THE FINAL PART OF THE HiFi PiG AXPONA 2025 REPORT

Oscar and Kelly check out the exhibition rooms on the lower floors of the show and whizz around the Ear Gear Experience HeadFi Zone.

Welcome to our final part of the AXPONA 2025 show coverage, here we cover floors 11 down to 3 with pictures of the Ear Gear Experience at the end too!

Please note, all content and photos are the copyright of HiFi PiG Magazine/Big Pig Media LLP and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior, written consent of the editor.

FLOOR 11

Yamaha

Yamaha had a wide range of products on show including their A-S3200 and R-N2000A integrated amplifiers, a range of headphones, and guitars – they chose great colours for their branding too.

Technics

Technics had their relatively new SC-CX700 active speakers on demo, alongside their SA-C600 network CD player and SC-C70 MK2 on static display. They also had a pair of SB-C600 speakers paired with the SU-GX70 showing how 2ch can work well for TV setups too via HDMI Arc input. It also wouldn’t be a Technics room without the SL-1200M7B Lamborghini turntable on show.

In their other room they had the SB-G90M2 speakers paired with the SU-G700M2 integrated amplifier, SL-G700M2 multi-digital audio player and SL-1300G turntable (with the new Nagaoka MP-700 cartridge fitted).

Nagaoka

Nagaoka are well known for their cartridges, and here at AXPONA they had a new one to show the world – the MP700. I had a little listen to this new cartridge and it came across as bold, confident, and detailed with great body and clarity throughout. They were using a Technics SL-1300G to demo the new cartridge along with the Technics SB-G90M2 speakers and SU-G700M2 integrated amplifier.

Axiss

In this room from Axiss, they had the Franco Serblin Ktema speakers, Reed 3C turntable with 10” Panzerholz tonearm, AirTight Opus One MC cartridge, ATH-3S step-up transformer, ATC-6 pre-amp, ATE-5 phono stage, ATM-1e power amps, ATM-3211 mono blocks, Accuphase PS-550 mains conditioner and Eversolo DMP-A8 streamer – they were using TARA Labs cabling throughout this system.

Songer Audio

Songer had their S1x field coil speakers with power supply, driven by the Songer A3 300B SET amplifier, Lampizator Atlantic TRP DAC, Innuos ZENith Next-Gen server/streamer, PhoenixNET and PS Audio PowerPlant 12 AC regenerator. This was a wonderfully open and natural sounding setup.

Axiss

Axiss had the Mon Acoustic VC One + VC Two combo playing with a Reed Muse 3A turntable, Grimm MU2 streamer/server, and Accuphase E-800S stereo integrated amplifier. The Mon speakers are made from aluminium and they also had their little SuperMon Mini speakers on display too.

Kanto

Kanto make a range of very affordable active speakers; they are great value for money and the perfect entry point for many looking to get in to HiFi. They had the newer REN and TUK on demo alongside their ORA4, ORA and UKI.

RBH

RBH had their Unrivaled 81/AX active speakers on demo paired with the Eversolo DMP-A10 streamer. A super simple setup with a clean sound that is easily tuneable to your room with the use of built in DSP. They also had their Unrivaled SFTR/AX speakers on static display by the door.

Master Artist

In this room you had the Master Artist Signature speakers, Burmester 151 Musiccenter, Burmester 217 turntable, Accuphase C-2900 pre-amp and A-80 power amplifier, they were also using Accuphase mains conditioning.

Supreme Acoustic Systems

In this room we had the Odeon Semper speakers, Manley NeoClassic SE PP 300B mono blocks, Manley Precision pre-amplifier, Manley Oasis phono stage, BennyAudio Odyssey turntable, Hana Umami red cartridge, Taiko Olympus DAC/Streamer, Olympus I/O, Extreme router, Extreme Switch, Extreme DC distributor and Cardas Clear + Clear beyond cabling. They were also using an AudioQuest Niagara mains conditioner here.

