Apple’s yearly Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to kick off a week from today, and signs are pointing towards a host of new software announcements – but perhaps very little in the way of new hardware.

The WWDC26 keynote will be live-streamed on Apple TV, YouTube, and Apple’s event website at 10am Pacific Time, which is 6pm here in the UK. Australian Apple fans will either have to stay up late or wake up early, as the presentation will kick off at 3am on the West Coast, or 1am on the East Coast.

With this being a software-focused showcase, we expect updates to Apple’s various operating systems across its mobile phones, tablets, computers and, most importantly, streaming devices.

That being said, Apple has surprised us with hardware announcements at WWDC in previous years. These include the Apple Vision Pro headset, updated Mac computers, and even the original HomePod, which was announced at WWDC 2017.

Ultimately, signs are pointing towards a WWDC that is putting the focus on software, which might not be such a bad thing…

What to expect…

Apple made a big statement last year with its latest batch of software updates. 2025 signalled the year of Liquid Glass, which introduced a fluid, transparent interface to everything from iPhones and iPads to Apple TV and iMacs.

Apple also standardised the naming conventions of its various product lineups. All of the version numbers were changed to align with the relevant year, signalling the launch of iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and tvOS 26.

We think, then, that it's reasonable to expect the announcement of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and tvOS 27 on Monday.

As for what these updates will bring to the table, that is somewhat of an unknown currently. We know that Apple has made a big push for Apple Intelligence, the company’s answer to the AI revolution, in recent years, but it has ultimately fallen far behind the competition.

While Google has steamrolled ahead with Gemini on various Android phones, Apple Intelligence and Siri aren’t quite living up to the claims made by Apple during the iPhone 16 launch.

Siri hasn’t got much smarter, and Visual Intelligence hasn’t really challenged Google’s excellent Circle to Search function. Therefore, we anticipate the upcoming updates to be pretty AI and Siri-focused, as Apple scrambles to bring its software up to speed.

Elsewhere, we could see some tweaks to Liquid Glass after the lukewarm reaction to the new user interface, as well as new features coming to some of Apple’s core apps. Last year, we saw a handful of updates come to Apple Music, which included the ability to pin your favourite albums and real-time lyric translations.

What not to expect…

We’ve said it already, but we’ll reiterate: it is unlikely that this will be a hardware-heavy event. The two big products that we await are still missing in action, and it’s looking less and less likely that they will break cover at WWDC 2026.

These are the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod Mini, which, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (via Engadget), have both been ready to launch for several months. In fact, Gurman claims that the upcoming hardware is already being used internally at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

Expected upgrades aren’t monumental; in fact, some predictions are centred around some minor chipset updates. But with the previous generations of the Apple TV 4K and HomePod Mini launching in 2022 and 2020, respectively, we are willing to take any form of upgrade.

The aforementioned limitations to Apple Intelligence and Siri are reportedly responsible for the holdup with these products, but the expectation is that once Apple irons out its AI kinks, then these products should be primed to launch.

It should also not come as a surprise to hear that we probably won’t see any new iPhones during the presentations. Apple tends to save those for its annual September event – and it’s looking like it could be a big one this year.

Apple is expected to change its usual lineup by launching its first foldable device alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. The standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, meanwhile, are expected to launch in early 2027.

We’re not ruling out new product announcements entirely; Apple could surprise us after all. But, with software being the primary focus for WWDC, we think September is a more likely time to see new Apple hardware.

MORE:

Read our full Apple iPhone 17 review

As well as our Apple TV 4K (2022) review

And check out the best smartphones here

We're into day two of High End Vienna 2026, and the action is in full flow. We've gone hands-on with some of the biggest speakers to launch, including Bowers & Wilkins' 800 Series Diamond D5 range and JBL's vertiginous Summit series, which are all mountain-themed and can cost $160,000. Which is quite steep.

This is the first year High End has taken to Vienna, after years of calling Munich its home. But the Austrian capital is hosting it very nicely indeed, with some very effective air conditioning keeping our team of reporters cool across the massive, sprawling halls.

They're going to need it. These halls are chock full of the best high-end hi-fi around, including speakers, streaming amplifiers, turntables and more from the likes of Arcam, Bowers & Wilkins, Klipsch, Ortofon, Yamaha, Cambridge Audio and many, many more.

The show runs until Sunday 7th June. Our hi-fi and audio team are there en masse to bring you hands-ons and first impressions of all the latest gear.

As well as the speakers already mentioned, we've seen limited-edition Tannoy speakers, headphones from the likes of Noble Audio, FiiO and Klipsch, numerous companies celebrating landmark anniversaries by launching special edition products, and even a gaming turntable. Yes, a gaming turntable. Madness.

Read on for all the latest news.

High End Vienna 2026: highlights

• 10 of the most exciting hi-fi products we saw at High End Vienna 2026
• 7 of the quirkiest, coolest and most expensive things we saw at High End Vienna 2026

High End Vienna 2026: latest news

Latest news

Arcam
It seems like you can't move for birthday celebrations at High End Vienna, and Arcam is one of those getting jubilant. It's celebrating its 50th anniversary with the new A50 Signature amplifier and CD25 premium CD player. Both join the Award-winning Radia series – the A50 is billed as the company’s “most complete expression of its Class G platform”, while the CD25 sits above the Award-winning CD5. This is one celebration we want to be part of.
Read the full story: Arcam celebrates 50 years of hi-fi with a new signature amplifier and a premium CD player

Astell & Kern
Portable audio specialist Astell & Kern has announced its latest player, the A&ultima SP4000T, which blends digital audio with classic analogue valve tech. The SP4000T uses independent dual-tube structures dedicated to left and right channels to deliver a "deep, refined experience". It also announced the Clarus in-ear monitors.
Read the full story: Astell & Kern’s valve-toting portable player blends classic analogue tech with “cutting-edge digital audio”

AudioQuest
We were treated to the surprise launch of the DragonFly Copper, the latest and most advanced addition to the Award-winning DAC/headphone amp range. The tiny USB DAC promises to be more powerful and more efficient than before and, with its £230 price tag, it's the most modest launch we came across the High End Show. We can't wait to hear how it sounds.
Read the full story: The DragonFly Copper hovers into view as AudioQuest's most powerful and efficient DAC yet

Audio-Technica
This is the High End show, so £10,000 for a cartridge isn't unheard of. That's what you'll pay for Audio-Technica's AT-MCD1, but as you would hope, you get plenty for your money. Like the culmination of 60 years of Japanese audio engineering and craftsmanship, and a promised "exceptional level of precision and realism". The integrated, one-piece diamond cantilever and stylus tip should deliver the signal transmission with ultra levels of precision, too.
We sat down with the man behind it to find out more: Meet the man behind Audio-Technica’s new £9999 turntable cartridge.
Read the full story: Audio-Technica's high-end flagship cartridge promises "exceptional level of precision and realism" from your records

Bowers & Wilkins
The latest in B&W's legendary 800 Series Diamond range has landed during its 60th anniversary year, and it's quite the birthday present. The D5 range includes new tech, a refined design and new finishes to deliver what B&W claims is its most advanced speaker range ever. It's led by the flagship 801 D5, which costs a cool £43,000. But once you've seen the full list of improvements from the 801 D4, you might consider it worth every penny.
Check out our first impressions: I've had a first listen to Bowers & Wilkins' new flagship 800 Series Diamond speakers – and now I'm desperate to hear more.
Read the full story: Bowers & Wilkins' new 800 Series Diamond D5 is its "most advanced loudspeaker range" yet

Cambridge Audio
The Evo 300 streamer follows in the footsteps of the Evo 75 and Evo 150, both of which earned five stars. So expectations are high. But with 300W of Hypex NCOREx Class D power per channel and a new ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC, which supports up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512, it looks like another winning entry.
You can read our first impressions in our Cambridge Audio Evo 300 hands-on review.
Read the full story: Cambridge Audio introduces its “most powerful streaming amplifier yet”, complete with HDMI eARC and turntable-friendly phono stage

Chord Electronics
Two new Chord power amps made their debut at High End Vienna. The Ultima 7 is a new addition to the flagship Ultima range, with 135W of power into 8 ohms, while the Blade is built for the custom install market.
Read the full story: Chord Electronics teases two new power amplifiers at High End Vienna 2026, set to launch in September

Clearaudio
Clearaudio isn't doing things by halves, hitting the show with no fewer than five new turntables. And not just any old models: there's a whole new product range, plus special editions themed around the Beatles and Rammstein, and even a turntable designed for gaming. That's a new one on us.
Read the full story: Clearaudio unveils five (!) new turntables, including a new range and a Beatles tribute deck

Dali
The Dali Vega is an all-in-one music system that can be placed on a tabletop or be wall-mounted, in portrait and landscape orientations. This substantial unit is packed with clever technology (including DSP that adapts sound according to its placement) and premium design touches (that circular control is lovely to behold), while boasting 400W of amplification powering eight channels of audio. It won't come cheap, either.
Check our our first impressions: Dali Vega hands-on review
Read the full story: Dali's premium all-in-one system promises hi-fi-level performance in any place, and in any position

Dual
The Dual CS 629Q is a fully automatic turntable with a neat trick up its sleeve – you can control it using an app on your phone. So no more getting up off the sofa to stop playback. Bluetooth is also onboard for playing wirelessly – truly a turntable of the future. Fittingly, it's not out until next year.
Read the full story: Dual takes its "legacy into the future" with a fully automatic direct-drive turntable that you can control with an app

FiiO
FiiO has announced three new products at High End Vienna: the JT9 open-back headphones, the Class A Headphone Amplifier and Level 1 stereo amplifier (pictured above). The Level 1 is oozing retro charm, and uses an internal DAC based on a Texas Instruments chip. The JT9 open-back planar magnetic headphones have a custom 95 x 86mm planar driver and ultra-thin diaphragm, while the Class A Headphone Amplifier has two channels of 1000mW output power, with five selectable gain levels and independent bass and treble controls.
Read the full story: FiiO teases a trio of new desktop hi-fi products for Vienna High End show

iFi
iFi's iDSD GR 2 DAC and headphone amp follows the xDSD Gryphon, and it's a similarly high-end affair. But it's no mere sequel, it's been rebuilt from the ground up, with a Burr-Brown PCM1795 DAC chip at its heart. iFi also announced the sequel to the five-star Go Link Max, which has natty wireless updates via the app and boosted sound.
Read the full story: iFi's high-end DAC is "a portable powerhouse" aimed at audiophiles who want "uncompromising sound"
And: The sequel to iFi's five-star portable DAC is smaller with less distortion and has wireless updates

Jamo
Renowned hi-fi brand Jamo has made a comeback, and its first new speakers are in its Concert series. The Concert Legacy and Concert Element are bathed in Scandi style – the Concert Legacy comprises three models, and the Concert Element another three plus a subwoofer.
Read the full story: Jamo's Concert series gets an encore with two new ranges from the newly resurrected brand

JBL
JBL's new speakers put the 'high' in 'high-end'. And in 'hi-fi', for that matter. The Everest and K2 are the latest instalments to the Summit range, which are all mountain-themed. Unsurprisingly, the Everest is the flagship.
We've heard them for ourselves – check out our first impressions: Are JBL’s range-topping Summit speakers worth $160,000? I've had an exclusive listen to find out.
Read the full story: JBL adds twin peaks to its Summit range with the range-topping Everest and K2 loudspeakers

KLH Audio
Speaker placement can be an issue, especially with big floorstanders, but KLH Audio's new models are designed to be placed close to a wall thanks to their shallow cabinet depth. Inside are an 8-inch (20.3cm) pulp-paper cone bass driver, the same 25mm aluminium dome tweeter, pulp-paper cone midrange driver and crossover architecture as the step-up, larger Model Five. So it's anything but shallow.
Read the full story: KLH Audio's vintage-inspired speakers are "exceptionally narrow" and designed to be placed close to a wall

Klipsch
US brand Klipsch turns 80 this year, and it's celebrating in style, launching two new loudspeakers and new premium headphones. The Limited Edition 80th Anniversary Klipschorn is a fully horn-loaded revamp of Klipsch’s 1946 patented design, while the Klipsch Rebellion is a premium stand-mount speaker. And the headphones? The Atlas HP-2 is a closed-back headphone with a focus on bass, while the Atlas HP-3 is a semi-open-back audiophile option with a “spacious, speaker-like presentation”. Happy birthday Klipsch.
Read the full story: An iconic 80-year-old hi-fi speaker just got a spectacular limited-edition upgrade

Meze Audio
The ARTA are Romanian company Meze's most expensive headphones ever, costing a princely £6000. For that, we're promised a rich, speaker-like sound courtesy of Rinaro, a Ukrainian company that has been developing planar magnetic drivers for 30 years.
Read the full story: These futuristic Meze headphones are a feast for your eyes – but one detail might make your eyes water

Moon
Moon has a solid track record of streaming amps, and now we have two new models to enjoy: the Moon 461 power amplifier and the Moon 491 combined music streamer and preamplifier. A highlight is Moon's 'MDCA' (Moon distortion-cancelling amplifier) architecture, which was originally developed for the brand's flagship North collection, and promises to "reduce distortion and improve signal linearity" for a sound that blends "exceptional clarity and precision".
We have a short but positive demo of the duo: Moon's new 491 streaming preamp and 461 stereo power amp is a formidable combination – our first impressions left us wanting more
Read the full story: Moon expands its high-end Compass range with do-it-all music streamer and 450-watt power amp

Neat Acoustics
Neat's new Vito floorstanders join its well regarded Classic range, two models which have earned five stars from us. Despite being relatively compact, the Vito promise a "spacious, natural and emotionally engaging musical presentation" with a sound that feels "both effortless and immersive". They'll cost £4995 per pair, which is around twice the price of their five-star Mystique siblings. Consider our expectations raised.
Read the full story: Neat adds a small-but-powerful pair of floorstanders to its popular Classic speaker range

Noble Audio
The Osprey earbuds are more accessible than some of Noble's other in-ear headphones. Though they look every inch a premium pair, thanks to the striking marble finish and aluminium charging case. A 10mm dynamic driver pairs with a custom balanced armature to deliver "confident, controlled bass, a natural and expressive midrange, and clean, extended highs". And all without breaking the bank. Noble also launched the FoKus Artemis, its most ambitious high-end wireless headphones to date. A Noble endeavour.
Read the full story: Noble Audio’s eye-catching wireless earbuds could be a rival to the five-star Sony XM6
And: Noble’s “most ambitious” high-end wireless headphones have an unusual driver design

Onkyo
We actually saw Onkyo's Muse Y-50 Network Integrated Amplifier Anniversary Edition back in January, but then it didn't even have a name. It's inspired by the Onkyo Integra M-588 amplifier from the early 1990s, which had real-wood walnut side panels and illuminated meters, but the new model has app controls, which the 90s version definitely didn't.
Read the full story: Onkyo celebrates 80 years with Anniversary Edition Muse Y-50 streaming amplifier and Creator Series desktop speakers

Ortofon
£13,000 is a lot of money for a turntable cartridge, but the MC Vertex is no ordinary moving coil model. Its new materials and tweaked geometry promise to give more accurate groove tracing and signal generation. And don't worry, there's a more affordable model launched alongside it.
Read the full story: This £13k Ortofon MC Vertex is the firm's "most advanced moving coil cartridge" ever – and is joined by a new MC X model

Ruark Audio
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Ruark has launched the very appealing looking R710 streaming amplifier and Talisman-R floorstanders. The R710 builds upon the five-star R610's streaming and connectivity credentials and offers more power (200W per channel), a bigger cabinet and display screen and, most importantly, an integrated CD player. Pair it with the Talisman-R floorstanders, which feature the 1990 originals' sloped baffle design with updated cabinets and design.
Read the full story: Ruark’s gorgeous streaming amplifier blends “analogue charm with digital convenience” and features an integrated CD player
Read the full story: Ruark resurrects Talisman-R floorstanders for "people who care about their home as much as their music"

Tannoy
Exact details are still under wraps, but we do know that Tannoy will be launching exclusive limited-edition speakers based on the Prestige Gold Reference Series for its 100th anniversary. Expect enhanced crossovers and improved internal cabling, and a very limited release – only 19 pairs of the flagship Westminster Royal GR and 26 pairs of the step-down Canterbury GR speakers will be made – with the numbers chosen to represent 1926, the year Tannoy was founded in South London. The 'standard' Cantebury GR costs £33,000, so don't expect these limited edition models to come cheap. But if you can't go all out for your birthday, when can you?
Read the full story: Tannoy teases exclusive limited-edition speakers to mark its 100th anniversary

WiiM
Audio upstart WiiM has already disrupted the worlds of amps and streamers, and now it's launched its first ever soundbar. The WiiM Bar promises to bring "the same simplicity and high-fidelity performance our community loves into the living room," according to WiiM. Should Sonos be worried?
Read the full story: WiiM launches its first ever Dolby Atmos soundbar – and its sights are set on Sonos

Yamaha
Yamaha hasn't launched a wireless speaker in a decade, so the NX-70A is definitely a considered product. It uses some of the same tech and materials as Yamaha's renowned grand piano soundboards, though sadly it doesn't use anything from its motorbikes. It looks like a direct rival to the KEF LS50 Wireless II, and we can't wait to test it.
Read the full story: The Yamaha NX-70A wireless speaker system arrives to take on the KEF LS50 Wireless II

MORE:

See the highlights from last year's High End Munich 2025

Bigger boxes and bad vibrations – why floorstanding speakers can be tricky to build

Wireless begone! Why I refuse to ditch wired headphones

While we prepare this year’s Sound+Image Awards for full publication (after a few leaks following the Awards presentation during Sydney’s Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026), there is one award which we can reveal – the public-voted Best Sound of Show.

It’s an informal award, but comes with great kudos, since it counts written votes made by showgoers as they leave the Show, asked which room created their favourite sound, and why. Comments are encouraged by doubling these nominations up with the competition card for the Show, loaded with great prizes which can be won by collecting stamps at the Show and then making a suitably prize-winning comment on the Show and its rooms.

One note for next year: a surprising number of people told us why they liked the sound, but neglected to tell us which room they had chosen…

Otherwise the votes were notably well-spread, among more rooms than usual, confirming our Show Report’s suggestion that there was barely a room this year which wasn’t on song, despite the limitations of hotel rooms, large suites and shared corridors. Solid rooms, some decent treatment and careful planning all combined to keep such issues at bay during the three days and across the food floors of the Show.

So, without further ado, here are the vote winners for Best Sound in Show at the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026.

WINNER: Synergy Audio-Visual with Sonus faber, McIntosh & REL

The room gathering most votes was one of the Ground Floor suites, the Elizabeth Bay Room, home to brands from distributor Synergy Audio-Visual.

While there were two systems available for demonstration in the room, we suspect the system gathering the votes was the main one, total value around $716,000: Sonus faber Amati Supreme speakers in ‘Terra Rossa’ red, supported by no fewer than six REL S/550 subwoofers configured as two three-high line arrays at the back of the room, with a stack laden with McIntosh electronics and topped with Rega’s flagship Naiad turntable.

You can get more details of how it was connected and how it sounded (and that second system) in our Show Report here. Meanwhile our congratulations to the Synergy team for executing (and continuously improving) this impressive system.

RUNNER-UP: Bowers & Wilkins - Marantz (Harman)

In a fairly narrowly-contested second place was the room next door, another Ground Floor suite, this time loaded with Marantz electronics and Bowers & Wilkins’ 800 Series D4 speakers. It made an interesting comparison with Synergy’s room – a far lower box count, with just the Marantz Link10n preamp and two Marantz Model 10 amplifiers in single-channel monoblock mode, and no subwoofers supporting, the 802 D4 speakers.

Bonus goodies included classic Bowers & Wilkins speakers on one side and the current ‘Abbey Road x Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Limited Edition’ speakers and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus on the other. More info in the Show Report…

Also in the votes

A great many rooms gathered collections of votes for Best Sound, including a pleasing group of Australian companies operating out of the ‘Homegrown Hi-Fi’ section of the Corridor of Power.

Congratulations in this regard to Lenehan Brothers with its new System One loudspeaker, to Serhan Swift with their prototype analogue active mμ2 standmount/mμ3 floorstander, and to Mcleans Smart Home Entertainment, whose tall Magnepan MG2.7X planar-magnetic loudspeakers proved popular with visitors.

Pantheone Audio’s sculptural lifestyle speakers also scored well, as did Richter with its new Series 7 SE Dragon floorstanders and Aurora standmounts. MaxMedia was in the running (for twin systems serving its Avantgarde horn speakers and the coolly retro award-winning Pylon Jades).

Yamaha pulled votes for both its hi-fi and soundbar rooms; Stax (Audio Marketing) garnered praise for demonstrating the full range of finely-etched sounds available from its electrostatic earspeakers.

Adding to these, our own congrats to every demonstration in every room; as we say, the quality this year was exceptional: see our full Short Report here. Thanks also for everyone who put their comment cards in the reception box: we’ll be contacting prize winners shortly.

Sydney turned up the sunshine and the sound quality for a spectacular Australian Hi‑Fi Show 2026, held in the heart of the city, near Central Station and Chinatown. The boutique Sydney Central Hotel opened up four floors to the Show’s systems and sounds over three days, from official firing-up time at 2pm on Friday 1st May, until the volume pots dipped their last at 4pm on Sunday 3rd May.

Rooms and suites were filled with hi-fi systems combining sculptural speakers and high-end stacks with streaming simplicity and intuitive phone-based control. Especially welcome was a new ‘Homegrown Hi-Fi’ area for the Corridor of Sound up on the ninth floor, showcasing a serious selection of Australian-made audio – which proved to include several of the Show’s top attractions.

There was also a strong home cinema contingent this year, covering both the affordable and the aspirational, with a pair of full big-screen projection rooms offering action on Level 1, plus immersive soundbar demonstrations up in the Corridor of Sound, and a special basement theatre showcasing Leica’s award-winning projection skills. We’ll start our coverage down there at the bottom of the Sydney Central, working our way through the four floors to the top.

Lower Ground

Leica Camera Australia

Leica’s bright, colourful and comfortable lower ground cinema room was packed when we entered, with three different demonstrations running. Two of these used the ultra-short-throw Cine 1 ‘Cinema TV’, a gorgeous object in itself, while gaining from Leica’s skills in glass making to deliver edge-to-edge sharp imaging, less aberrated than rival lenses. The Cine 1 has been in the market for a few years now, but has recently been slashed in price almost by half, making it far more competitive against rivals (and prompting us to ‘renew’ a Sound+Image award originally presented at the higher original price).

Leica had one Cine 1 projecting onto the 120-inch Leica ambient-light-rejecting screen which can be purchased for an extra $1000 with the Cine 1.

To the right, projecting onto a bare white wall, was the Leica Cine Play 1 mini projector, which was deliberately set up off-axis to show how it can nevertheless use its built-in smarts to deliver a bright and colourful large-screen image.

One clever demonstration trick invoked by Leica’s Shaun McMahon was to pop on a few spotlights to mimic ambient daylight. While this caused significant wash-out on the two projectors that directly illuminated the walls, it had almost no discernable effect on the ALJ screen image – showing how valuable such a screen can be when considering these systems as replacements for TVs, including use in daytime environments.

Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment

The distributing retailer, now based back in Long Jetty between Tuggerah Lake and the Pacific Ocean, provided another oasis of calm in the Lower Ground, with tall Magnepan MG2.7X planar-magnetic loudspeakers rolling out what are always top tunes under the control of Bill and Margaret Mclean, on this visit including Dr. John’s 2022 kick-arse I Walk On Guilded Splinters and Mary Gaultier’s Falling Out Of Love. Both served to highlight the delicious delicacy of the Magnepan full-range dipole speakers, which are a three-way design with 101cm true ribbon tweeters supported by foil bass and midrange. Yet as both the Dr John and later billie eilish’s My Strange Addiction proved, they could also grab a bassline and run tight and strong with it. Impressive stuff at $16,990 a pair.

In support of the speakers were an Innuos Pulsar music streamer streaming Qobuz and Tidal via via Roon, into Audio Research’s REF6SE preamplifier via a massive $55k LampizatOr Pacific 2 valve-based high-res DAC, and on to Pass Labs’ X350.8 stereo power amplifier, with FoilFlex cables and IsoTek power conditioning.

Ground Floor

Bowers & Wilkins / Marantz

In one of the big ground floor suites, the ex-Masimo now-Harman brands put on a grand display around the main system of Marantz 10 series electronics driving the Turbine-Headed Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4 from the current B&W 800 Series Diamond.

While Marantz’s Model 10 amplifier can operate as a standard integrated amplifier, this system had the Link 10n preamplifier driving two separate Model 10s in what the company now calls a “leader and member” arrangement, which can address up to four Model 10s switched into mono mode.

The fourth box on the Atacama rack was the system source, Marantz’s SACD 10 flagship SACD/CD player and DAC, which the company says was “designed to be the best disc player in the company’s history”. This combination was playing some right doof-doof when we entered but soon settled into a glorious delivery of Anders Gaardmand’s saxophone and Bruce Katz’s close-miked piano on Ronnie Earl’s Kansas City Monarch, sounding great in a well-treated room, with power conditioners secreted behind the system.

Around the sides of the room were some spectacular extras. To the right was a history of classic B&W speakers, featuring the DM3 (1968), DM6 (1975), the 802 Series 80 (1980s), the DM100 (1986) and the 803 D2 (2010).

To the left were two of Bowers & Wilkins’ most spectacular ever designs. First was the current ‘Abbey Road x Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Limited Edition’ speakers, featuring a specialised Vintage Walnut finish and red Connolly leather on top, referencing Abbey Road and their 45-year partnership with Bowers. These were limited to 140 pairs worldwide, and this single speaker comes from the last pair available in Australia, we gather (hasten to Len Wallis Audio if you’re interested).

Even more spectacular was a rare showing of the Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus, $165,000 of flagship snail curves in bright red, quite the sight!

Synergy AudioVisual – Sonus faber, McIntosh, REL, Rega, ATC

As ever, Synergy’s room was constantly packed: seats full, standing at the rear. And there was a lot going on, with multiple systems available for demonstration.

The main attraction was the central system (total value around $716,000), with Sonus faber Amati Supreme speakers in ‘Terra Rossa’ red (the only pair currently in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the team), supported by no fewer than six REL S/550 subwoofers configured as two three-high line arrays at the back of the room, receiving their signals at speaker level chained through them all, as is REL’s way: so no crossover reducing the bass to the Sonus fabers, which continue to run full-range.

Four McIntosh power amps were driving the Sonus fabers in an interesting biamping arrangement selected by Synergy guru Jack Sarkissian. Each channel had an all-valve MC3500 monoblock driving the highs and mids, while the bass drivers were driven by solid-state MC1.25KW monoblocks (1200W into any impedance, THD 0.005%). So solid-state grip for the bass, a certain valve sweetness for the ‘voice of Sonus faber’ mids and tweeter, though Sonus faber is famously pretty sweet up top anyway (and Mr Sarkissian admits his personal choice might be for solid state all over).

These four giant monoblocks, together with the McIntosh MCD1200 DAC/SACD player and C12000 preamp and controller, created a wondrous wall of McIntosh blue-teal to keep the visitors visually delighted while being audibly thrilled by the music selected by Synergy MD Philip Sawyer. Responding to audience requests, he showed the effect of the RELs by taking them out of circuit while playing Steely Dan’s I.G.Y. It was an effective dem, but we were informed later that we had visited rather too early, on the first day of the Show: the RELs were still being tuned perfectly to integrate perfectly with the Amati Supremes.

So we returned the next day to hear the RELs working with more subtlety. Without them the speakers alone sounded, well, more speaker-like, less real, less depth of soundstaging. With the RELs in circuit the room was fully excited, the delivery larger, and rather smoother-sounding and real all over. Since some of these characteristics require more than the bass spectrum, the exercise is interesting in showing how bass frequencies may affect our perception across the rest of the spectrum.

The entire demo was also a spectacular advertisement for the source, which was vinyl, being played on Rega’s range-topping $22,000 Naiad turntable; we have rarely heard vinyl so immaculately rendered through a system not exactly short on resolving power.

A second system in this room was also demonstrated, using loudspeakers by ATC, renowned in both pro and hi-fi circles for making everything from drivers to cabinets at its base in Gloucestershire, UK. Their speakers come in somewhat bewildering combinations: these were the three-way SCM50 ASLT from the company’s Tower series. ATC’s late founder Billy Woodman was always keen on perfecting piano tone, we were told, and a demonstration using a Prague Piano Duet of Chopin’s Polonaise in E Flat Major proved his success nicely.

Yamaha Music Australia

Next door Yamaha, which also had a room up on the ninth floor, was running a relaxing and well-treated room, doused in the company colours. A guitar display at the back reminded visitors of Yamaha’s musical heritage (complete with Wayne’s World signs saying ‘No Stairway to Heaven’), while Pink Floyd’s Us & Them drifted effortlessly from the NS-2000A speakers under the control of the company’s R-N2000A network hi-fi receiver. New Order’s Blue Monday later showed how the system could punch as well as roll out the relaxant.

The source here was a streaming laptop playing into the USB-B input of the R-N2000A, but you could equally stream using the amplifier’s own MusicCast platform, so that this system also represented excellence value – $9999 speakers, $5299 amplifier, plus cables, all done.

Level 1 Mezzanine

Wavetrain Cinemas / Elementi

You don’t win CEDIA Global Home Cinema of the Year just by putting a few speakers and a projector in a room, as Wavetrain’s David Moseley clearly demonstrated with his uber-powerful display in one of the First Floor Mezzanine ballroom suites.

On speaker duties was Moseley’s own Elementi Audio, with the Air series being used this year, notable for its use of ribbon tweeters. David says this design is more “relaxed” compared to some of his other systems that use compression tweeters, which are more “in your face”.

Two 18-inch and two 24-inch subs (the latter two receiving 10,000W each!) were on bass duties, although his front and rear LR speakers were also on the LFE channel.

A Christie Digital RGB laser projector served up scintillating visuals, with a full Kaleidescape system providing the source material.

And what a joy it was to admire. Iconic scenes from Sinners and Top Gun: Maverick delivered detail in spades, and a whole lot more power to boot. Meanwhile scenes from Planet Earth revealed the Elementi system could be delicate when required.

We always expect big things from the Wavetrain room, and as ever David didn’t disappoint. We heard countless exclaims of “amazing” and “wow” during our rounds at the Show.

BenQ + Oceanic

Oceanic Distribution also ran a full cinema demonstration on Level 1, leading with the projection prowess of the BenQ 5850W home cinema front projector with its usefully short-throw abilities, 2600 lumens output, and the claimed ability to deliver 100% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut for its DLP 4K images created by the CTA-approved version of DLP pixel-shifting. Its high dynamic range includes HDR10+ dynamic tone mapping alongside standard HDR10 and HLG.

The sound in the room was produced via the new AudioControl Hyperion APR-16 immersive surround processor, a 16-channel platform which incorporates ESS Sabre digital-to-analogue conversion and supports high-resolution audio formats up to 24-bit/192kHz.

Craig Hicks, manning the room, told us they are particularly excited about the imminent Dante models from AudioControl: Dante sends audio over IP cables (Cat 6 Ethernet-style), which allows signals to remain digital all the way. With no analogue stage or DACs required, the processor is expected to be more affordable, while also making great savings in cables, of course, with Cat-6 used instead of potentially pricey audio signal cables.

Also in the room was a display of Stealth speakers, installed invisibly within dry wall, and some super-comfy and colourful Manhattan cinema seating.

Meridian / Cogworks

Notably and bravely providing a buffer space between the two home cinemas on Level 1 was Cogworks, demonstrating the marvellous minimalism of Meridian’s $138,000 DSP9 Digital Active Speakers, performing in front of the rather smaller Meridian Ellipse wireless speaker. At one point we wondered if they were doing a 'Bose', ready to whip away large cardboard DSP9s to reveal that we had been listening to the little wireless speaker all along.

