OSCAR STEWART BRINGS YOU THE HIFI PIG NORTH WEST AUDIO SHOW 2024 REPORT PART 2

HiFi PiG’s Oscar attends North West Audio Show 2024 and experiences his first ever NWAS, enjoy his coverage of the second half of the show at Cranage Hall.

North West Audio Show is in its 10th year, yet this is my first time attending. Held at the DeVere Cranage Estate in Cheshire, it brings in audiophiles from all corners of the UK. This is a show that has a very friendly atmosphere, with over 70 exhibitors, free entry, record fair and live music… it has something for everyone. It was good to see families and a hugely diverse array of attendees, proving that this is a great event for those looking to excite the next generation of audiophiles.

Let’s dive in to my coverage of the ground floor of the North West Audio Show 2024…and if you missed Part 1, then read it here.

MAIN ENTRANCE STANDS AND DISPLAYS

Coming in the entrance you have an open area with Chord Cables, Melco and NuPrime static displays. Chord had their new Epic Digital cable on display, this fits in the middle of their range and uses their Tuned Array coaxial conductor geometry. Melco are big in the network audio world with their SFP cabling, audio-oriented network switches and music servers. NuPrime make a range of DAC’s, amplifiers and headphone amps including some neat little class-D systems that would be perfect for a 2nd bedroom audio setup.

ACOUSTICA

Acoustica brought along the big Kudos 808 speakers in Lamborghini green (a £6k optional custom colour) paired with the Kudos Sigao Drive, 6 x Naim NAP350 mono blocs, a 332 pre-amp with NPX300 PSU, 333 Streamer with NPX300 PSU and a Naim Uniti Core server. At the back of the room they had a new Naim product on show, the Uniti CI 102 – due to be release late august it’s an all-in-one streamer/amplifier that has an understated design and should fit nicely into a lot of setups.

ROCK STREET

The main corridor, or ‘Rock Street’ is a very busy area with a fab mix of stands.

RUSS ANDREWS

Russ Andrews had a static display of their cables and mains distribution blocks / conditioners along with a Meridian Ellipse lifestyle speaker playing.

AUDITE ACOUSTICS

Audite Acoustics had a range of their isolation platforms on display including the Phaenon 2 speaker isolation platforms.

THE NARROWBAND ABSORBER COMPANY

The Narrowband Absorber Company had their Portable Variable Acoustic device that both absorbs and diffuses sound. Absorption goes down to 63Hz and this is a versatile piece of acoustic treatment helping control the room acoustics.

TOWNSHEND AUDIO

Townshend Audio had their array of Seismic isolation products on display along with Super Tweeters, Allegri Reference pre-amp and Allegri + pre-amp.

NODE AUDIO

Node are a loudspeaker brand (with a very interesting design and manufacturing process) but they are now also selling their support system isolation products separate to the speakers too. Their isolation feet are modular and you can fit them to most equipment along with being able to make them into cable risers too. You can also see their loudspeakers in the room picture below.

KIRMUSS ADIO

Kirmuss Audio make record cleaning machines, more than that, they make groove restoration machines that clean deep into the grooves of your records via their Cavitation cleaning method. It’s a science-based model that works to help restore your vinyl.

PURITAN AUDIO

Puritan make a range of mains devices from distribution blocks, conditioners, and cables. They always show off the interior of their products at shows along with mains noise analysers to demonstrate what their products can do.

Stu and Lin also picked up their special HiFi PiG edition Purtain mains distribution unit that they had ordered from Mike and Oscar, which is really cool!

HIFONIX HEADFI ROOM

Next up you had a large room run by Hifonix, with dedicated sections for Noble, HiFiMAN, Focal, Meze, Chord Electronics and Ferrum, along with the main Hifonix desk with an array of setups. I had a listen to the new Noble Spartacus which has that signature Noble snappiness to it’s sound whilst providing plenty of body down low. The vocals were perhaps a touch on the lean side but, this is an IEM that excels in technicalities whilst providing plenty of fun factor too.