FLOOR 7

Affordable Audio

An affordable audio room is always welcome, they had a range of kit in here from the Cambridge Audio Evo150 to the Advance Paris A12 Classic, they had the Mission 700’s playing from an Audiolab combo and the rack also had the Cambridge Audio EXA100 in it too. Around the room there was kit from Parasound, Leak and more, a great room showcasing some excellent products at realistic prices.

Playback Distribution

Playback Distribution had the AudioSolutions Figaro L2 speakers paired with Esoteric kit including the F-01 integrated amplifier, N-01XD network player and G-01XD master clock. These are brilliant speakers and come in so many colour configurations, you can truly create yourself a unique pair of speakers should you wish.

Gershman speakers / Lampizator / Cardas

In this room you had the Gershman Grand Avant Garde speakers paired with a Lampizator GENYA DAC, Lampizator Baltic DAC SE and Pass INT-250 integrated amplifier – cabling was from Cardas.

Holm Audio

In this Holm Audio room you had a new pre-amplifier from Ranieri Audio Labs, this innovative valve based pre-amp has a dial allowing you to use a huge variety of different types of valve in this pre-amp. It’s a back-to-basics valve pre-amp with custom Lundahl output transformers and quality internal components. It was being used in a system with a NAD streamer, Rogue Audio mono blocks, a Rega Naia and a pair of Magnepan speakers.

Holm Audio

Another room by Holm Audio had the Electrocompaniet EMC 1 MKV reference CD player, EC 4.8 MK II reference balanced pre-amp, AW 800 M stereo/mono power amplifier (as used at HiFi PiG Towers by Stu and Lin), Lumin streamer and Triangle Signature Alpha speakers. In this system Nordost were doing cable comparisons, swapping out cables from their range to show listeners the differences in sound they make. It is important to have transparent electronics in this kind of setup, so using the Electrocompaniet kit as a reference makes a lot of sense here.

Leema / KEF

Here we had the KEF Reference 5 Meta speakers paired with Leema electronics including the Tucana II pre-amp, Electron CD player, Neutron pre-amp and Graviton power amp, they were using a Lumin P1 network player in this system. It’s great to see another excellent UK brand represented here at the show, the Leema products are fantastic and worked very well with the KEF speakers in this room. It was nice to see a Puritan mains conditioner in the system as well as Atlas cables throughout.

Rhythm

In Rhythm’s last room they had a Lumin system driving a pair of Marten Parker Trio Diamond speakers – Rhythm brands had Marten in 5 rooms and they all sounded fantastic. They had a Lumin T3X network player, L2 library and network switch and a Lumin Amp in the rack, with a Puritan PSM156 mains conditioner.

Auer Acoustic

Auer Acoustic had their newest variant of the Versura V2 speakers, which now feature their diamond coated beryllium tweeter, these were paired with a Master Fidelity NADAC D DAC/pre-amp and NADAC C master clock, Innuos STATEMENT Next-Gen server/streamer and Soulution 711 power amplifier. They also had a Stromtank mains conditioner for the system – Auer Acoustics might not be a big name now but, they are making some fantastic speakers and are well worth auditioning if you can.

Fourier Audio

Sadly, this system was not playing when I went in the room however, I wanted to include pictures as this is a totally bonkers looking speaker that deserves to be in this report – just look at them!

Holm Audio

Holm Audio had a couple of pairs of KEF speakers in this room alongside a full Cambridge Audio setup including the EXN100 streamer, EXA100 integrated amplifier, CXC CD transport and Edge A integrated amplifier. They were using a Rega Planar 3 turntable and the KEF R3 Meta were playing when I went in this room, they also had a couple of the Cambridge audio Minx subs setup and a Torus mains conditioner.

FLOOR 6

Popori

I first experience Popori electrostatic speakers a couple of years ago in Olso, now they seem to be seen at a few shows. These are some of the best electrostatic speakers I have ever head, they were using the WR2 model here at the show paired with Atma-Sphere Class-D amplifiers, HiFi Rose RS130 network streamer, Bacch SP stereo purifier with DAC, Viablue cables and AGY Custom mains conditioner.