But no, a beautifully-rendered version of Shine on You Crazy Diamond by Christy Moore, and an impressively dynamic delivery of Phil Collins’ chestnut I Don’t Care Anymore showed the quality of the large white and very solid DSP9s. These were the second speakers to emerge from the company’s ‘Extreme Engineering Programme’, gifted ellipse-based design curves and endless proprietary technologies… such as (brace yourself) the Atlas Software Core and R1 Electronics Platform, Force-balanced bass configuration, Digital Precision, Q-Sync, True Link, True Time, E3 Bass, Image Focus… and we're just getting started.

The irony is that operation is simplicity itself, with just a Meridian 218 Zone Controller providing the streaming tunes and control over this zone of high-resolution audio playback.

beyerdynamic

The German headphonemeisters were back with a strong line of latest headwear and current classics, including the award-winning Aventho 100 wireless noise-cancellers, along with the Aventho 200 ($449).

Of particular interest were two new awareness-based wireless earbuds, the Amiron 200 Sport ($299) and the Amiron Zero ($199). The Zeros clip either side of the outer lobe and sit far off the actual ear canal (see ear picture) whereas the 200 Sport has a much larger driver and is rather closer.

Syntec’s Wayne Farran, manning the stand, promises that this is an ‘awareness’ product which sounds good – “one of the first open-earbuds that doesn’t treat 'open as a built-in excuse for mediocre sound!” as the company’s website says. We’ll tell you more in the magazine when we’ve played with a pair!

RokBox / Top Shelf Records

The racks of vinyl this year were brought by Top Shelf Records based out of Balmain; check their Facebook page for their ongoing events across the Sydney area.

Alongside the vinyl was RokBox, a brand-new offshoot of Melbourne-based groovinandgrain.com.au focusing on cardboard boxes and packaging for your precious vinyl records. Owners Lorinda and Michael talked us through the ranges which include large sturdy boxes for transporting vinyl – a key focus for these might be sellers who attend record fairs, suggests Lorinda. But they also plan a series of stylish consumer boxes to “recreate what our parents did,” says Lorinda, “visiting friends and taking not only food to share but a box of records to play.”

The greater 'Groovin' and Grain' operation also deals in furniture for vinyl records and music media, as well as vintage radiograms which have been been restored and modernised, something made possible by Michael’s dual skills as upholsterer and electronics boffin.

Secret Chord Analogue

Along with his signature product, the Record Restore cleaning system, SCA’s founder Stephen Price was showing a collection of Canadian-designed/made archival record sleeves, including handy dual-pocket and gatefold covers, as well as inner and outer sleeves in a variety of sealable, foldable or lipped options.

Our eyes were drawn to a black unit on the stand which was the Flat Duo from AFI, described as a groundbreaking innovation in the world of record care. It is a record flattener/relaxer, using heat to remove either warps or more serious disc distortions; it can treat two LPs at once, and the flattening technique uses a high temperature for a short time, while the relaxer takes longer (three hours, says Stephen) at a lower temperature.

This also has the effect of ‘tempering’ the vinyl, he says; during vinyl pressing LPs are rapidly and often unevenly cooled after high-temperature pressing, with material stresses frozen in the material – and audible. Tempering apparently allows the molecules to align themselves naturally, making the material harder, more robust and providing more accurate playback. It’s the vinyl tool you never knew you needed…

Sydney Audio Club

The Sydney Audio Club hosts monthly listening sessions and tech talks for members and guests alike; it’s a great way to keep up on new developments and to hear new equipment from around the world as well as Australia.

Talking to the SAC’s coordinator John McEvoy, he expressed a desire that in our coverage we might include a picture of their banner thanking those who have presented to the club in recent times, and we are happy to here (above) oblige.

Corridor of Sound!

Pantheone Audio

The Sydney company returned to the Show with its uniquely-crafted high-end wireless speakers – 'part sculpture, all sound!', as the company says.

Pantheon’s egg-like Pantheone I active speakers can operate alone or paired in stereo, either way aiming to create an individual room-filling 360° experience from four silk-dome tweeters in each unit, with twin 4-inch midrangers, two 6.5-inch high-excursion bass drivers, and a total of 400W of Class-D power. They can stream with AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, high-res Wi-Fi streaming or can play via a minijack input.

There are also smaller active speakers, the Obsidian (inspired by volcanic stone), also streaming via WiFi or Bluetooth with these models able to operate on battery power (15-hour life is quoted). These were playing as a pair when we visited the room.

These very different speakers continue to generate great word of mouth; we saw them last year at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live, displaying their proudly Australian philosophy of ART + FORM + SOUND.

Microphase Audio Design (M.A.D.)

Jean-Marie Lière’s speakers are “handcrafted in Australia with French flair”, their cabinets made from inert marine-grade birch plywood handcrafted in Australia and fitted with bespoke drivers, including bass units often hidden away to face sideways or rearwards, making for highly slim towers with surprising performance.

The newly award-winning 120cm-high Tower 3 Signatures present as slim frontages displaying an AMT ribbon from Mundorf, and midrange made specially for M.A.D. by Audax in France, but firing from the side of each speaker is a 31cm bass driver from SBA Acoustics.

We don’t recall ever hearing any of M.A.D’s speakers sounding as outstandingly good as the Microphase Tower 3 Signatures on demo in the room this year, powered by Holton Audio amplification and playing from WiiM sources. They sounded entirely clear, pure and balanced from top to bottom, and our listening session was only enhanced by Jean-Marie introducing us to Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin and the 2017 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recording under Benjamin Northey for her piece Golden Kitch – Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra.

But there was more, with a static display of a new design intended for professional use, though Jean-Marie confirmed to us that he’s happy to sell to consumers also. This is an active sealed monitor, the Pro 1 (with a smaller Pro 2 also planned): the Pro 1 is a 3-way design with again an AMT tweeter, 13cm bespoke midrange and a 21cm carbon-fibre bass driver, powered by a pair of 100W MOSFET amplifier modules.

While M.A.D.’s birch plywood is the consumer finish of choice, such pro gear for studio use is necessarily black!

Lenehan Brothers

A brand-new design from a new Australian company which is building on the legacy of Mike Lenehan’s 'Lenehan Audio' operating since 1995, with the company now undergoing a rebirth as Lenehan Brothers under the auspices of brothers Russell and Martin.

Russell had long been involved with Mike’s designs, and with the brothers now taking over from Mike there is the brand-new System One (a system courtesy of their matched dedicated stands and isolation pods), which was playing at the Show. Handbuilt on the Gold Coast using local hardwood timbers including spotted gum and Merbau, these speakers were sounding excellent in this ninth-floor hotel room, all very natural up top and with some substantial bass down low.

We enjoyed a couple of quality covers: Christy Moore’s Shine On again, and a most unusual take on Hey Joe by markusphilippe, streaming from a Bluesound Node into a Gustard preamp. The power amplification in our Friday visit was a Monarchy SM 70 Pro, a highly regarded 25-year-old zero-feedback 70W Class-A amplifier, but on Saturday we gather they were switching to the Purifi Eigentakt-based power amplifiers from March Audio.

The speakers sell at $14,500 complete with the isolation stands, the speakers only at $13,150. A great Sydney debut for this ‘new’ Australian brand.

March Audio

Always a show highlight, March Audio’s room this year presented the latest version of the Western Australian company's Kuoro floorstanding speakers, continuing the company’s line of dynamite boxes incorporating drivers from Purifi, which are becoming widely renowned for their meticulous approach to eliminating traditional distortions through patented innovations like constant Sd surround and low magnetic hysteresis motors.

March Audio shows what these can achieve in a carefully-designed system, the Kuoro (Finnish for “choir”) incorporating twin Purifi 6.5-inch aluminium cones and an aluminium dome tweeter in a 90cm-high cabinet – smaller, then, than March’s 105cm-high Ukkonen floorstanders, which use a single 8-inch bass driver and the extra cabinet volume to push just slightly deeper., though Alan March rates the Kuoros as achieving lower distortion through the use of the dual woofers.

The Kuoros have been recently amended with a new larger waveguide following collaboration between Alan March and Purifi in Denmark, improving the sound dispersion into the room and potentially slightly improving sensitivity as well. Powered by March’s stereo P482 power amp, they were certainly on song when playing Doug McLeod’s Too Many Misses For Me, delivering an incredible soundstage, including remarkable depth, the drums playing from the back of a triangle extending behind the speakers. Magic stuff.

Richter

A huge moment for Richter, bringing to the show two of the Sydney-based company’s brand-new Series 7 SE range – the standmounting Aurora S7SE ($3999), and the floorstanding Richter Dragon S7SE ($7999).

The development of the new series saw Richter’s long-time acoustic engineer Dr Martin Gosnell working closely with industrial designer Adam Hobbs to create a softer, more contemporary form – Richter’s Brian Rodgers says this new Series was conceived “to bridge aesthetic sophistication and acoustic performance”. It’s a clear success visually, with less black (anthracite-grey baffles with optional mottled-grey cloth grilles), a lovely non-gloss Natural Walnut veneer finish, and cabinets which gracefully curve to the rear: “quality furniture pieces”, as Brian describes them.

But for the visitors it was the sound of the new speakers that was knocking them out: “the best speakers we’ve ever heard under $10,000” was the comment of one experienced hi-fi listener who had already heard them at a recent meeting of the Sydney Audio Club. The new Dragons in particular just did everything right, from delicacy and detail to scale and punch. We were thrilled by their rendition of Mark Knopfler’s Sailing To Philadelphia, on which he trades vocals and shares guitar with James Taylor; this was in-the-room presence with not a frequency out of place. Power was from a Musical Fidelity M6si, fed by a Bluesound Node Icon streamer.

Among the secrets of the new speakers, whispered Mr Rodgers, are far better damped cabinets, which he says improved performance even before the latest drivers were installed: these are a massively constructed 165mm high-excursion bass cone, twin 165mm midranges and perhaps the most obvious addition – the ‘teardrop’ module with a dome tweeter and dome upper midrange. Brian was sharing response charts showing how this dome mid fills the crossover gap that can occur between conventional tweeters and mids. Of course this requires a 4-way design, with commensurate complex crossovers, but the proof is in the pudding, and the Dragons certainly sounded good enough to eat.

Dana Electro Acoustics

Dana (Dan A. Digital) is a New South Wales-based manufacturer specialising in active valve loudspeakers, isolation platforms, and interconnects; last year we had enjoyed a pair of the company's 'act:eve' speakers, which have valve amplifiers built into the speakers.

But this year we sat before tall thin ‘infinite baffle’ rectangles of a rigid composite material, screen-printed with Earth-from-space images, and apparently presenting just a single 54mm driver. Designer Goran Velimirovic was on hand to show us around the back of the speakers, where a 12-inch driver fires up and to the rear, but again without any large enclosure to support it.

As is Dana’s preference, these Omnis are active speakers with Class-D power inside, while equally remarkable is their price: $4200, plus just $200 to have your own choice of picture on the front panel.

There will also be a Class-A power version with an external amp, raising the price to $8500. No mention yet of these new speakers on the company's website yet, so apply directly for more information.

SpectraFlora

SpectraFlora had its award-winning Celata 88 standmounts on static display in its room (among the Homegrown Hi-Fi section of the Corridor of Sound), making room for this year’s main attraction of the new ‘Pendula 8 TL’, the first of a new architectural series of in-wall/on-wall designs.

Company founder Dr Steve Van Sluyter was on hand to demonstrate the remarkably slim new towers, which are two-way models using the eight-inch graphene-coated-magnesium woofer from SpectraFlora’s Aphelia 8 model, and a compression-driver tweeter here with a new inhouse-designed constant-directivity waveguide, fitted in a slim transmission-line cabinet which is sized to fit within 450mm or greater stud spacing.

The Pendula 8s looked luscious in their customisable timber detailing with SpectraFlora’s signature floral laser etching (grilles are available), and we liked how the central equipment rack was softened by flanking bouquets of Heliconia parakeetflowers (we think). Nice.

The Pendula were also sounding beautifully open and airy, playing Swedish saxophonist Arne Domnérus’ Antiphone Blue and Livingstone Taylor’s take on Isn’t She Lovely, being driven from a Gustard digital front-end through an Audio Research Reference One preamp and an Aurora Audio S2 power amplifier (by Damian Ware, president of the Melbourne Audio Club). Though sounding light on the very low-end, it was a slow roll-off, and the Pendula were far out into the room’s free space. As Dr Steve confirmed, wall-positioning will raise the bass response; there are also differently tuned Pendula variants for free space use, if required. They will sell at around $12k per pair.

Serhan Swift

A great reveal from Morris Swift and Brad Serhan on the ninth floor of the Show: a new active version of the universally-acclaimed mμ2 standmount.

This has been a long time coming; Morris reminded us that he had originally joined forces with Brad intending to develop active speakers, but they had decided the market preferred passive. But this latest creation was prompted by a specific request and deadline for a standalone active studio monitor; it goaded them into action.

Since it was a big call to cram all the required electronics inside the cabinet of the mμ2, the new active versions have a module clamped to the back, with only the toroidal transformer inside the cabinet – which, says Morris, conveniently took up precisely the same volume as the no-longer-required passive crossover. The module has a single XLR input, with an XLR chain out.

But there’s more to this new ‘Analogue Active mμ2’ than a two-way active standmount. The back active section actually has three Class-AB amplifiers within, one of which can power an extension cabinet (the ‘mμ2 Ex’) to go under the standmount, connected from a SpeakON output socket on the power module, thereby creating a three-way floorstander – which is then pretty much an active version of the Serhan Swift mμ3 floorstander. Were they just chopping up mu3s to make these, we asked? Not at all, replied Morris, as the mμ3 is already built as two separate enclosures.

This was a prototype, then, sometimes playing on the mμ2 Ex box (first picture), sometimes alone on stands (third picture). And we gather that they completed this only days before the Show, doubting whether they should reveal it yet.

And yet this was undeniably one of the best sounds in the Show, a presentation of outstanding realism, thrilling us with the bass line and sax on Peter Weniger’s Half-Life, among others. Production and pricing is a way off, but is expected to be between $10,000 and $12,000.

Avantgarde, Scheu, Fezz, MaxMedia

MaxMedia had two systems in one: during our visit we enjoyed the Scheu Diamond Maxi and Muarah turntable package playing through a COS Engineering D10v4 SE preamp, having its first-ever world reveal at the show; it sells at $9990 with DAC on board, with optional streaming and phono stage modules available at $1990 each.

COS Engineering’s S6 with LPS1 high‐performance HiFi Ethernet switch was also in the system for streaming but we listened analogue. The Scheu Diamond turntable is huge: there is a choice of base heights and platter heights (50mm weighing 4.5kg or 80mm weighing 7.5kg); this package version maxes out on both, at $13,000 including the Polish-made Muarah 9-inch tonearm and a Benz Micro cartridge, with the turntable’s base finishes in a choice of clear, black or granite.

Receiving the signal from the preamp were the stars of the room: tall and white-horned Avantgarde Acoustic Opus 1 fully active speakers, active two-way designs priced at $23,990, and the most compact horn system Avantegarde has ever built. It uses 13.8-inch wide-band spherical horns to cover midrange and treble (700Hz–20,000Hz) backed by a low-mid 10-inch driver with an inverse natural-fibre cone, along with 250W of built-in dedicated bass amplification.

Through all this MaxMedia’s Cameron Keating played New Order and Kraftwerk on vinyl, to the general delight of room visitors.

The second system played through the award-winning Pylon Jade 10 speakers and Arylic LP100 preamp/DAC/streamer, with power through another debut: Fezz Audio’s magnificent-looking Titania Mk2 valve amplifier, a new design from the Polish company which they hope will democratise valve amplifiers by making them more robust and easier to use — we have a review coming up, so will confirm this later!

Yamaha Music Australia

Yamaha (see also Ground Floor) had a second room up on the ninth floor with a triple demonstration under way.

At the front of the room a comfy couch was the perfect position to enjoy the Atmos-capable and Sound+Image award-winning True X Surround 90A soundbar package, complete with versatile wireless rears, rolling out an immersive presentation of the final Mission: Impossible movie.

The company’s high-end headphone collection was at the rear, an opportunity to compare the YH-4000 open Orthodynamic (planar magnetic) headphones with the YH-C3000 closed-back dynamics, along with the HA-L7A headphone amplifier.

But the big news was a world-first appearance of Yamaha’s new active standmount speakers, which will make their European debut at the new Vienna High End show in June.

Although their information cards were partially redacted for secrecy (!), our spies established that these may or may not be called the NX-70A, and that they use the same Zylon-spruce-based material for their ‘Harmonious Diaphragm’ 3cm tweeter and 13cm mid-woofer as do the company’s premium and hi-fi speakers right up to the top NS-5000 speakers.

But these are active streaming standmounts, with Class-D amplification, MusicCast streaming and multiroom built in, and inputs which include HDMI from your TV, optical and 3.5mm minijack analogue. The communication between speakers is wireless, but a cable can be used for higher-resolution linking.

All this with sexy copper highlights and a small display screen at the bottom for instant feedback. Pricing? That’ll have to wait…

Krispy Audio

A late but pleasing addition to the Show was this system from Berowra-based Krispy Audio, which brought together EgglestoneWorks Kiva 2 speakers ($47,000) with Bricasti’s M25 stereo power amp ($25,000) and the Esoteric N-05XE streamer/DAC/preamp ($17,000), connected with colourful Vermouth Cables from Bali, about which Krispy’s owner Cameron Pope was quite effusive, saying he used to make his own cables before finding he couldn’t do it cheaper or better than Vermouth were already doing.

The Kiva 2 speakers are equipped with new carbon-fibre tweeters, a switch for the company from beryllium, which is notoriously toxic to work with, and so limited to a very few suppliers globally. The new Kivas also now put the tweeter at the top, more traditionally, with two 6.5-inch mid/woofers and two 7.5-inch woofers below in a three-way system.

The system delivered a finely-etched and deep soundstage with a classical music demonstration, before showing their chops with the bouncy blues of St Paul & The Broken Bones playing Sanctify.

Vivid Audio – Avation

We visited Vivid’s room just as they had switched the standmount little Vivid Audio Kaya 12s for the larger floorstanding Kaya 90s – “I haven’t even fully positioned them,” warned Avation’s Mark Hamilton, yet the curvy South African speakers were sounding better to our ears than they had last year in a rather larger room: we loved the way they presented Bob Dylan growling through Man in the Long Black Coat.

The Kaya 90 is the top-of-the-range Kaya model, and carries much of the DNA from Vivid's higher Giya range – the tapered tube loading pioneered by Vivid’s Laurence Dickie (also on show in the Bowers Nautilus on the ground floor, an early Dickie design), as well as the company’s patented reaction-cancelling drivers, here a 26mm alloy tweeter dome, 100mm alloy midrange dome, and four side-facing force-cancelling 125mm alloy-coned woofers.

Perhaps contributing to the magic were a new pre and power amp combo from Ultrafide, a company based in Worcestershire’s Stourport, UK, with its factory down in Devon – the Class-A Ultrafide U4PRE preamplifier, and the U500DC power amplifier, offering 250W into 8 ohms (or 500W into the Kaya 90’s minimum 4 ohms). Together at $8000 a piece, these form Ultrafide’s ‘Ultra Sigma’ combo, something we think worth investigating further.

Stax - Audio Marketing

Audio Marketing went all Stax in their room this year, with a rare opportunity to hear every Stax earspeaker and every Stax driver (except the portable one), so you could hear exactly how the sound progresses and refines as you move from the SRM-D50 ($2200, the only earspeaker with non-Stax drivers, made by parent company Edifier) up to the SR-X9000 flagship ($10,750) with Stax’s own cutting-edge MILER-3 four-layer fixed electrodes, under the high-voltage excitation of the SRM-T8000 driver ($10,500).

Comparisons were easy thanks to a common source being fed to all the different models and drivers, from what must qualify as one of the most upmarket headphone source stacks seen at a show. It offered digital streaming via a Musical Fidelity MX-Stream and M8xDAC, or analogue sound from the award-winning M8xVinyl phono stage receiving its signal from the clear acrylic Musical Fidelity M8xTT turntable, itself benefitting from a new power supply, the X-Power TT, in one of MF’s gorgeous ‘X’-style tube chassis, which the company is in the process of reviving.

Also attracting attention were reference vinyl recordings from cable company inakustic, plus a range of cool Stax t-shirts!

Denon / Polk / Marantz

In the second and smaller room for the newly Harmanised ex-Masimo brands, Adam Prangell again excelled in his goal of demonstrating far more affordable systems which can deliver great entry to mid level hi-fi.

In this the Marantz or Denon / Polk combination is powerful: pairing the slimline 75W-per-channel Marantz Stereo 70s (HEOS streaming onboard) with the excellent Polk R200 speakers (award-winners from back in 2022) makes a fine $3000 system. On the other side of the room a Denon Home Amp and Polk R100 speakers hit a perfect small-room system price of $2300.

The other trick under the control of Adam’s smartphone was to use HEOS to send the sound to whichever speakers you might like. A Denon Bluetooth turntable, the DP-500BT, could Bluetooth its vinyl playback to one of the new Denon Home speakers on display; Adam could then pair up two Denon Home 600s (or 400s or 200s, all playing in the room), or to either of the Polk-ended systems, or to everything at once, with no noticeable latency between all the systems. What’s more, it worked nearly every time he did it, which gets you kudos in a hotel show situation where the Wi-Fi may not be 100% reliable.

A smorgasbord of kit in this small room, then, but all integrated under HEOS control, showing how a whole home could be similarly connected using the wide array of HEOS products. A great dem.

Best sound of the Show?

With pretty much every room on song this year, the decision for 'Best Sound of the Show' will not be an easy one! We had favourites among our team, with some variation of opinion but some definite common ground. Thankfully the final decision is made by the public through the voting and competition cards distributed at the Show. Counting will take place soon – watch this space!

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

• Keep an eye on all the developments for the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2027 here!

A-Z brand listing

Looking for the location of a specific audio brand, dealer or distributor? You'll find full details of who's where in our A-Z brand list below.

A

• Advance Paris – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• Ambisonic Systems – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• ATC – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• AudioControl – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• Audio Marketing – Level 9, Room 5
• Audio Research – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• Aurender – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• AVA – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• Avantgarde Acoustic – Level 9, Room 16

B

• BenQ – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• Benz Micro – Level 9, Room 16
• Beyerdynamic – Level 1, Mezzanine
• Bowers & Wilkins – Ground Level, Watsons Bay Room
• Bricasti – Level 9, Room 21

C

• COS Engineering – Level 9, Room 16

D

• Dan A. Digital – Level 9, Room 20
• Denon – Level 9, Room 12
• Dutch & Dutch – Level 9, Room 21

E

• Elementi – Level 1, Farm Cove Room

F

• Fezz Audio – Level 9, Room 16
• FoilFlex Cables – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room

H

• Harman (Marantz, B&W) – Ground Level, Watsons Bay Room
• Harman (Denon, Polk) – Level 9, Room 12
• Helsyn – Level 1, Port Jackson Room

I

• Innuos – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• Isotek Power Conditioning – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room

K

• Krispy Audio – Level 9, Room 21

L

• Lampizator – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• Leica Australia – Lower Ground, Spring Cove Room
• Lenehan Brothers – Level 9, Room 4

M

• Magnepan – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• March Audio – Level 9, Room 18
• Marantz – Ground Level, Watsons Bay Room
• Maxmedia – Level 9, Room 16
• McIntosh – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• Meridian – Level 1, Bennelong Point Room
• Microphase Audio Design – Level 9, Room 3
• Muarah – Level 9, Room 16
• Musical Fidelity – Level 9, Room 5

O

• Oceanic Distribution – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• Origin – Level 1, Port Jackson Room

P

• Pantheone Audio – Level 9, Room 1
• Pass Labs – Lower Ground, Kirribilli Room
• Polk – Level 9, Room 12
• Pylon Audio – Level 9, Room 16

R

• Rega – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• REL – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• Richter – Level 9, Room 19
• Rok Box – Level 1, Mezzanine

S

• Scheu Analog – Level 9, Room 16
• Secret Chord Analogue – Level 1, Mezzanine
• Serhan Swift – Level 9, Room 8
• Sonus faber – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• SpectraFlora – Level 9, Room 7
• Stealth – Level 1, Port Jackson Room
• Synergy Audio Visual – Ground Level, Elizabeth Bay Room
• Synchronised Technology – Level 1, Mezzanine

T

• Top Shelf Records – Level 1, Mezzanine
• Trevor Lees Audio (B&W DM70 restoration) – Level 9, Room 9
• Triangle – Level 9, Room 5

V

• Vivid Audio – Level 9, Room 23

W

• Wavetrain Cinemas – Level 1, Farm Cove Room

Y

• Yamaha Music Australia (NS-2000A floorstanders) – Ground Level, Lavender Bay Room
• Yamaha Music Australia (world-first reveal) – Level 9, Room 11

1. The Promoter is Future Publishing Australia Limited, Level 10, 89 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. ABN: 96734906323 Ph: (02) 9955 2677. (Future Australia)

2. The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026 Competition is the Competition. Information on how to enter the competition forms part of the terms of entry. Entry into the competition is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

3. To the extent of any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and any other reference to this competition, these Terms and Conditions prevail.

HOW TO ENTER

4. The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026 Competition is open to all individuals who have purchased a ticket to the 2026 Australian Hi-Fi Show. Entry is open to Australian residents except employees and immediate families of the Promoter and their associated companies and agencies and participating outlets. Immediate family means any of the following: spouse, ex-spouse, defacto spouse, child or step child (whether natural or by adoption), parent, step parent, grandparent, step grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, brother, sister, step brother, step sister or first cousin.

5. The winners must be Australian residents and provide full contact information. Opt-in entries will be included to receive newsletters and special offers from Future Australia and on behalf of Australian Hi-Fi Show sponsors and valued partners via email. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time.

6. All entrants under the age of 18 must obtain the prior permission of their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 to enter. The parent or guardian of the entrant must read and consent to all Terms and Conditions. The parent or guardian may be called to verify consent and may be required to sign a release at the discretion of the Promoter. The release will require the winner’s parent or guardian to accept responsibility for the acts and forbearances of the winner. The release will include the full name, address and telephone number of the winner's legal guardian. Failure to provide such proof, particulars or releases will immediately invalidate the winner's entitlement, subject to State and Territory legislation.

7. The Promoter reserves the right to request winners to provide proof of identity, proof of residency at the nominated prize delivery address and/or proof of entry validity or proof of registration ownership in order to claim a prize. Proof of identification, residency and entry considered suitable for verification is at the discretion of the Promoter. In the event that a winner cannot provide suitable proof, the winner will forfeit the prize in whole and no substitute will be offered.

8. The time of entry will in each case be the time the voting form is received by the Promoter, not at the time of submission by the entrant.

9. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any late, lost or misdirected entries not received by the Promoter or delays in the delivery due to technical disruptions, network congestion or for any other reason.

10. Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026 attendees will be supplied with a competition entry card upon entry to the show. To enter, show attendees must (i) visit the vendors for any prizes their wish to be eligible and have their card for stamped by that vendor (ii) fill in their answer to question on the entry card: ‘Which room, for you, had the best sound and why?’ and (iii) complete their contact details including (but not limited to) full name, telephone number and e-mail address.

11. Entrants are required to take full responsibility for the content of their entry and for ensuring that their entry complies with these Conditions of Entry. Entries must be the entrant's original work. The Promoter reserves the right to verify, or to require the entrant to verify, that the entry is the entrant's original work. If an entry cannot be verified to the Promoter's satisfaction, the entry will be deemed invalid. The Promoter may, in its absolute discretion, edit, modify, delete, remove or take down any part of an entrant's entry.

12. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any entrant who tampers with the entry process, who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these Terms & Conditions of Entry, or who has, in the opinion of the Promoter, engaged in conduct in entering the Promotion which is fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or generally damaging to the goodwill or reputation of the Promotion and/or Promoter.

13. Entrants can enter once only.

DETERMINATION AND NOTIFICATION OF WINNERS

14. Anyone who completes and submits a valid entry card will be considered to have entered the prize draw.

15. Entries close at 4pm (AEST) on May 3, 2026.

16. The winners will be announced on www.whathifi.com on June 5, 2026, as well as published in #368 issue of Sound+Image magazine (on sale August 3, 2026).

DECIDING THE WINNERS

17. The winners in each category will be the valid entries submitted in accordance with these terms and conditions that are judged by the Australian Hi-Fi Show Executive Committee the best in their category. The Australian Hi-Fi Show Executive Committee will be comprised of representatives of Future Australia. The Committee’s decision is final. Winners will be selected by May 20, 2026 and notified by email.

18. This competition is a Game of Skill under Australian consumer law.

19. The Promoter's decision is final and the Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding the competition result or any other decisions the Promoter makes in connection with the Promotion.

20. Each winner will receive a prize. In any dispute, the Promoter’s decision is final.

21. Should an entrant's contact details change during the promotional period, it is the entrant's responsibility to notify the Promoter. A request to access or modify any information provided in an entry should be directed to the Promoter.

22. In the event the Promoter does not receive a reply from a notified winner within two-weeks confirming a) acknowledgement of winning a prize, and b) a business hours delivery address, the Prize will revert to an alternate winner without further notification.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

23. There are multiple prizes. Total prize pool less than AUD $15,000 RRP. Individual prizing does not exceed AUD $10,000 RRP. Shipping and warranty is the responsibility of each manufacturer.

24. Prize values are based upon the recommended retail prices at the time of publication (inclusive of GST). The Promoter accepts no responsibility for change in Prize value between now and the ultimate prize redemption date.

25. Independent financial advice should be sought as tax implications may arise as a result of accepting the Prize.

26. Prizes cannot be transferred, exchanged or redeemed for cash.

27. It is a condition of accepting the Prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use and the Prize suppliers’ requirements.

28. It is a condition of accepting the Prize that the winner may be required to sign a legal release in a form determined by the Promoter in its absolute discretion. If an entrant under 18 years of age wins a Prize then their parent or guardian must sign the legal release referred to in this clause on the minor's behalf.

29. The winners and any companions under the age of 18 must be accompanied by their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 at all times.

FURTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS

30. The Promoter (subject to State and Territory Legislation) reserves the right to amend, cancel or suspend this competition if an event beyond the control of the Promoter corrupts or affect the administration security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this competition. The Promoter will disqualify any individual who has tampered with the entry process or any other aspect of this competition.

31. Future Australia and its associated agencies and companies assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, or alteration of entries, and reserves the right to take any action that may be available.

32. If for any reason this competition is not capable of running as planned, including due to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any causes beyond the control of the Promoter, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or integrity or proper conduct of this promotion, the Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, take any action that may be available, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition, subject to any direction given under State Regulation.

33. Any cost associated with accessing the promotional website is the entrant's responsibility and is dependent on the Internet service provider used.

34. Any entrant found to be entering incorrect contact details, including incorrect email contact details, will have all entries invalidated and any claim to any prize will be invalidated. If such an entrant is awarded a prize and then found to have breached this clause, the entrant must immediately return any item awarded to the Promoter. The Promoter has sole discretion to determine if this clause has been breached by any entrant. The Promoter reserves the right to request whatever documentation it deems necessary to confirm if the entrant has breached this clause. An entrant must provide any requested documentation to the Promoter upon request.

35. If the prize is unavailable, for whatever reason, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for a prize of equal or greater value, subject to State Regulation. It is a condition of accepting the prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use of the prize and prize supplier's requirements. Each prize must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if a winner is unable to use the prize as stated.

36. The Promoter highly recommends a current residential street address be provided when requested for ease of correspondence and potential prize delivery. The Promoter makes all reasonable efforts to deliver prize to the addresses provided by competition entrants. The Promoter cannot guarantee that any prizes returned to the Promoter due to non-delivery at the provided address will be re-sent to the prize winner. The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any damage to or delay in transit of prizes.

37. The Promoter reserves the right to re-determine the winner in the event of an entrant, claiming to be a winner, being unable to satisfy these Terms and Conditions.