Hifonix also had a second room showing their HiFi brands, including the new Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined loudspeakers, which launched at High End Munich this year…we didn’t get into this room, but here is a pic from the Munich show, where Eric heard them…you can read more here. The room at Cranage was hosted by Scottish distribution company Rennaissance and included Moon electronics.

HiFiMAN had their new Shangri-La Mini setup unveiled at Munich, along with the usual array of models such as the HE1000SE, Ananda Nano, Arya Organic, Susvara and EF499/EF600 DAC/amps.

Focal had their range of headphones along with a Naim Uniti Atom headphone edition as the source. I managed to listen to both the new Azurys and Hadeyns, the former being closed back yet well detailed and spacious sounding. The latter though are like a baby Clear MG (which I also had a listen to), with a slightly smoother and more refined sound that both easy to listen to, yet nuanced and revealing when required. Both these new models are also lightweight and comfortable, their price points are great and these two models are well worth an audition. Other headphones on display were the Clear MG, Utopia (2022), Celestee, Bathys and Stellia.

On to the Hifonix stand itself – some impressive kit on demo including a special green Viva Egoista 2A3 headphone amplifier, Moon streamer, Auralic server/streamer, Austrian Audio Composer / Full Score one amp, Feliks Audio Envy (performance edition), DCS Lina setup, Abyss AB-1266 PHI TC and Diana MR headphones, Dan Clark Audio Expanse, Spirit Torino Valkayria, HEDDPhone Two and more! Aseem and co were on hand to answer any queries and they always bring along some of the best head-fi kit on the market.

Meze had a stand, run by SCV distribution, with their new Lyric II, Empyrean II and Elite – running them was an Auralic server/streamer, Manley Absolute headphone amp, Benchmark DAC/Pre > HPA-4 headphone amp and a Lotoo Mjolnir. 

Chord Electronics had the Qutest + Anni stack powering a pair of Audeze LCD-5 alongside a Hugo 2 and Mojo 2 with the Meze 109 Pro and Dan Clark Aeon 2 Noir.

Ferrum had a stack consisting of the Hypsos power supply, Wandla Goldensound edition DAC and OOR headphone amp along with a smaller setup of the Hypsos and Erco 2.

CHASING THE DRAGON

Chasing the Dragon are well known for their incredible audiophile recordings and it’s always a pleasure to catch up with Mike Valentine, he really knows what’s what when it comes to making the best classical recordings. In their demo system at this show they had Falcon Acoustics IMF200 speakers (with Townshend SuperTweeters on top), a Technics SL-1200G turntable with and AirTight Opus 1 cartridge, Pass Labs XP-27 phono stage and Luxmann L-509Z integrated amplifier. They were using a full complement of Chord cabling in this setup. The speakers are “budget” in relation to this system, yet this was a fantastic sounding room proving that recordings and setups make a big difference.

DOUG BRADY

Doug Brady don’t really need any introductions; they are one of the UK’s big HiFi dealers and they had a large space with a mixture of static displays of products along with 4 demo setups. Static display wise they have KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, PMC, Marten, Burmester, Kii, Dali and much more.

Demo setup wise the first system had the Naim NAC 332 with NPX 300 power supply running into a pair of ATC SCM20ASL speakers and a C4 MKII subwoofer, the rack was from Lateral.

Next up was a full Burmester setup with the B38 speakers, 808 MK5 pre-amp and a pair of 956 MK2 power amplifiers – a very refined system.

They then had another system with some Marten Trio Diamond edition speakers with an Innuos statement server, DCS Rossini APEX DAC, DCS Rossini master clock, an Accuphase E-5000 amplifier, and Pro-Ject Signature 10 turntable. This room had quite a few products on display around the edges including products from KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, Dan D’Agostino, Hegel, Michi, Rotel and more.

