FINEST AUDIO SHOW VIENNA 2024 REPORT FROM HiFi PiG’S STU AND LIN

Finest Audio Show Vienna 2024, or the FAS Vienna as it is also known, was held for the first time last year. The High End Society announced that they will move the annual High End Show from Munich to the Austria Centre Vienna in 2026, so this year we visited it ourselves to check it out…read on for the full report from Stu and Lin.

This is the first time we have been to this venue, the Austria Centre Vienna, but we thought we would get our bearings this year before the High End Munich show moves here permanently in May 2026.

ALL IMAGES AND TEXT ARE COPYRIGHT HiFi PiG AND MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE EDITOR

A huge thanks to the High End Society, all the exhibitors and of course our FAS Vienna 2024 coverage sponsors, Tellurium Q.

FINEST AUDIO SHOW VIENNA 2024 REPORT

Thoughts on the venue is that it is a venue that is much better suited to an audio show than the current MOC in Munich – I’m sure that’s not going to be a popular statement  but the rooms are good, the corridors are wide and spacious and the whole set up is such that you can walk around without getting lost. Signposting was excellent as you would expect and Manuel from the High End Society took us on a bit of a tour to show us where the big halls will be. I’m very much looking forward to the move. The whole vibe of this show was very relaxed and (like us) many of the brands and folk we spoke to were checking it out for the 2026 move.  There were comments about noise bleed between rooms, but by having the smaller show here for two years really gives the High End Society and exhibitors a chance to find and address any issues with the venue and iron out things like this.

The entrance is pretty spectacular with screens promoting the show that really have a feel of ISE in Barcelona, it looks and feels more up to date and modern and will definitely appeal to a wide audience with a ‘this is what HiFi is all about’ look to it. Also as you walk in there is loads of signage to guide you to the venue, which is easy to reach from the city by public transport or taxi.

And now on to what we heard and saw in the rooms of the show….

TONART  – AUDIO GROUP DENMARK

Tonart are the distributor in Austria for one of our favourite family of HiFi brands at the moment, Audio Group Denmark who were showing off their Aavik 880 Series of electronics with Boris Blank’s Electrified.  Pretty spectacular sounding system with the Borresen M3 speakers which are incredible, and would certainly be on my very short shortlist of end game speakers. We then got to listen to Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side and it’s immediately obvious that this is a wonderfully balanced system from top to bottom, the strings on the latter tune sounded splendid and really something I’ve not taken that much note of before. A What’s also very nice is that the folk from AGD are so knowledgeable. The Tonart revelation turntable was a new one on me and boasts asymmetrical motors. A great start to the show.

CANTON

The Canton Reference 9 (the smaller speakers) are 3600 euros and the Reference 2 are the floor standers at 16K The new cabinet design is completely round to do away with Internal reflective surfaces and also new drivers with stiffer membranes. The drivers are ceramic tungsten material. The speakers are also larger than the previous reference models. All this leads to a complicated manufacturing process but the speakers do seem to offer excellent value for money and sounded excellent with the AVM electronic and Inakustik cabling.   

MP&S KLANGWELTEN

A new brand of loudspeakers to me but a very interesting design featuring panels with Class D amps built in to the design. The subwoofer sat directly between the speakers and integrated very well in this smaller room. Primare electronics and a Ayon CD Player were also used. Very good – fast and incredibly dynamic. The taller speakers have a sub built into the bottom of them.

ADMD AUDIO

Another new to me brand, though I believe Oscar very much enjoyed them at a previous show. The product is the Line DAC with a R2R ladder D to A converter with USB interface with galvanic isolation. You get up to 24bit/192 support and the case is made from an anti-resonant case. Digital inputs include SPDIF, AES/EBU and ADM streamer with outputs being RCA line. Very difficult to say what the DAC is like in this unknown system but it did sound excellent through the relatively inexpensive Pylon standmounters. Price will be around 10k and a streamer will follow. 

MUSICAL FIDELITY

The newish A1 amp from Musical Fidelity is around 1500 euros and sounded quite splendid throughout the diminutive MF LS3/5 speakers. If you haven’t come across this amplifier, it’s a newer version of the classic Class A A1 from many moons ago and which I lusted after somewhat in my youth – the new model does run somewhat cooler than the original at a maximum of 60 degrees whereas the older model got (famously) very hot The M6XTT turntable is also relatively new and costs around 5K. 