WAIVERS AND LIABILITIES

38. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby permits the winner's submission, image and/or voice, as recorded, photographed or filmed during the winner's participation in the competition to appear in connection with Future Australia or the advertising or marketing thereof, in any media whatsoever throughout the world and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

39. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby assigns to the Promoter all right, title and interest in and to all copyright and all moral rights in any material created pursuant to the winner's submission or participation in any aspect of the Prize (Works). The winner acknowledges that the Promoter is free to use the Works (including modifying, adapting or publishing the entry, whether in original or modified form, in whole or in part or not at all) and to exercise its rights in relation thereto and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

40. In the case of the intervention of any outside act, agent or event which prevents or significantly hinders the Promoter's ability to proceed with the competition on the dates and in the manner described in these terms and conditions, including but not limited to vandalism, power failures, tempests, natural disasters, acts of God, civil unrest, strike, war, act of terrorism, the Promoter may in its absolute discretion cancel the competition and recommence it from the start on the same conditions, subject to any directions given under State Regulation.

41. The Promoter does not exclude any rights and remedies in respect of goods or services under the Australian Consumer Law in the Competition and Consumer Act (2010) (Australian Consumer Law) which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified. However, the Promoter shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever which is suffered (including but not limited to indirect or consequential loss) or for any personal injury suffered or sustained in connection with any Prize/s except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. The Promoter is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, either caused by entrant or for any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this competition, or for any technical error, or any combination thereof that may occur in the course of the administration of this competition including any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line or telephone, mobile or satellite network failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to or alteration of entries.

42. The Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who the Promoter has reason to believe has breached any of these conditions, or engaged in any unlawful or other improper misconduct calculated to jeopardise the fair and proper conduct of the promotion. The Promoter's legal rights to recover damages or other compensation from such an offender are reserved.

43. All entries become the property of The Promoter. All opt-in entries will be entered into a database and The Promoter may use the entrants’ names, addresses and telephone numbers for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes in any media worldwide without notice and without any fee being paid unless otherwise advised by the entrant. By opting-in, entrants confirm that they allow their details to be used for this purpose. Any request to update, modify or delete the entrant's details should be directed to The Promoter.

44. Entrants' personal information may be disclosed to State and Territory lottery departments and winners' names published as required under the relevant lottery legislation. A request to access, update or correct any information should be directed to the Promoter.

45. The Promoter collects information about you, including for example your name and contact details which you provide when registering or using our services as well as information from data houses, social media services, our affiliates and other entities you deal or interact with for example by using their services. We collect and use that information to provide you with our goods and services, to promote and improve our goods and services, to provide you with targeted advertising based on your online activities, for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy and for any other purposes that we describe at the time of collection. We may disclose your information to our related companies, including those located outside Australia. Any of us may contact you for those purposes (including by email and SMS) at any time. We may also disclose your information to our service and content providers, including those located outside Australia. If you do not provide us with requested information we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. We may disclose your personal information to authorities if you are an Award winner or otherwise as required by law. Further information about how we handle personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, how we will deal with a complaint of that nature, how you can access or seek correction of your personal information and our contact details can be found in our Privacy Policy at www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy/.

Calling all audiophiles, cinephiles and AV enthusiasts! The 2026 Australian Hi-Fi Show is less than three months away and is the go-to destination to experience the very best in homegrown Australian hi-fi talent alongside some of the biggest global brands, all under one roof.

Whether you’ve previously attended a Show or you’re planning to go for the first time, the Australian Hi-Fi Show, brought you by Australian Hi-Fi, Sound + Image and What Hi-Fi?, gives you the chance to get up close and personal with your favourite audio brands, listen to your own music to help you make your upgrade shopping lists, and talk in-depth with brand representatives about all things hi-fi.

Once again, the Show is taking over the Sydney Central Hotel, a short walk from Sydney’s Central Station. Exhibitors can be found on the ground and lower ground levels, along with the level 1 mezzanine and, of course, the ‘Corridor of Sound’ on floor 9. A new feature for the 2026 Show will be a stronger focus on Australian brands, who’ll be setting up residency in the first few rooms on floor 9, so you can more easily experience the very best of homegrown hi-fi.

As always, there’s so much to see and hear that many attendees have found the best way to experience the show is to take your time over two or three days, letting you spend longer in each room and get a better gauge on what gear you like and what you love.

If you’re keen on making a multi-day affair of it, or alternatively you’re travelling interstate to attend, you’ll be pleased to know you can save 20% on room rates at the Sydney Central Hotel when visiting the Australian Hi-Fi Show.

All you need to do is:

1. Head to www.the-ascott.com, search for and select ‘Sydney Central Hotel’
2. Select your desired stay days – the show takes place from Friday, May 1 – Sunday, May 3
3. Select ‘Promotion’ from the drop down menu and enter the code EVENTSTW.

Naturally, you’ll also need a ticket to enter the Australian Hi-Fi Show itself, and these can be pre-purchased at Ticketebo. Prices for adults start at AU$20 for a one-day pass, AU$35 for two days or AU$45 for the full three days. Every Show ticket purchased will also net you a free copy of the latest issue of Australian Hi-Fi magazine.

The 2026 Australian Hi-Fi Show is set to be our biggest and best yet, and we can’t wait to see you there!

Prizes await at Sydney's premier hi-fi and video show, the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2026, taking place in Sydney from Friday May 1, Saturday May 2, and Sunday May 3 2026.

ADVANCE TICKETS are available via Ticketebo: BUY TICKETS HERE

VENUE: Same Show Home as last year: a short walk from Central Station to the wonderful Sydney Central Hotel managed by Ascott – a 4.5-star boutique Sydney hotel in Thomas St, Haymarket, in an easily accessible CBD location right in the heart of the city.

PRIZES!: Everyone who enters the Show gets a Competition Card, with the chance to win awesome AV and hi-fi products... these will include the following fabulous prizes!

TAKE THE PARTY HOME! Win one of two JBL PartyBox Stage 320 speakers!

TO BE WON AT THE SHOW:
After partying at the Australian Hi-Fi Show, you could take the party home with one of two JBL PARTYBOX Stage 320 speaker systems valued at $749.95 each. These sound-and-light wonders provide portable party speaker power with huge JBL Pro Sound, an adaptive lightshow, splashproof housings, a replaceable battery, even a telescopic handle and wheels!

Rock out with powerful JBL Pro Sound from two 6.5” woofers and a pair of 25mm dome tweeters. Take all that sound and add a thrilling lightshow featuring starry lights, cool light trails, and strobe light effects, all synced to your beat.

Party from dusk till dawn with up to 18 hours of play time on a single charge – even then you can swap out the replaceable battery and keep on dancing.

AI Sound Boost analyzes the incoming signal in real time while simultaneously using an AI algorithm to predict loudspeaker movement and power response. It pushes the driver to its maximum capability, fully exploiting the dynamic range for better and more powerful sound. It also reduces distortion even at high volume.

It’s easy to sing and play along using the guitar and dual mic inputs. With karaoke EQ tuning and the built-in lightshow, everybody’s gonna sound—and look—like a superstar, while the JBL PartyBox App makes it easier than ever to add interactive party effects, control your music, adjust EQ settings, and customise the colours and patterns of your light show for the perfect party vibe. It's even made in part with recycled materials.

So get ready to party – first at the show, and then at home with JBL!

Stay tuned for more great prizes!...

• Get your Show Tickets HERE!

• Check out the latest info on the upcoming Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney!

The Australian Hi-Fi Show gets bigger and better with each passing year, and following a highly successful outing earlier this year, the 2026 show is shaping up to be another one you won't want to miss.

Returning to the 4.5-star boutique Sydney Central Hotel in Thomas St, Haymarket (a short walk from Central Station) on May 1-3, 2026, this premier annual event is proudly brought to you by Australian Hi-Fi, Sound & Image and What Hi-Fi?, global leaders in hi-fi and AV publishing.

And right now, for a limited time you can save 20% on all tickets for Black Friday. You'll want to be quick to secure your pass though, as this deal expires on Monday, December 1.

As in previous years, the 2026 show promises an unequalled immersive experience with dedicated listening and viewing rooms, where you can explore and enjoy some of the finest hi-fi and AV systems from around the world. It's an unparalleled opportunity to discover the latest innovations and enjoy high-quality audio and visual demonstrations in comfort.

If you've ever visited the show, you'll already know how informative it can be to get up close with the finest AV gear from Australian and global brands, and to talk to knowledgeable representatives who can help steer you and your system in the right direction.

To find out which brands are going to be exhibiting at the 2026 edition of the show, be sure to check our regularly updated guide. As soon as brands confirm their attendance, they're added to our listings.

1. The Promoter is Future Publishing Australia Limited, Level 10, 89 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. ABN: 96734906323 Ph: (02) 9955 2677. (Future Australia)

2. The Sound+Image/Australian Hi-Fi subscriptions competition is the Competition. Information on how to enter the competition forms part of the terms of entry. Entry into the competition is deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions.

3. To the extent of any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and any other reference to this competition, these Terms and Conditions prevail.

HOW TO ENTER

4. The Sound+Image/Australian Hi-Fi subscriptions competition competition is open to all individuals in Australia. Entry is open to Australian residents except employees and immediate families of the Promoter and their associated companies and agencies and participating outlets. Immediate family means any of the following: spouse, ex-spouse, defacto spouse, child or step child (whether natural or by adoption), parent, step parent, grandparent, step grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, brother, sister, step brother, step sister or first cousin.

5. The winners must be Australian citizens and provide full contact information. Opt-in entries will be included to receive newsletters and special offers from Future Australia and valued partners. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time.

6. All entrants under the age of 18 must obtain the prior permission of their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 to enter. The parent or guardian of the entrant must read and consent to all Terms and Conditions. The parent or guardian may be called to verify consent and may be required to sign a release at the discretion of the Promoter. The release will require the winner’s parent or guardian to accept responsibility for the acts and forbearances of the winner. The release will include the full name, address and telephone number of the winner's legal guardian. Failure to provide such proof, particulars or releases will immediately invalidate the winner's entitlement, subject to State and Territory legislation.

7. The Promoter reserves the right to request winners to provide proof of identity, proof of residency at the nominated prize delivery address and/or proof of entry validity or proof of registration ownership in order to claim a prize. Proof of identification, residency and entry considered suitable for verification is at the discretion of the Promoter. In the event that a winner cannot provide suitable proof, the winner will forfeit the prize in whole and no substitute will be offered.

8. The time of entry will in each case be the time the voting form is received by the Promoter, not at the time of submission by the entrant.

9. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any late, lost or misdirected entries not received by the Promoter or delays in the delivery due to technical disruptions, network congestion or for any other reason.

10. To enter, log on to www.techmags.com.au, answer the specified question in 25 words or less, then subscribe or extend a subscription to Australian Hi-Fi or Sound+Image magazine The cost of accessing the promotional website will be dependent on the entrant's individual Internet Service Provider.

11. Entrants are required to take full responsibility for the content of their entry and for ensuring that their entry complies with these Conditions of Entry. Entries must be the entrant's original work. The Promoter reserves the right to verify, or to require the entrant to verify, that the entry is the entrant's original work. If an entry cannot be verified to the Promoter's satisfaction, the entry will be deemed invalid. The Promoter may, in its absolute discretion, edit, modify, delete, remove or take down any part of an entrant's entry.

12. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any entrant who tampers with the entry process, who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these Terms & Conditions of Entry, or who has, in the opinion of the Promoter, engaged in conduct in entering the Promotion which is fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or generally damaging to the goodwill or reputation of the Promotion and/or Promoter.

13. Entrants can enter once for each subscription or renewal.

DETERMINATION AND NOTIFICATION OF WINNERS

14. Anyone who subscribes and answers will be considered to have entered the prize draw.

15. Entries close at 5pm (AEST) on Jan 19, 2025.

16. The winners will be announced in the following issues of Australian Hi-Fi and Sound+Image.

DECIDING THE WINNERS

17. The winners in each category will be the valid entries submitted in accordance with these terms and conditions that are judged by the Sound+Image/Australian Hi-Fi subscriptions competition Executive Committee the best in their category. The Sound+Image/Australian Hi-Fi subscriptions competition Executive Committee will be comprised of representatives of Future Australia. The Committee’s decision is final. Winners will be selected by Jan 21, 2025 and notified by e-mail.

18. This competition is a Game of Skill under Australian consumer law.

19. The Promoter's decision is final and the Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding the competition result or any other decisions the Promoter makes in connection with the Promotion.

20. Each winner will receive a prize. In any dispute, the Promoter’s decision is final.

21. Should an entrant's contact details change during the promotional period, it is the entrant's responsibility to notify the Promoter. A request to access or modify any information provided in an entry should be directed to the Promoter.

22. In the event the Promoter does not receive a reply from a notified winner within two-weeks confirming a) acknowledgement of winning a prize, and b) a business hours delivery address, the Prize will revert to an alternate winner without further notification.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

23. There is one prize. Total prizing pool less than AUD 640 RRP.

24. Prize values are based upon the recommended retail prices at the time of publication (inclusive of GST). The Promoter accepts no responsibility for change in prize value between now and the ultimate prize redemption date.

25. Independent financial advice should be sought as tax implications may arise as a result of accepting the Award.

26. Awards/prizes cannot be transferred, exchanged or redeemed for cash.

27. It is a condition of accepting the Award/prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use and the Award/prize suppliers’ requirements.

28. It is a condition of accepting the prize that the winner may be required to sign a legal release in a form determined by the Promoter in its absolute discretion. If an entrant under 18 years of age wins a prize then their parent or guardian must sign the legal release referred to in this clause on the minor's behalf.

29. The winners and any companions under the age of 18 must be accompanied by their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 at all times.

FURTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS

30. The Promoter (subject to State and Territory Legislation) reserves the right to amend, cancel or suspend this competition if an event beyond the control of the Promoter corrupts or affect the administration security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this competition. The Promoter will disqualify any individual who has tampered with the entry process or any other aspect of this competition.

31. Future Australia and its associated agencies and companies assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, or alteration of entries, and reserves the right to take any action that may be available.

32. If for any reason this competition is not capable of running as planned, including due to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any causes beyond the control of the Promoter, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or integrity or proper conduct of this promotion, the Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, take any action that may be available, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition, subject to any direction given under State Regulation.

33. Any cost associated with accessing the promotional website is the entrant's responsibility and is dependent on the Internet service provider used.

34. Any entrant found to be entering incorrect contact details, including incorrect email contact details, will have all entries invalidated and any claim to any prize will be invalidated. If such an entrant is awarded a prize and then found to have breached this clause, the entrant must immediately return any item awarded to the Promoter. The Promoter has sole discretion to determine if this clause has been breached by any entrant. The Promoter reserves the right to request whatever documentation it deems necessary to confirm if the entrant has breached this clause. An entrant must provide any requested documentation to the Promoter upon request.

35. If the prize is unavailable, for whatever reason, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for a prize of equal or greater value, subject to State Regulation. It is a condition of accepting the prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use of the prize and prize supplier's requirements. Each prize must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if a winner is unable to use the prize as stated.

36. The Promoter highly recommends a current residential street address be provided when requested for ease of correspondence and potential prize delivery. The Promoter makes all reasonable efforts to deliver prize to the addresses provided by competition entrants. The Promoter cannot guarantee that any prizes returned to the Promoter due to non-delivery at the provided address will be re-sent to the prize winner. The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any damage to or delay in transit of prizes.

37. The Promoter reserves the right to re-determine the winner in the event of an entrant, claiming to be a winner, being unable to satisfy these Terms and Conditions.

WAIVERS AND LIABILITIES

38. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby permits the winner's submission, image and/or voice, as recorded, photographed or filmed during the winner's participation in the competition to appear in connection with Future Australia or the advertising or marketing thereof, in any media whatsoever throughout the world and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

39. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby assigns to the Promoter all right, title and interest in and to all copyright and all moral rights in any material created pursuant to the winner's submission or participation in any aspect of the Prize (Works). The winner acknowledges that the Promoter is free to use the Works (including modifying, adapting or publishing the entry, whether in original or modified form, in whole or in part or not at all) and to exercise its rights in relation thereto and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

40. In the case of the intervention of any outside act, agent or event which prevents or significantly hinders the Promoter's ability to proceed with the competition on the dates and in the manner described in these terms and conditions, including but not limited to vandalism, power failures, tempests, natural disasters, acts of God, civil unrest, strike, war, act of terrorism, the Promoter may in its absolute discretion cancel the competition and recommence it from the start on the same conditions, subject to any directions given under State Regulation.

41. The Promoter does not exclude any rights and remedies in respect of goods or services under the Australian Consumer Law in the Competition and Consumer Act (2010) (Australian Consumer Law) which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified. However, the Promoter shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever which is suffered (including but not limited to indirect or consequential loss) or for any personal injury suffered or sustained in connection with any Prize/s except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. The Promoter is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, either caused by entrant or for any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this competition, or for any technical error, or any combination thereof that may occur in the course of the administration of this competition including any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line or telephone, mobile or satellite network failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to or alteration of entries.

42. The Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who the Promoter has reason to believe has breached any of these conditions, or engaged in any unlawful or other improper misconduct calculated to jeopardise the fair and proper conduct of the promotion. The Promoter's legal rights to recover damages or other compensation from such an offender are reserved.

43. All entries become the property of The Promoter. All opt-in entries will be entered into a database and The Promoter may use the entrants’ names, addresses and telephone numbers for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes in any media worldwide without notice and without any fee being paid unless otherwise advised by the entrant. By opting-in, entrants confirm that they allow their details to be used for this purpose. Any request to update, modify or delete the entrant's details should be directed to The Promoter.

44. Entrants' personal information may be disclosed to State and Territory lottery departments and winners' names published as required under the relevant lottery legislation. A request to access, update or correct any information should be directed to the Promoter.

45. The Promoter collects information about you, including for example your name and contact details which you provide when registering or using our services as well as information from data houses, social media services, our affiliates and other entities you deal or interact with for example by using their services. We collect and use that information to provide you with our goods and services, to promote and improve our goods and services, to provide you with targeted advertising based on your online activities, for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy and for any other purposes that we describe at the time of collection. We may disclose your information to our related companies, including those located outside Australia. Any of us may contact you for those purposes (including by email and SMS) at any time. We may also disclose your information to our service and content providers, including those located outside Australia. If you do not provide us with requested information we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. We may disclose your personal information to authorities if you are an Award winner or otherwise as required by law. Further information about how we handle personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, how we will deal with a complaint of that nature, how you can access or seek correction of your personal information and our contact details can be found in our Privacy Policy at www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy/

We have announced the first winners of the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025.

The Awards are now in their 43rd year, and are brought to you in association with Richer Sounds. Once again, they celebrate the best hi-fi and home cinema products and beyond, acknowledging class-leading kit across 24 categories, from awe-inspiring amplifiers and stunning stereo speakers to terrific TVs and superb soundbars.

• View all the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winners

Our reviews team has been busy over the past 12 months putting all kinds of audio and video products through their paces, ranging from entry-level to the highest of the high end.

We have whittled these down to 110 winners – with a further five special Awards yet to be announced. It has been a long process, but worth it to bring you expert recommendations you can trust. Buy one of the products below, and you can rest assured you're getting the best in its class.

As ever, there are some familiar faces – but there are plenty of newcomers too.

Let's see which products feature.

Our TVs category features all-new winners, including the LG C5 (pictured) for the Best 40-43-inch TV, Best Mid-range 55-77-inch TV and Best Gaming TV gongs. LG's C-series has long represented fantastic value, but it has faced fierce competition in the past couple of years from the likes of Sony. So it's good to see LG back on form.

Speaking of Sony, the Bravia 8 II impressed us massively this year, and takes the Best Premium 55-77-inch TV Award. TCL picks up three of the remaining four Awards, and Panasonic the Best Premium 48-50-inch TV. Deserved winners all.

The soundbar category again features lots of new products, including the KEF XIO, which is the brand's first soundbar. To make a competitive product on your first effort is no mean feat, but to make an Award-winner first time out is phenomenal. Congrats to all at KEF on a job well done.

Sonos again fares well, winning for its Beam Gen 2 (for the fifth straight year!) and Arc Ultra, while Hisense and Samsung win the other two soundbar gongs.

Our standmount speaker category sees the return of models by PMC and Epos, plus new speakers from Acoustic Energy, Ruark and PMC. The Dali Kupid are a particular highlight, adding a pop of colour and some much-needed accessibility to a product category that has been in danger of becoming staid.

Floorstanders? We've got you covered. The Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 and PMC Prodigy 5 make welcome returns, alongside three newcomers. And Rega continues to dominate the turntable category with three of the seven winners. JBL’s new Charge 6 and Flip 7 continue the brand's winning streak in the field of wireless speakers, and are joined by its Xtreme 4 and the reigning champ Apple HomePod 2, plus the new Audio Pro C20 W.

The only new entry in the wired headphones category is the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X (pictured), but the wireless headphones sector has plenty of new winners, including many from Sony (to no one's surprise). But Sony doesn't dominate the world of wireless earbuds quite like it used to, with Technics and Bose picking up gongs here.

Elsewhere, there's plenty of change. Five of the six winners in our projectors category are new models, as are three of the four victors in the stereo amplifier category. There some great new models in the music streamers category, and there's even a new winner in the world of CD players. Who said CDs were dead?

Radios and speaker packages see some returning winners from the likes of Roberts, Ruark, Wharfedale and B&W, and there are some familiar faces in the DACs and home cinema amplifier categories.

That's just a taster of the full list of winners. And to see which products are bestowed Product of the Year – marking them out as the best of the best – you'll have to wait until the Awards ceremony on Thursday 13th November. We'll also announce our special Awards that night: Temptation, Readers' Award, Outstanding Contribution, Hall of Fame and Innovation of the Year.

We'll post these results on the night, so stay tuned to What Hi-Fi? to see them all then.

The What Hi-Fi? Awards issue of the magazine will also go on sale in both print and digital editions the following day (Friday 14th November).

We thank all the manufacturers who have gone above and beyond to deliver new products to our test rooms in time for the What Hi-Fi? Awards judging process, and offer a hearty congratulations to all the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winners.

Until the ceremony itself...

• View all the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winners

Following another successful show in 2025, all eyes are now on this year's Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney. The dates are set and the exhibiting brands are locked in to bring you four floors of audio and AV entertainment at the Sydney Central Hotel in Thomas St, Haymarket.

Tickets are now available from Ticketebo here.

The Australian Hi-Fi Show Sydney 2026 will take place on Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May 2026 at the 4.5-star boutique Sydney Central Hotel in Thomas St, Haymarket – a short walk from Central Station in an easily accessible CBD location right in the heart of the city.

If you're travelling interstate to attend the show and need accomodation, you can also score a 20% discount on room rates at the Sydney Central Hotel by using promo code EVENTSTW when booking online.

Sydney's premier hi-fi and video show is brought to you by Australian Hi-Fi, What Hi-Fi? and Sound+Image magazines, celebrating the latest and greatest in the hi-fi and AV industry, giving visitors the opportunity to see and hear a range of products from all around the world.

For three days you can enjoy live demonstrations of some of the world's most renowned hi-fi and AV brands including high-end audio, TVs, projectors, headphones, home theatre systems, amplifiers, streamers, wireless and Bluetooth speakers and everything in between.

HOMEGROWN HI-FI!
An all-Aussie entrance to the Corridor of Sound at the Australian Hi-Fi Show, Sydney 2026

A new feature at the Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney in 2026 will be a unique focus on our homegrown Aussie audio stars, with a sequence of rooms showcasing the Australian design and manufacturing talent of our homegrown hi-fi brands that are taking on the world!

Building on the current 'Homegrown' issue of Sound+Image magazine (issue #365), the all-Aussie entrance to the Show's famous Corridor of Sound promises no tariffs, no exchange-rate blues, just a big beautiful True Blue boost of fine music through all-Australian equipment. It's a special event not to be missed – mark your calendars now!

INCLUDES:
Pantheone Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 1
Microphase Audio Design – Corridor of Sound, Room 3
Lenehan Brothers – Corridor of Sound, Room 4
SpectraFlora – Corridor of Sound, Room 7
Serhan Swift – Corridor of Sound, Room 8
March Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 18
Richter – Corridor of Sound, Room 19
DAN-A – Corridor of Sound, Room 20

THE BIG ROOMS

Bring your own music, relax, and enjoy the listening experience in the Show's comfortable sound lounges and rooms – and find what kit is right for YOU. The Show has three floors of big listening rooms: take the lift to the special Basement display areas, walk right off the ground floor reception for the Lower Ground Suites, while the big Level 1 Mezzanine Rooms are hard to miss, right by the entrance ticketing up on the mezzanine level. Don't miss these great demonstrations!

ON THE LOWER GROUND LEVEL

Spring Cove Room
Leica Australia

Kirribilli Room
Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment

ON THE GROUND LEVEL

Elizabeth Bay Room
Synergy Audio Visual (Sonus faber, REL and more)

Watsons Bay Room
Bowers & Wilkins, Marantz, Denon & other Harman/Sound United brands

Lavender Bay Room
Yamaha Music Australia

IN LEVEL ONE MEZZANINE ROOMS
Port Jackson Room
Oceanic Distribution with BenQ

Bennelong Point Room
Meridian

Farm Cove Room
Wavetrain Cinemas

Mezzanine
Beyerdynamic from Synchronised Technology

Top Shelf Records

Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment – Kirribilli Room, Lower Ground

Home cinema and audio specialist, Mcleans, will be making the trip down to Sydney from the Central Coast to offer visitors to the Show a chance to listen to an expertly curated hi-fi system — and we now know what components that system will comprise.

An Audio Research REF6SE Pre-Amplifier (AU$39,995) will work in unison with the Pass Labs X350.8 Power Amplifier (AU$32,495), while the Magnepan MG2.7X (AU$16,990) will be taking on speaker duties.

Elsewhere in the system will be an Innuos music streamer (potentially the Pulsar, but we're awaiting confirmation) and a Lampizator Pacific 11 DAC. Cables will be supplied by Foilflex, and Isotek Power Conditioning will help ensure there's clean power delivery.

It's set to be a sensational sounding room, so make sure you make the trip down to the Kirribilli Room on the Basement level.

Harman – Watsons Bay Room (Ground Floor)

Harman is taking over two rooms at the Show with its stellar lineup of brands, including Marantz, Denon and Bowers & Wilkins. In the larger Watsons Bay room on the Lower Ground, you'll be able to revel in the sonic delights of a complete Marantz 10 Series system.

This will comprise 2x Model 10s working in mono mode, using the Link 10n as the preamp and with the SACD 10 on standby as an alternative source. These will be driving a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 802 S4 floorstanders.

Synergy Audio Visual – Elizabeth Bay Room (Ground Floor)

Melbourne-based Synergy AV is responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in hi-fi to Australia, many of which will be on display and in use at the Australian Hi-Fi Show within a series of Reference-quality systems worth over AU$500,000. Details are still being finalised, but these systems are expected to comprise the following components:

System 1

McIntosh C12000 Reference preamp (AU$37,990)
2 x McIntosh MC3500 MKII vacuum tube monoblocks (AU$35,995 each)
2x McIntosh MC1.25KW monoblocks (AU$34,995 each)
McIntosh MCD12000 SACD player (AU$27,995)
Aurender N50 (AU$65,995)
Rega Naia TT with Aphelion 2 MC cartridge (AU$24,999)
Rega Aos phono stage
Sonus faber Amati Supreme TR floorstanding speakers (AU$139,995)
6 x REL S550 (AU$6,299 each)

System 2

ATC SCA2 preamp (AU$15,990)
Aurender A15 (AU$15,995)
Rega PL6 / ND7 (AU$3,499)
Rega Fono MM MK5 (AU$529)
ATC SCM50ASLT (AU$43,995)

A third system featuring the Advance Paris Apex series should also be making an appearance.

Yamaha Music Australia, Lavender Bay Room, Ground Floor

Yamaha has staked a claim on two rooms at this year’s Show, with a traditional setup in the large Lavender Bay Room comprising the NS-2000A Harmonious Diaphragm Floorstanding speakers, paired with the R-N2000A two-channel network receiver. We’ve reviewed the speakers previously in Australian H-Fi issue #540, and found them to be an utter joy to listen to and that they “ticked many boxes”.

BenQ with Oceanic Distribution – Port Jackson Room (Level 1)

BenQ's legendary cinematic images from its top-level projectors will be combined with masterful cinema sound from Ambisonic Systems in the US, founded by industry pioneer Jeffery Coombs in 2009 and specialising in high-output, audiophile-quality loudspeakers and ribbon line arrays – that's the tempting combination you'll hear and see from Oceanic Systems in Level 1's Port Jackson Room, not far from the main ticketing entry booths. Oceanic brands in addition to BenQ and Ambisonics include Origin, Stealth, AudioControl (with a newly-released 16-channel processor), AVA, Manhattan Seating, and Helsyn screens. Not to be missed!

Wavetrain Cinemas – Farm Cove Room (Level 1)

Wavetrain Cinemas brought a huge, high-end home cinema demonstration to the Australian Hi-Fi Show in 2025, and it's planning on doing the same again this year. Hot off the heels of taking home the CEDIA award for 'Best Home Cinema – Global' – Wavetrain Cinemas clearly knows what it takes to deliver a first-class home AV installation.

Its winning cinema installation, shown above, has a full suite of Elementi speakers hidden away; Wavetrain’s founder and managing director David Moseley is also the creator and designer of Elementi Audio speakers.

Elementi’s ranges are elementally grouped, and cleverly named: the ‘Earth’ range of subwoofers includes models called Basalt, Onyx, Iridium and Kola, the company’s brand-new ‘Water’ range of Atmos speakers (see panel) has Slipstream, Maelstrom and Tsunami varieties. The main Elementi speakers divide between ‘Fire’ and ‘Air’ ranges: the ‘Fire’ speakers use compression drivers for their high -frequency delivery while the ‘Air’ models switch to a pleated diaphragm tweeter. See what Wavetrain Cinemas has to demonstrate at this year's show in the Farm Cove Room on Level 1.

Top Shelf Records – Mezzanine (Level 1)

Top Shelf Records will be making the trip down from the Gold Coast to delight visitors with an extensive selection of records to buy and take home. With new and pre-owned, rare and hard-to-find options on the table, you'll want to devote some time to riffling through the boxes!

THE CORRIDOR OF SOUND!

Up in the tower of the Sydney Central Hotel, the Show takes a full floor of accommodation rooms and strips out the furniture to create a corridor with magical music behind every door. These rooms resemble (roughly) a real listening room in the home, so it's a chance to hear multiple systems performing as they might when you take them home. Read on for a full rundown of the brands that will be exhibiting at the show, and what you can expect from their demonstrations.

Audio Marketing including Musical Fidelity & Triangle – Corridor of Sound, Room 2

Yamaha Music Australia – Corridor of Sound, Room 11

Harman brands – Corridor of Sound, Room 12

DAN-A – Corridor of Sound, Room 20

Magenta Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 21

Vivid Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 23

Pantheone Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 1

Sydney-based speaker company, Pantheone Audio, will once again be bringing its range of uniquely-crafted high-end wireless speakers to the Australian Hi-Fi Show in 2026.

The two-strong range, comprising the large, floorstanding Pantheone I and smaller Obsidian, wowed crowds at last year's show, and we're expecting much of the same this year.

The Pantheone I is capable of delivering 360º sound via its set of four silk-dome tweeters, twin 4-inch midrange drivers and two 6.5-inch high-excursion bass drivers, backed by a total of 400W of Class D amplification. The Pantheone I is more than happy to work as a standalone unit, but can be paired with a secondary speaker to create a stereo pair.

See and hear these remarkable looking speakers in Room 1 on the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Microphase Audio Design – Corridor of Sound, Room 3

Microphase Audio Design (M.A.D. to its friends) combines its Australian boutique craftsmanship with French audiophile heritage thanks to Jean-Marie Lière, an engineer whose career bridges the golden age of French high-fidelity with the modern era of home cinema and smart homes: when still in Europe he was founding president of CEDIA's European operations.

Jean-Marie will be returning the Australian Hi-Fi Show in 2026 with the recently released Tower 3 Signature, a three-way speaker that combines the Sat MK3.3 standmount, with a side-firing 31 cm bass driver. The standalone Sat MK3.3 will also be on display, alongside the Tower 4 Signature.

See and hear the full range in Room 3 on the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Lenehan Brothers – Corridor of Sound, Room 4

Lenehan Brothers is a rebirth of Australia's Lenehan Audio now under the auspices of brothers Russell and Martin, taking over from original founder Mike Lenehan.

