made up of the Euphony streamer into a budget DAC but using the Mozzaik Upsampler. The pre is in prototype but the amp (Mozzaik One). The Mozzaik S1 speakers were making their world debut and will cost around 5K euros when they get to market.

WILK AUDIO PROJECT

This room was rammed and so pics only.

QUALIO

The QUALIO IQ speakers are fantastic and received our Editors Choice award when we reviewed them. You can read the review here but suffice to say we bought the review pair without hesitation and they still reside in our second system!

FLOOR ONE

PREMIUM SOUND

Premium Sound has been at this event for over twelve years now and this year had three rooms, two over at the stadium and this one at the Sobieski where they were presenting the Italian AUDEL Magika + bookshelf loudspeakers on their matching stands. They have redesigned crossovers and a new version of the IRS system. Italian brand Norma provided the pre and power amplifiers whilst the digital source was from Audiobyte and Rockna Audio. Racks were by Polish manufacturer Out Audio. Cables were by Hijiri, Vermouth and sponsors of HiFi PIG’s coverage of the event Tellurium Q. Full system: Bona Watt Tamesis amp, Audel speakers (various), Audiobyte Super Hub, Rockna Wavedream DAC + Wavelight Server, TEAC VRDS-701T, Norma REVO Pre/power combo.

QUALITY AUDIO

Isolation feet on display as well as cables at back of room.

System: Peak Consult El Diablo speakers – Extraudio XP-A2000 mono blocks, Extraudio DAC2 R-2R Ladder DAC, Extraudio XP5 pre-amp, Lumin T3 streamer.

MYTEK AUDIO USA

Brooklyn Bridge II, Amp+, Liberty DAC II, Liberty THX AAA HPA and Empire mono-block.

MUZGAUDIO/LINEA AUDIO

Linea are the more budget offering from the same people who make Dear Wolf speakers. Mystique speakers were playing (white ones) – huge and deep sound from a small 2-way floorstander, really impressive.

MuzgAUDIO DAC 01LE, PP-01 power plant, Premium Audio Switch, Perfect Connection streamer + cabling, Denon PMA-S1 integrated amp.

SIA BALTIC AUDIO DISTRIBUTION

Tannoy Stirling III L2 special edition playing (Super Gold Monitor on static display), Octave V 110 SE amplifier, Okto Research dac8, Eversolo DMP-A8 streamer, Inakustik AC-4500 mains power supply, Hegel H20 power and Octave Super Black Box.

SCARAB

Polish horn speaker brand, Gianni 1 speakers on demo (horns) with Pierro 1 also in the room. NAD C 356BEE amplifier, Pioneer PD-50 SACD player being used.

They also had a Marantz Model 50 and CD60 in the room too.

MEGA ACOUSTIC

Mega Acoustic make acoustic panels / solutions. Paired with Fezz / Pylon: Fezz Silver Luna Prestige + Equinox DAC and Pylon Pearl 20 speakers.

Two rooms, one untreated, one with acoustic treatment – huge difference in sound, the treated room sounded fuller and more linear, and a great concept for a show to demonstrate the importance of room treatment.

AUDIO MIX / MBL/ ESPRIT

Two rooms, first had Esprit Amanda speakers, MBL Cadenza C51 integrated amp, Cadenza C31 CD player/DAC as well as the MBL Noble N31 CD player/DAC and Noble N51 integrated amplifier. They were using Esprit Volta S distribution blocks and Esprit cabling throughout.

Second room had the MBL 101 E MKII, Accuphase P-7500 amp, DP-450 CD player, DG-68 equalizer, C-2300 pre-amp, PS-550 power supply and Lumin T3 streamer – Esprit cabling throughout with Volta S distribution block.

TUBE AMPLIFIER WORKSHOP/PWL

Chimera VI tube pre-amplifier, Single-Ended GU-81 monoblocks, 3-Way field-coil speakers, Transparent cabling, and power isolation.

ANALOGUE AUDIO ASSOCIATION / LEVIN DESIGN

CA2 speakers, Revox A 77 reel-to-reel tape recorder and Accuphase E-203 amplifier. At the back of the room was a headphone amplifier on static display – always unique looking products.