SMART AUDIO, NAD/BLUESOUND/RUARK

NAD, DALI & OCTAVE

Next to the static display we saw above was a full system set up that was fronted by the DALI Epikore 7 speakers paired with the Octave RE32o power amp. The streamer/preamplifier was the NAD M66. 

ARETAI & ELECTROCOMPANIET

I have always been really impressed with the Aretai loudspeakers and love what they do with their very different horn loaded tweeter arrangement – it’s unusual but it works very well. At the Vienna show the speakers were paired with the Elctrocompaniet AW300 M power amplifiers which are essentially smaller versions of the amplifier we use at home as our reference – and a reference I cannot see changing any time soon – in fact, we are discussing our retirement system and fully expect it to centre around a pair of the AW800 M speakers. The standmounts are 9900 euros inc vat and the floorsatnders are 27800. We got to listen to the floorstanders and they sounded splendid with a big sound and an excellent stage in what was a large room to fill. Got to listen to some Infected Mushroom (Psy Trance – or as my mate Mark (Pierrot the Acid Clown) calls it Pside Trance – I don’t think he’s a fan). The turntable wasn’t playing when we were in the room but was a Dr Fiekert. 

PRIMARE, INAKUSTIK & AUDIOVECTOR 

I was very much looking forward to this room as (through no fault of Audiovector) not heard the Trapeze Ri speakers before. I’d assumed the speakers were a wedge shape (and they are to a degree) but they are actually a Trapezoid design  – which explains the name. Got to listen to the old show favourite Tin Pan Alley with the speakers being powered by a i35 Prisma amplifier from Primare. It’s taken me a while but I’m very pleased I got to sit in front of these speakers as they sounded excellent. The speakers are 18K which is around half the price of the R6 we currently use as our reference speakers. 

Kii

I absolutely LOVE the Kii 7 speakers as they just deliver music. This was a big room for them to fill but they filled it and then some. What I really like about the speakers is that they are fast and accurate. Sadly we didn’t get to see Hans Theesink who was playing live (perhaps later in the day) and who will be playing at the Audio Show Deluxe in the UK next March. The room was packed and we got to listen to some German Hip Hop  – much better than you’d think but I’d have loved to have heard our German Hip Hop friend Lukas (AKA Noodles). If you have a chance to sit in front of these speakers then take it. -they are fully active, plug and play affairs that punch well above their asking price. 

MARKETPLACE 

STYRIA HIFI – AUDIO TECHNICA, LUMIN, ALSYVOX, ORIGIN LIVE, SPENDOR, ROKSAN & HALCRO

Lots of brands on show in this suite of rooms but we got to listen to the big Halcro amp and preamplifier with Lumin streaming. The speakers are very interesting and whilst I’ve only ever heard them at shows, I’ve never been disappointed by them…and today was no exception. 

In the next room we were treated to a very different system to the last that was fronted by an Origin Live turntable and a Roksan amplifier through a pair of Spendor speakers. 

AVM, PMC & GOLD NOTE

If you don’t know AVM you should as they are fantastic electronics from Germany that partnered excellently with the PMC Fact 12. The amplifier is the SA8.3 Lite – the amp is 2 x 200w with a 1000 watt toroidal inside. It’s a class AB amplifier that costs 12990 euros. The AS5.3 integrated was being used just as a pre in this system with the amp section turned off. The power conditioner is a new product from AVM and is available in two versions – one with 6 outputs and one with 12. AVM also distribute the Italian brand Gold Note and for this exhibition, Udo Bessier and his team had a focus on HiFi equipment and furniture that brought the HiFi back into the living room, so they used some very smart-looking units for the display. It was also the debut of the Gold Note HP-10 headphone amp at the show. A stylish and excellent sounding German, British and Italian blend.

MARKET PLACE 2

Static and HeadFi stands featuring Chord Electronics, Chord Company cables and English Electric, Melco, Auralic, Clearaudio and ELAC…including the new ELAC 4 PI PLUS V super tweeter.