Brother Russell Lenehan explains that the brothers have been together as music fans since their earliest days.

“Michael and I built our first pair of loudspeakers, with the help of our carpenter father,” he says. “Mike became the designer and builder, while I handled the calculations using Thiele-Small parameters — straight from the original papers, long before software tools existed.”

Lenehan’s facilities grew from a converted garage in Nerang to a dedicated factory in Ashmore producing acclaimed ML1 and ML2 standmounts, and the ML5 floorstanders.

The new Lenehan Brothers brings a brand-new speaker design, the pictured System One (a system courtesy of their matched dedicated stands and isolation pods); these are being handbuilt on the Gold Coast using local hardwood timbers including spotted gum and Merbau, with each speaker individually matched, measured and auditioned against the reference.

The Sydney show is your chance to hear these unique Australian designs: don't miss them in Room 4 of the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Audio Marketing – Corridor of Sound, Room 5

The Audio Marketing team is once again treating visitors to a perfectly tuned and perfectly matched system with Musical Fidelity at the core. Other goodies include Musical Fidelity’s M6xTT turntable B1xi integrated amplifier and the Nu-Vista Vinyl S phono stage.

SpectraFlora – Corridor of Sound, Room 7

Based in Inverleigh, Victoria, SpectraFlora is a relatively new company, founded in 2020 by Dr Steve Van Sluyter, who then spent four years conducting fundamental research into cabinet configurations and drivers with the goal of delivering what SpectraFlora defines as "pure, lifelike and emotionally engaging" natural sound. We'd argue he succeeded with his first speaker model, the Celata 88, which was on display at last year's show (and a review of which you'll in Australian Hi-Fi #542).

The Celata 88 will return this year, alongside SpectraFlora's second speaker, the Aphelia 8. SpectraFlora says this new model "shares the same sonic DNA" as the flagship, but in a more compact two-way form, with bass duties handled by an 8-inch graphene-coated magnesium driver housed in a sealed cabinet. The compression driver installed behind the Dynamic Waveguide is a new one-inch from Beyma in Spain that uses a hard polymer annular ring diaphragm.

See and hear both SpectraFlora speaker models in Room 7 on the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Serhan Swift – Corridor of Sound, Room 8

As its name suggests, Serhan Swift brings together the considerable talents of loudspeaker designer Brad Serhan with engineering director and business manager Morris Swift. Both have extended histories in audio design and beyond, with Swift bringing experience in research, design and manufacturing for high-end communications and medical devices as well as amplifiers, processors and speakers. Meanwhile Serhan has designed and consulted for an extraordinary list of Australian hi-fi brands over the years, with his own Orpheus Loudspeakers founded in 1984, before later working freelance for companies including Axis, Avega DSP, Acoustic 3D, Danville Signal, Moos DSP, Richter, Subsonic and Whatmough. Hear it all and more in Room 8 on the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Trevor Lees Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 9

You're in for a real treat in room 9 along the Corridor of Sound, as Trevor Lees will be showing off a fully restored pair of Bowers & Wilkins DM70 electrostatic loudspeakers. The iconic model, released in the 1970s, was noted for having incredibly detailed midrange, while its conventional bass woofer allowed it to deliver sensational lows. The pair that will be on show is the Continental version with its instantly recognisable futuristic-looking curved cabinets (pictured above), and have been lovingly restored to the highest quality. If anything, sound even better than they did when they were new. You simply must give them a listen.

Yamaha Music Australia – Corridor of Sound, Room 11

They did it last year and they’re doing it again this year, the Yamaha Music team will be demonstrating one of the first global ‘sneak peaks’ of a new hi-fi speaker, claiming it to be the "next evolution in living room hi-fi." That’s all we know — honest! — and the only image we have to go on is the one above, so you simply must give the team a visit when you can. And you can rest assured you’ll find our own team clamouring to get a look at what’s on display.

Harman brands – Corridor of Sound, Room 12

Harman's second room of the Show will have more of a lifestyle focus, featuring the brand new Denon Home speaker series. Elsewhere, there will be a Polk system running off a Denon Home Amp and featuring the Denon DP-500BT turntable to help show case the different use cases of the turntable.

MaxMedia – Corridor of Sound, Room 16

MaxMedia can always be relied upon for high-quality, high-end audio at the Australian Hi-Fi Show, and that's certainly the case this year. Cameron Keating has confirmed he and his team will have two envy-inducing systems up and running.

The second system will comprise Fezz Audio components, and Cameron has told us he's still deciding on a couple of source devices.

They are:

System 1

Avantgarde Acoustic Opus 1: active two-way horn loaded speakers – AU$23,990
C.O.S Engineering D10V4SE pre-amp with DAC – AU$9,990
Scheu Analog Diamond Maxi turntable (AU$11,990) with Muarah 9" tonearm (AU$2,990) and Benz Micro Silver cartridge (AU$799).

Cameron says of this system, "Collectively, this combination of pre-amp and active speakers is all that is needed for one to to get their first high-end Avantgarde System that looks and sounds fantastic and when finances and room sizes allow. The progression into the world of a super high-end Avantgarde System is an easier transition. We love to say, 'prepare to be thrilled' and we will add the Scheu Analog turntable into the mix for a bit of bling and a little Blue Monday!"

System 2

Fezz Audio Titania MK2 tube amplifier (AU$7,499)
Fezz Audio Equinox Prestige DAC (AU$6,499)
Pylon Audio Jade 10 loudspeakers ($5,999)

March Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 18

Founded in 2018 in Western Australia, March Audio’s first products were power amplifiers, and these remain at the core of the company’s offerings. They are all black and purposeful units, hand-built to strict quality control and an extensive testing regime – a process that has evidently paid off given the multiple awards they've won.

March Audio has forged a successful relationship with Denmark’s Purifi, which makes the modules at the heart of March’s amplifiers. It's the way March implements these Purifi components that has proven critical to the success of the products. The amplifiers need an upfront pre-amplifier suited to their very low input impedance, a buffer amplifier good enough to allow the highest abilities, and a top-quality power supply.

It's not just amp that has made March famous though. The Aussie brand also has a talented range of speakers, such as the Ukkonen floorstanders. These speakers have also been made with the help of Purifi, which supplies the drivers. The results speak for themselves, as those who have heard them at hi-fi shows can attest, while March’s prices can seem remarkably low for their performance level. Find out more by visiting March Audio in Room 18 on 'The Corridor of Sound'

Richter Acoustics – Corridor of Sound, Room 19

Richter Acoustics celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026, and is doing so in style with a new Series 7 Special Edition (S7SE), which will debut at this year's Australian Hi-Fi Show and promises “a bold new chapter” for the company.

Richter describes the new speaker series as a leap forward in both striking visual design and sonic performance: “S7SE is our definitive statement range — refined, powerful, and unmistakably Richter,” Richter’s Brian Rodgers tells us. “The new line-up will include the Wizard S7SE, Dragon S7SE, and Excalibur S7SE — each crafted to deliver unrivalled musicality across genres and formats.” See and hear the new models in Room 19 on the 'Corridor of Sound'.

Dan A Digital – Corridor of Sound, Room 20

New South Wales’ Dana Electro Acoustics specialises in active loudspeakers, vibration isolation supports, interconnect cables and more. Its [act:eve] range of active speakers have the quirky model names to match — such as [zen:ter]! — and comprise pairs that use vacuum tube amplifiers for the main driver while others use only solid-state devices. Its [iso:form] isolation platform comes in two forms (carbon fibre and wood composite) and three sizes, while its OPEN interconnects, designed for reference stereo and AV setups, marry pure silver conductance with Teflon insulation.

Krispy Audio – Corridor of Sound, Room 21

The Krispy Audio team will be taking over room 21 to deliver another unmissable demonstration of its latest products. We don't have exact confirmation of what will be on display, but expect components from the likes of Briscasti, Esoteric and Kudos Audio.

The Show is all just a short walk from Sydney's Central Station in an easily accessible CBD location right in the heart of the city, and surrounded by incredible food!

So mark your calendars now for:
- The Australian Hi-Fi Show Sydney 2026
- Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May 2026
- Sydney Central Hotel, in Thomas St, Haymarket, right in the heart of the city.

Stay tuned for more info & tickets offers!

Today marks Day 2 of the High End Munich show!

It's the last time Europe's biggest hi-fi trade show takes place in Munich (the show moves to Vienna next year), and it's going out with a splash. There are over 500 exhibitors and 1000 brands showcasing the latest and greatest audio products throughout the week. The show started on Thursday, 15th May and ends on Sunday 18th.

The What Hi-Fi? team are on the ground at the MOC Event Center Messe München to bring you all the latest hi-fi news and launches, while raising a stein (or two!) to the venue's last hurrah.

We've already seen multiple launches from some of the biggest hi-fi brands out there, including high-end amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audiolab's new DACs, a high-end streamer from dCS, a new phono stage from Chord Electronics, and a special Charlie Brown turntable from Pro-Ject. Scroll down for all the key news and highlights.

We'll be bringing you exclusive product news, hands-on images, first impressions and more insights from the event, so keep an eye on the website, our Instagram and Facebook channels for exclusive photos and videos from the show floor.

High End Munich 2025: latest news

Latest news and what to expect

Audiolab
Audiolab has started things off with a bang, announcing two new standalone DACs – the D7 (£499) and pricier D9 (£1099) – that are descendants of the much-loved, well-regarded Audiolab M-DAC. The D7 (pictured above) and D9 are packed with new technologies and features.
Read the full Audiolab D7 and D9 story

Audiovector
The Danish speaker company will be demoing its new flagship R10 Arreté floorstanders, which cost a cool £127,5000 / $165,000 / €147,500 per pair. We've already had a first look and listen to these new floorstanders, and you'll get a chance to hear them yourselves at the show.
I listened to Audiovector's flagship floorstanders, and they're an incredibly fun way to spend a small fortune

Auralic
Auralic will be unveiling its new Aquila X3 streaming media processor at Munich, which promises "a cutting-edge feature set and true modular design, offering users unmatched flexibility and upgradability." The X3 will be on demo to showcase Auralic's LightningCast technology that is said to be "revolutionising high-resolution streaming".

Audio-Technica
There's a new flagship turntable in town. Audio-Technica has launched the AT-LPA2 (pictured above), with chassis and platter made of clear acrylic to achieve that striking transparent look. It comes fitted with the AT-OC9XEN dual moving coil cartridge, has a separate power supply unit, and is yours for £1699 / €1999.
Read the Audio-Technica LPA2 story

Advance Paris
The French brand will be launching a number of new products at the show, details of which are under wraps for now. But if you like the look of the beefy A12 Classic integrated with VU meters, keep an eye out for its new releases.

Astell & Kern
A&K has a brand new flagship portable music player – the A&ultima SP4000 – which is packed with more ways of playing high-resolution music than you would think was possible from a portable device. We don't have official pricing yet, but the previous five-star SP3000 flagship cost £3799 / $3699 / AU$5499, so expect a similarly lofty price.

Burmester
Not content with one product launch at High End Munich, Burmester has refreshed its entire Reference line of products. This sees the arrival of the 257 turntable, 249 preamplifier and 259 stereo power amplifier, which are all brand new designs and share nothing from their predecessors.
Read the Burmester story

Chord Electronics
Chord teased a new flagship product for its Ultima Reference range, and we now know it's the company's flagship Ultima Phonostage (pictured above). We don't have a price at this stage, but it was on display at Munich High End together with some initial specifications.
Read the Chord Ultima Phonostage story

Cyrus Audio
Cyrus has dropped some huge news at High End 2025 with the launch of its first-ever full-width products. The new 80 Series features casework which, according to Cyrus, is simply an extension of that used for its 40 Series. Besides giving its rengineers more room to work in, the new chassis also allows the company to accommodate its external power supply (the 40PSU) in 80 Series products.
Read the Cyrus Audio story

Dali
Dali has brought the bass to High End 2025 with the V-15F, its most powerful subwoofer yet. Weighing over 50kg, it's a bit of a beast with a huge 16-inch driver and no fewer than four continuous flare reflex ports. A serious speaker for stereo and AV use.
Read the Dali V-15F story

dCS
The new Lina DAC X music streamer launched earlier this month and we hope to have a peek of the new £13,500 / $15,500 player at the show. We were impressed with the Lina DAC (five stars), so have high hopes for this evolved step up.
Read the dCS Lina DAC X story

Electrocompaniet
Electrocompaniet will be launching a new product called the EC 5.0, a fully analogue preamplifier, at the show on Friday 16th May.

Elipson
The French brand will be showing off three very different speakers at High End Munich. First up are the eye-catching, globular Planet L Performance speakers, which will be on demo. Also on show are a new version of the Prestige Facet II bookshelf speakers and an updated Legacy range of speakers.

Eversolo
The Eversolo Play streaming amplifier is a new product from the brand that we're keen to see first-hand. It combines extensive streaming features with a Class D amplifier in its compact box, yours for €699. There's also a version with a CD player built-in for €799 – that's a potent combination of talents for a modern do-it-all system!
Read the full Eversolo Play story

Fyne Audio
A new addition to its F700SP line-up will be unveiled at Munich. The F704SP gets the 'Special Production" treatment, with IsoFlare driver technology and innovations drawn from the brand's flagship F1 Series. Price? £20,000 / $26,000 / €24,000 per pair.
Read the Fyne F704SP story

Genelec
Finnish audio brand Genelec will have its mammoth five-way 8381A speakers on demo at the show in a piano black finish. Alongside that are smaller Genelec The One three-way bookshelf speakers that come in a variety of colourful finishes.

Gryphon Audio
2025 marks the 30th year of Gryphon's Antileon Series power amplifier and at High End Munich 2025 the company has launched its fifth-generation version: Antileon Revelation. As with all Gryphon power amps, both stereo and mono versions are available, delivering 160 and 180 watts per channel (RMS) of Class A power, respectively.

Read the Gryphon Audio story

IsoAcoustics
Known for its isolation products, IsoAcoustics will be showcasing two new product ranges: the GAIA Neo and GAIA Titan Neo acoustic isolation feet. Designed to be more user-friendly and flexible than before, thanks to height adjustment and simplified installation.

iFi Audio
iFi has launched the UP Travel Bluetooth DAC – a compact transmitter and receiver that offers hi-res Bluetooth from in-car audio and in-flight entertainment systems to your devices, removing the need for cables and adapters. A 3.5mm connector, 10-hour battery and support for aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs.

JBL
JBL's flagship, high-end Summit series of loudspeakers has gained three new models, all named after mountains. Joining the giant Everest and K2 models are the smaller-but-still-quite-large Makalu and Pumori floorstanders and Ama standmounter. They start at £14,998 / $19,995 per pair. Ambitious. Read the JBL Summit speakers story

Klipsch
The American speaker brand will have one of its latest flagship horn speakers – the La Scala AL6 – on demo throughout the show, alongside its Klipsch Ojas collaboration speakers. Over at the Motorworld hotel next door, Klipsch's Flexus 300 (the first ever soundbar with Dirac Live) and Reference Premiere speakers will be on show.
Read the Klipschorn AK7 & La Scala AL6 story

Luxman
Celebrating a monumental 100 years, high-end Japanese brand Luxman has launched the P-100 Centennial headphone amplifier and E-07 phono preamp, both of which we expect will be on show.
Read the Luxman Centennial story

Mark Levinson
Mark Levinson has unveiled a whole new range of high-end amplifiers. Its 600 series comprises the No. 626 preamplifier, No. 632 two-channel power amplifier and No. 631 monoblock tower. With prices starting at £24,000 / €28,000 / $25,000 for the No. 626 this is a trio made for serious hi-fi systems.
Read the Mark Levinson 600 series story

Meze Audio
Meze Audio will be showcasing its open-back POET headphones at the show, which launched earlier this year at £1850 / $2000 / €2000. Also making their debut at the show are the new open-back 105 Silva – official price and launch later in the year.
Read the Meze 105 Silva story

Musical Fidelity
We first saw Musical Fidelity's new midrange B1 series of hi-fi separates at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show earlier this year. The B1 xi integrated amplifier and B1c CD player are both on display at Munich, too.
Read the Musical Fidelity B1 range story

NAD
NAD has taken the wraps off two new amps for its Master Series range: the M33 V2 BluOS Streaming Amplifier (£4999 / $5999) and M23 V2 Stereo Power Amplifier (£3499 / $3999).
Read the NAD story

Nagaoka
The Japanese cartridge brand is celebrating its 85th anniversary with a brand new flagship cartridge. The Nagaoka MP-700 promises "exceptional detail retrieval from vinyl grooves" and is yours for £1149 / $1399.
Read the Nagaoka MP-700 story

Onkyo
We're excited to see Onkyo's Icon series at the show, which marks the brand's return to hi-fi after many years of absence. The Icon includes a streaming integrated amplifier, a network preamplifier and a power amplifier, and they certainly look smart from the pictures we've seen so far.

PMC
PMC has confirmed that it will be demoing its new Prophecy range of speakers, which includes one pair of standmounters, three pairs of floorstanders and a centre speaker, with prices ranging from £2275 / €2775 to £8975 / €10,945.

Pro-Ject
Pro-Ject has unveiled a Peanuts-themed record player – to coincide with comic strip's 75th anniversary – and Charlie Brown's round head on the platter just looks adorable. Previous years saw the launch of the ultra-cool Metallica turntable, the beautiful Pink Floyd one, and the lovely Yellow Submarine deck.
Read the Pro-Ject Peanuts record player story

Qobuz
Finally, the long-awaited Qobuz Connect feature has launched at High End 2025. In line with Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect, Qobuz's version will hopefully bring a more seamless streaming experience to your hi-fi system and a simpler way of controlling your Qobuz music library across devices.
Read the Qobuz Connect story

Sennheiser
Head to the Sennheiser booth and try out its "immersive mirror box", which offers a short "multi-sensory light and sound experience, followed by visual snippets with behind-the-scenes insights." We're excited to find out what this experience entails.

T+A
A new streaming integrated amplifier called Symphonia will be on demo, paired with the Talis S 330 floorstanding speakers. Visitors will also get their first look at a new E Series receiver concept running the latest T+A OS user interface – both are currently in development.

TAD
The high-end Japanese brand will be showcasing its ultra high-end TAD-ME1TX standmount speakers, which boast "meticulous engineering and superior materials", with the price tag starting at a wallet-busting £17,500 / $18,200 / €17,300 per pair.

Technics
While we don't have any indication that Technics will be unveiling something brand new at the show, the legendary Japanese brand is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, so expect to see their latest launches – SL-1300G turntable and EAH-AZ100 wireless earbuds (both five stars) – on display.

Wharfedale
We've seen a new range of speakers from Wharfedale at High End 2025. Evo 5 replaces the well-received Evo 4 line and boasts five different models with updated cabinets, drivers and crossovers and new damping technology. Prices start at £549 / €699 / AU$1249.
Read the Wharfedale Evo 5 story

WiiM
WiiM had a big High End Munich last year, launching the WiiM Ultra (five stars) and WiiM Amp Pro (currently being tested). Munich 2025 will be similarly significant thanks to the launch two new product types: the HomePod-looking WiiM Sound smart speaker and the WiiM Sub Pro subwoofer. We're also excited to see the new WiiM Amp Ultra streaming amplifier (pictured above), which combines the Ultra's touchscreen display unit with 100W of amplification, along with plenty of streaming features and connectivity.
Read the WiiM Sound story
Read the WiiM Amp Ultra story

You can see the full list of brands exhibiting this year.

MORE:

Revisit the highlights from last year's High End Munich 2024

8 tracks we've been using to test in the What Hi-Fi? listening rooms this month

The rise of small, complete hi-fi systems that are more accessible for newcomers is a great direction for the industry

The best music streamers across all budgets

It’s a public vote held each year at the Australian Hi-Fi Show, to answer the question: “Which room, for you, had the best sound, and why?”

To encourage responses, we include this question as the ‘prize question’ on the Competition Cards that are distributed to all visitors in their Show Bags, offering a collection of wonderful hi-fi and AV prizes to be won by collecting ‘stamps’ in various rooms of the Show.

Collect the stamps, choose your favourite room, enter the competition.

If you were a visitor who entered the competition and you haven’t heard from us by now, then we’re afraid you didn’t win. :( But your Room Votes have still been counted!

Four rooms pushed ahead of the others as we counted the votes – though there are also good few honourable mentions for rooms with significant votes, which we’ll mention at the end.

One interesting trend was that three of the four top rooms were running active speakers, where the amplifiers are inside the speakers, and sometimes streaming as well, making for extremely simple systems, and to judge from the votes, also an advantage in creating beautiful sounds too.

Let’s get into it and meet those top-voted rooms for Best Sound...

• See the full Show Report for the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025

Best Sound of Show: WINNER
Westan Australia’s Focal room
Westan Australia brought the remarkable Focal Diva Utopia speakers to their big room on the Ground Floor, with Melbourne’s Premium Sound store working the room, and clearly living up to their name, given the votes that stacked up for this room to give it the win.

Yet this was an unusual system – no supporting stack of electronics required for these streaming active Focal Diva Utopia speakers, though they were given the slight sprucing of Atlas power cables. Otherwise the Divas worked entirely alone, the ultimate modern high-end system, using their streaming smarts, built-in amps and impressive driver arrays to impress visitors with their solo performances.

This room came absolutely top of the votes, so we congratulate Focal, Westan and Premium Sound, winners of Best Sound of the Show at the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025.

Best Sound of Show: SECOND PLACE
Audio Marketing & Len Wallis’s Triangle demonstration
Up in the Corridor of Sound, in room 902, distributor Audio Marketing and the staff from Sydney’s Len Wallis Audio brought together a stack of Musical Fidelity electronics, including the acrylic wonders of the M8xTT turntable with the new M8x Vinyl phono stage.

But there was no doubt about what most impressed visitors to the room: all the votes for this room mentioned Triangle’s active streaming Capella speakers, and the extraordinary dynamics and impressive bass pounding from these lusciously-finished standmount speakers.

As with the Focals, the Capellas can be a system in themselves, streaming from AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth or Roon, though their included ‘hub’ also adds USB-B, three opticals, an HDMI, a coaxial input and analogue inputs.

Full marks for performance, power and impressing the visitors here!

Best Sound of Show: THIRD PLACE
Magenta Audio with Dutch & Dutch
Magenta Audio brought the award-winning Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers to the Corridor of Sound, making this the third room to be recognised for active speakers with their own internal power, their own streaming – and in the case of Dutch & Dutch, plenty of other hidden wonders as well. While they present as an apparent two-way, with magnesium-alloy dome tweeter and eight-inch midrange, there are two more 8-inch high-excursion bass drivers to the rear, while the 49cm-high oak cabinets contain three amplifiers providing a total of 1000W of power.

“Bad Room? Great Sound” promised Magenta’s pull-up sign – and while we hope the Show hotel's rooms aren’t too bad at all, Magenta certainly proved the point and pulled the praise from the punters, scoring third spot in the public poll for Best Sound of the Show.

Best Sound of Show: FOURTH PLACE
Bowers & Wilkins by Masimo Consumer
The sweet sounds from a pair of lusciously-finished Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature loudspeakers climbed to fourth place in the public Best Sound vote; their performance was supported by twin Bowers & Wilkins DB3D subwoofers and Marantz 10 Series electronics, with the Link 10N network audio player, SACD 10 reference CD player, and 2 x 250W of Purifi amplification within the Model 10 integrated amplifier. The stack was topped by Denon’s flagship DP-3000 direct drive turntable with DL 103R cartridge.

Wth votes also received for the high-value performance in the adjacent room from a system of Denon electronics and Polk speakers, Masimo would jump up at least one place in the rankings if we added the results of their three rooms together – but we don’t do that. Our congratulations nevertheless to Masimo on several rooms of superb sounds at the Show.

Honourable mentions

There was barely a room which didn’t garner at least one vote from impressed Showgoers, but the following rooms were knocking on the doors of our top 4, so congratulations to:

- Yamaha: both its main room and its headphone demonstration
- Serhan Swift
- Elementi/Wavetrain
- HeyNow Hi-Fi

And also rising above to pack with a strong vote count were:

- Richter
- MaxMedia
- Vivid Audio /Avation
- DanA
- Synergy.

We thank everyone who exhibited at the Show, all the visitors, and especially those who voted to decide our Best Sound of the Show!

• See the full Show Report for the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Three days of Sydney sunshine complemented the sunny sounds emerging from four floors of the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025, over its three days at the Sydney Central Hotel from 4th to 6th April this year. Variety of delivery was one hallmark of the Show this year, so that you could hear half-million-dollar hi-fi systems next to set-ups under $10,000, you could compare the sound of traditional valve amplifiers with new-age sculptured wireless speakers, home cinema and more.

And whenever your ears needed a break, the Show’s location in downtown Haymarket, next to Sydney Central Station and Chinatown, brought as many culinary choices out in the sunshine as there were sonic ones back in the Hotel. In addition to the usual 'Best Sound of Show' discussions, we overheard many deciding on their vote for the best momos and gyoza within easy walking distance.

But here, we’ll focus on the sights and sounds of the Show, going room by room, starting up on the 9th floor Corridor of Sound, where among the major brands you could hear a great many Australian companies showing once again what globally impressive strengths we have here in Australia in both audio and audio-visual equipment. Let’s get into the highlights…

Level 9: THE CORRIDOR OF SOUND

March Audio

914 March Audio
March Audio brought not only its award-winning Ukkonen floorstanders (Finnish for ‘thunder’) over from Western Australia but also a new smaller pair of floorstanders, to be called the Kuoro (Finnish for ‘choir’ or ‘chorus’).

These 90cm-high floorstanders (the red ones in the images) use the smaller Purifi 6.5-inch driver from its standmount Sointuva speakers but doubles this up and supplements it with the latest Purifi tweeter samples with an aluminium dome and a new waveguide for directivity, delivering a brighter more open sound, says Alan March, as well as bass response which is within 1.2dB of nominal at 50Hz and down to 37Hz at -3db. Expect their price to be around $8500.

Spectraflora

924 Spectraflora
From Inverleigh in Victoria, Spectraflora was demonstrating the extraordinarily deep soundstaging available from its Celata 88 speakers, loaded with their patent-pending Dynamic Waveguide and push-pull slot-loaded subwoofer configuration. While the baffle holds the one-inch compression driver (oversized 52mm voice coil and mineral-loaded ketone polymer diaphragm) and a seven-inch graphene-coated magnesium mid-bass cone, there are two further eight-inch woofers inside which drop the 91cm-high speakers’ response to 33Hz at -3dB.

The pair playing were black-stained with stunning diamond-stitched leather on baffle and sides, with the waveguide in Northern silky oak. On display were other finishes — one natural, and one natural with cherry leather and a red ironbark waveguide from wood salvaged from a former WWII Royal Australian Air Force base in Dubbo, New South Wales – a bit of history with your $38k Celata 88s!

Powering the speakers for some fine tunes from Jethro Tull and the Black Crowes were Supratech Mondeuse power amps handbuilt by Mick Maloney in Margaret River, Western Australia, with an Audio Research Ref 1 preamp and Chinese Gustard R2R R26 DAC on signal duties.

Richter

911 Richter
The big news from Sydney’s Richter loomed large on the outside of the array of satin black speakers facing listeners in Richter’s room up in the Corridor of Sound: new Richter Dragons!

The new Dragon will debut as the first of a Series 7SE, slotting into Richter’s range between the 110cm Excalibur and the 97cm Wizards, and it is like no Dragon before it, says the company. A new curved cabinet is finished in a room-friendly natural walnut veneer with front baffles in ‘anthracite grey’, while the top section adopts an MTM arrangement of midranges, doubling up on the Wizard’s 6.5-inch composite paper cone, while the dedicated bass driver gains from the Bass Shelf Extension system developed by designer Dr. Martin Gosnell for the larger Excalibur speaker, so employing two quite differently-tuned bass systems – one for low-frequency depth, the other for clean transient performance at all volume levels.

The result, says Richter’s Brian Rodgers, is a speaker that can be used at a dinner party, but is ready for a dance party. Price – currently an estimate – $6500 a pair.

Richter’s Wizards and recently award-winning Merlin S6plus were also ready to play, with tunes from a Bluesound Icon streamer through a Musical Fidelity M6 amplifier. Notable tune from the dem: YOOKiE’s Sunshine of Your Wub: fun!

Serhan Swift

910 Serhan Swift
Brad Serhan and Morris Swift were coy about upcoming new developments waiting in the wings, but showgoers were treated to beautiful sounds from the slim floorstanding mμ3F floorstanders launched at last year’s Show, here supported ably by Boulder’s 200W 866 integrated amplifier.

Impressive delivery also from a smaller desktop system using the Serhan Swift mμ2 standmounts just sitting on a table (on towels), showing how simple a great-sounding system can be.

Highlights included a wide-open and dynamic acoustic version of Walking on The Moon by the Yuri Honing Trio through the standmounts, and thrillingly-portrayed acoustic bass and cymbal work from Patricia Barber’s sultry Regular Pleasures through the floorstanders.

Pantheone Audio

918 Pantheone Audio
A very different delivery from Pantheone Audio, demonstrating the Sydney company’s uniquely-crafted high-end wireless speakers – 'part sculpture, all sound!', as the company says. Pantheone’s two models were both on audition.

Two larger egg-like Pantheone I active speakers sat apart on the floor, not playing as a left-right pair but rather both delivering their individual room-filling 360° experience, which come from a set of four silk-dome tweeters in each unit, with twin 4-inch midrangers and two 6.5-inch high-excursion bass drivers, and a total of 400W of Class-D power. They can stream with AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, high-res Wi-Fi streaming or can play via a minijack input.

The smaller active speaker is the Obsidian, its sculptural form inspired by volcanic stone, also streaming via WiFi or Bluetooth and further able to operate on battery power (15-hour life is quoted). These were playing as a stereo pair.

These very different speakers were generating great word of mouth at the show for their very different approach to wireless audio, their philosophy of ART + FORM + SOUND, and being proudly Australian to boot.

Secret Chord Analogue

907 Secret Chord Analogue
Secret Chord Analogue switched things up this year, adding a demonstration room with its baffleless speakers and valve amplifiers to the space in which it could show its Record Restore system in operation.

The Record Restore cleaning fluid claims not only to bind contaminants into an emulsion which can then be peeled away after drying, it also removes static charging in the process.

Founder Stephen Price had an excellent demo of its effects running courtesy of a Bud Powell LP where alternate tracks had been cleaned or left dirty, playing through the company’s Confluence open baffle speakers under the power of an Elekit single-ended triad power amp kit.

The company’s valve amps can be purchased either as a kit or fully built – or can be built under tutelage at regular ‘Amp Camps’ in Sydney’s Blue Mountains.

Microphase Audio Design

903 Microphase Audio Design
Company head and designer Jean-Marie Liere was on hand with his array of M.A.D. cabinets made from inert marine-grade birch plywood handcrafted in Australia with bespoke drivers, including drivers often hidden away, side or rear-facing. Key for demonstration were the latest standmounts, the Sat Mk3.3 (the .3 indicates the latest crossover tweaks); their 25cm cabinet holds three Audax-sourced drivers: the time-aligned tweeter, a main 13cm paper-membrane full-range, plus a rear 17cm paper cone, and all crossover components from Mundorf, SCR and Dayton Audio, a combination which delivered an impressively rendered version of Patricia Barber’s slightly strange recording Constantinople.

A larger scale sound was soon emerging from the second speaker demonstrated, the 3-way 5-driver Tower 4 Signature, with an integrated active subwoofer combining back-to-back shallow bass drivers, a remarkable fit in such a slim cabinet, powered internally by 150W MosFet amplifiers designed by Holton Audio in Tasmania. Above these a Mundorf air-motion-transformer tweeter sits between MTM 13cm midrange drivers, all delivering, as Liere himself noted, “more of everything”. More Barber, this time Light My Fire, proved the point to be made.

Dan A Digital

922, 923 Dan A Digital
New South Wales’ DanA Electro Acoustics active loudspeakers were heading the delivery in Room 923 of the Corridor of Sound, these unique towers containing an active crossover and a power amplifier matched to each driver.