The last Doug Brady room had a full Quad setup with the Artera pre-amp, two Artera mono blocs, Solus all-in-one player and a pair of new ESL-2912X speakers which have a new transformer alongside a stealthier aesthetic. Around the edges they had some other products on display such as the new 33/303 pre-power combo, Revela 1 and 2 speakers and the Audiolab 9000 stack.

COHERENT SYSTEMS

Coherent Systems had the TAD Labs GE-1 speakers, TAD Labs M2500 MKII Power amp, TAD Labs M700S Power amp, MC Audio Music One pre-amp, Wadia 25 DAC, Mutec MC3+ USB Smart Clock, Mutec Ref 10SE-120 10mHz Master Clock and Aurender N30SA digital transport. The racks were from Creaktiv Audio and there was another pair of TAD speakers on static display with a couple more electronics on display too. This setup had excellent drive with effortless delivery and huge scale.

BRIAN AND TREVORS

Brian and Trevors are a HiFi consultancy company (and Linn specialist), they put together an engaging and energetic setup consisting of the Kudos 606 speakers paired with the Kudos Sigao Drive, Linn Klimax twin stereo power amps, a pair of REL Classic 99 subs, Melco and Innuos music servers, Melco S10 network switch, Innuos Phoenix network switch, Linn Klimax Booplinth LP12 and Linn Selekt Edition streaming hub. They were using Quadraspire racks, Audite Acoustics isolation platforms and Puritan power.

Later on, on Sunday afternoon, all that was missing was a glitter ball as a full on Saturday Night Fever BeeGees fest was happening when Stu and Lin went in for a listen! Loads of fun.

AUDIOCOUNSEL

Audiocounsel had a full Audio Note (UK) setup with the AN-E speakers, CD4.1x CD player, Meishu Phono Tonmeister integrated amplifier and TT-Two Deluxe turntable. If you’ve heard an Audio Note (UK) system you will know that they are natural and captivating – a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

THE AUDIOWORKS

The AudioWorks had a pair of Fyne Vintage Ten speakers paired with the Supertrax super tweeters on top running off a full Accuphase system. There was a custom Linn Sondek LP12, Accuphase C-47 phono pre-amp, DP-770 SACD player, C-3900 pre-amplifier and A80 power amplifier. This was a smooth yet detailed system, the Class-A Accuphase amp pairs well with the Fyne’s.

NVA

NVA are a lovely brand who try and remove anything unnecessary from their devices, for absolute sonic purity. They were running their Cube 1 speakers with M600 mono bloc amps and their P50SA pre-amp. An audiolab 6000CDT was running into an RMA ADI-2 DAC, they had a stack of their AP20 integrated amplifiers in all 3 colours showing that HiFi doesn’t have to be boring, along with a pair of their Cube 3 speakers on show too.

WILKINSONS HIFI

Wilkinsons HiFi had paired with Henley for the show and had the Pro-Ject X8 turntable with Pick it MC9 cartridge, Musical Fidelity MX Vinyl phono stage, HifiRose RA280 amp, RS150 streamer and RSA780 CD Transport. The racks were from SolidSteel and had both the ProAc DB3 and D2R speakers on display, along with a couple of other HifiRose products on static display at the side of the room. Speaking to Wilkinsons HiFi, they are one of the few retailers that still repair HiFi equipment on site, a handy bit of knowledge to have.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

Chord Electronics were at the show with their Ultima integrated amplifier, Qutest DAC, Hugo TT and Hugo M Scaler – this setup was powering a pair of Kerr Acoustics K300 Mk3 speakers. There was also an Ultima Pro Stereo power amp on static display at the back of the room. The Ultima integrated worked well with the Kerr K300 Mk3 speakers providing and engaging, punch and lively sound without coming across as harsh or too forward.