Epos

In the Epos room Karl Heinz and his team had the new Onix Zenith XST20 SACD transport, Melco server, Eversolo DMP-A10 streamer/pre-amp, Eversolo Amp-F10, Puritan PSM156 mains purifier and the Epos ES-28N speakers sat on Isoacoustics Gaia feet.

Hegel America

Hegel had their new D50 DAC on demo with the H400 integrated amplifier driving a pair of YG Acoustics Summit speakers – what a sound, tight, fast, clean, and deep – all the right things in the right place. They also had some other models on static display in the room next to them.

Sound Organisation

Sound Organisation had a mostly British audio setup in their room, using the ProAC K3 speakers, Rega Planar 3 RS turntable, Rega Aria MK3 phono stage, Rega Solis and Mercury combo, Chord electronics Hugo TT2 and M Scaler, Chord electronics Ultima integrated amp and an Aurender server (the only non-British component here), cabling was from Chord cables.

DeVore Fidelity

John DeVore was at the show with the Gibbon Super NINE speakers playing with a Leben CS600 integrated amplifier, Leben RS30EQ phono stage, Grimm MU2 server/streamer and a Well Tempered Lab Versalex turntable – as always, the DeVore system was sounding superb, they really do make some brilliant speakers.

Pearl Acoustics

Pearl Acoustics had a pair of SG/CG Sibelius Oak speakers, 7040 solid state amplifier, 170 SET tube power amp and Sibelius cabling. They were using a Jays Audio CDT2 top-loading CD player, Topping Pre90 pre-amp, Volumio Rivo+ streamer, Rega Planar 8 and Rega Aria MK3 phono stage too.

Master Sound

Master Sound had a full Burmester setup in this room driving a pair of Master Artist Masterpiece Towers. The Burmester setup consisted of a pair of 909 amplifiers, 077 pre-amp, 111 streamer, 175 turntable and 948 mains conditioners, cabling was all from Kimber Kable.

TriangleArt

TriangleArt had a large pair of horns, the Metis driven by their I-20 tube single ended dual mono integrated amplifier and P200 tube dual mono phono stage. They had 3 turntables on demo, the Master reference, Hathor, and Maestro.

Dartzeel

Dartzeel had a room with Stenheim Alumine three SE speakers, darTZeel NHB-18NS MKII pre-amp with MC phono stage, LC-208 MKII integrated amp with DAC and streamer, NHB-108 Model II dual mono stereo amplifier, CSport TAT1M2 turntable with CSport Linear Arm AF1-2 and Air Tight Opus 1 MC cartridge – cabling was from Nordost.

G.I.P

Some rather large horn type speakers were in this room, paired with an AMG Viella Forte turntable and G.I.P pre-amp with phono stage and G.I.P valve power amps, an intriguing system that’s for sure.

FLOOR 5

High Water Sound

Here we had the Cessaro Horn Mendelssohn speakers paired with Alieno 250 LTD SE 300B amp, 6H30 Line stage MKII, Phono Extremo phono stage, TW-Acustic Raven LS-3 copper turntable with Raven 10.5” tonearm and Raven 12” tonearm – a variety of cartridges were used on this system including the DAVA Soul, Fuuga, Red Sparrow and Miyajimia Infinity. This was a beautiful looking and sounding system.

Volti Audio

More horns, this time with the slogan “Have Fun!” – which is very true, sometimes us audio people need to remember to have fun, and enjoy our systems instead of obsessing over every little detail. Here they were using a little Cary Audio SLI-80 integrated amplifier, Innuos ZENith server/streamer, Mojo Audio Mystique SE DAC, Vittora speaker system and Triode Wire Labs cabling.

JPorter

Two brand new speaker designs from jPorter Studios, firstly the Waterloo Micro which features a 3-way design with a 1” ceramic tweeter, 6” ceramic midrange and 9” composite glass fibre subwoofer. The second is the Wellington Tower, a flagship 2-way active tower speaker with a mass-loaded transmission line design. These are tri-amped using Hypex N-core power amps and have an active crossover, beryllium tweeter and dual opposed 9” mid-woofers. Both speakers sounded really good – the active flagship stealing the show when compared side by side yet, the smaller Waterloo Micro was very composed and still highly enjoyable. The Wellington Tower though is another beast, huge bass extension with tight impact and well-timed decay, excellent clarity across the board – these were really stunning speakers.