The URS (Ultimate Reference Sound) 108 model playing (and pictured) uses a triode valve amp in its top section for the main driver, and solid-state amps for the other drivers.

Prominent between the two towers was a large F12 AC line filter, capable of providing 12 standard capacity power filtered sockets (2400W max) or six high capacity (4800W); we also spotted a six-socket DanA F-line filter operating with Masimo’s Marantz/Bowers system elsewhere at the Show.

DanA’s second room was under re-configuration when we visited.

Yamaha headphones

921 Yamaha Music Australia
A major global first from Yamaha was up in a bonus headphone room on the ninth floor, where listeners could book in a demo of YH-4000 open-back orthodynamics (pictured), one of two new high-end headphones from the Japanese company. The open YH-4000s retain the 50mm orthodynamic (planar magnetic) drivers of the award-winning YH-5000SE, but use a few lesser materials and components to come in at a lower price, while aiming to deliver similar transparency and openness.

Perhaps the most exciting arrival is the lower YH-C3000 (‘C’ for ‘closed-back’) ‘armodynamic’ headphones (in the gallery above) with ‘orb-like’ glossy black headshells of German beech wood and a more traditional 50mm dynamic driver, though one which uses the same Zylon for the ‘armodynamic’ diaphragms as is used in the drivers of the company’s 5000 Series loudspeakers. They brought a slightly more closed-in soundstage, but a punchier and more solid delivery. Prices are yet to be announced, but the nod is on for the YH-3000s coming into Australia around A$3000.

Sennheiser

918 Sennheiser
More headgear in Room 918 from Sennheiser, with an extensive range of headsets and earbuds, from the HD 820 S and HD800 through the 600 Series and the brand-new open-backed HD 550 (pictured), described as “an open invitation to unpack the lush layers of today’s music and games for hours on end”; we find them a neutral yet analytical listen.

Those in search of new best buds could try the IE 300, 600 and 900 models, the premium A$2400 IE 900s with each precision-manufactured aluminium housing containing a single premium dynamic driver backed by Sennheiser’s innovative X3R technology triple–resonator chamber technology.

Along with the latest Momentum wireless models, Sennheiser brought the lot for those wanting to find their best personal sound.

Magenta Audio

920 Magenta Audio
When you’ve got a speaker that does everything, there’s not much to show in your demonstration room! – no stack of sources and amplifiers, because the pair of award-winning Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers here have their own internal power, their own streaming, and plenty of other hidden wonders.

While they present as an apparent two-way, with magnesium-alloy dome tweeter and eight-inch midrange, there are two more 8-inch high-excursion bass drivers to the rear, while the 49cm-high oak cabinets contain three amplifiers providing a total of 1000W of power.

The result is a claimed utterly flat response from 20Hz to 20kHz, along with customisable onboard DSP to integrate the 8c speakers into a room – “Bad Room? Great Sound” promised Magenta’s pull-up sign.

They certainly did the job with Doug MacLoud’s Ain’t It Rough on Reference Recordings, its extended chat intro with fully-realistic drum punctuations before his storytelling blues kicked in. The speakers can take a balanced XLR input, but can also stream direct using Spotify Connect or (preferably) Roon.

MaxMedia

916 MaxMedia
The MaxMedia team invite you to “rethink, overcome and discover the best in high-end audio” and the room at the end of the Corridor of Sound saw Cameron Keating and his team offering just that opportunity.

Innuos’s ZEN Next Gen server was in charge of the tunes, the French company’s first ZEN server to get the NG treatment. Its digital signal fed the Fezz Equinox Prestige DAC, while topping the Polish Pylon Obsidian rack was the Fezz Olympia dual mono power amp, based on eight KT88 valves and delivering 100W of power.

Two pairs of speakers were in residence, with Cameron switching between them: the black aluminium cabinets of Piega’s COAX 411 standmount speakers with coaxial ribbon tweeter and SEAS graphene 160mm UHQD woofer, or the notably leaning floorstanders, also from Poland’s Pylon, the three-way Diamond 30 Mk2. Cabling by VIABLUE.

HeyNow Hi-Fi

909 HeyNow Hi-Fi
Geoff Haynes of HeyNow Hi-Fi had lost his voice by the time we sat in on the Sunday of the show for a listen to his system: his goal for the Show was to let people know about his Melbourne store, he whispered, and the different approach of HeyNow Hi-Fi, which has premises which are purpose-designed as a contemporary apartment, so that its media room and home theatre enable realistic demonstrations, as if in the comfort of your own home.

Uncharacteristically quiet as Haynes was, his system did plenty of talking, with Fischer & Fischer 470M SN loudspeakers flanking a stylish AG Lifter rack laden with such delights as Dohmann’s Helix Two MK3 turntable playing through a Sutherland phono preamp, an EMM Labs/Meitner MA3 DAC/streamer, and the Air Tight ATM-1E EL34 power amplifier.

Audio Magic / Krispy Audio

908 Audio Magic / Krispy Audio
It was another double rack of hi-fi joys from Audio Magic and Krispy, fronted by the Kudos Titan 808 speakers with their distinctive split-cabinet design isolating low-bass resonances from the bass-mid enclosures, perhaps the secret of the flawlessly clear delivery of sounds coming coming from the connected system. With the network connection proving unreliable for high-quality streaming, listneres were treated to playback from the vast Esoteric Grandioso K1X SACD player (highest rigidity and heaviest construction in the 30+ year history of the brand’s Vibration-Free Rigid Disc-Clamping System!), or for analogue fans the Bergmann Modi airbearing turntable with its side pump keeping the platter floating, with an Ayre phono stage, and the Copland CTA407 valve integrated amp showing its quartet of 6550 output valves.

Another stunning performance from this room.

Masimo Consumer

904 to 906 Masimo Consumer
Three rooms (all pics in the gallery above) formed an exclusive corner of the Show for the best of Masimo’s many brands, including an excellent Denon/Polk system, with the Denon DNP-2000NE streamer pulling tunes from Tidal for the recently award-winning Denon PMA-3000NE amplifier to drive Polk’s Reserve R700 floorstanding speakers; the performance, when applied to Smilk’s Last Rainforest, was simply exceptional at the price (around $11k): perhaps the best-value performance of the Show.

Yet also in the room was a suggested system of simply Denon Home compact streaming amp (with HEOS streaming and HDMI eARC A$1199) with the little Polk Reserve R100 (A$1099); there’s a bargain little system with significant abilities too.

Next door the lusciously-finished Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature loudspeakers, at A$21,900 the pair, were supported by twin DB3D subwoofers (A$4399 each) and a stack of Marantz 10 Series electronics, with the Link 10N network audio player, SACD 10 reference CD player, and 2 x 250W of Purifi amplification within the Model 10 integrated amplifier.

The stack was topped by Denon’s flagship DP-3000 direct drive turntable with DL 103R cartridge – two more Sound+Image award winners (from 2024) right there. Yet all this desirable kit melted away as the tunes played, a Ronnie Earl track with awesome piano tone and such toe-tappingly fine rhythms that we felt like applauding at the end.

Masimo’s third room focused on the Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon wireless speakers, a chance to get touchy with the ‘AuraControl’ of these luxurious all-in-one solutions. Nice side exhibits too.

Audio Marketing

902 Audio Marketing
A week after the Show our ears were still feeling the effects of the demonstration in Audio Marketing's room, perhaps a few dB higher for us than for most visitors, showing the ability of Triangle’s active streaming Capella standmount speakers to deliver astonishing dynamics and volume levels when playing Ghost Rider’s Make Us Stronger.

The Capellas can be a system in themselves, streaming from AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth or Roon, though their included ‘hub’ also adds USB-B, three opticals, an HDMI, a coaxial input and analogue inputs.

Also in the room were Musical Fidelity’s acrylically-clear M8xTT turntable and new M8x Vinyl phono stage, but the acoustic shock from the Capellas had us withdrawing politely before these could be added to the chain.

BASEMENT THEATRE ZONE

Leica Camera Australia

BASEMENT THEATRE
Leica Camera Australia
Bright, colourful and comfortable are words that describe both Leica’s lounge suite on the hotel’s basement floor and the images from its pair of projectors, which easily demonstrated the great advantage of high-quality glass lenses, the secret weapons that make Leica’s projectors so successful.

Brighter, sharper, less aberrated than rival lenses, Leica’s glass leads a series of design upgrades that have pushed the brand to the high-end of home projection over the last three years, first with the ultra-short-throw Cine 1 ‘Cinema TV’ and the more recent and smaller semi-portable Leica Cine Play 1. Both were projecting at the Show, with the Cine Play 1 set up deliberately off-axis to show how it can nevertheless employ its built-in smarts to deliver a bright, colourful and suitably rectangular large-screen image.

A delightful sanctuary, with excellent information as well as performance.

GROUND FLOOR

Synergy Audio Visual

Synergy Audio Visual
Synergy was celebrating its 30th anniversary – our congratulations, especially as it issued a commemorative booklet for the Show which greatly reduced the necessary note-taking required for us to list their extensive main system!

This included Rega’s reference Naia turntable and Aura phono preamp, an Aurender N30SA Digital Output Network Transport with Audio Research DAC 9, REF 6 SE preamplifier and REF 330 M power amps, and not only Sonus faber’s IL Cremonese Ext3me floorstanders ($105k) but six REL Carbon Speaker subwoofers stacked in sets of threes behind them. We make that something over A$471k of kit, without cables.

After some Boz Scaggs and London Grammar, the company’s Jack Sarkissian demonstrated the difference made by removing the REL subwoofers from the system, even just by removing two of the six when listening to what he correctly identified as an unpleasant pop diva recording.

A second reference system in the room offered the joys of McIntosh, including the newly-awarded C2800 preamp, the MC462 power amp and MT2 turntable, again with Sonus faber speakers, this time the Olympica Nova V floorstanders.

Outside the room was a bonus Ruark system, the neat little R610 Music Console (a streaming amplifier), just A$2299 alone, or A$3600 with Ruark’s speakers.

Focal / Naim

Focal/Naim
Westan Australia and Melbourne’s Premium Sound store brought the remarkable Focal Diva Utopia speakers to their big room on the Ground Floor – remarkable because they stood alone in the room, no supporting stack of electronics required for these streaming active speakers, though they were given the slight sprucing of Atlas power cables.

Otherwise the Divas used their streaming smarts (they also have physical inputs) to deliver a gorgeously lush rendition of HAEVN’s We Are (symphonic version), and a thrilling delivery of Annie Lennox’s Georgia On My Mind, her vocal hovering in space between the two lone floorstanders.

The synergy of active speakers is obvious, but few have attempted it at this level of speaker: the Diva Utopia shows the idea to hold impressively true even at the highest level.

Yamaha Music Australia

Yamaha Music Australia
With a self-playing Clavinova baby grand piano tinkling away in the lobby area, and a selection of brass and guitars in the room available for audition (though with a Wayne’s World ‘No Stairway To Heaven’ sign), Yamaha was emphasising its musical credentials as the basis of its hi-fi prowess in the large ground floor room, where Wollongong’s Sturmans Audiovisual team joined Yamaha staff in presenting a clean and convincing demonstration from the NS-2000A and NS-800A speakers, in piano black naturally, driven by the matching R-N2000A streaming amplifier.

Tight, solid and high-value sound emerged whether for Fink’s ethereal So We Find Ourselves or JJ Grey & Mofro’s far funkier Rooster, while Les Davis & Son were also on hand to proffer their latest anti-vibrational wonders, now including a ‘Field Marshall’ to target electromagnetic noise around IEC plugs.

FIRST FLOOR MEZZANINE

Vivid Audio

Vivid Audio
At the top of the entry stairs, Avation presented a room of loudspeaker sculpture by Vivid Audio, with Laurence Dickie’s innovative designs which are entirely engineering-led, their curves created to bring perfectly transparent, natural sound - free from colour, resonance and reflection.

On display to one side were the Kaya 90, S12 and C35, but upfront and glorious in a deep blue that shone purple under the lights were the latest Gaya G1 Spirit, proving themselves worthy of their pinnacle position in the range. This is a true four-way system with five separate drivers, including reaction-cancelling bass drivers supporting the three-way front baffle in this 1.6-metre marvel of the loudspeaker art.

The Giyas were driven by PS Audio’s Bascom H. King-designed M600 power amps, with a Bricasti M21 DAC keeping the signal path smooth via its delta sigma and ladder DAC PCM conversion.

All in all, a combination of visual and musical beauty to behold, right by the Show’s entrance.

Wavetrain Cinemas

Wavetrain Cinemas
We admit to putting our fingers in our ears to protect them during the more extreme moments of David Moseley’s high-end home cinema demonstration, which brought a Christie K 4K-15 RGB pure laser projector to deliver full Rec.2020 colour and a blistering lumen count for the film clips, while a Storm processor with Dirac Live ART active room treatment fed Elementi’s digital active Fire speakers in a seven-channel system, backed by no fewer than four subwoofers – two of them mere Elementi Onyx with 15-inch neodymium-magneted ultra-low distortion drivers, but two being the simply vast Elementi Kola subwoofers (named after the Kola Deep, deepest hole ever dug into the Earth’s crust).

The Kolas (first image in the gallery above, with a salt cellar on top to show scale) have 24-inch drivers, and are recommended for use 8-18 metres from the seats. Here they were rather closer, which may have explained the need for protective fingers during the fist-slamming clip from John Wick 4. Impressive, if also oppressive.

Beyerdynamic

Beyerdynamic
Synchronised Technology lined up a tempting array of their Beyerdynamic headphones of various ilks: key news includes a new generation of premium studio headphones in the closed-back DT 1770 Pro MkII and the open-backed DT 1990 Pro MKII, bringing the newly-developed TESLA.45 driver to these highly-regarded studio staples, both priced at $949.

We were especially intrigued, however, by a new group of DT IE in-ear monitors which feature application-optimised sound signatures, as well as very high passive sound insulation of -39dB, making them a standout cabled IEM solution. The four models share dynamic TESLA.11 driver systems with extremely low distortion and high maximum sound pressure levels up to 137dB, but they differ according to proposed use. The DT 70 IE is designed for mixing and critical listening, with a normal reference balance, but then the DT 71 IE has a deliberately powerful bass foundation, recessed mids, and strong treble profile, deemed ideal for drummers and bass players, while the DT 72 IE is for guitarists and vocalists, and the DT 73 IE for pianists, keyboardists and orchestral musicians – "a subtle boost in the treble range above 5kHz ensures precise overtones". Intriguing! All versions are IP68 certified, and retail at $849.

Sydney Audio Club

Boomerang Records

Thanks also to Sydney Audio Club for manning their mezzanine desks and for spreading the love of fine music and good hi-fi, while Boomerang Records loaded up their crates of vinyl for the last day of the show… and we thank them for contributing a nice clean copy of ELO’s ‘Out Of The Blue’ to fill a yawning gap in our Editor’s vinyl collection.

We hope everyone, exhibitors and visitors, enjoyed the wonders of the Show: stay tuned for news of upcoming Shows and events!

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Welcome to our 2025 Sound+Image Awards announcement! Up here on the web, it's a click-around affair – each of the Category images below links through to a set of winners, listed along with their Judges' Citations.

But get hold of our Special Awards Issue as a magazine (in either its print or digital form) and you'll get a full article on every winner, explaining the merits and possible distractions of each winner, and all the reasons we regard each as the best or best-value hi-fi and AV equipment on the market today.

So I won’t bang on about it too much here, except perhaps to note that I was pleased to find so many Australian products this year making it through the strongest competition of international manufacturers new and established, with all their various possible advantages of market conditions and global mass production and possible local support, and well, I won’t mention tariffs...

But despite that, or perhaps taking advantage of that to offer value locally, we have nine Australian winners, and several others which might fairly boast some useful Aussie content. Don’t it make you proud!

I suppose it is almost inevitable that our two Cinema Design ‘Gold’ winners are Australian, because our custom installation articles cover almost exclusively Australian home cinemas and smart homes – though we’ve had a few from New Zealand, and we feature all CEDIA’s regional finalists each year, which often include some astoundingly bonkers cinema rooms from China. Our Gold winners are to be found among our Audiovisual winners – click below to see them all.

Likewise and almost by definition for our Lifetime Achievement Winner, since all such winners have been at least residentially Australian; we made only one exception, back in 2012, when Ken Ishiwata was over for the Sydney hi-fi show; I had known Ken since my very earliest days in hi-fi writing around 1990… there’s a hazy memory of going to deepest Ireland with Marantz on some fairly flimsy excuse for a trip (it was still like the 1980s back in the early 1990s, and I must have had a good time because I can’t remember much about it). But it was a great pleasure to give him an award all those years later, when he had grown old and famous, and I had become Australian.

(At this point someone is probably shouting ‘Oi, aren’t you a Brit?’ Which was and is true, but I have had my Australian passport for 20 years, did the pledge, got a free Lamington and a native plant that I confess didn’t make it to maturity, so I can certainly be proud of Australian stuff.)

Back to the Australians. Look at Halcro among our Amplifier winners: not content with making the world’s best mono and stereo power amps, now the South Australian company has delivered what
is probably the world’s best preamplifier in a spectacular flurry of innovation.

Talking of innovation, Western Australia’s March Audio’s products are loaded with the stuff, both native innovation and imported, since they leverage the developments at Denmark's Purifi. This year sees us recognising both March power amps and the company’s floorstanding speakers.

And look at our Australian speaker companies.

There’s Richter, which consistently releases beautifully-engineered speakers with ridiculous levels of sound-per-pound, as we used to say in the UK (and here, I suppose, before dollarisation).

Or look at Krix, using its global expertise from building real cinemas to design now a clever and very different soundbar solution for delivering huge cinematic sound under today’s giant TVs.

And VAF! — I was delighted to see VAF back in our Awards, hitting the heights with its A$22k Signature i93 MKV floorstanders. When I returned to hi-fi journalism here in Australia around 2006, VAF was doing some amazing and wildly innovative stuff with very early dock-based speakers, and Sound Walls, and all sorts. Decades later VAF is still making fine music, and still innovating.

There may be bits of Australian-ness in other of our awards of which I am unaware, but I do know that Zildjian’s headphones use Australian hearing correction technology, and that the HEOS streaming technology in Denon’s amplifier and in Marantz's various winners here was developed and is still maintained in Sydney. It was many months before release that we sneaked a look at a prototype of a Horizon speaker hidden in the back rooms of Masimo's Sydney HQ: the coding behind this most luxurious of one-box hi-fi systems is pleasingly Australian.

And those are just this year’s Aussie winners: last year there was Dellichord, Serhan Swift, Kiat Low from Duntech… while Mark DÖhmann’s turntables, Kyron’s systems and others are equally unmissable proof of Aussie hi-fi prowess.

Not that I’m going all ‘Make Australia Great Again’ – I say congratulations also to all our winners from overseas, of course! In a way it’s amazing they can make it elsewhere and still get it all the way over here competitively-priced enough to still win an award.

So well done everyone! But of course we don’t make the magazine for the manufacturers. We make it for you, the reader, to bring you all this amazing hi-fi and AV gear all in one special collectable Awards issue.

So well done you, too, for being here to read about it. Now get clicking on those Category images above (or the quick links below) to meet all the winners in this year's Sound+Image Awards. And if your expectations are whetted for more detail, get hold of our Special Awards Issue, in newsagents, as a digital issue online, and now available for direct home delivery (click here).

Enjoy the music! (And the movies.)
Cheers!
Jez Ford, Editor

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Below you will find all our Audiovisual winners in the 2025 Sound+Image Awards. For other winners, just head to one of these pages:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

AV projectors

AV PROJECTOR OF THE YEAR UNDER A$7500
Viewsonic V57-4K A$5499
Judges’ Comment: Don’t dismiss ViewSonic’s V57-4K on the grounds of size, weight or ugliness. Who cares about that when it’ll be sitting in the dark at the back of the room, delivering bright, bold and colourful images on the big screen!

AV PROJECTOR OF THE YEAR A$7500-A$15,000
BenQ W5800 A$8999
Judges' Comment: BenQ’s W5800 is a belter of a home cinema projector, its high-quality light engine and glass delivering stunning images popping with life, as well as shining with accurate cinematic colours on screens up to 200 inches.

AV PROJECTOR OF THE YEAR OVER A$15,000
Sony VPL-XW6100ES aka Bravia 8 projector A$21,999
Judges' Comment: Sony’s latest native-4K projector is a marvel, its images magnificent in their detail, their strength and their stability: it’s not merely resolution, it’s the quality of processing here, and an innate feeling of stability to the picture.

TV

TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
TCL C855
Judges' Comment: The C855 series from TCL delivers high-performance QD Mini-LED imaging on attractively-priced large screen sizes, while Google TV assures they are absolutely loaded for smart streaming.

AV receivers

AV RECEIVER OF THE YEAR UNDER A$2500
Yamaha Aventage RX-A4A A$2299
Judges' Comment: So much fun (which is the point of it all) created from technologies borne from a long line of high-performing multichannel predecessors: solid power reserves for a seven-channel system, plus comprehensive connectivity and processing.

AV RECEIVER OF THE YEAR A$2500-A$5000
Marantz Cinema 60 A$2500
Judges' Comment: Marantz’s latest midrange ‘Cinema 60’ receiver not only carries the company’s new stylish livery, it brings the power for seven channels of surround sound, and handles a great deal more besides, including music streaming from built-in HEOS. Wide versatility ensures strong performance in any set-up.

AV RECEIVER OF THE YEAR OVER A$5000
Marantz Cinema 30 A$8000
Judges' Comment: The ‘reference’ integrated AV receiver from Marantz may be the size of a beast, but it displays sense in its operations and subtle sensibility behind the 11 channels of power it provides for cinema and music alike. A true home cinema star.

AV SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
Anthem MRX SLM A$2499
Judges' Comment: This compact hideaway five-channel receiver deserves to bring multichannel movies and music into areas of the home from which it has been rudely banished.

Soundbar

SOUNDBAR OF THE YEAR
Krix LX-7 Linear LCR A$4995
Judges' Comment: It’s bar-shaped, but not your average soundbar; instead this is a passive LCR speaker set designed by Krix to take its place within a full surround system, where it will kick some sonic arse.

Cinema Design

CINEMA DESIGN 'GOLD' AWARD
The Digital Picture
Judges' Comment: A sleek, modern aesthetic as requested by the client, with acoustically treated walls and a high- resolution screen image ensuring an unparalleled viewing experience.

CINEMA DESIGN 'GOLD' AWARD
Wavetrain Cinemas
Judges' Comment: An illuminated ‘Dune’ circle sets the theme, this cinema excelling with a 9.4.4 Elementi-led audio system and 140-inch Cinema-scope screen despite the room’s difficult dimensions.

Lifetime Achievement

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT WINNER 2025
Martin Moelle, BenQ’s Managing Director Australia, and Vice President Asia-Pac.
Recognised for a lifetime of bringing blank tapes and discs to music fans at the height of TDK's dominance, as well as his role bringing colourful displays of entertainment to movie lovers at BenQ, we are delighted to present our Lifetime Achievement Awards for Service to Home Entertainment to Martin Moelle.

OTHER CATEGORIES:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Below you will find all our Vinyl and Hi-Fi System winners in the 2025 Sound+Image Awards. For other winners, just head to one of these pages:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

Turntables

TURNTABLE OF THE YEAR UNDER A$1000
Audio-Technica AT-LP70X A$499
Judges’ Comment: While a higher turntable would, of course, open up the presentation still further, the delight here is how much music the AT-LP70X does insert into your system as a very easy-to-use source at just A$499.

TURNTABLE OF THE YEAR OVER A$1000
Pro-Ject XA B A$2399
Judges' Comment: It’s a magnificent turntable, the XA B, its clever cartridge offering a balanced output, though delivering a full and lively presentation even with its unbalanced cable option, while the acrylic provides a ‘clear’ elegance.

Systems

STREAMING HI-FI SYSTEM OF THE YEAR UNDER A$1000
Yamaha MusicCast 200 A$999
Judges' Comment: Exceptional value here, given a solid build, musical performance, and a host of streaming and sharing options thanks to the built-in MusicCast platform.

STREAMING HI-FI SYSTEM OF THE YEAR A$1000-A$5000
Ruark R410 A$2599
Judges' Comment: Those drawn to the R410’s aesthetics will only be further impressed by its functionality, three choices of radio, well-chosen physical inputs and overall immersive sound, while the display, USB-C input for CD, Rotodial and HDMI for TV playback mark out the R410 as something special.

STREAMING HI-FI SYSTEM OF THE YEAR OVER A$5000
Marantz Horizon A$6500
Judges' Comment: The Horizon is a posterchild for Marantz’s “luxury” line of “beautiful objects”... those with the budget can be reassured that the Horizon also comes with a strong dose of the company’s former sonic focus.

STREAMING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR
Dutch & Dutch 8c A$25,995
Judges' Comment: Our hearts, minds and ears were captured utterly by these radical active speakers loaded with acoustic science and technology. You won’t believe your ears.

OTHER CATEGORIES:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Below you will find all our Headphone winners in the 2025 Sound+Image Awards. For other winners, just head to one of these pages:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

Home headphones

HOME HEADPHONES UNDER A$1000
Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO ‘X’ Limited Edition A$349
Judges’ Comment: A well-priced upgraded limited edition delivering a delightful personal cloud of music.

HOME HEADPHONES OVER A$1000
Austrian Audio The Composer A$3999
Judges' Comment: The best-sounding and perhaps the most comfortable headphones we have ever worn. Move over Sennheiser’s Orpheuses and HE 1: Austrian Audio’s Composers have taken their crowns.

Wireless headphones

Systems

WIRELESS HEADPHONES OF THE YEAR
Zildjian ALCHEM-E A$749
Judges' Comment: Unusual wireless headphones – they’re loaded with technology developed for the company’s drummer customers, but this translates to plenty of music, along with some interesting variations on noise-cancellation.

True Wireless

TRUE WIRELESS EARBUDS OF THE YEAR UNDER A$500
LG Tone Free T90S A$299
Judges' Comment: Well-priced buds which use Meridian tuning and Dolby Atmos to give LG a rare win over the usual contenders in this true wireless earbud category.

TRUE WIRELESS EARBUDS OF THE YEAR OVER A$500
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 A$599
Judges' Comment: Reimagined, redesigned and reskilled, Bowers & Wilkins’ new flagship wireless earbuds hit all the spots missed by their predecessors, raising them to the top of the luxury earbud market.

Headphone amp

HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR
Yamaha HA-L7A A$6999
Judges' Comment: Far more than just a companion piece to the award-winning YH-5000SE headphones, the HA-L7A stands as a premium amplifier in its own right, elevating any high-end headphone.

OTHER CATEGORIES:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Below you will find all our Loudspeaker winners in the 2025 Sound+Image Awards. For other winners, just head to one of these pages:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

Standmounters

STANDMOUNT SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR UNDER A$2500
Richter Merlin S6plus A$1199
Judges’ Comment: Fresh revisions to this S6plus version raise the Australian company’s standmounts to even higher levels of engagement and musicality.

STANDMOUNT SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR A$2500-A$5000
DALI Rubikore 2 A$4199
Judges' Comment: Scandi-neat DALI standmounts with trickle-down technology and a wonderfully musical sound when well-partnered.

STANDMOUNT SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR OVER A$5000
Tannoy SGM 10 A$9999
Judges' Comment: Tannoy’s SGM 10s are dynamic and exciting-sounding loudspeakers with a beautifully-balanced presentation right across the full range of volume levels. They may look rather old-school, but they can still compete when it comes to performance.

Floorstanders

FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR UP TO A$10,000
March Audio Ukkonen AWG A$10,000
Judges' Comment: Australian-made floorstanders which leverage Danish drivers to deliver a powerful and thrilling performance, including bass extension which is extraordinary for any two-way loudspeaker system.

FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR A$10,001-A$20,000
AudioSolutions Figaro M2 A$16,000
Judges' Comment: Double-enclosure construction with striking design supports a superbly natural sound signature with deep bass extension from these gorgeous Lithuanian designs.

FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR A$20,000-A$50,000
VAF Signature i93 MKV A$21,999
Judges' Comment: Stunning Australian speakers, designed for absolute accuracy – and achieving it, through high-quality materials and expert engineering.

FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR OVER A$50,000
Estelon Extreme Mk II A$350,000
Judges' Comment: Incredible Estonian loudspeakers that astound with both their look and sound – $350k buys you the loudspeaker experience of a lifetime.

Streaming speakers

STREAMING SPEAKERS OF THE YEAR
Dutch & Dutch 8c A$25,995
Judges' Comment: Our hearts, minds and ears were captured utterly by these radical active speakers loaded with acoustic science and technology. You won’t believe your ears.

OTHER CATEGORIES:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Amplifier winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

DAC winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Below you will find all our Hi-Fi Amplifier winners in the 2025 Sound+Image Awards. For other winners, just head to one of these pages:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

Integrated amplifiers

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR UNDER A$1000
Rotel A8 A$649
Judges’ Comment: A compelling contender as a classic 30W amplifier: no streaming, no digital, but a level of performance impressive given its price point.

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR A$1000-A$2000
Onkyo TX-8470 A$1799
Judges' Comment: Welcome back Onkyo! The revived brand offers a high-featured amplifier here which has four HDMI inputs in addition to phono, line-level, digital, streaming, and 120W of Class-G power.

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR A$2000-A$5000
Electrocompaniet RENA SA2 A$2699
Judges' Comment: Hide it away or leave its shiny case on display, the little SA2 streaming amplifier provides a wealth of streaming options and solid Norwegian -designed power.

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR A$5000-A$10,000
Denon PMA-3000NE A$5999
Judges' Comment: An ‘analogue’ mode combines with digital convenience and high-current design in Denon’s powerful and unpretentious flagship stereo amplifier.

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR OVER A$10,000
Hegel H600 A$19,995
Judges' Comment: The Hegel H600 is not just integrated, it is complete – not just in power terms but with all reasonable features as well. This is a performer that is just about as good as they get.

Preamplifiers

PREAMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR UNDER A$20,000
McIntosh C2800 A$17,995
Judges' Comment: From phono stages to headphone performance and an impeccable level of configurability, this McIntosh preamplifier brings it all – and delivers..

PREAMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR OVER A$20,000
Halcro Equinox A$78,000 (standard finish), A$91,000 for Signature
Judges' Comment: This is world-class control: Halcro’s Equinox preamplifier proved to be perfectly presented and balanced from the deepest bass to the highest treble, zero background noise at any time, and an absolute lack of audible distortion.

Power amplifiers

MONO POWER AMPLIFIERS OF THE YEAR
March Audio P801 A$3500 each
Judges' Comment: Simple-looking black boxes they may be, but March Audio’s P801 power amps can deliver 1400W each into 2 ohms, with high-quality and Australian-optimised Danish Eigentakt amplification that makes them a steal at the price.

DACs

DAC OF THE YEAR UNDER A$5000
Topping DX9 Pro A$2199
Judges' Comment: With power, precision and clarity, the Topping DAC proved itself across all genres and headphones, delivering a genuinely high-end experience – indeed it may be impossible to surpass at its level.

DAC OF THE YEAR A$5000-A$10,000
Soulnote D-1N A$9000
Judges' Comment: The unusual option of operating in a non-oversampling mode is just one of the reasons the Soulnote D-1N is a unique DAC, and arguably the quietest we’ve ever encountered, delivering reference-quality music.

DAC OF THE YEAR OVER A$10,000
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista DAC A$20,000
Judges' Comment: Bringing cabinet heft and nuvistor valves to the DAC world, Musical Fidelity delivers breathtaking musicality worthy of the most serious audiophile consideration.

OTHER CATEGORIES:

Sound+Image Awards 2025 overview CLICK HERE

Vinyl winners CLICK HERE

Hi-Fi System winners CLICK HERE

Loudspeaker winners CLICK HERE

Audiovisual winners CLICK HERE

Headphone winners CLICK HERE

• Showcase! - world-class Australian home theatres & smart homes

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

The organisers of the Australian Hi-Fi Show report record attendance levels to the three-day event so far, with the Sydney Central Hotel near Central Station hosting four floors of suites and rooms containing hi-fi systems and home cinema demonstrations to visitors.