TECHNICS

I’m a huge fan of this iconic Japanese brand and as regular readers will know we run a 1200 G as our reference turntable and I also run a pair of MK7s for DJing on…oh, and a MK2 on the smaller upstairs system.The 1300 turntable is an amalgamation of the G and the GR – it’s very cool and does away with the speed control. It uses Delta Sigma drive which makes for a “smoother” listening experience. The little speakers we got to listen to  are the SC-CX700 wireless affairs and are very nice sounding – they’re 2.5K euros. You can control the speakers with the buttons on the top of one of the speakers (they are master and slave), you can fine tune and control with the Technics app and there’s a remote control. 

ELAC, CLEARAUDIO, CHORD COMPANY & CHORD ELECTRONICS

Well the was a very cool sounding room and we got to listen to the Chord Electronics Ultima integrated amp into a pair of ELAC floor standers. Doug did a great job if explaining the system and I wasn’t aware that Chord Electronics were used in the making of the soundtracks for many films including Star Wars. The amp is around 10K euros which is a chunk but isn’t stratospheric when compared to some of the prices out there. The ClearAudio turntable was rather nice looking affair and the whole system looked and sounded fab, this was hooked up to the Chord Symphonic phonostage in the system.

OMEGA AUDIO CONCEPTS

I still recall the first time first encounter this brand, it was at the at the Deluxe show in Munich a few years ago, they have an approach that looks and sounds stunning.

The mono integrated amplifier was the Accordo. Its a 200W class A/B amp. There’s a power supply and then the source is the CD Stream which looks absolutely fantastic – it’s a sphere that is made to be suspended with elastic suspension (45K) the amp is 75K. The speakers are the MUSA (63K) and are a full range speaker that is 4 ways with the sub and they have an external crossover. The cables are also Omega in the shape of  Elements and Extrema. All the products are made in the Omega Audio Concepts factory in the North of Venice. 

ARCAM, ACCUPHASE & MONITOR AUDIO

We got to listen to the Gold Series 6G speakers from Monitor Audio powered by an Accuphase integrated. 

WILSON BENESCH,  SOULNOTE 

I’m a long time fan of the SoulNote brand of electronics (A3) and they sounded excellent with a smaller pair of Wilson Benesch ACT30 speakers (in a fab finish) the phono pre is the E2 from SoulNote. The sub was from WB too. The turntable is the ZV11 -X from Zavfino (15K with the 12 inch arm). Streaming was dealt with by a Luxman NT07 streaming transported and a DA07 DAC from Luxman. Another excellent sounding room and I can’t help but think that this venue kind of trumps the MOC somewhat and I think the move to Vienna is going to be a good one – this also seems to be the thoughts of most of the people we spoke to from the industry. 

WORLD OF HEADPHONES

Was not just headphones….

VERTERE, MYTEK AND ATC

The big (SCM 150) ATCs were sounding excellent if a bit boomy for this room in this room with a Vertere record player on the front end. There was also a bit of bleed from another room which some exhibitors have suggested may be a bit of an issue when the show gets busier with exhibitors. We got to hear an excellent version of Sound of Silence by Geoff Castellucci and this is one of the things I love about audio shows – there’s always something to surprise and delight! 

REVOX

The big news that came out just after the show is that Revox has acquired Horch House and you can read all about that here.

SIEVEKING SOUND

Standing room only in this very popular room – I stood outside and chatted with Silvio from the excellent Riviera Audio Labs as there was a presentation going on at the time by Matthias Bode from German HiFi mag Stereo…Lin had to fight her way in to grab some photos.

SOUND BY HARI

Vertere record players fronted but Zellaton speakers and FM Acoustics electronics including the M11 monoblocs. Another very good sized room that let the system breathe. One of my favourite rooms so far but then you are talking seriously spendy products here. The Faber’s cables are very high en and from Italy. Hari made a very good point (we were listening to Suzanne Vega) – play music that people listen to at home rather than trying to demonstrate this frequency or that frequency –  I like and subscribe to this philosophy. A truly fabulous room! 

DREAM AUDIO

Bloody Nora! I mean visually this was pretty insane with the YG subs that were huuuge. This was like some kind of shrine to the High-End Audio Gods!  Great sound, mind!

The system included YG Acoustics Sonia 3.3 and 21.1 Invincible speakers and subs. Pilium Hercules monoblocks and Olympus pre, Ypsilon Hyperion monos and PST 100 pre, Taiko streamer, Kuzma Stabi turntable and Safir 9 tomearm, DS Audio Master 3 cart, Siltech and Stage III Concepts cables and Telos power conditioning.