GPOINT AUDIO

Another room run by G-Point Audio, this one had the Diptyque DP160 speakers alongside a pair of OSV Audio’s own speakers which didn’t have a model name yet. Amplification was provided by the OSV HT120 which is a new dual mono integrated amplifier, they were using a Lucas minimax server and Lampizator Atlantic TRP3 DAC. The OSV speakers came across as a little bit lively and perhaps a touch forward, but they prevented them from sounding overly bright and they had a very controlled and complete sound.

TECHNICS

It was lovely to see Kevin and Simon from Technics showing off a range of products at the show. At the back of the room, they had the new Lamborghini SL-1200M7B turntable in yellow however, the main system featured the SL-1200G turntable along with an SL-1500C too, SA-C600 CD/Network player, SL-G700M digital audio player, SU-G700M2 integrated amplifier and both the SB-C600 speakers alongside the larger SB-G90M2 floorstanders. My first visit in to the room, they were playing on the smaller SB-C600 speakers which were putting out a lot bigger sound than their size would suggest, the next day I heard the SB-G90M2 and those had a bit more depth as you would expect whilst still retaining that slightly “fun” sound without losing composure or control.

MCRU

MCRU are well known for their mains cables and other accessories, they had plenty of items on display to be purchased too, including some exclusive NWAS mains cables. There was a selection of vinyl and CD’s for sale along with a HiFi setup too. They were using the Silence Audio Alpha TT-1, DS Audio E3 cartridge, Fidata server, Soulution 330 amplifier, Puritan PSM156, Revival Audio Sprint 4 speakers and Townshend Seismic bars for isolation. The introductory price for the Alpha TT-1 is very impressive, you get a lot for your money and the whole setup was very well setup.

ELECTROMOD

Electromod, manned by Oliver and Mark, had a range of Schiit amplifiers including the new Vali 3 and Midgard headphone amplifiers, some Topping stacks and DAC/amps, a selection of Violectric amplifiers including the popular Nimbus and a range of Moondrop IEM’s. On a table at the edge of their room they had a range of Dekoni earpads and eartips along with an MS-HD power distribution block, there was a good array of headphones to test with the amps including the Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed, E3 and Stealth, Beyerdynamic DT880, Dekoni Blue and Cobalt along with the Meze 99 classics.

REFERENCE FIDELITY COMPONENTS

Reference Fidelity Components had their Rubato speakers on demo with a lovely Garrard 301 turntable, Radford Revival Kaizen MA100 mono amplifiers, Audio Research Reference CD player, Tron Convergence phono stage and Tron Seven pre-amp.

MIAN DISTRIBUTION

Leema / Mian shared a room with the Leema Neutron / Graviton pre-power combo at the heart of the system alongside the new Electron CD player that is soon to be released. These were powering a pair of Serhan Swift mu2 MkII speakers sat on Solid Steel stands. Around the room you could find other Leema products on static display such as the Hydra II and Tucana II.

LONGDOG AUDIO

Longdog Audio are a small British company making bespoke high-end components based on both listening and measurements to make their equipment. They had a pair of P6100M mono blocs powering some of their own design open baffle speakers, MC3 phono stage, Music First Baby Reference V2 pre-amp and a Technics SL-1200G with North West Audio DH3 cartridge. 

SUMMERHOUSE SOUNDS

Summer House Sounds had the Gershman Acoustics Studio 2 speakers on demo, these are more of a monitor type speaker but they do work equally well in a good HiFi system. These were being powered by the new M2Tech Classic integrated amp with M2Tech Young MK4 DAC, Zafino Copperhead Turntable and Zafino cabling. They also had a pair of Audel Basik speaks on static display as well as a static display of their cables on a table too.

GOLDENEAR AND AUDIOQUEST

Goldenear / Audioquest are a staple at shows, this time they had the BRX speakers with a single Forcefield 30 subwoofer, a Macbook as the source running Audirvana, Heed Lagrange amplifier with DAC module, Audioquest Niagra 3000 mains conditioner and Robin hood speaker cable.