While some exhibits feature the highest of high-end hi-fi, there are plenty of real-world systems hoping to prove to the punters that you don't need a mortgage to bring real hi-fi sound home.

"I've always like the idea of these shows being a great opportunity to 'find your sound'," says Jez Ford, editor of Sound+Image magazine, one of the mastheads behind the event, along with Australian Hi-Fi magazine and the What Hi-Fi? global website. "With so many systems all set up and playing, especially up in the Corridor of Sound up on Level 9, you can walk into a room, listen to a song you know well and realise what you're missing at home listening just on a Bluetooth speaker or your TV. Hi-fi is about making music sound how the artist wants you to experience it, and a good hi-fi system doesn't have to cost the Earth."

The larger rooms at the Show provide space for visitors to sit and listen for longer periods. This can be important to appreciate what you're hearing, says Ford.

"It takes a while for your ears to get used to a room, let alone the sound of a system," he says. "I always tell people to take their time – nobody is going to chase you out of these rooms. Sit and enjoy the music. And the other great thing about Shows is you have experts on hand to answer any questions you have. Often the designers of the gear themselves may be in the room: it's a rare chance to meet and engage with these people."

There are also competitions and prizes at the Show, where you can win hi-fi gear, and vote for your favourite sound of the Show.

You can see the full line-up for the Show here; tickets are available HERE or on the door at the Sydney Central Hotel, Thomas St, Haymarket, a short walk from Central Station.

1. The Promoter is Future Publishing Australia Limited, Level 10, 89 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. ABN: 96734906323 Ph: (02) 9955 2677. (Future Australia)

2. The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 Competition is the Competition. Information on how to enter the competition forms part of the terms of entry. Entry into the competition is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

3. To the extent of any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and any other reference to this competition, these Terms and Conditions prevail.

HOW TO ENTER

4. The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 Competition is open to all individuals who have purchased a ticket to the 2025 Australian Hi-Fi Show. Entry is open to Australian residents except employees and immediate families of the Promoter and their associated companies and agencies and participating outlets. Immediate family means any of the following: spouse, ex-spouse, defacto spouse, child or step child (whether natural or by adoption), parent, step parent, grandparent, step grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, brother, sister, step brother, step sister or first cousin.

5. The winners must be Australian residents and provide full contact information. Opt-in entries will be included to receive newsletters and special offers from Future Australia and on behalf of Australian Hi-Fi Show sponsors and valued partners via email. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time.

6. All entrants under the age of 18 must obtain the prior permission of their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 to enter. The parent or guardian of the entrant must read and consent to all Terms and Conditions. The parent or guardian may be called to verify consent and may be required to sign a release at the discretion of the Promoter. The release will require the winner’s parent or guardian to accept responsibility for the acts and forbearances of the winner. The release will include the full name, address and telephone number of the winner's legal guardian. Failure to provide such proof, particulars or releases will immediately invalidate the winner's entitlement, subject to State and Territory legislation.

7. The Promoter reserves the right to request winners to provide proof of identity, proof of residency at the nominated prize delivery address and/or proof of entry validity or proof of registration ownership in order to claim a prize. Proof of identification, residency and entry considered suitable for verification is at the discretion of the Promoter. In the event that a winner cannot provide suitable proof, the winner will forfeit the prize in whole and no substitute will be offered.

8. The time of entry will in each case be the time the voting form is received by the Promoter, not at the time of submission by the entrant.

9. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any late, lost or misdirected entries not received by the Promoter or delays in the delivery due to technical disruptions, network congestion or for any other reason.

10. Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 attendees will be supplied with a competition entry card upon entry to the show. To enter, show attendees must (i) visit the vendors for any prizes their wish to be eligible and have their card for stamped by that vendor (ii) fill in their answer to question on the entry card: ‘Which room, for you, had the best sound and why?’ and (iii) complete their contact details including (but not limited to) full name, telephone number and e-mail address.

11. Entrants are required to take full responsibility for the content of their entry and for ensuring that their entry complies with these Conditions of Entry. Entries must be the entrant's original work. The Promoter reserves the right to verify, or to require the entrant to verify, that the entry is the entrant's original work. If an entry cannot be verified to the Promoter's satisfaction, the entry will be deemed invalid. The Promoter may, in its absolute discretion, edit, modify, delete, remove or take down any part of an entrant's entry.

12. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any entrant who tampers with the entry process, who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these Terms & Conditions of Entry, or who has, in the opinion of the Promoter, engaged in conduct in entering the Promotion which is fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or generally damaging to the goodwill or reputation of the Promotion and/or Promoter.

13. Entrants can enter once only.

DETERMINATION AND NOTIFICATION OF WINNERS

14. Anyone who completes and submits a valid entry card will be considered to have entered the prize draw.

15. Entries close at 4pm (AEST) on May 5, 2025.

16. The winners will be announced on www.whathifi.com on June 2, 2025, as well as published in the June/July 2025 issue of Sound+Image magazine (#357, on sale July 1, 2025).

DECIDING THE WINNERS

17. The winners in each category will be the valid entries submitted in accordance with these terms and conditions that are judged by the Australian Hi-Fi Show Executive Committee the best in their category. The Australian Hi-Fi Show Executive Committee will be comprised of representatives of Future Australia. The Committee’s decision is final. Winners will be selected by May 20, 2025 and notified by email.

18. This competition is a Game of Skill under Australian consumer law.

19. The Promoter's decision is final and the Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding the competition result or any other decisions the Promoter makes in connection with the Promotion.

20. Each winner will receive a prize. In any dispute, the Promoter’s decision is final.

21. Should an entrant's contact details change during the promotional period, it is the entrant's responsibility to notify the Promoter. A request to access or modify any information provided in an entry should be directed to the Promoter.

22. In the event the Promoter does not receive a reply from a notified winner within two-weeks confirming a) acknowledgement of winning a prize, and b) a business hours delivery address, the Prize will revert to an alternate winner without further notification.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

23. There are multiple prizes. Total prize pool less than AUD $15,000 RRP. Individual prizing does not exceed AUD $10,000 RRP. Shipping and warranty is the responsibility of each manufacturer.

24. Prize values are based upon the recommended retail prices at the time of publication (inclusive of GST). The Promoter accepts no responsibility for change in Prize value between now and the ultimate prize redemption date.

25. Independent financial advice should be sought as tax implications may arise as a result of accepting the Prize.

26. Prizes cannot be transferred, exchanged or redeemed for cash.

27. It is a condition of accepting the Prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use and the Prize suppliers’ requirements.

28. It is a condition of accepting the Prize that the winner may be required to sign a legal release in a form determined by the Promoter in its absolute discretion. If an entrant under 18 years of age wins a Prize then their parent or guardian must sign the legal release referred to in this clause on the minor's behalf.

29. The winners and any companions under the age of 18 must be accompanied by their legal parent or guardian over the age of 18 at all times.

FURTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS

30. The Promoter (subject to State and Territory Legislation) reserves the right to amend, cancel or suspend this competition if an event beyond the control of the Promoter corrupts or affect the administration security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this competition. The Promoter will disqualify any individual who has tampered with the entry process or any other aspect of this competition.

31. Future Australia and its associated agencies and companies assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, or alteration of entries, and reserves the right to take any action that may be available.

32. If for any reason this competition is not capable of running as planned, including due to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any causes beyond the control of the Promoter, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or integrity or proper conduct of this promotion, the Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, take any action that may be available, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition, subject to any direction given under State Regulation.

33. Any cost associated with accessing the promotional website is the entrant's responsibility and is dependent on the Internet service provider used.

34. Any entrant found to be entering incorrect contact details, including incorrect email contact details, will have all entries invalidated and any claim to any prize will be invalidated. If such an entrant is awarded a prize and then found to have breached this clause, the entrant must immediately return any item awarded to the Promoter. The Promoter has sole discretion to determine if this clause has been breached by any entrant. The Promoter reserves the right to request whatever documentation it deems necessary to confirm if the entrant has breached this clause. An entrant must provide any requested documentation to the Promoter upon request.

35. If the prize is unavailable, for whatever reason, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for a prize of equal or greater value, subject to State Regulation. It is a condition of accepting the prize that the winner must comply with all the conditions of use of the prize and prize supplier's requirements. Each prize must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if a winner is unable to use the prize as stated.

36. The Promoter highly recommends a current residential street address be provided when requested for ease of correspondence and potential prize delivery. The Promoter makes all reasonable efforts to deliver prize to the addresses provided by competition entrants. The Promoter cannot guarantee that any prizes returned to the Promoter due to non-delivery at the provided address will be re-sent to the prize winner. The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any damage to or delay in transit of prizes.

37. The Promoter reserves the right to re-determine the winner in the event of an entrant, claiming to be a winner, being unable to satisfy these Terms and Conditions.

WAIVERS AND LIABILITIES

38. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby permits the winner's submission, image and/or voice, as recorded, photographed or filmed during the winner's participation in the competition to appear in connection with Future Australia or the advertising or marketing thereof, in any media whatsoever throughout the world and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

39. In consideration for the Promoter awarding the prize to the winner, the winner hereby assigns to the Promoter all right, title and interest in and to all copyright and all moral rights in any material created pursuant to the winner's submission or participation in any aspect of the Prize (Works). The winner acknowledges that the Promoter is free to use the Works (including modifying, adapting or publishing the entry, whether in original or modified form, in whole or in part or not at all) and to exercise its rights in relation thereto and the winner will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

40. In the case of the intervention of any outside act, agent or event which prevents or significantly hinders the Promoter's ability to proceed with the competition on the dates and in the manner described in these terms and conditions, including but not limited to vandalism, power failures, tempests, natural disasters, acts of God, civil unrest, strike, war, act of terrorism, the Promoter may in its absolute discretion cancel the competition and recommence it from the start on the same conditions, subject to any directions given under State Regulation.

41. The Promoter does not exclude any rights and remedies in respect of goods or services under the Australian Consumer Law in the Competition and Consumer Act (2010) (Australian Consumer Law) which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified. However, the Promoter shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever which is suffered (including but not limited to indirect or consequential loss) or for any personal injury suffered or sustained in connection with any Prize/s except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. The Promoter is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, either caused by entrant or for any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilised in this competition, or for any technical error, or any combination thereof that may occur in the course of the administration of this competition including any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line or telephone, mobile or satellite network failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to or alteration of entries.

42. The Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who the Promoter has reason to believe has breached any of these conditions, or engaged in any unlawful or other improper misconduct calculated to jeopardise the fair and proper conduct of the promotion. The Promoter's legal rights to recover damages or other compensation from such an offender are reserved.

43. All entries become the property of The Promoter. All opt-in entries will be entered into a database and The Promoter may use the entrants’ names, addresses and telephone numbers for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes in any media worldwide without notice and without any fee being paid unless otherwise advised by the entrant. By opting-in, entrants confirm that they allow their details to be used for this purpose. Any request to update, modify or delete the entrant's details should be directed to The Promoter.

44. Entrants' personal information may be disclosed to State and Territory lottery departments and winners' names published as required under the relevant lottery legislation. A request to access, update or correct any information should be directed to the Promoter.

45. The Promoter collects information about you, including for example your name and contact details which you provide when registering or using our services as well as information from data houses, social media services, our affiliates and other entities you deal or interact with for example by using their services. We collect and use that information to provide you with our goods and services, to promote and improve our goods and services, to provide you with targeted advertising based on your online activities, for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy and for any other purposes that we describe at the time of collection. We may disclose your information to our related companies, including those located outside Australia. Any of us may contact you for those purposes (including by email and SMS) at any time. We may also disclose your information to our service and content providers, including those located outside Australia. If you do not provide us with requested information we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. We may disclose your personal information to authorities if you are an Award winner or otherwise as required by law. Further information about how we handle personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, how we will deal with a complaint of that nature, how you can access or seek correction of your personal information and our contact details can be found in our Privacy Policy at www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy/.

Prizes await at Sydney's premier hi-fi and video show, the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025, taking place in Sydney from Friday April 4th, Saturday 5th April, and Sunday 6th April 2025.

ADVANCE TICKETS are available: for best prices: BUY TICKETS HERE

VENUE: Same Show Home as last year: a short walk from Central Station to the wonderful Sydney Central Hotel managed by Ascott – a 4.5-star boutique Sydney hotel in Thomas St, Haymarket, in an easily accessible CBD location right in the heart of the city.

PRIZES!: Everyone who enters the Show gets a Competition Card, with the chance to win awesome AV and hi-fi products... these will include the following fabulous prizes!

Win ONKYO's TX-8470 Hi-Fi Network Stereo Receiver!

TO BE WON AT THE SHOW:
Built by and for audiophiles, the Onkyo TX-8470 Hi-Fi Network Stereo Receiver, valued at $1799, seamlessly blends exceptional audio fidelity for music lovers with modern connectivity options for hassle-free home entertainment.

...Built for the vinyl comeback era... Time to dust off that vintage vinyl collection…or start a new one! The Onkyo TX-8470 was designed specifically with record players in mind. Thanks to our patented discrete op amp circuitry and isolated MM/MC phono board, those delicate phono signals are kept safe from unwanted distortion for improved clarity and better overall audio performance.

...Audiophile streaming built-in... Experience effortless access to your favorite high resolution music streaming platforms. Working with partners at Roon, Tidal, Deezer and more, the Onkyo TX-8470 transforms your listening lounge into a sanctuary of hi-fi sound.

Win POLK AUDIO Signa S2 Universal TV Soundbar & Wireless Subwoofer!

TO BE WON AT THE SHOW:
The low-profile Polk Audio Signa S2 universal TV sound bar, valued at $499, delivers an incredible, room-filling home theatre experience –– far beyond anything you get from your TV’s small built-in speakers.

...Performance-tuned surround sound, performance tuned driver array, and Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding create incredible room-filling surround sound from a compact low-profile sound bar and wireless subwoofer.

...Easy set-up, low-profile design: enjoy quick, seamless connection to your TV. Slim size fits most spaces — easily wall-mount it or set it in front of your TV.

Win DENON Perl Pro True Wireless earbuds!

TO BE WON AT THE SHOW:
Discover uncompressed sound with both lossless and spatial audio technologies through Denon's Perl Pro True Wireless earbuds, valued at $549.

...Personalised sound: The Perl Pros allow you to create a personalized sound profile with Masimo Adaptive Acoustic Technology (AAT) for audio that is perfectly tuned to you.

...Top-quality codecs: Add CD-quality sound from Qualcomm aptX lossless technology and spatial audio from Dirac Virtuo for an unrivalled listening experience.

Individual rooms at the Show may bring their own prizes – for example, head to Yamaha's rooms for a chance to win the award-winning R-N1000A streaming amplifier, valued at $2299, bringing together Yamaha's expertise in 'making waves in your heart' with its streaming and multiroom MusicCast platform for the ultimate in high-quality convenience hi-fi.

• Get your Show Tickets HERE!

• Check out the attractions at the upcoming Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney!

The Bristol Hi-Fi Show is gone and dusted for another year. We've seen – and heard – some of the latest new audio products from some of the world's biggest hi-fi brands this weekend.

A staple of every hi-fi fan's calendar, the Bristol Hi-Fi Show is the UK's biggest and longest-running hi-fi show (now in its 36th year) and offers the general public a chance to experience exciting new audio products for the first time. Head to the show and you'll see evidence of the latest launches from the likes of Quad, Rega, Musical Fidelity, WiiM, Arcam, Cyrus, Wharfedale and more.

There’s also the annual What Hi-Fi? demo, where we show off some of the best audio-visual hardware currently available. The What Hi-Fi? editorial team will be at the show all weekend too, answering any questions you have.

Below you'll find our highlights from the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025, from hands-on photos, our favourite products (including a video) from the show and details on all the new products from all the brands exhibiting.

Highlights from the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025

• The 7 best speakers we saw at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025 – Ruark Audio, Wharfedale and more
• VIDEO: The 11 coolest audio treats I’ve spotted after 48 hours at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show

Over 150 audio brands are exhibiting at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025. You can see the full exhibitor list on the official Bristol Hi-Fi Show website. Below is a guide to what's on demo and the new products being launched at this year's show, including hands-on photos from the show.

Musical Fidelity
Musical Fidelity has launched two new goodies at Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025: the B1xi stereo amplifier and the B1xCD CD player. The B1xi is a Class A/B amplifier which houses oversized transformers for greater dynamic handling, packing 50 watts of power into 8 ohms and boasting the likes of HDMI ARC, coaxial, optical and phono inputs. The new disc spinner, meanwhile, is a tray load model with various analogue and digital outputs alongside front-mounted buttons, a headphone port and a central digital display. Read our Musical Fidelity news

Fyne Audio
The Scottish-based brand unveiled the new F500S mid-range speaker series at Bristol. A step up above the refreshed entry-level F500E line, the F500S range features Fyne's proprietary IsoFlare driver technology and consists of two standmounts and two floorstanders, available this spring. Read our Fyne Audio F500S news

Michell
Michell Engineering, famed for its iconic Gyro turntables, has unveiled an Apollo phono stage with a Muse power supply. The duo aims to reduce as much noise as possible from affecting vinyl reply, are made out of solid aluminium billet and have a specifically designed cable link. The duo will cost £3500 when it goes on sale in March. Read the Michell Apollo/Muse news

Neat Acoustics
Neat Acoustics has announced a sequel to its ultra-compact (and ultra-cute) Iota speakers, aptly named the Iota II. The new standmounts will be on show to the public for the first time at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025, featuring an upgraded mid/bass driver with the same footprint as the first-gen model in pursuit of a sound that goes well beyond their diminutive stature. Read the Neat Iota II news

Quad
Quad is set to demo two of its biggest recent launches at Bristol Show 2025. First up is the Quad 33/303 preamp and power amp which, as a reimagined version of the units from the 1960s, boasts new circuitry, a low-noise toroidal transformer and 50W of Class A/B power. Landing alongside the 33/303 will be a new pair of Quad ESL-2912X electrostatic speakers – this will be the first time Quad has revealed an electrostatic pair since 2012, making this something of a big deal. Read our Quad ESL and 33/303 news

Wharfedale
Tied to Quad's upcoming showcase will be a showcase of Wharfedale's Super Linton speakers. The new Quad 33 preamp and a pair of 303s will power a pair of the Super Linton, first launched last November and featuring upgrades to their cabinet, crossover and drive units, making for a combination that sounds too tantalising to miss. Read our Wharfedale Super Linton news

Wilson Benesch
Wilson Benesch has become something of a fixture at Bristol over the past few years, and 2025 is no different. The British brand will be launching a new pair of high-end floorstanders, the Horizon, joining the brand's established series of Fibonacci loudspeakers. We don't know the prices yet, but given that Wilson Benesch tends to operate well within the realm of at least five figures, don't expect any free samples to be given away if you're heading down this year. Read our Wilson Benesch Horizon news

Rega
We have a new Brio! The Brio Mk7 stereo amplifier has been unveiled, featuring digital inputs for the first time in the line's history. It sports the same half-width design but is a little bit deeper, has 50 watts per channel, an MM phono stage, and will cost £799. Read our Rega Brio Mk7 news

Rotel
Rotel's latest high-end Michi products will be on demo, mainly the Michi Q5 CD transport/DAC and X5 integrated amplifier, played through Spendor speakers. Other products on show are the Award-winning Rotel A8, the All and RA1592 integrated amplifiers, the CD14 CD player and the RA5000 streaming amplifier. Read our Rotel Michi Q5 news

Acoustic Energy
British loudspeaker brand Acoustic Energy has completely redesigned its mid-range 300 Series speakers, refusing to carry over a single part of the 2018 line to the new range. The redesigned line comprises the AE300² standmounts, AE309² and AE320² floorstanders and the AE307² centre channel and debuts a new mid-woofer, Reference Series cabinet technology and a tweeter design derived from the brand's Corinium floorstanders from 2024. Well worth a listen if you have the time. Read our Acoustic Energy 300 Series news

WiiM
The budget wonder that is WiiM has its Ultra streamer on show, but even more exciting is the debut of WiiM's first integrated stereo amp with no streaming. With the same design and footprint as the Ultra, the Vibelink Amp boasts 100W per channel into 8 ohms, a selection and analogue and digital connections and is set to cost around £320 when it launches in March.
Read the WiiM Vibelink Amp news

Pro-Ject
Pro-Ject isn't just about turntables, sometimes it does complete do-it-all systems with a turntable included! What you get with the Colourful Audio System 2 is the whole shebang, including a Debut Evo 2 record player, amplifier, stereo speakers, cables and a cartridge, all in a single box. It's even upgradable over time, so you can swap out elements as your confidence, and budget, grows. We wonder which of the seven available finishes it will be daubed in at Bristol... Read our Pro-Ject Colourful Audio System 2 news

Atacama Apollo
Inspired by HiFi Racks Ltd's Podium range, the new Apollo Podium 6 HiFi Rack and the Podium 10 AV support will make their debut at the Bristol Show. The two Podium equipment racks are made of solid European oak shelves and legs and will be available in three shelf heights for a modular design. The Apollo Storm 6 XL Limited Edition crafted from rare Sapelli Mahogany will also be shown, with limited supply of this hardwood available, meaning once stock is gone, it's likely gone forever.

Meze Audio
Meze's new Poet open-back headphones will be on show if you're heading down to Bristol, but if you're expecting this post to rhyme all the way through, we might struggle. Clocking in at a cool £1850 / $2000 / €2000, the Poet won't come cheap, but their decent pedigree, open-backed design and planar-magnetic drive design make them an intriguing proposition. Now that you know it, go and see the Poet. (Sorry.) Read our Meze Audio Poet news

Ruark Audio
Ruark Audio will be showcasing its new Sabre-R bookshelf speakers, which were revealed last year. The new standmounts deploy a two-way design with a 26mm silk dome tweeter and 15cm treated natural fibre cone mid/bass driver alongside a quoted sensitivity of 86dB/W/m. This will be the first time that Ruark has had a pair of passive speakers on demonstration at the show for over 20 years, so it's not one to miss! Read our Ruark Sabre-R news

PMC
PMC's Prodigy line blew us away last year, with both the Prodigy 1 standmounts and Prodigy 5 floorstanders earning five-star reviews and plenty of plaudits. PMC's new premium range, the Prophecy, consists of five new models – a standmounter, three floorstanders and a centre speaker – with each member using PMC's trustworthy transmission-line design alongside brand-new drive units across the board. If you're heading to the Bristol Show this year, the PMC room (the SS Great Britain Suite on the ground floor) isn't to be missed. Read our PMC Prophecy range news

Fiio
Fiio will be showing off an armful of its latest launches, including the new flagship FT7 over-ear headphones, the K17 headphone amp/DAC, the budget JM21 hi-res portable music player, and the retro-styled Snowsky Nano portable DAC. Read the Fiio FT7 headphones news

Kanto
Kanto's latest powered desktop speakers – named UKI – will be on show after their debut at CES earlier this year. The very small speakers have a curved cabinet, Bluetooth and physical connections and are set to cost just £199 per pair.

Cyrus Audio
Cyrus will be showcasing its latest 40 Series of hi-fi products, including the five-star 40 ST BluOS-powered music streamer and 40 AMP integrated that we've reviewed. The 40 CD player will also be on demo alongside the TTP turntable, all being played through Audio Physic's Sparks standmount speakers. The upcoming 40 PPA phono preamp will also be on display for a first look.

Devialet
Devialet is shooting for the stars (metaphorically at least) with its new Astra integrated streaming amplifier. As you'd expect from a company that tends to operate in a more rarefied atmosphere when it comes to cost and design, the new integrated amp looks divine (if you like that sort of thing) and costs an unholy $20,000. For that, you get 600 watts of power delivering "bar-raising" sonic performance alongside support for Google Cast, AirPlay, Bluetooth 5.3, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon Ready.

Diora Acoustics
Polish manufacturer Diora Acoustics is set to showcase its Polaris Series of loudspeakers at this year's Bristol Hi-Fi Show. We saw Diora at last year's event demonstrating its high-end Perun and Chors ranges, with this new line incorporating a passive radiator and high-quality components in pursuit of improved performance and exceptional sonic clarity. Definitely one to check out.

Lyngdorf Audio
Lyngdorf Audio's FR-2 floorstander, a speaker made for wall placement which saw the light of day last year, will be showcased at this year's Bristol Show. Compact, discrete-looking and designed "to work with the room acoustics rather than against them", the £2000 FR-2 could be a fascinating set of speakers if you're short on space but have a bit of cash to spend. Read our Lyngdorf Audio FR-2 news

Morgan Acoustics
If you want to experience a powerful, large-scale set of floorstanding loudspeakers, room 416 on the fourth floor of the exhibition might be the place to head first. The Ten-12 promise a wide frequency bandwidth, low distortion and a high dynamic range for a powerful, exciting performance – sounds good to us!

Ultrafide Audio
With its heritage in pro audio, Ultrafide is bringing its talents to the home market, unveiling the DIAS-U8 power amplifier at Bristol. This beast of an amplifier is so big it had to be situated on the floor in its demo room and features Class A/B amplification with a reported 1kW per channel. No word on pricing yet, but we imagine it'll be as massive as its ambitions.

Chord Electronics
Bristol showgoers will be treated to the UK debut of the quirky Suzi Pre and Suzi (power) amplifiers, which originally launched at High End Munich last year. The recently launched Alto headphone amplifier, which was originally developed for pro users, will also be on the stands. Read our Chord Suzi and Chord Alto news

Piega
The Swiss brand Premium Gen2 speaker range – comprising Premium 701 Gen2 floorstanders and the Premium 301 Gen2 standmounts – is heading to UK customers this Spring. Those heading to the Bristol Show will be able to see the Premium 301 Gen2 in action, so head to the Musical Fidelity room for a first look. Read our Piega Gen2 news

Optoma
It's rare to have a home cinema launch at the show, but Optoma will be bringing its newest UHZ68LV 4K laser projector. It has a claimed peak brightness of 5000 lumens, supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and 360-degree projection capability, and is set to cost £4000 when it launches later this year. Read the Optoma projector news

What Hi-Fi? demo
As has become tradition, we'll be showing off a spectacular AV demo throughout the show days. This year's demo centres around a whopping great 85in 8K Samsung TV where we'll go through the evolution of video formats leading to bespoke 8K content, while the 7.2 surround sound system will consist of Wharfedale Linton speakers – rather unconventional, but we thought we'd try something fun and different. The system will be powered by the mighty Marantz Cinema 30 AV receiver and we'll have one of Magnetar's premium 4K Blu-ray players as part of the demo too. Don't miss out!
Read the full details of the What Hi-Fi? demo

Deals & Competitions

The Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025 will be running its annual competition for showgoers, with over £18,000 worth of prizes to give away. Products you can win include the Naim Nait 50 and Cyrus 40 AMP integrated amplifiers, the new Rega Planar 3 RS Edition turntable, premium Dali IO-8 wireless headphones and even a newly launched pair of Acoustic Energy AE309² floorstanders. It's worth the price of admission alone to enter this giveaway, as you could walk away with a superb bit of hi-fi kit.

Exhibitors also tend to offer specific discounts (available at the show only) on the products they’re showing off, so if you’re on the hunt for a new speaker, amp or music streamer, it’s well worth checking who’s at the event using the full exhibitor list.

Ticket information

MORE:

These are the best speakers we’ve tested

We rate the best stereo amps

Our picks of the best music streamers you can buy

CES 2025 is coming to a close and our tired team of hi-fi and home cinema experts are packing up their bags to get the red-eye flight home. But as one final treat they have created a definitive shortlist of all the most impressive home cinema and audio hardware they saw at the show.

And what a list it is, with the world’s biggest tech show bringing everything from amazing new wireless earbuds and next generation OLED TVs to the surprise resurrection of a hi-fi heavyweight.

Here’s what you need to know about the products.

1. Technics EA-AZ100

Technics is well known for its hi-fi systems, turntables and speakers. To this day its SA-C600 just “add speakers” system remains a What Hi-Fi? Award winner and staple sight in our editor’s lounge, as well as our test rooms. But it's struggled to earn a perfect five-star rating with its wireless earbuds. That all changed at CES 2025 where it unveiled its new Technics EA-AZ100 earbuds.

Having had them in a good month before the event for review, we can confirm they are a true step forward for the brand. Featuring a wealth of new features that refine Technics' sound, adding the dynamics and oomph that were missing on past sets, they impressed our reviewers enough to earn a full five-star rating and a place among the best wireless earbuds currently available.

Read our full Technics EA-AZ100 review

2. Onkyo Icon A-50

Onkyo has a strong record in audio, particularly with its AV receivers. But since the brand filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and was then bought by Premium Audio Company (the parent company of Pioneer, Klipsch, Sharp and others) it went a bit quiet. For the past two years you’re more likely to have seen the branding on a TCL TV’s sound system than a speaker or hi-fi separate.

Thankfully that changed at CES 2025 where the brand unveiled its new line of Icon separates. These include a P-80 network preamplifier, the M-80 power amplifier and the A-50 streaming amplifier. For us the A-50 is the most interesting, as it targets the growing streaming amp market, which has been gaining popularity in recent years.

Featuring all the streaming smarts any modern music fan will need, along with Dirac room correction powers and Class A/B amplification, with 140 watts per channel into 8 ohms (or 180W into 4 ohms), it looks like an impressive piece of hardware – especially considering its $1499 price tag.

Hopefully it will deliver the goods sonically when / if we get it in for review. Either way, it’s one of the most interesting bits of audio hardware to appear at CES 2025.

Read the full story: Onkyo returns to hi-fi with the launch of Icon Series electronics at CES 2025

3. JBL Tour One M3

CES usually brings with it a wealth of affordable over-ear headphones, with most big-name brands hosting separate launch events for premium sets later in the year. Which is why we were surprised and delighted to see JBL buck the trend and use CES 2025 as the launch pad for its new flagship Tour One M3 wireless headphones.

As well as the usual driver, Bluetooth standard and design improvements, the headphones are particularly interesting as they have one key, atypical feature – a stand-alone transmitter.

The catchily named Smart Tx transmitter uses proprietary JBL tech to improve latency, stability and call quality when wire connected to the source. As an added bonus it also comes with a touchscreen to help you control music playback, call management, EQ settings and broadcast audio to Auracast-enabled devices.

Read the full story: JBL’s Tour One M3 flagship wireless headphones are smarter than your average over-ears

3. Fiio S15

Fiio, the brand behind some of our favourite portable DACs, picked CES 2025 as the launchpad for its new S15 music streamer. Designed to take on big names, including the five-star Cambridge Audio CXN100, the S15 may target an already competitive market, but from what we saw at the show, it is a technically impressive piece of hardware.

Highlights include a AK4191+AK4499EX DAC set-up, capable of streaming high-resolution audio files up to 32-bit/384kHz and the use of Fiio's custom digital audio purification system (DAPS). The latter is a technology that aims to reduce sonic jitter and let the streamer deliver a clearer, cleaner sound.

Add to this Roon-ready capabilities, Apple AirPlay 2, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer support, as well as Bluetooth streaming with aptX Adaptive and LDAC codec smarts, and it becomes a pretty enticing piece of hardware.

Read the full story: Fiio's triple drop includes a Cambridge Audio-rivalling music streamer with HDMI support

4. Samsung HW-Q990F

Samsung unveiled its latest flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar system, the HW-Q990F, at CES 2025. Why’s that a big deal? Because it is the follow up to the Award-winning Samsung HW-Q990D that we gave a perfect five-star rating to last year.

At first glance it doesn’t look like a huge upgrade on that model, featuring a fairly similar design outside of its subwoofer, which has been reworked from the inside out. But once we wrestled past the crowds to have an early listen to the unit, we came away impressed, with our staff writer, Lewis Empson, reporting:

“It would be an understatement to say we're quite excited to get the HW-Q990F into our AV testing room. After its predecessor proved to be a smash hit, we're eagerly waiting to see what this updated model can handle.”

Read our Samsung HW-Q990F hands on preview

5. Panasonic Z95B

Panasonic TVs have a strong track record in delivering “as the director intended” picture quality. That was certainly the case with the Panasonic Z95A we reviewed and gave five-stars to last year. Which is why we were excited when the Japanese home cinema giant unveiled its spiffy new Z95B flagship OLED TV at CES 2025.