Got chatting to Robert (one of the owners) who spends most of his year in Ibiza, though the company is from Bratislava, and the conversation turned to house and techno…what could we do but go back and have a proper sit down and listen! I have a new favourite room! Sometimes you get the impression that people with high end kit only want to play ‘polite’ music. Not the case here, they were not afraid to really give things a bass workout…and it sounded EXCELLENT!

We met up with friends and thought it was a good time for a break. There’s a great cafe/bar and I was very pleased to se that they catered very well for my self-imposed dietary restrictions. This may seem like a small point, but when you are running around a big show like this is going to be, you d ned to know that you can get sustenance at the show…top marks on this one! 

WILSON, DCS, MERIDIAN, VTL, VPI, KRELL PERLISTEN, WESTERN ELECTRIC…and more

A very chilled and laid back vibe in this room with the Meridian active speakers playing when we were in the room. Far too much kit in this room to go into much detail but it was a bit of an audiophile’s wet dream. 

MUSIC PLUS

So this is our last room on the ground floor of the show and it seemed fitting for it to be the Brodmann room given they were playing the Vienna speakers. The pre and power amps are THRAX the tt is the Pendulum Reference by Rui Borges, the phono was the Lunae Mons Research Colares. The latter has a 274B mesh plate rectifier with OB3 voltage regulator. A very busy and interesting sounding room playing some Carl Perkins. Tonearm from Supreme Analog.

Next day, Sunday, we headed upstairs to the rooms on the first floor of the show.

FINK TEAM, CREEK AND CANOR

A lovely way to start the Sunday at the Vienna show. Karl Heinz is always excellent company and (speaking for both of us) we feel so lucky to call such a legend of the audio world a friend. The ES 28 floor standers (8k) sounded excellent on the end of. Canor electronics. These speakers punch way above their asking price !!!

The records player is Luphonic turntable (distributed by Auden in the UK) and is excellent. If you get a chance to have a play at any time then you have to check out the innovative way it changes speed. 

A top sounding room. 

We didn’t get to listen to the other little set-up in the room but I’ve heard the ES-7N speakers before and they are a very clever design made to go on shelves, or even the ubiquitous IKEA Kallax shelving units. The accompanying electronics were the Creek Audio units which sit very nicely in the same kind of “budget but great” kind of price range. Before we went in the room I was chatting with Mike Creek and a couple of other folk about the show and the price of some of the kit. My thoughts on this are well enough know, I think – the uber-high-end and expensive kit really does have its place, but where has that entry level gear gone and how are younger folk and other people on a tight budget supposed to enter the home audio market? Thankfully, Mike and the Creek Audio team seem to have stuck to the idea of offering excellent value for money products and the EPOS speakers (and, importantly their design) fit with this concept beautifully.

AUER ACOUSTICS

A brand from Bavaria in Germany that is pretty new The room was a room within a room set up and sounded excellent – I love the brands like this take time to make the room feel welcoming and very cool. 

The speaker are made by Robert Auer. They are made of Tank Wood  – Panzerholz (like the rack). The speakers are 33K and these are the V2. Excellent sounding room which seems to be a bit of a theme this morning. 

The second Auer room had a smaller set of speakers that cost 26K. A 3.5 way design that is 90dB sensitive e and will play well with tubes as well as solid state. There is a 12” sub from Scanspeak on the side of the speaker. The mid-range is from 200Hz to 3kHz.

The whole set up of this room was excellent and clearly a lot of money had been spent on launching this brand – I love this kind of stuff. Goosebump moment playing Imany’s Take Me To Church.

CORE AUDIO 

I walked into this corner room and was gobsmacked by what I saw – I really wasn’t expecting this. A big sound but completely effortless. Got them to play Hot Tuna Hesitation Blues and it was spectacularly good on digital..and then Hallelujah off the Grace album by Jeff Buckley.

Digital source was Core Audio Daido Premium Black with their Denpo Premium Black DAC and Kagen master clock, analogue was Rui Borges Ultimo turntable with a Supreme Analog Tangenta tonearm, NAT Audio phonostage and SUT, amps were monoblocks and pre from NAT Audio, speakers were Odeon Audo Semper Macasser.