IFI AUDIO

iFi Audio had two rooms along with a table near the entrance for sales. In one room they had the iCAN Phatom running as a pre-amp with a NEO Stream, AMR CD-77, Linn Sondek LP-12, Zen Phono 3 and they were running these into a pair of ATC SCM40A speakers. They were demonstrating that you can have a multi thousand-pound turntable running into a £250 phono stage and still get excellent sound and a black background. Also, it shows you can use the iCAN Phantom as a pre-amplifier for your speakers then switch it over to headphone duties at night without compromising on sound quality.

In the next room they had a range of their Head-fi products from the GO pod, GO link, hip dac 3, GO bar Kensei, iDSD Diablo 2, Zen DAC 3 and more.

AUDIO NOTE UK

Audio Note (UK) also had their own room with the AN-K speakers, CD 2.1x/II CD player, M2 RIAA phono stage, M2 Line pre-amp, Paladin Silver stereo amplifier and TT-Two Deluxe turntable. Micky was a brilliant host as always and there was an eclectic mix of music playing in this room, these speakers were also just the right size for the room when played at reasonable listening levels.

ORANGE AMPLIFIERS

Orange had their new Valve tester MKII on show, a cool device for valve enthusiasts who want to ensure their valves are in tip-top condition. The design allows for expansion modules to be fitted for measuring other valves, and Orange will be releasing select expansion modules for the Valve tester MKII. They also had their Box portable Bluetooth speaker on show, Pyramid system with speakers and their O Bones and Crest Edition MKII headphones.

WILKINSONS HIFI

Wilkinsons HiFi had a second room showing off budget systems that both cost £999 – the first being the Rega System One, the second being a Rekkord Audio F100P turntable, Wiim Amp and Q Acoustics 3030i speakers. When I went in this room, they had the Rega System One playing and it sounded great, this is a real-world system for those wanting to get into HiFi, for under £1000 you get an enjoyable system that’s easy to setup and use.

SUPER NATURAL AUDIO

Super Natural Audio (SNA) have a new DAC/Pre-amp coming soon, it wasn’t quite finished for the show but there was a working prototype. It features a non-oversampling AKM DAC chip and will have USB/Coaxial and Optical inputs along with a minimum of two fully analogue line inputs. There is an ECC88 valve output stage and will be priced under £1000. In the room they also had the CML Music Etude 5 floorstanding speakers alongside the smaller Etude 1 standmount speakers. The Etude 1 were playing when I was in the room and the sound is very spacious with excellent soundstaging and imaging with good body and drive too. They were using a Clipaudio Dolomite turntable which uses adjustable elastomer band suspension in conjunction with tuneable silicone fluid damping to dampen vibrations. It’s designed to use the classic Alphason HR100S tonearm and they were using an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge with this arm. An EAR 834P phono stage, Meridian 557 power amp, and Lucas Audio server/streamer were also part of the system.

CYRUS AND AUDIO PHYSIC

Cyrus audio were partnered with Audio Physic speakers, they were using the Avanti which feature a hidden internal sub-woofer, you may not be able to see it but, you sure can hear it when needed – providing deep bass extension from a relatively compact floorstanding speaker. The Cyrus kit consisted of a Stream-XR, Pre-XR and Power-XR, each with its own PSU-XR alongside a Classic Phono with PSX—R2 and TTP turntable.

SALTWOOD SOUNDS

Saltwood Sounds are a new name to me, and they are a relatively new company based in Spain, beautifully crafted cabinets paired with an 8” Purifi mid-bass driver and a Satori Beryllium tweeter to create a full range speaker with ultra-low distortion. They were using a Java Hi-Fi Single Shot Carbon amplifier along with an Auralic streamer and server.