The TV is interesting for a variety of reasons. First, because it has a new "Primary RBG Tandem Panel" and ThermalFlow cooling system.

The first of those is a new multi-layer OLED stack panel architecture that aims to boost max brightness levels, while simultaneously improving things including colour volume and accuracy. Considering how much we liked the Z95A, if it achieves even modest upgrades in either department when we get it in for review, the Z95B should be a solid performer and great choice for serious movie fans.

The second reason for our interest in this TV is that it has a new, more compact sound system. Specifically, Panasonic has reduced the TV’s thickness and weight by embedding new line-array side firing and height speakers into the edges of the chassis of the TV. Paired with a new 30W subwoofer, Panasonic claims this will allow the set to offer a much more expansive and dynamic sound than its predecessor.

Read the full story: Panasonic unveils its latest flagship OLED and Mini LED TVs at CES 2025

6. Hisense L9Q UST

Hisense has a strong track record in the Ultra Short Throw (UST) projector space. Jump over to our What Hi-Fi? Awards page and you’ll see both the Hisense PL1 and Hisense PX3-PRO won accolades last year.

Hence why we were excited when the Chinese giant launched its new LQ9 UST at CES 2025. The projector is available with five screen sizes – 100, 110, 120, 136, and 150 inches.

Hisense is pitching the L9Q as “the next leap in Laser TV technology” and made a load of big claims about its performance. These include a quoted 1500 nits full-screen brightness (when paired with an ultra-bright 2.9 grain screen) and 5000:1 contrast ratio.

Hisense also claims that the use of its proprietary TriChroma triple-laser light engine will let it cover 110% of the BT.2020 colour space favoured by creatives, meaning the picture will reveal “stunning details” lost on rival USTs. Add to this its 6.2.2 in-built sound system and it becomes a fairly enticing piece of hardware that we’ll be keen to test when it launches later this year.

7. TCL QM7K

Our editor (me) penned a feature detailing why what’s going on with Mini LED at CES 2025 is super interesting. The new TCL QM6K is a big reason why.

This is because the TV features a number of never-before-seen technologies. These include Precise Dimming Micro OD.

The tech works to improve screen quality and reduce blooming – a common issue on Mini LED TVs where there’s an unwelcome glow around bright sections of a picture over a dark background.

On the one hand it does this by reducing the optical distance between the backlight and diffuser plate.

But the panel tech also uses smaller Mini LEDs with RGB, rather than the standard all-blue backlight, that don’t need to pass through the red quantum dot layer of the screen to create colours – in theory making them more vibrant and accurate.

We had a brief look at the hardware at TCL’s stand and found it is at the very least interesting, and we are keen to get the new unit in to see how it performs in our viewing rooms, when the QM6K launches later this year.

Read the full story: TCL announces first 'Precise Dimming Series' QD-Mini LED TV at CES

8. LG G5

LG is one of the biggest names in OLED TVs, and its sets have a strong track record, with two out of the three top sets we recommend in our best OLED TV guide currently coming from the Korean giant.

Which is why we were excited when it unveiled its new flagship LG G5 OLED at CES 2025. The G5 is especially exciting for two reasons. First, because it features new four-stack OLED technology, which replaces MLA.

This has the same goal of boosting brightness levels. LG specifically claims the tech means the G5 can go 40 per cent brighter than the G4 when it comes to full-screen brightness – which considering how bright the older model is would make it an outright cornea scorcher.

Second, because it comes with a 48-inch option – a smaller size usually reserved for step-down OLED models, such as the LG C5 which the G5 launched alongside.

Add to this the wealth of processing and refresh rate boosts common to all the flagship OLEDs we saw at CES 2025 and the G5 earns a place as one of the show's shining stars.

Read the full story: LG announces G5, C5, B5 and M5 OLED TVs, none of which features MLA technology

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Our picks of the best wireless headphones

Admittedly this list would be a lot longer and more fun to write if a device didn’t have to make a sound, produce a picture or do both to feature on it. This is whathifi.com, after all. CES remains as odd as it’s ever been, with this year’s wackiest reveals including a clip-on furry monster robot thing, a spoon that makes meals taste saltier, and an iPad that bricks when you die. But the quirkiness can, thankfully, only go so far in the AV and audio world.

Still, three companies in it certainly managed to raise eyebrows this week…

Displace TV’s wirelessness and suction-cup wall-mount

I first came across Displace’s futuristic TV concept a couple of CES shows ago when it showcased "the world's first truly wireless TV," which is powered with rechargeable batteries, exclusively controlled via touch, hand gestures and voice assistants, and can be stuck to a wall simply through its proprietary, suction-cup-like ‘active-loop vacuum technology’. The panel – or panels, you can put several together to make up a 110-inch viewing area – wirelessly connects to a base unit that does require power from an electrical outlet. And of course, AI agents are on the menu, baked into the TV’s operating system to do much more than you would ever probably require of it.

Making headlines again at CES, this time as more of a fully realised product it would seem, the Displace TV looks finally ready to be stuck to walls in actual homes. In America, anyway. ‘March 2025’ is the shipping date according to Displace’s website.

If you thought all that convenience and innovation would cost a body part, you would be right. The 27-inch (!) stand-featuring (no wall-mounting) Basic model costs $1499 if bought during the CES period, or $2499 thereafter, while the 55-inch model is $2499 now or $3499 later. Similarly, the wall-mountable Pro model with an integrated speaker system is $2999 or $3999 at 27 inches, and $4999 or $5999 at 55 inches.

The TV seems to be the picture of convenience (albeit not for your wallet) and certainly lives up to the company’s name, though while it does sport an OLED panel (of some sort), I can’t exactly see it appealing to a home cinema enthusiast!

The AirStudio One – not just a microphone

If there’s one thing CES isn’t short of, it’s content creators – and many of them attending the show this week would no doubt have been intrigued by startup Hisong's latest innovation, spotted by Engadget and winner of a 2025 CES Innovation Award.

What looks like simply a microphone is actually a portable studio recording in your hand – a 4-in-1 device that comprises a wireless condenser microphone, a pair of earbuds (hidden inside), a mixer and an audio interface (built-in processor and companion app) in one neat little tool. The idea is that a podcast, a vocal track or a voice-over for a video etc could be easily created – from recording to mixing – on the go.

It’s retro-styled too, making it a cool creator companion (at least until the retro fad ends).

Audfly’s private soundstage, just for you

OK, so I have another product that’s a little leftfield of What Hi-Fi?’s usual product focus here – a PC, specifically the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 6. But what’s interesting is the audio technology it features.

Audfly's Focus Sound Technology essentially controls the direction and angle of audio output to create a private soundstage that others in the room cannot hear (or hear less). I’ve seen similar sound-directional tech being used to create highly localised bubbles of audio before in a few home speakers, and I have to say the idea that certain home or on-the-go entertainment devices such as iPads could be less noisy without requiring headphones does appeal.

With the promise of private sound in an open area, you can see why it makes sense in a computer (especially a work computer) application. Audfly does say, however, that this marks “the first step in the expansion of Audfly's Focus Sound Technology into a wider range of product formats”. Indeed it has already teamed up with Tencent Games to include the technology in a new 3D (somehow) handheld gaming console too.

MORE:

CES 2025 news: the latest from the world's biggest tech show

Forget the rest, these are the two pairs of wireless headphones I'm most excited about from CES 2025

Two huge Micro LED TVs launched at CES 2025 – could OLED finally get a proper rival?

January is here which means the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025) in Las Vegas is well underway, bringing with it a wealth of new home cinema and smidgeon of hi-fi launches.

Live on the ground our team of experts are fighting through the hordes of competing tech press and buyers at the show to get an opening hands on look at all the new tech, which this year includes everything from cutting edge new MicroLED TVs to affordable turntables.

In this live blog we’ll be constantly updating you with all the latest news, images and our team on the ground’s hands-on impressions of the new home cinema and hi-fi products. So make sure to keep checking back regularly!

CES 2025: the biggest home cinema and hi-fi reveals so far

• Onkyo returns to hi-fi with the launch of Icon Series separates
• LG's 2025 OLED TVs unveiled – we've been hands-on with the LG C5
• Hands-on with the Samsung HW-Q990F Dolby Atmos soundbar and Samsung S95F flagship QD-OLED TV
• HDMI 2.2 has been revealed
• Hisense launched the "world's first consumer-ready" MicroLED TV
• Hot-off-the-press is our full Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds review

Live updates

LG’s new OLED TVs came with a few big surprises

CES 2025 kicked off with a big launch from LG, which unveiled its G5, C5, B5 and M5 OLED TVs.

At a technical level the G5 and M5 are in most ways the most interesting. The G5 because it replaces the award winning, brightness boosting Micro Lens Array (MLA) screen tech we liked so much on last year’s LG G4 with new ‘Brightness Booster Max’. It’s also the first G-series to be offered with a 48-inch option – a fact that delighted our editor. The M5 is interesting because it’s a new completely wireless OLED from LG that shares most of the core DNA as the G5.

But it was the LG C5 that our intrepid staff writer, Lewis Empson, managed to get an in person demo of at the show. And while it may not a appear to be a huge upgrade on last year’s model based off its specifications, he came away with a positive impression of the set reporting:

"We're looking forward to getting the C5 into our TV testing space to ascertain exactly how much of an upgrade it is over the C4. Signs are pointing in the right direction, with its brighter panel and excellent feature set, but we're also concerned that the C5 is an incremental upgrade, much like how the C3 was to the C2.”

Read his full LG C5 hands-on preview here.

JBL’s Tour One M3 flagship wireless headphones are stuffed full of fancy features

It's Harry here, jumping in to update the live blog as CES 2025 continues to drop products and make earth-shattering announcements at an alarming pace. My fingers can only type so fast...

Some of us (me, mainly) were quietly hoping for the long-awaited debut of the JBL Flip 7 or even the Charge 6 to knock the socks off Bluetooth speaker fans everywhere, but a new pair of wireless over-ears isn't to be sniffed at. The JBL Tour One M3 flagship cans are absolutely stuffed with features and fancy tricks, supporting Bluetooth 5.3 and 24-bit/96kHz high-res audio and packing in 40mm mica cone drivers. Oh, and you get a whopping 70 hours of battery life and a remarkable five hours of juice from a five-minute charge. Incredible stuff.

Perhaps the biggest draw of the new flagship cans is their Smart Tx wireless audio transmitter. Doing the same job as the transmitter found in some of JBL's much-talked-about smart charging cases (see the Tour Pro 3 buds, for example), the Smart Tx enables wireless streaming from a source which doesn't have Bluetooth, such as an in-flight entertainment system or an old telly. Pretty clever, right?

We had an early listen to Samsung’s latest flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar package

Samsung’s 2024 flagship soundbar package, the Samsung HW-Q990D was one of the best surround sound systems to launch last year. Which is why it earned high praise and a five-star rating from our testers and What Hi-Fi? Award.

Which is why we have high hopes for its follow up, Samsung HW-Q990F system which launched this week at CES 2025.

While the system’s design hasn’t had a big refresh Samsung’s loaded a number of key upgrades into the Samsung HW-Q990F – chief of which is the new wireless subwoofer, which has been reduced in size.

Thankfully, having fought past the crowds to have an early listen our team on the ground at the show came away with positive impressions of the unit, reporting:

“It's too early to say, but the Samsung HW-Q990F is already showing signs of being a promising sequel to an Award-winning Dolby Atmos soundbar package.”

Read our full Samsung HW-Q990F hands-on preview.

Onkyo announces its new Creator Series of affordable powered desktop speakers

Onkyo is just one of many brands using CES 2025 as a chance to show off some juicy new tech to the general masses. The Japanese company unveiled its budget Creator Series of desktop powered speakers at the Las Vegas expo, aimed at those users who crave quality and convenience but don’t want to fork out a huge wad of cash in the process. Enter the GX10DB and GX30ARC.

Both sets of speakers pack Class D amplification, with the GX10DB offering 34W of total power against the 50W of the GX30ARC. The GX10DB pairs a 7.6cm woofer with a 2cm tweeter, while the more powerful GX30ARC uses the same tweeter but boasts a larger 10cm woofer instead. That's to be expected, as the latter speaker is the more costly option at $299, a good $100 more than the $199 asking price of the GX10DB.

If you're worried about mounts and stands, don't be. Both new pairs come fitted with a speaker stand/base angled up at ten degrees to take into account your sitting position. You even get a handy remote control as standard and a monochromatic choice of black or white finishes – those icy white examples in the press pics look pretty sharp to us.

Onkyo returns to hi-fi with the launch of Icon Series electronics at CES 2025

Desktop speakers are all well and good, but the big Onkyo news is that the Japanese brand has returned to the world of hi-fi. Hooray! Onyko has also used CES 2025 to launch its new Icon Series of hi-fi separates, consisting of the P-80 network preamplifier, the M-80 power amplifier and the A-50 streaming amplifier. Happy days.

Onkyo filed for bankruptcy back in 2022, so to see them make a triumphant return to the hi-fi realm is extremely gratifying for long-term fans and followers. Now owned by the Premium Audio Company, Onkyo envisions that the Icon Series will continue the company's legacy of "delivering unparalleled audio experiences for audiophiles" as part of the brand's "bold new vision for the future".

Check out our news story for the full-fat details, but we can tell you in our potted version here that all of the new amps are equipped with Onyko's DIODRC tech which looks to reduce higher frequency noise and improve audio signal reproduction for a more authentic sound signature. The trio all feature the same 5mm front panel, and you even get lovely glowing VU meters under glass on the M-80 power amp. Ah, glowing VU meters...

All three newbies will be available in silver or black finishes, but they won't be arriving properly until Q4 of 2025. The Icon P-80 and Icon M-80 will cost $1999 each, while the Icon A-50 will cost $1499, and we'll let you know when we get further pricing for other regions. For now, though, we're excited to see if our wait for the return of Onkyo has been worth it. Fingers crossed!

Samsung’s latest flagship QD-OLED looks swish

The LG C5 is one of many new TVs we’ve looked at in the past 24 hours. Our staff writer, Lewis Empson also elbowed his way into Samsung’s showroom to have an opening look and demo of the Korean firm’s latest S95F flagship QD-OLED.

The TV is the follow-up to the Samsung S95D, which earned a five-star rating from our reviewers last year, and a direct rival to the LG G5, which also launched at CES 2025. The TV has a wealth of upgrades on last year’s model, but the headline upgrade is its new QD-OLED panel. Samsung hasn’t confirmed if the panel is a true new generation of the tech or modest refinement, but it does quote it as being 30 per cent brighter than its predecessor. Considering how bright we found the S95D could run, that's a pretty bold claim.

Viewing conditions at the demo were far from ideal, so we’re holding off any firm judgements for now, but from what we saw, it could be a big upgrade and we’re very keen to get it into our test rooms for the full review treatment.

Read our full Samsung S95F hands-on preview.

TCL wants to fix a recurring problem we have with Mini LED TVs

We had a mixed relationship with flagship Mini LED TVs last year, with most proving good, but not perfect. Which is why at CES 2025 we were pleased to see TCL make steps to fix one big recurring issue we have with Mini LED TVs with its latest QM6K television.

As well as the usual brightness improvements, the TV is set to launch with new Micro OD technology. We haven’t had a hands on with the TV yet, but the tech is interesting as it aims to reduce blooming, or the halo effect, as it’s sometimes called.

This is a distracting screen phenomenon where bright objects on a dark background suffer from an unintended glow effect. The tech works to reduce it by reducing the optical distance between the backlight and diffuser plate – a move that according to TCL improves uniformity by 86 per cent, resulting in a 67 per cent reduction in blooming artefacts.

While those numbers are oddly specific if the tech works this could help fix one of our biggest issues with Mini LED sets.

Read the full story: TCL announces first 'Precise Dimming Series' QD-Mini LED TV at CES

There's a new HDMI specification in town

HDMI 2.2 is official. That's right, if you've been closely following the evolution of the HDMI specification you'll know it's been a while since HDMI 2.1 made its debut - 2017 to be precise. And at CES 2025 we have finally been given more information on the specs of its successor.

So, what can you expect? Faster 96Gbps bandwidth is on the list together with Latency Indication Protocol (LIP), which promises to improve audio and video synchronisation, especially when using an AVR or soundbar. It also priomises support for higher resolutions and refresh rates (although no specifics were shared), alongside more immersive applications such as augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality.

Read the full story: HDMI 2.2 has been revealed – and it could be a big upgrade for next-generation OLED TVs and projectors

Hisense claims it’s made the world’s first “consumer-ready” Micro LED TV

Micro LED panel technology isn’t anything new. Over the past few years we’ve seen everything from giant, whole wall-sized units to transparent concept TVs featuring the panel tech – usually at CES.

But this year, rather than weird gimmicky features to get the headlines Hisense chose to launch what it calls the first “consumer-ready” TV featuring the panel tech. Specifically, it showed off a new 136MX MicroLED TV.

While it doesn’t have a price and there’s no sign it will actually launch or retail at a normal store, the TV is on paper exactly what Hisense describes – a normal TV with a Micro LED panel. The set features a similar CPU to Hisense consumer models, supports standard HDR formats, features regular HDMI 2.1 and eARC inputs and runs on the same VIDAA software as its normal Mini LED sets.

Read the full story: Hisense launches first “consumer-ready” Micro LED TV at CES 2025 – but should OLED be worried?

Technics celebrates its Diamond anniversary by launching new flagship earbuds – and we've already reviewed them

Technics is kicking off its 60th-anniversary celebrations at CES by launching new flagship wireless earbuds, the EAH-AZ100. And thanks to early access, our reviews team has been testing a pair for a month and has already reviewed them. You can read our just-published Technics EAH-AZ100 review, which details how they compare to the premium entries from class leaders Sony and Bose.

The EAH-AZ100 have been redesigned over their predecessors to offer a smaller, more lightweight shape; they sport brand-new Magnetic Fluid Driver technology; and they are packed with features, including Bluetooth Multipoint, Dolby Atmos spatial audio capabilities with dynamic head tracking, and support for the higher-quality LDAC codec, as well as Auracast support.

Technics has been savvy in keeping the price consistent from the previous flagship AZ80 earbuds while offering significant improvements across the board. Is it a gamble that has paid off? Read our EAH-AZ100 review to find out...

Panasonic drops TWO flagship TVs – one Mini LED, one OLED

Panasonic is sticking with the two-pronged approach for its flagship models, giving consumers the choice between OLED and Mini LED panel technology.

You can read the full details of Panasonic's 2025 TVs at CES 2025, written by our TV man on the ground, Lewis, or you can settle for this brief blog bulletin...

The big news for the OLED (Z95B) is that, like the new LG G5, it has dropped MLA-OLED panel technology in favour of the just-announced multi-layer OLED stack panel composition, which Panasonic is calling a "Primary RBG Tandem Panel". The promise is "unprecedented brightness, high contrast, and exceptional colour volume".

The return of the integrated Dolby Atmos sound system (not a common TV feature by any means) sees a supposedly sleeker design and bolstered audio performance.

As for the Mini LED (W95B), we can expect a significant picture upgrade over last year's W95A courtesy of 2.5 times more backlighting zones and more granular control over each LED, a newly developed colour gamut backlight system and the introduction of Hybrid Tone Mapping to enhance HDR performance.

A more budget-orientated LCD (W70) TV is launching exclusively in the US, too.

Read the full story: Panasonic unveils its latest flagship OLED and Mini LED TVs at CES

We took an early look at how the LG C5 compares to the older LG C4 OLED TV

Whenever a new OLED comes out, the more enthusiastic home cinema fans among us always want to know if it’s time to upgrade or how it compares to the previous generation. We only had an opening hands-on look at the LG C5, so it’s way too early to make any final conclusions. But to help offer an early inkling, our team on the ground put together a quick guide detailing the key differences between it and the older LG C4. In it we detail the technical differences and share some of our opening impressions of the C5, which we had a demo of at the CES 2025 LG stand.

Read our full LG C5 vs LG C4 comparison here.

Vicrola launched a new all-in-one vinyl system

Victrola chose CES 2025 as the launch pad for its new Wave all-in-one vinyl system.

Featuring a turntable with an Audio-Technica AT-VM95E cartridge included and stereo Victrola Tempo desktop speakers the system’s all any newbie will need to take their first dip into vinyl. But, as an added perk the system also has wireless smarts, with the package supporting Bluetooth 5.4, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, and Auracast.

While we’re yet to review it, so can’t comment on performance this could make it an enticing bit of hardware for an vinyl curious buyer when it launches in spring this year with a $399 / £399 / €499 RRP.

Kanto Audio's UKI tiny speakers could be a big deal

The What Hi-Fi? team has long championed the need for more small, but awesome sounding speakers as it's currently a very underserved market dominated by KEF and Ruark. Which is why we were delighted to see Kanto unveil its new dinky UKI desktop speakers at CES 2025.

Starting with the obvious, they’re outright tiny measuring in at 6.5in/16.5cm tall and 4.3in/11cm wide. For context that means they’re even smaller than our favourite compact powered speakers, the Ruark Audio MR1 Mk2.

Under the hood they feature a 1/4in (6.35mm) silk dome tweeter and a 3in (7.6cm) concave cone mid/bass drive – sadly there’s no word on amplification ratings yet. On top of that the addition of Bluetooth wireless connectivity as well as RCA line level input, a USB-C port, a subwoofer output and a 3.5mm headphone jack cabled inputs make them fairly flexible.

If they can deliver decent audio this could make them a great option for people short on space, or music fans looking for an affordable set to pair with the MacBook – especially as they’re set to be super cheap and retail for just £199 / $199 when they launch later this year.

Read the full story: These tiny, desktop-friendly speakers aim to offer "exceptional sound clarity" in an affordable package

Hi-fi hit upgraded with AV features and more

Chinese-based audio brand Eversolo is behind some of today's most intuitive, feature-packed and forward-thinking music streamers, and its latest arrival looks to build on the DMP-A6 we awarded four stars to.

The new DMP-A6 Gen 2 brings a smattering of upgrades to the well-designed and decent-sounding streamer, including HDMI ARC and Trigger-out connectivity for easier home cinema integration; an enhanced linear power supply that supposedly reduces noise levels; the ability to wake up the streamer through the app, without manual operation; improved colour accuracy for its six-inch touchscreen; and a "significantly upgraded” XMOS audio chip that can decode native DSD512 and PCM 32-bit/768kHz.

Eversolo certainly seems keen to keep the buzz around its streamers alive, so needless to say it is a brand we're keeping a close eye on.

Read the full story: Eversolo follows up its hi-fi hit with the upgraded DMP-A6 Gen 2 music streamer

If you're thinking about dipping your toe into vinyl this year then Victrola's new Wave budget Bluetooth turntable (above) could be one to consider. It supports Bluetooth 5.4, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, and Auracast and comes fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-VM95E cartridge. The asking price will be $399 / £399 / €499.

Victorla has also announced its new Harmony all-in-one turntable-based system with Bluetooth connectivity and matching speakers. The deck supports 33 ⅓, 45 and 78 RPM and comes fitted with an Audio-Technica ATN3600L cartridge. The whole package can be yours for a ridiculously low $199 / £199 / €249.

Two sets of potentially game changing headphones have caught our eye...

With CES 2025 just beginning to wind down a little, it's time to reflect on the best and brightest offerings from the Las Vegas expo. We saw plenty of budget earbuds and headphones revealed as part of the January showcase, and that's never a bad thing if the quality is up to standard, but it's two rather different, more premium sets that are setting our hearts all aflutter.

The first are the Technics EAH-AZ100, a premium pair of wireless earbuds that, following our recent five-star review, we feel could genuinely go up against the best that Sony and Bose have to offer. They're majestically clean and detailed to the point where we think they have their rivals beaten for clarity and textural insight, and if the Sony WF-1000XM6 are unveiled later this year, that could be a clash for the ages.

The second are the JBL Tour One M3 over-ears, a flagship set of cans that serve up 24-bit/96kHz high-res audio support, active noise cancelling and up to 70 hours (!) of battery life. They've also got the considerable boon of their clever charging "case" audio transmitter which allows audio transmission from "dumb" analogue sources provided they have a 3.5mm connection. They also have Auracast capabilities, something which could open up the Tour One M3 to a massive set of compatible wireless sources if the tech continues to take off.

CES might be winding down, but there's plenty to be excited about in the coming weeks and months, then.

Brands are changing the way they talk about Micro LED TVs

Micro LED concept TVs have been a staple sight at CES for a while. Over the past few years we've seen everything from giant sets measured in meters and feet rather than inches to see through concept sets with the panel tech. But, having done the leg work through the show and chatted to every TV maker we could, we noticed a profound change in the language used about Micro LED. Specifically, for the first time key brands including Samsung and Hisense talked about the tech being "ready".

Read the full story: Two huge Micro LED TVs launched at CES 2025 – could OLED finally get a proper rival?

We had an opening look at how LG’s new flagship OLED compares to its predecessor

The LG G5 was one of the most interesting OLED TVs to come out of CES 2025.

Highlights include a new Brightness Booster Max technology that replaces MLA, completely new AI-focused chipset and atypically small for a flagship 48-inch size option.

Which is why our staff writer, Lewis Empson, took the time to muscle his way past the crowds and take an opening look at it during the show (hands-on preview incoming). Here to help explain its other big differences, and our early impressions of how they impact performance compared to last year’s five-star LG G4, we penned this guide.

Read our full LG G5 vs LG G4 guide.

Our team reveal the best of CES 2025

CES 2025 is coming to a close and our reporters on the ground are packing their bags and preparing for the flight home. But ahead of that they've penned this fantastic guide detailing the top audio and home cinema products they saw at the show. These range from fantastic new Mini LED and OLED TVs to a surprise launch from one of hi-fi's most iconic Japanese brands.

Read the full story: Best of CES 2025: next-generation OLED TVs, 5-star earbuds and a hi-fi surprise

Every January, the great and the good of the consumer technology world descend on Las Vegas for CES, one of the largest consumer tech shows around. As well as an industry meet-up, it's a major launching pad for many brands and products we'll see come to market throughout the year – and there's plenty to get excited about in 2025.

TVs generally take centre stage, and in 2025 that looks no different, with LG, Samsung and Panasonic all showcasing their flagship ranges for the year – and Mini LED is playing a big part. That's not all, though, as we're also seeing new home cinema systems, a new HDMI standard and a host of audio goodies to get excited about.

• Follow all the CES 2025 news live

The action kicked off on Sunday, January 5th and will continue all week, and we've got roving reporters on the ground at the show checking out the latest products at the massive expo. We'll be updating this page daily to ensure that you don't miss out on all of the freshest news as it emerges.

CES 2025: latest news

4K QLED displays with HDR are coming to Delta’s in-flight entertainment experience
The only way to fly. Delta's in-flight entertainment system is being upgraded to 4K QLED displays with HDR, making for a much more immersive viewing experience at 30,000 feet. The new screens promise “a high-contrast, vibrant theatre-like viewing experience that looks as great onboard as it does at home”. It's a good excuse to book a flight come 2026, when the rollout starts. Read the full Delta story

Samsung TV owners rejoice – Disney+ will start streaming in HDR10+
Disney+ is throwing its support behind Samsung's format of HDR. The streaming service will soon support HDR10+, while continuing to support Dolby Vision and HDR10. Samsung's TVs support HDR10+ but not Dolby Vision, so Disney's addition will be welcomed by owners of Samsung TVs looking to enjoy its content in high dynamic range. Read the full Disney+ story

Pro-Ject's affordable turntable range promises high-fidelity sound and versatile features
The T1 Evo range updates 2019's T1 line, and comprises three models: a standard T1 Evo, a T1 Evo Phono that includes a switchable MM phono stage, and an aptX HD Bluetooth-equipped T1 Evo BT for wireless streaming. With prices starting at £359, this is hi-fi for the masses. Read the full Pro-Ject story

Denon and Dirac team up for new 22-speaker car audio concept with Dolby Atmos
Denon and Dirac have worked together on plenty of other devices – Dirac's Virtuo spatial audio technology can be found in the Denon PerL Pro wireless earbuds – and now they've kitted out a Tesla Model Y with a 22-speaker system. It's just a concept for now, but it aims to "set new standards in immersive, spatialized sound in the vehicle environment”. Sounds perfect for a road trip. Read the full Denon and Dirac story

These affordable open wireless earbuds combine all-day comfort with a "cinematic" listening experience
The Soundpeats PearlClip Pro have an open design, letting you hear your surroundings as well as your music. A dual 12mm magnetic driver setup promises an "open soundstage" and "true cinematic experience", with a more balanced sound supposedly on the cards thanks to their automatic left/right channel adaptation. Can Soundpeats beat open earbuds bigwigs Bose and Huawei at their own game? Read the full Soundpeats story

These tiny, desktop-friendly speakers aim to offer "exceptional sound clarity" in an affordable package
Kanto Audio's UKI speakers are teeny – just 6.5 inches/16.5cm in height and 4.3 inches/11cm in width. Their curvy design is a refreshing change from the standard boxy look, and they come in four fetching finishes: sage, cobalt, black and white. Read the full Kanto Audio story

Victrola drops Bluetooth turntables with streaming smarts and an all-in-one vinyl system at CES 2025
Victrola is one of the leading lights of the Bluetooth turntable world, and its latest model, the Wave has plenty going for it. It supports Bluetooth 5.4, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, and Auracast, and has a phono output, MDF plinth and aluminium platter. The brand also announced a pair of desktop speakers, an updated Victrola Stream Onyx Works With Sonos turntable and the Harmony turntable system which comes with speakers for a complete out-of-the-box set-up. Nice. Read the full Victrola story

Panasonic unveils its latest flagship OLED and Mini LED TVs at CES 2025
It wouldn't be CES without plenty of TVs, and that's what Panasonic has provided. The Z95B follows the Z95A as its flagship OLED model, with new design, new OLED panel technology, and a new speaker system. And the W95B is its top-of-the-range Mini LED TV. Expect an upgraded picture experience and enhancements to Dynamic HDR. Read the full Panasonic story

Technics celebrates 60th anniversary with AZ100 flagship wireless earbuds
Technics is 60, and doesn't it look good for its age? It certainly does with these EAH-AZ100 wireless earbuds. We've had a pair for a while now, and have awarded them five stars in our review, so suffice to say they're a stunning pair. True challengers for the high-end wireless earbud crown, in fact. Read the full Technics story

Yaber drops 2 new projectors to take on Hisense and Samsung at CES 2025
The K300s is an ultra-short throw model, while the L2 Plus is a more affordable proposition. It's a clear attempt from Yaber to take on Hisense and Samsung in these respective markets. Read the full Yaber story

JLab's eye-popping budget earbuds pack a raft of features in a colourful, inexpensive package
JLab might have unveiled new over-ear headphones and on-ear cans, but it's the budget wireless earbuds that caught our attention thanks to their eye-popping colours. The Go Pop ANC come in six striking finishes: black, fuchsia, teal, transparent neon green, transparent purple and transparent teal. Battery life is 24 hours, while inside are 10mm dynamic drivers. Read the full JLab story

Onkyo returns to hi-fi with the launch of Icon Series electronics at CES 2025
Onkyo has returned to hi-fi, and in a big way. Not only did the brand launch an affordable Creator Series of powered desktop speakers, it also unveiled new Icon Series hi-fi separates, comprising the P-80 network preamplifier, the M-80 power amplifier and the A-50 streaming amplifier. They look to return to Onkyo's original mission of "delivering unparalleled audio experiences for audiophiles". And it looks like a triumphant return for the brand that filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Read the full Onkyo story

LG's partnership with will.i.am launches three Bluetooth speakers and a pair of noise-cancelling wireless earbuds
You can't keep a good man down, or will.i.am. Having previously launched his own iPhone accessories and worked with Intel, he's now partnered with LG for a range of Bluetooth speakers and wireless noise-cancelling earbuds. The 'Xboom by will.i.am' series has the Black Eyed peas frontman as its 'Experiential Architect', and boasts AI as among its skills – AI Lighting puts on a pulsating light show, while AI Calibration helps the new units recognise their surroundings and adjust the sound accordingly. Read the full LG story