CYRUS, FYNE & UNISON RESEARCH

This was a smaller room than the others that we had been in on the Sunday morning but sounded excellent. The speakers are the Fyne Audio Classic VIII and the electronics being used were all from Cyrus when we walked in the room to them playing some Grace Jones. I hear that Fyne are moving all their production to the UK which I think is an excellent move for the brand. Cyrus’ new 40 series electronics are super and we got to hear their Streamer, amplifier, CD player with the external PSU….and, of course, the turntable. 

It struck me that every room we have been in today hs been truly excellent! 

RAUM AKUSTIK

Brilliant to see Russel Kaufmann of Russel K fame in rude health and his RED 150 Se speakers that were sounding great on the end of REGA electronics and the REGA Naia turntable though the Ora phono from REGA.

DIORA ACOUSTICS

Gryphon amp with a Chord Electronics pre powering a pair of the Diora Acoustics (from Poland) horn loaded speakers – Perun 1This was another smaller room and it would have been very easy to overpower the room, but the team here judged it perfectly. It’s a three-way speaker that is actually partially horn loaded – a coaxial mid/high unit. They are only 84dB sensitive which surprised me…but that kind of explains the big monos. The speakers re 41K euros a pair.

Yet another excellent sounding room. In the anteroom was a static display that included the interesting looking LADA 1 loudspeakers. Cabling throughput this system was by Tellurium Q. 

These were at the Bristol show in 2024 and Oscar covered them for HiFi PiG.

SPL & MANGER

I’ve said it before, but the SPL electronics look fabulous an they also sounded great through the P2 speakers from Manger (15.2K). 

The full system in this room was the SPL Performer amp (6.5K), The Elector pre (2.7K). Diamond DAC (2.5K) and the Phonos (2K). There was a Transorotor Massimo Nero TMD turntable (10K) too. 

AUDIO HUNGARY, J SIKORA, SOUNDSPACE SYSTEMS & MUARAH

The Soundspace Systems speakers are from Berlin and have OB mid and an active sealed bass unit and a horn loaded AMT  tweeter. The speakers are around 50K euros. 

We heard the bigger speakers from the brand at Warsaw but I reckon they judged this perfectly and they fitted perfectly in the room. 

INPUT AUDIO

Harbeth, Michell and Manley were playing in this room and it’s the first time I have had a chance to hear the Manley Oasis phono stage. The Neo Classic pre was feeding the MAHI mono blocs from Manley into the Harbeth C7ES-3 XD speakers. Classic gear and a very classy sound. 

LONGTONE HiFi

A couple of full Linn systems in this room. The system playing was the Linn Selekt DSM Classic with Linn 150 speakers.

ADMIRAVOX

Accuton drivers always do it for me and whilst they are very expensive, I’m yet to hear a speaker that uses them sound anything but excellent. The speakers are 200K euros. They have an external crossover that uses Mundorf throughout. Now, 200K is a lot of money but the components that make them up are not cheap and the Aluminium cabinets won’t be cheap to make. The company is from Hungary. 

Excellent! 

RADIPOTAR

Very interesting looking omnidirectional loudspeakers from Austria. It’s a 3-way system with external DSP. The speakers are all handmade and the customer can decide the colour and curiously the weight. The speakers need at least 1.5m away from the walls – bigger rooms obviously. The system (including the cables) 87K for the smaller version and 150K for the system we got to listen to. The Trinnov system deals with the DSP and you can set presets specifically to where you are sat at any given time. The brand is Austrian. 

This room was cleverly set up so the essence could sit in front and behind the speakers to appreciate the omni-directional, nature of the speakers. They certainly work well wherever you are sat. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

And that’s a wrap, Not once did we hear Keith Don’t GO….which was nice !

We came to this show to get a feel for the venue for when the High End Show (normally in Munich) move to Vienna and I’m so glad we did. I spoke to a number of people about the venue and there were mixed feelings from manufacturers. However, for me, I think the venue is excellent – big rooms, wide corridors and lots of space. 

Thank you to everyone who said hello, asked for selfies (with Lin not me, obviously) and for everyone involved at the High End Society for making us feel so welcome. I think the the High End Vienna 2026 show is going to be spectacular and I can’t wait to come back to this fabulous city! …See you there on the 28th to 31st of May 2026.

ALL IMAGES AND TEXT ARE COPYRIGHT HiFi PiG AND MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE EDITOR

Linette and Stuart Smith

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