American Audio & Video

In this room by American A&V we had the Misson 770 speakers, Audiolab 9000N streaming amplifier, M-DAC+ DAC, 9000CDT, DC Block 6, 9000Q pre-amp and 9000P power amps. They also had a Dual CS 529 turntable and cabling from QED.

Cyrus

American Audio & Video also had a room with Cyrus, and Nick was there to help out, they had the new 40 PPA phono stage which is joining the 40 series line-up very soon alongside the 40 CD CD player, 40 ST streaming DAC, 40 AMP and 40 PSU. They had their TTP turntable on demo and were using a pair of Spendor A7.2 speakers in this room – the new 40 series from Cyrus looks great and I know Janine really enjoyed her time with the Cyrus 40 CD  and Cyrus 40 AMP she reviewed recently.

Bayz

Now for some more odd-looking speakers, the Bayz Audio Courante 2.0 are a very peculiar looking speaker that works really well. We have encountered them at different shows over the last few years and enjoyed them, but not seen them in white before. They were being driven by a Burmester Reference Line 218 stereo amplifier, 088 pre-amp, 217 turntable, 111 music centre and they had Shunyata cabling and power distribution too.

Fosi

Fosi audio have a new passive speaker out, the SP601, alongside a pair of new planar headphones, the I5. Whilst the SP601 are an affordable passive speaker, they look great in person and it’s always good to see accessible HiFi. They had a range of their products on display including the V3 mono blocks, pre-amps, LED VU meters, DACs and a new Turntable, the Luna 3. I’m looking forward to seeing what else Fosi have planned this year.

Cambridge Audio

Cambride Audio had their EXN100 / EXA100 stack, which Janine reviewed recently, on demo with a pair of YG Acoustics Talus speakers and Descent subwoofer, they also had the Evo One all-in-one streaming speaker on demo in here too. The Evo One was playing when I went in, and honestly you could be forgiven for thinking it was the bigger speakers playing – and this apparently surprised quite a few people who visited this room.

Outside of their main room, they had their MXN10 / DAC Magic 200M stack with P100 headphones as well as their Alva TT V2 turntable, SX50 speakers, CXN100 and CXA81 MKII amplifier.

Sierra Sound

Sierra Sound Room 530 had the AMG Giro MKII turntable with AMG 9WT tonearm, Benz Micro Ruby Z cartridge, ViV laboratory rigid Float HA-9” tonearm, Sierra Sound NAB-1 tonearm platform and Benz Micro ACE mono cartridge. Their 2nd turntable setup had the Connected Fidelity TT-Hub turntable with Sorane Ta-1 tonearm with Benz Micro SLR gullwing cartridge. Electronics wise they had the Aesthetix Rhea signature phono stage, Pallene line stage and Dione power amplifier powering a pair of Vandersteen Quatro CT speakers. They were using Sierra Sound (by Cardas) phono cables, Cardas Clear Beyond interconnects, speaker cables and AC cables along with a Cardas Nautilus power strip.

Fiio

Fiio had a huge range of their portable DAC/amps, earphones, headphones including the upcoming FT7, the R9 all-in-one streamer/DAC paired with the SA1 active speakers, new SP5 active speakers, S15 streamer/DAC and their TT13 turntable. They really are branching out into new spaces and doing a great job of it, I really enjoy quite a few of the Fiio products and they are a great entry level into HiFi for many people.

FLOOR 4

Electrocompaniet

This was the second room of the show from our AXPONA 2025 coverage sponsors. In this room they had the Triangle Magellan Cello 40th speakers playing out of the ECI6 DX integrated amplifier, ECM 1 MKII media centre DAC/streamer, EMC 1 MKV CD player and ECP 2 MK2 MM/MC phono stage – they were using Soulines turntables, the TT9 and TT23 were both part of this system and they were using Nordost cabling throughout. Once again, the Electrocompaniet kit just gets out of the way of the music, letting it flow with great ease and with impeccable detail.