TONPROJECT

Starless and Stevnert Orpheus speakers – they were playing the Starless which are a dual concentric design. Tube amps in the shape of heads, unique design, CEC TL5100Z belt drive CD player + CEC DX51 DAC. Tellurium Q Ultra Black II cabling.

ORCHESTALLS

OCS 600CE speakers, HiFi ROSE RS150B streamer, Synthesis ROMA 37DC+ amplifier.

ISO ACOUSTICS

Static display at the side. Bowers & Wilkins 704 S3 with and without Gaia feet – speaker switch to demo the difference the Gaia make, more focussed and cleaner sound. HiFi ROSE RS520 streamer/amplifier with Audioquest Niagra 1200 power supply. Whenever and wherever we experience it, this simple but effective demo works…does what it says on the tin!

AMPHION / AVM / PURIST AUDIO DESIGN

AVM30 PAS 30.3 streamer, AVM MA 30.3 mono blocks, Amphion Argon 7LS speakers and Project XA B turntable – Amphion always sound great. Felt acoustic panels from Felt Décor.

ADM DATA AUDIO

New-ish DAC brand from Hungary, R-2R design with two output tunings (switchable) – Vintage and Linear. Paired with Pylon Jasper Active speakers and an Electrocompaniet EC 4.8 MK II pre-amp. A standout and distinctive design to their products too.

STEINWAY LYNGDORF

2-rooms. First had the P300 2.1 processor paired with an A2 amplifier – a pair of Model O speakers and a pair of S-210 subwoofers. A stylish and great sounding system.

Second room had the SP-1 processor with a pair of A1 amplifiers, X-262 in-wall/in-ceiling speakers and a pair of LSR-210 subwoofers – great for a home theatre setup.

GROUND FLOOR

The ground floor also featured lots of stands and of course, vinyl and CD sales.

DNA AUDIO, LYNGDORF, REVIVAL AUDIO, PIER AUDIO, DAVIS…and more.

Fink’s Trouble’s What You’re In was playing through a pair of the new Revival Audio Atalante 4 floor standers when we got to this room at the Sobieski. This was a big room and sounded excellent – room filling and full sounding music that I’d have been very happy to listen to for a lot longer than we had the chance to.

LYNGDORF

The more I am getting to listen to Lyngdorf, the more I’m starting to appreciate the brand’s qualities. The FR2 speakers in this room were laid back and very nice on the end of Lyngdorf electronics. We had the CD-2 Cd player (very classy looking and slimline) and a TDAI-3400 amp.

GOLDNOTE, MASTERSOUND, MELCO AND ZENSATI

The last couple of rooms were really quite quiet with people, but then right next door you had this room that was absolutely packed. Couldn’t really get a feel for the system but it was obviously well appreciated. The Melco S1 was making its world debut at this show. The switch is a managed system meaning that the programming is done in the factory to optimise for audio packets. Additionally the user is given full configurability of the packet rate for every SFP and RJ45 socket set by the user from the front panel. It cost 15K Euros. Brodmann speakers fronted the system!

Had a very interesting chat with Alan from Melco in here and learned lots about his time with Technics and the DMC championships,,,,fascinating stuff.

PLYON. FEZZ & MUARAH

Pylon Audio Zircon speakers have a downward firing bass reflex post and are 89dB sensitive. These were on the end of Fezz mono blocs and Equinox DAC which is made in conjunction with Lampizator. Also in the room were Muarah turntable and its speed controller (very clever). Pylon and Fezz are not hugely known in the UK market but we’ve been following the Polish brands for years and have always been very impressed with the nose they make for what is relatively affordable prices and today at the Warsaw Show was no exception. Their rooms, like their products, are always very nicely presented and thought put into the whole design. Great room! The static display also looked fantastic!

AUDIO EMOTIONS.PL (AUDIO GROUP DENMARK)

Audio Group Denmark are distributed in Poland by Audio Emotions and this year they took two rooms, the Wilanov I and Wilanov II rooms and presented a different system in each.