SOLID-SOUNDS SPINNING ROOM

Paul from Solid Sounds had one the the best-looking rooms at the show, it was also one of the warmest too. He had his latest revision of the HEX3 speakers which have a new isolation base, new midrange driver and new crossover, these were being run off a pair of Puresound M845 mono blocs, Puresound L300 pre-amplifier, Thorens TD124 II turntable with Etsuro Urushi cartridge (the company who make the Hana range) and a Whest TITAN Pro phono stage. As always there was an eclectic mix of music being played and it was a brilliant sounding system, the HEX3 speakers really are quite something.

NEAT ACOUSTICS

Neat were debuting two new models at the show, the Neat Momentum J-S and the Momentum J-6. On the first day of the show, they were running the standmount J-S model and on the second day the Momentum J-6. They had an Atoll ST300 streamer, Atoll IN400 amplifier and Lateral rack – SolidSteel stands were in use with the speakers and these were one of my favourite speakers of the show. The Momentum J-S worked very well in this size of room with a well-balanced sound that had great transient response, excellent extension from top to bottom and just a very well-tuned sound in my opinion. The larger Momentum J-6 had a bigger sound with more scale and drive but, they do benefit from having a larger room with space to breathe – both speakers sounded fantastic and this new range from Neat are likely to be a hit. They also had a pair of their Iota II speakers at the side of the room on static display.

VERTERE

Over the two days I kept getting drawn into the Vertere room by their music choices, Audioslave, The Hu, In This Moment, Rage Against The Machine and more were playing through their setup. They were using ATC SCM40A active speakers, an SG-1 turntable with SG-2 tonearm, XtraX cartridge, the new Calon phonostage which has a really interesting sub-sonic filter implementation, along with a Naim pre-amp/PSU.

ATACAMA    

Atacama had a display of their stands with quite a wide range on show.

ASTELL & KERN

Astell & Kern and Campfire audio had a room on the lower ground floor, they had the new SP3000T DAP on demo alongside a range of their other DAPs and dongles (with a mix of Audeze and Focal headphones to use with them). Campfire audio wise you had the new Fathom, Moon Rover and Chromatic series along with the usual Solaris Stellar Horizon, Andromeda Emerald Sea, and three variations of the Trifecta. This room was quite busy with people demoing headphones and the Campfire range, both popular brands. Campfire Audio are a brand that do different, and sometimes quite marmite, tunings that are very much a love or hate affair – they’re definitely not a boring brand, that’s for sure.

LATERAL AUDIO STANDS

At the bottom of the stairs before you got into the bar was Lateral Audio, with their new Aria range of stands, which Kevin told us is now also available with wooden spacers in various sizes too, for a true bespoke system to support you HiFi without being too complex or ‘technical’ looking. Well worth checking out if you are currently looking for new HiFi furniture.

DIVERSE VINYL

Also down here and always busy with record snooflers was the Diverse Vinyl stand….a show favourite!

SONALUX

Another new name was Sonalux, they were demonstrating a device that allows you to spatialise up to 8-speakers via a small controller. You can spatialise up to 20 inputs simultaneously and the small speakers that were being used are powered of USB-C PD, allowing you to daisy chain them for simple setup. This was a bit of a different setup than what you normally see at these shows but, it was an interesting product and the spatialisation of the sound was very impressive.

SOURCE SOUNDS

Outside you had Source Sounds with four demonstration cars and a static display of some of their products, this is a company who specialise in car audio and can do installations that fit in the original speakers space or, something more custom with their own boxes.

There was also the original Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon PA system which was of course blasting Dark Side of the Moon all weekend, a great piece of music history and one that still sounds great.

I thoroughly enjoyed North West Audio Show 2024, it’s very well organised and just the right size to be able to have a listen to all the systems over two days. I’m already looking forward to next year’s edition!

Once again we would like to thank Kris and his team, all the attendees, exhibitors and of course, the hiFi PiG North West Audio Show 2024 coverage sponsor, Auden Distribution!

Now read our North West Audio Show Report Part 1 from Stu and Lin

All photos and text are copyright HiFi PiG/Big Pig Media and must not be reproduced in any form without prior, written consent from the Editor.

Oscar Stewart