Ø-Audio / Boulder

Ø-Audio had their Icon 12 speakers (as seen in Oslo), these were driven by Boulder 1162 amplifiers, a Boulder 1110 pre-amp, DCS Rossini DAC and Masterclock, and Innuos ZENith MK3 with AudioQuest Dragon cables and Niagara power conditioning.

IsoAcoustics

IsoAcoustics had a range of their products on display along with their usual demo setup of a2 pairs of matching speakers, one on factory feet, the other on Gaia isolating feet. They use a simple remote switch to change between the two, the ones with the Gaia feet are noticeable tighter and more controlled than the ones on factory feet. They had chosen to use the Monitor Audio Silver 300G speakers this time with an Innuos ZEN Next-Gen server/streamer, Chord Hugo TT2 and Chord BerTTi stereo power amplifier.

Fidelis Distribution

More British HiFi in this room with speakers from Falcon Acoustics, paired with Italian amplification from Lab 12. They were using the Falcon LS 3/5A Gold Badge speakers paired with the brand-new Lab 12 Integre 4 MKII integrated amplifer, DAC-1 and Melto 2 phono stage – turntable wise they had a Pure Fidelity The Symphony on demo, alongside an Aurender server/streamer.

Monarch

Monarch distribute a range of British and European HiFi brands in the US, in their demo room they had a pair of Chario Academy Serendipity speakers, SME synergy turntable with series IV tonearm, B.audio B.dpr EX streaming DAC/pre-amp, B.audio B.amp x 2 in mono mode, Siltech cabling all round, an Octopus Signature power distribution box, Franc Audio equipment rack and Ultra Carbon record clamp. They also had a static display upon entering the room featuring more speakers from Audio Physic and Chario and Franc Audio accessories – a very well laid out room and the Chario speakers are a joy to listen to.

Revox

Revox had their new Alice Cooper collab products, the Alice Cooper Limited Edition Revox T77 Turntable and Revox B77 Mk III Tape Machine so we had to take some pictures, these look so good in the flesh and it’s great seeing brands come out with things like this. You can read more about them here.

FLOOR 3

CAD

CAD had their new DAC MKIII on demo – this isn’t a simple refresh; it’s pretty much a completely new product internally. They were using the new DAC MKIII with a CAD Audio Transport, Aesthetix MIMAS integrated amplifier, Stenheim Alumine 2SE speakers and they had their own CAD USB II-R, Ground Control GC1.1 and GC3.1, Ground cables, USB control and Ethernet Control, they were also using a selection of Turnbull Audio cables throughout the system. The little grounding boxes by the speakers were quite intriguing, they explained that as the speakers are made from metal, these drain any stray RF interference away from the speakers.

THE AXPONA 2025 EAR GEAR EXPERIENCE

As we were incredibly short on time and the show was closing we didn’t get chance for extended listening in The Ear Gear exhibition, so it’s photos only, next year I will hopefully get much more time to enjoy the HeadFi

AXPONA 2025 A FANTASTIC AND HUGE HiFi SHOW!

Covering AXPONA 2025 was a bit crazy, it’s such a big show and two days really wasn’t quite enough to see everything – so apologies to any rooms that were missed. We did try to cover as much as humanly possible and if I get the opportunity to come back it will be for the whole three days (provided the airline doesn’t have other ideas).

Thank you once again to everyone involved in the show, organisers, exhibitors, and visitors – you are what make AXPONA what it is, one of the most important HiFi shows in the international HiFi Show and Event Diary!

Please note, all content and photos are the copyright of HiFi PiG Magazine/Big Pig Media LLP and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior, written consent of the editor.

AXPONA 2026 DATES

Next year’s show, AXPONA 2026 takes place April 10th – 12th 2026.

Check out the rest of our AXPONA 2025 Report ….

AXPONA 2025 Report Part 1

AXPONA 2025 Report Part 2

Oscar Stewart

Additional photography by Kelly Bowden