In the second of the Wilanov rooms was a somewhat more expensive system in the shape of the I880 and SD880 with D3 cables and a pair of Borresen C3 speakers.

The Danish brand was also showing off their new phono stage the Aavik R880 which supports both MM and 2 x MC cartridges as well as the optical cartridges from DS Audio, whose W3 cartridge was being used in the dem. I got to listen to Walk on the Wildside which sounded fantastic. Michael Borresen was keen to tell me that this is essentially four phonos in one box…including the DS Audio decoding. Very cool and very innovative…also very interesting to see AGD doing analogue where they usually do digital…very, very cool! Michael went through the whole feature set of the new stage and changed this setting and that setting and if you are interested I suggest looking up its specs – it’s fascinating. I also really love the enthusiasm of every single person in the AGD team – every person is hugely passionate about the brand…and I’m told they can do the C3 speakers in a PINK and I think Lin may well have bought a pair but I’m afraid to ask! Classy stuff and very well received by the Polish audience.

In the Wilanov I room we were treated to AGDs entry level AXXESS system based on the AXXESS

Forte 1, AXXESS L3 loudspeakers, AXXESS power distribution and AXXESS cabling. This is a much less pricey system than the next room (and I’m writing this with the benefit of hindsight) but it was obviously been hugely appreciated by the folk in attendance. Lin made a good point in this room with regards to the different systems – the second system was excellent and you lost nothing but you did gain more with the more expensive system…well it made sense at the time.

PHONIA

Good looking speakers these that look more expensive than I suspect they actually are. A busy and quite noisy room what was difficult to really get a feel for but I’ve no complaints. We got to hear the Travis 400 florstanders, a 90dB sensitive speaker that have a claimed response down to 27Hz.

UNITRA

A VERY busy room with lots of kit that looked very nice. I stood and listened to Comfortably Numb the system that was set up and it sounded fine to me. The amp with the big VU meters had an air of an old NAD tape deck…not a bad thing at all.

GIGAWATT, MARTON AND FONICA INTERNATIONAL

Very interesting panel loudspeakers in this room powered by the Marton OpusCulum streaming amplifier. The speakers are the LaGrande from Fonica International. The pre is also from Marton and is the Prelude prototype.

DANIEL HERTZ

Daniel Hertz îs the new brand by the legendary Mark Levinson. There is a lot of hype around this system and our friends Anders and Ania had said that it was the sound of the show for them. I was somewhat sceptical but the proof of the pudding is in the listening. The emotional connection to the sound is palpable. Definitely one of the sounds of the show for me too. I got the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Mark the night before which was pretty incredible. I have no idea what they are doing with this system but it’s very VERY good indeed! Played us Giorgio by Moroder and there is definitely something going in here to connect you to the music. We got played some guitarist before this track and I welled up somewhat! We don’t hand out prizes at show but if we did, this room would have got one. This system is about 15K which seems to be excellent value. The C WAVE technology is very interesting indeed!

SILENT POUND

Lithuanian brand Silent Pound invited us along to the launch of their latest loudspeaker, the Bloom the night before official opening of the Warsaw show.

The Silent Pound Bloom is a compact three-way stand-mount speaker, designed with the same constant directivity characteristics as its larger counterpart, the Challenger II. Engineered with pro audio drivers, Bloom features a patent-pending midrange enclosure, a coaxial driver with a 6″ midrange and a 1.4″ compression driver and dual 10″ woofers in a dipole configuration. Standard finishes will be a white frame with a black stand inlay, or an all-black model. As with the Challenger II, customization options will allow buyers to choose any colour for the frame, with an oak option available for the stand inlay.

We had a little bit of a listen on Thursday night but went back on Sunday to hear them properly, they were proving very popular indeed.

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If you haven’t read it yet, here is our coverage of the show at the Golden Tulip Hotel; stay tuned for more reports very soon from the Stadium with Oscar and Kelly.

Follow all the HiFi PiG coverage of the Audio Video Show Warsaw 2024 here

Linette and Stuart Smith