Hisense’s new giant "TriChroma LED TV" promises to be its "most advanced" Mini LED ever
The ultimate choice for film fans? It is if Hisense is to be believed. The brand's first consumer TV with RGB Local Dimming Display Technology uses a Mini LED panel, but not as we know it – its atypical local dimming technology uses independent red, green, and blue LEDs to generate pure colours directly at the source. Which should make for more accurate colours than traditional systems, which create colour by filtering white or blue highlights through a quantum-dot filter. Exciting stuff. Read the full Hisense story

HDMI 2.2 has been revealed – and it could be a big upgrade for next-generation OLED TVs and projectors
A new standard of HDMI connection is coming this year, eight years after HDMI 2.1's debut. HDMI 2.2 has a faster 96Gbps bandwidth and next-gen HDMI Fixed Rate Link technology, which will mean higher resolutions and refresh rates (though there's no mention of what these will be). Lip sync issues should also be a thing of the past thanks to its ultra low latency. Read the full HDMI 2.2 story

Hisense launches first “consumer-ready” Micro LED TV at CES 2025 – but should OLED be worried?
Micro LED is ready for the mainstream, according to Hisense, who has launched what it claims is the first consumer-ready model. With the ability to create a picture by individually charging non-organic LEDs, Micro LED has long been touted as the next big thing in TVs, as it should offer much greater control over colours. Hisense claims the 136MX MicroLED offers 10,000 nits max brightness and 95 per cent coverage of the BT.2020 colour space favoured by filmmakers. Bold claims indeed. But is Micro LED really ready for its time in the sun? Stay tuned for a hands-on review... Read the full Hisense story

Samsung’s next 8K TV has been announced and its AI features make it their ‘most advanced TV to date’
8K might be a way off being mainstream due to a lack of available content, but that hasn't stopped Samsung from unveiling its latest 8K TV. The Neo QLED 8K QN990F has plenty of AI features to boost picture and sound quality. Auto HDR Remastering Pro analyses content frame by frame and applies scene-adaptive colour expansion for “vibrant colours and lifelike visuals”. It also features 8K AI Upscaling Pro which improves lower-resolution content and bumps it up to 8K – so the scarcity of 8K content need not be a barrier. Add the fact that Samsung's new QD-OLED panels are set to be even brighter than last year's, and it looks like being a vintage year for Samsung's TVs. Read the full Samsung story

TCL announces first 'Precise Dimming Series' QD-Mini LED TV at CES
TCL's Precise Dimming Series offers a 53 per cent increase in brightness over last year's flagship, and 10 per cent boost in light efficiency. We're also promised a fix for the halo effect that often plagues Mini LED TVs, courtesy of TCL's new Micro OD technology. By reducing the optical distance between the backlight and diffuser plate, TCL claims to have made significant strides in picture quality. We'll be the judge of that... Read the full TCL story

Earfun unveils four pairs of budget headphones, from sporty types to noise-cancelling over-ears
You might expect one, maybe two new products from a brand at CES, but budget headphone specialist Earfun has gone all in. It's announced four new pairs of headphones: the Air Pro 4 Plus flagship earbuds, the OpenJump sports headphones, the open Earfun Clip wireless buds and the over-ear Wave Life Bluetooth over-ears. The Air Pro 4 Plus have ANC and the aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec, alongside the brand's unique acoustic architecture and 10mm composite dynamic drivers. They also offer a staggering 54-hour battery life. Read the full Earfun story

Harman Kardon wants to Enchant you away from Sonos with its new Dolby Atmos soundbars
LG might not be launching any new soundbars at CES, but Harman Kardon is happy to step in. Its Enchant series comprises two Dolby Atmos soundbars (Enchant 1100 and Enchant 900) a wireless speaker (Enchant Speaker) and a wireless subwoofer (Enchant Sub). The 1100 uses 11 drivers, while the 900 boasts 9 (see what they did there?). Both use Harman Kardon’s MultiBeam technology alongside Dolby Atmos support, with up-firing drivers for extra immersion and PureVoice tech to improve dialogue clarity. Read the full Harman Kardon story

JBL’s Tour One M3 flagship wireless headphones are smarter than your average over-ears
JBL's new Tour One M3 headphones come with a wireless transmitter for streaming from any source that doesn't have Bluetooth, like an in-flight entertainment system or old TV. JBL has used similar tech in its earbuds with smart cases before (like the Tour Pro 3), but this is its first pair of over-ear headphones with a standalone transmitter. It even has a touchscreen for controlling music playback. Read the full JBL story

Fiio's triple drop includes a music streamer, headphone amp and a budget PMP
Fiio is using CES as a launching pad for three new products at the start of 2025, comprising a music streamer, a headphone amp and a portable music player. The new S15 network player launches at £999 / $999 / €999 as a potential rival to the Cambridge Audio CXN100, while the K17 headphone amp is designed to "cover all the bases for headphone fans". The JM21 meanwhile, is a budget portable music player which can handle files up to 32-bit/384kHz alongside DSD256 and offers 32GB of internal storage. Read the full Fiio story

Lenco's turntables trio prioritise ease of use and affordability
Fiio isn't the only audio brand to launch a triple at CES 2025. Swiss audio manufacturer Lenco has unveiled its own trio of turntables at the massive tech expo, with two affordable models offering Bluetooth connectivity and dual-speed playback while a more costly unit, the LS-570WA, integrates a traditional record player with a built-in four-speaker array. All three of Lenco's latest new turntables will be available from January 6th in the UK and sometime in April in the US. Read the full Lenco turntables story

Samsung and Google's Dolby Atmos rival launches this year
Announced ahead of CES 2025, Samsung and Google have revealed when we can expect to hear from their new audio format. Dubbed "Eclipsa Audio", the immersive audio format will reportedly be available on all Samsung 2025 models, including the entry-level LCD models and the premium Neo QLED, QD-OLED, and 8K sets. Read the full Eclipsa Audio story

LG announces G5, C5, B5 and M5 OLED TVs at CES 2025
It could end up being a big year for LG and its existing lines of OLED TVs. The biggest surprise is that MLA, the panel technology that featured in LG’s top OLEDs over the last two years to boost brightness, seems to have been ousted, with LG favouring four-stack OLED technology instead. Promising significant gains in brightness for the G5, plus more gaming features and increased AI integration, it could be all change within the walls of LG. Read the full LG OLED TV announcement

CES 2025 preview: What to expect

LG at CES 2025

We can't foresee the future, but we would have bet big money on LG using CES to launch follow-up models in its C- and G-series of TVs. And that was before we saw the leak from early December.

As well as news that both the C5 and G5 (as we assume they'll be called) have been certified for sale by Korea's Institute of Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic Testing's database, the leak included photos of both models, with the designs apparently unchanged from the C4 (pictured) and G4. No bad thing, as you'll know if you've read the reviews of those TVs.

The G5 has also shown up in a separate database, with a 165Hz refresh rate mooted. Which would make PC gamers very happy indeed, as it would mean even faster response times. Console gamers will feel a little more 'meh' about it, as the PS5 and Xbox Series X top out at 4K/120Hz.

Sadly it looks like the C5 won't feature MLA tech, as the unit pictured doesn't have the same anti-reflective coating as the G5. But that can't stop us dreaming – check out our full C5 preview, along with five features we'd like to see.

LG has also revealed its next generation of QNED TVs ahead of CES. They include its first 100-inch QNED model, wireless connectivity, and a lot of influence from its wildly successful OLED TVs, including a set spun off from the wireless M4 . Expect more details at CES 2025.

Will we see one (or more) of LG's TVs hit 4000 nits of brightness this year? We certainly hope so...

Press conference: 6th January, 00:00 GMT
Live stream: LG Newsroom

Samsung at CES 2025

Like its fellow South Korean juggernaut LG, Samsung goes big on TVs at CES every year. And we have a pretty good idea of what it has in store, courtesy of one leak that emerged recently.

Said leak concerns the successor to the five-star Samsung S95D QD-OLED TV (pictured). According to a source, this will be called the Samsung S95F, rather than the S95E as we had (quite logically) assumed. This wouldn't be the first time a company has skipped a model identifier – Hisense went from the U8K to the U8N, and Samsung itself followed the Galaxy Note 5 phablet with the Galaxy Note 7 back in 2016.

But the name isn't the most unusual aspect of this leak. The size is. Because Samsung is said to be launching the S95F in an 83-inch model – which would be a first for a QD-OLED TV (the previous biggest was 77 inches).

The TV is also said to be susceptible to the same OLED lottery as some previous Samsung models (though not the S95D). This saw some customers receiving a brightness boosting QD-OLED panel, while others were shipped standard OLED displays, despite both consumers buying the same TV. However, since all of this is still just leaks and rumours, with nothing officially confirmed, we wouldn't get too angry. Yet.

Samsung will also showcase its Premiere 8K projector at CES. This is the first to receive 8K Association certification. It supports HDR and has 4500 ISO Lumens brightness. Full specs and pricing will be revealed at CES.

Samsung has named its CES press conference 'AI for All: Everyday, Everywhere' so expect artificial intelligence to play a big part in its plans.

Press conference: 6th January, 06:00 GMT
Live stream: Samsung Newsroom

Sony at CES 2025

The Sony Bravia 10 is hotly anticipated to premiere next year, though probably not at CES 2025. Sony tends to launch its TVs around March, so expect it to follow the same timeframe next year.

As yet, there have been no leaks nor rumours concerning the Bravia 10. Will Sony stick with Mini LED for its flagship model? Or will it opt for OLED, as it has with its more affordable models? Will we see follow-ups to the excellent Bravia 8 OLED model and A90K (Sony's first 42-inch OLED TV)? Tune in and see...

Press conference: 6th January, 09:00 GMT
Live stream: Sony Square

Panasonic at CES 2025

Again, we're expecting new TVs from Panasonic at CES. 2024 saw the flagship Z95A (the brand's second-gen MLA OLED) be one of Panasonic's first premium offerings to reach the US, so it will be keen to follow it up with another belter of a TV.

The Z95A launched at CES 2024, so we're expecting the next model to be announced at the conference in January. The Z95A scored five out of five thanks to its bright but authentic picture, and decent sound quality (for a TV, that is).

Panasonic could also announce some models further down the price range. It already impressed with the W90A in 2024, so let's see if any follow-ups can go one better than it and nab that fifth star.

Press conference: 7th January, 00:30 GMT
Live stream: Panasonic

Others at CES 2025

Elsewhere, we're expecting the follow-up to HDMI 2.1 to be announced at CES 2025. HDMI 2.2 promises "next-gen HDMI Technology and higher bandwidth" that will reportedly enable a "wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI cable."

With a bandwidth higher than HDMI 2.1's 48Gbps rumoured, it's thought we could see 8K/120Hz or 4K at even higher frame rates than the current 144Hz. All of which could spur on production of 8K content.

Onkyo has set out its ‘bold new vision for the future’ and commitment to ‘raising the bar for technology and home entertainment’ in the form of two new ranges at CES 2025. Full details are still under wraps, but it has confirmed we'll see both home speakers and separates. Onkyo filed for bankruptcy in 2022 before coming under new ownership, so here's hoping CES 2025 heralds brighter days ahead for the brand.

We're also promised new devices from Cleer Audio (maker of headphones and Bluetooth speakers), and new turntables from Victrola, though all the details are still strictly hush hush.

We'll keep this page updated with more leaks and rumours as they emerge, and with all the official news once it's announced. Stay tuned...

CES 2025: when is CES?

CES 2025 doesn't officially start until Tuesday 7th January, but the two days before that are press days, exclusively for the media. So we'll see official announcements coming out of the show from Sunday 5th January until Saturday 11th January 2025.

See the full schedule of events

CES 2024 highlights: what impressed last time?

Last year saw plenty of home cinema and audio announcements – some won Awards while some are only just coming to market.

LG's transparent and rollable Signature OLED T TV is in the latter category. It's a gogglebox you can see through, and roll away when it's not in use. It's only just gone on sale – it's yours for a cool $60,000 (about £47,000 / AU$96,000).

Panasonic's Z95A also impressed, though not as much as when we reviewed it a few months later. It marked Panny's return to the US market – and what a comeback it was.

TCL went big with the 115-inch QM89 Mini LED TV, which packs no fewer than 20,000 separate dimming zones and a peak brightness of 5000 nits.

Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless 4 premiered at CES 2024, and they proved to be another five-star pair of true wireless earbuds from the German company.

Victrola expanded its range of streaming-enabled turntables with the Stream Sapphire – as well as Works with Sonos functionality, it includes UPnP and Roon support too, enabling playback to literally thousands of compatible devices. It even supports up to 24-bit/48kHz lossless FLAC audio streams.

Audio Pro continued its winning run of all-in-one speaker systems with the C20, which won a 2024 What Hi-Fi? Award.

We also got a first glimpse at the Sonus Faber Suprema, which the brand described as its “most ambitious project to date” (which is underscored by the £695,000 / $750,000 price tag). Even for a prestige brand like Sonus Faber, this is a really premium set-up of two speakers, two subwoofers, and an electronic crossover.

FiiO launched three brand-new products at CES 2024 (including the CP-13 cassette player), but it was the flagship R9 desktop streamer and headphone amp/DAC that most caught our eye. With a larger 6-inch Full HD touchscreen than the previous year's R7, upgraded components and more than double the power – now 7300mW, up from 3000mW – it was a real step up on an already well-specced device.

We also saw the JBL Xtreme 4 Bluetooth speaker – another example of a brand continuing to dominate its field. It uses AI to boost sound quality – something we expect to hear plenty more about at CES 2025...

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Spatial audio, which creates an immersive three-dimensional soundscope with multi-channel formats like Dolby Atmos, where sounds appear to be coming from in front of you, from the sides, the rear and even above, has been one of the buzzwords in music streaming and consumer technology in recent years. Apple has shouted from the rooftops about its spatialised tracks on Apple Music and its AirPods and HomePods’ support of them, and brands like Sonos, Bose and Bang & Olufsen took little time to headline some of their headphones and speaker spec sheets with their versions of the innovative audio technology too.

It’s in wireless headphones, complete with head-tracking so that the presentation moves dynamically as you do, and in wireless speakers. It is even in the Netflix catalogue (for movie and TV soundtracks, of course). It is, per my and the rest of the What Hi-Fi? team’s consensus, an interesting audio development that in practice is about as hit-and-miss as Darwin Nunez’s ball striking (I’ll let the football fans amongst you decide the ratio there), both in terms of music mixing and hardware delivery. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not (yet anyway) the consistent and reliable man Friday of good old-fashioned stereo.

In my opinion, if spatial audio technology is going to truly wow and have a future, to sit more towards ‘Godsend’ than ‘gimmick’ on the value scale, it needs more room than what is between your ears and headphones and more physicality than that offered by a single-source speaker system – it needs to be in a studio or a car or in a rigged-up live music space (Las Vegas’s The Sphere venue springs to mind first). An outdoor festival in one of London’s iconic parks? Now we’re talking.

Live music production Polygon has recently announced it is putting on the “largest outdoor spatial audio festival the UK has ever seen” in London’s Crystal Palace Park next May. The three-day event, called Polygon Live LDN, will see almost 20 artists take to Polygon’s first-ever dual-dome stage. Essentially it’s squashing two of its hemispherical domes together for double the space – and speaker count (200!).

The announcement reads: “Every dome boasts a 12.1.4 immersive system: 12 pristine L-Acoustics speaker arrays around the audience, one giant festival-grade wall of subs for earth-shaking bass, and four overhead line arrays raining crystal-clear sound from above. The total count amounts to a little less than 100 speakers in over 25 unique positions. That’s five times the speakers a stage of similar size would use.”

Those speaker arrays from French high-end audio company L-Acoustics should, I would think, impress, considering a colleague gave a glowing write-up of the brand's multi-channel setups, not once but twice.

And, for the assault (or should I say pleasure) of the full senses, and taking me back to a Four Tet gig at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2019: “Between every speaker, a lattice of perfectly synchronised lighting. The network of LEDs that cocoons the Polygon stage is programmed to shimmer, pulse and swirl precisely in time with the music.”

If I wasn’t already tempted enough by that to book a ticket home from Australia, one of my current favourite artists, the wonderful Pakistan-American visionary that is Arooj Aftab, is on the lineup, alongside electronic whizzes such as Jon Hopkins, Gold Panda and Halina Rice; the supremely versatile multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney; experimental electropop DJ Photay (get your ears around Off-Piste); and Tinariwen, a guitar-based band I’m unfamiliar with from the Saharan desert region *adds to playlist*. This could be very special indeed.

Polygon Live LDN will take place on Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th May 2025, with day ticket prices starting at £53.35 (including fees).

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Apple’s hotly anticipated September “Glowtime” event has come and gone, and it brought with it a wealth of new hardware announcements.

Highlights include the company’s new line of Apple Intelligence (AI) focussed iPhone 16 handsets, new AirPods 4 earbuds and a very modest update to its existing Apple AirPods Max over-ears.

But did it do enough to keep audio and hi-fi enthusiasts excited? Here’s what our team of hi-fi and home cinema experts had to say on the topic.

The AirPods 4

The AirPods 4 are the latest wireless earbuds from Apple, and according to the tech giant a massive sonic upgrade on their predecessors. 

This is great, but they've been met with cautious curiosity as much as excitement by the What Hi-Fi? team. One key reasons is the arrival of an AirPods 4 with ANC variant, which aims to let them deliver advanced active noise cancellation, despite featuring a tipless design. 

If the buds succeed, this would potentially give them a unique position in the wireless earbuds market, which is why they caught the eye of our hi-fi and audio editor, Kashfia Kabir.

Despite this our staff writers were slightly less enamoured with them for two reasons. First was Lewis Empson, who has continuing misgivings about a different feature, previously limited to the AirPods Pro 2, coming down to the AirPods 4.

Fellow staff writer Harry McKerrell was also on the fence, arguing the AirPods 4 don't deliver one key change we've wanted from Apple AirPods. Specifically, an affordable option.

The AirPods Max 2024

Ahead of the event there were a number of rumours suggesting Apple would launch a next-generation upgrade to its five-star, Award-winning AirPods Max over-ear headphones. Sadly, come the event what it actually brought to the table was a very modest spruce, which left some, our editor-in-chief (me) included, a little disappointed.

The iPhone 16

Like most September Apple events, the iPhone was the focus of most of the keynote. This year the new iPhone 16 line was unveiled with an overt focus on how they're the first handsets "built around Apple Intelligence" – its version of AI. While there were plenty of robust discussions about how the tech will improve camera performance, recommendations and more, Apple was oddly silent on a few areas the What Hi-Fi? team care about, much to the chagrin of contributor, Joe Svetlik. 

Despite the lack of any formal announcements about AV improvements, some members of the team remain hopeful, including deputy editor Andy Madden, who pointed out we won't know the full story until we get them in for testing.

The no shows

While Apple unveiled a lot of new hardware at the event, there were a few noticeable absences and devices we'd really been hoping to see alongside the new iPhones and AirPods, especially for our home cinema editor, Tom Parsons.

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Apple’s hotly anticipated September 2024 launch event has come and gone and it brought with it a wealth of exciting new hardware.

Highlights include the new iPhone 16 line of smartphones, which are the first to feature Apple Intelligence, which aims to offer a wealth of AI powered upgrades and new AirPods 4 earbuds – which Apple claims will offer significant sonic improvements on their predecessor.

But,, there were a few key omissions and hotly desired bits of rumoured Apple tech that didn’t make an appearance. 

Here are the three biggest that the What Hi-Fi? team wanted, but didn't get to see.

The AirPods Max 2 

The AirPods Max did get a tepid upgrade at the Apple event. But this was limited to a selection of new colour options (blue, purple and orange) and upgrade to use USB C, rather than Lightning port charging on the AirPods Max, not a holistic, next-generation upgrade.

The updated model also has exactly the same name and is not being marketed by Apple as a new model. So for the team at What Hi-Fi? it's fair to say the long awaited, hotly anticipated, next-generation AirPods Max 2 were a no show at the Glowtime event. While we all agree this is a massive shame, the move isn't terribly surprising. 

The AirPods Max remain a top seller from Apple and staple sight in our best wireless headphones guide, thanks to their still excellent audio quality. So it makes sense Apple hasn't bother putting a lot of effort creating a proper upgrade to them yet. 

An actual Apple TV

This is one of the more out there items on the What Hi-Fi? home cinema team’s wishlist. 

There haven’t been any concrete, or even semi-legitimate rumours suggesting an actual TV is on Apple’s device roadmap. So the fact it didn't appear, or even get mentioned at the event isn't a huge surprise.

But we’ve chronicled many times before why we think it should be. Most recently our editor (me) wrote a feature reiterating why. 

The short version is that there are three reasons. First, Apple’s really good at display tech. Take its latest 13-inch iPad Pro (M4) as an example. Apple describes the device as a “home cinema in your hand” and based on our experience reviewing it we generally agree with that description. 

The device features a tandem OLED display that looks incredible, especially with HDR content where its higher than average peak brightness leads to a wonderful picture full of contrast. 

Thanks to its strong record in making Mac Pro desktops and MacBook Pro laptops, which both are marketed at creative professionals, it also has a great handle on how to deliver accurate colours.

Second, it also has an ideal app ecosystem and platform to build it round thanks to its current Apple TV 4K box and Apple TV+ streaming service.

Third and finally, it already has an ecosystem of great audio products to complete its home cinema offering. The AirPods Max offer Spatial Audio when connected to an Apple TV, which based on our testing delivers a wonderfully immersive surround-sound experience. 

If you have two HomePod 2 wireless speakers you can also set them up in a stereo arrangement – an arrangement that yielded surprisingly great results when we tested it just after the speaker launched. So a move to complete the portfolio and make an actual TV just makes sense. 

An Apple soundbar 

Talking of audio, the other item we often wish for is an Apple soundbar.  There were some semi-legitimate rumours about Apple potentially working on a soundbar all the way back in 2020, but they’ve gone quiet since then.

Despite the radio silence at the launch event we still think the move makes perfect sense. The HomePod 2 speakers sound great, but for movie watching, even with two paired, we all agree they could be made even better with a solid soundbar acting as the central channel. 

The only thing our team remains divided on what the soundbar should be called. The current front runners are HomeBar, AirBar and iBar (there’s a reason we’re not in marketing). 

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There was a time when we thought that the Apple HomePod had taken a permanent dirt nap. Apple discontinued the original HomePod (released in early 2018) despite its popularity and inescapable quality, yet two years after its supposed death, the Californian company decided to surprise and delight us all with the unveiling of the long-awaited sequel. The Apple HomePod 2 was glorious, and it made us hungry for more. 

More hasn’t arrived, though. We've gone through another Apple September launch event which gave us the AirPods 4, the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro, yet not a hint of any new HomePods. The second-gen HomePod currently sits alongside the even older HomePod Mini, and while they’re both five-star products that still slot well into the iOS ecosystem, it seems utterly strange that Apple has been so reluctant to give us a sequel. Perhaps there’s more money in the wireless earbuds market, an arena in which Apple are so unbelievably dominant, or perhaps the decision-makers at the top don’t feel that a new release is worth the trouble when the current models are still performing well.

The thing is, while both HomePods are great products, they’re not entirely perfect, with the ravages of time only opening the door for imperfections to become issues. Rivals are taking smart speakers extremely seriously – Amazon seems to pump out multiple models a year, whereas Sonos impressed us hugely with its Sonos Era 300 and Sonos Era 100 smart speakers. JBL’s having a go too, and while its Authentics 300 and Authetics 500 weren’t perfect, they were feature-packed, versatile and thoroughly modern performers. 

Apple needs to get back into the smart speaker space before it gets left behind or, worse, its devoted customers are saddled with products that are built for a given ecosystem but which aren’t keeping up with their competitors. The HomePod 2 doesn't offer Siri control for the likes of Spotify and Tidal, for instance, while the HomePod Mini doesn’t have the sort of comprehensive control app that we’d expect from a company such as Apple. The Amazon Echo Dot (5th gen) isn’t as impressive sonically, but it’s a more amenable app and inescapably smarter AI assistant Alexa can make the Mini, sound aside, look a little primitive.

There’s always room to improve your products’ sound, too. Even if Apple did a sterling job with both the HomePod 2 and the HomePod Mini, there’s no question that internal tweaks could take their sound to the next level. We loved the omnidirectionally of the second-gen model, though we felt that rivals such as the Audio Pro C10 MKII gave more sonic punch and impetus for projecting sound further into a room. Also, what about bringing in support for Hi-Res Lossless (anything over 24-bit/48kHz)? It’s worth considering.

External Design tweaks could also bring the HomePod, especially the hypothetical mainline third-gen model, up to date. We keep hearing rumours that the new unit will have its own 7-inch screen, though Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has previously speculated that this particular debutante won’t make its bow until 2025. It’s also unclear as to whether that will act as a sequel to the HomePod 2 or, running parallel to the likes of the Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show lines, would be a separate product altogether. 

Either way, the wait for a new HomePod has gone on for far too long. It’s been roughly two years since we’ve had a new iteration of either of Apple’s popular smart speakers, and that just feels like an excessively long gap, particularly when you consider how keen its rivals have been to dominate this ever-growing sector. The HomePods are superb, but it may be a little complacent of Apple to assume that they’ll always be top dog, even if it’s tough for its faithful users to jump ship and plug into an entirely new ecosystem. New headphones are all well and good, but a new HomePod would see Apple reassert its authority in a sector that’s only becoming increasingly competitive and sought-after as time goes on. 

MORE: 

Apple iPhone 16 launch event: AirPods 4 are official, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro 2 get updated

Read our Apple HomePod 2 review

And our HomePod Mini review

These are the best smart speakers worth talking to 

Happy iPhone 16 launch day! That’s right, Apple’s annual product extravaganza has just finished and we've got all the news hot off the press.

In the build-up to this year’s ‘Glowtime’ event, the internet was awash with rumours, not just about its new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. And, while new iPhones have indeed landed, it's been a big(ish) night for Apple’s AirPods with the introduction of a brand new model and updates to two of its other models.

You can read all about the key announcements as they happened via our live blog below. And, we've also included links to all our relevant product preview pages if you want to read about the announcements in greater depth.

Apple iPhone 16 event: key announcements

• iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro: more powerful processors, new screen sizes and a new camera button design
• AirPods 4: new, more comfortable design, new acoustic architecture, $129/£129
• AirPods 4 with ANC: new variant with active noise-cancelling, $179/£179

Greetings! Andy Madden here, kick-starting What Hi-Fi's coverage of today’s Apple 'Glowtime' event. It looks set to be a busy day dominated by iPhone announcements, but I’m expecting big news on the AirPods front too, with the potential for a refresh of its entire line! Also, there’s always the potential for Apple to throw an AV curveball, which we’ll be keeping an eye on. So, without further ado…

AirPods Max 2 looking more likely?

While the much-rumoured AirPods 4 seem almost certain to be unveiled at today's Apple event, in the past 24 hours, the odds of the AirPods Max 2 appearing have shortened considerably.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who many consider to be an authority on Apple, claims they will be on the agenda with "better noise cancellation, adaptive audio & USB-C". Given the original AirPods Max went on sale back in December 2020, this won't come as a surprise to many. The market has moved on a long way and despite still being excellent wireless headphones, Apple now has several key rivals to contend with from the likes of Bose, Bowers & Wilkins and Focal.

We'd expect a new chip would be needed to boost the ANC of the headphones but whether Apple would tinker with the physical appearance of the headphones? We're not so sure. Head over to our AirPods Max review to see just how highly we rate these five-star headphones.

What will AirPods 4 look like?

The current AirPods 3 launched back in September 2021 and were quite the redesign compared to the AirPods 2 that went before them. We also found they offered a jump in sound quality compared to the second-gen model. Will the AirPods 4 change things?

We haven't seen much in terms of redesign rumours but you'd have to think at the very least we'll see a new processor for the buds. The introduction of the H2 chip from the AirPods Pro 2 could bring improvements to battery life, sound quality and ease of use, but could Apple go the whole hog and introduce noise-cancelling?

Surely, Apple will still want some separation between any new AirPods and its premium ANC earbuds?

R.I.P. AirPods 2 hello AirPods Lite?

New, cheap AirPods have been rumoured for some time now, but Apple seems to have been more than happy to keep the 2nd-Gen AirPods ticking over. If you thought the AirPods Max were old, these earbuds are positively prehistoric and launched back in 2019.

Not only are they a little long in the tooth, but they also feel expensive compared to some of the best cheap wireless earbuds we've tested in recent times. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple is trying to hit the $99 mark for its cheapest AirPods which would be quite the story.

Besides price, the other big question is could Apple redesign new cheap AirPods so they look (and sound) more like the AirPods 3? The AirPods (2019) didn't offer the most secure first for a lot of users, so a revamped design might be a welcome change.

The Apple store is down!

I repeat, the Apple store is down! You know it's Apple event day when you click to buy something and you're greeted with words: ‘Be right back. We’re making changes to the Apple Store. Check back soon.’ We all know what that means...

iPhone 16 rumours overview...

The Internet is awash with iPhone 16 rumours and expectations, so we'll run you through some of the key ones...

Unsurprisingly, all fingers are pointing towards four models: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. It's rumoured Apple's A18 chip will be the big talking point and that the iPhone 16 Pro models could have bigger screens than the non-Pros, with the iPhone 16 Pro screen rumoured to be 6.3 inches (up from 6.1 inches) and the iPhone 16 Pro Max measuring 6.9 inches (up from 6.7 inches).

We could wave goodbye to traditional push buttons with new capacitive buttons making an appearance for the first time.

The iPhone 16 Pro’s camera zoom is expected to increase to 5x (up from 3x on the 15 Pro), while the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s ultrawide camera is expected to increase to 48MP (from 12MP). The vertical rear camera on the non-Pro models is rumoured to be able to record spatial video, compatible with Apple Vision Pro.

And finally, it's expected that AI features (dubbed Apple Intelligence) won’t be available at launch but should come with iOS 18.1 in October.

Will the pricing be right?

While it's fair to say price hikes won't be out of the equation for any of the new products unveiled tonight, Apple's pricing hasn't fluctuated too wildly in the past couple of years.

For example, Apple managed to keep the prices of the iPhone 15 and AirPods Pro 2 down when they both launched. And in another recent post from Mark Gurman on 'X' he states he expects the 16 Pro starting price to be the same $999 as the iPhone 15 Pro.

In the UK, the iPhone 15 Pro starts at £999, and in Australia it’s AU$1749. If Gurman is on the money, we would expect international pricing to remain the same too.

Could we see a new Apple TV 4K or HomePod?

While there's been plenty of internet chatter about new iPhones and AirPods, what haven't we heard about? The Apple TV 4k is comfortably the best streamer we've tested and the hardware isn't missing anything tech-spec-wise. Apple could supercharge the user experience with the addition of Apple Intelligence but we think it's unlikely to unveil a brand new streaming box today.

The same goes for the Apple HomePod. We've written about a rumoured version of the wireless speaker with a screen, but that was earlier in the year and everything seems to have gone quiet on that front. Again, with all the other announcements that look set to happen today, we doubt there'll be space to squeeze in a HomePod announcement. But you never know...

Your 5 minute warning!

There's still time to make a quick cup of coffee before all the Apple festivities get underway. If you haven't been following all the news and rumours in the build-up to the event, we're expecting big things in the worlds of iPhone and AirPods and more...

Join us for the ride!

AirPods news is coming!

So, we're up and running at the Apple event. First up is the new Apple Watch Series 10 which isn't huge news in the world of What Hi-Fi? but during Tim Cook's intro video, he confirmed big AirPods news is on the way. Ready yourselves!

AirPods 4 are official!

Powered by Apple's H2 chip, the new AirPods 4 come in two flavours - one with one without active noise-cancelling. They use Apple's H2 chip and also claim improved sound quality with a new audio architecture. 

Apple claims to have refined their design to create the “most comfortable AirPods ever”. They new models include personalised spatial audio which voice isolation will help remove background noise.

The AirPods 4 get a new wireless USB-C charging case (Apple's smallest ever) and total battery life of a claimed 30 hours. The standard AirPods 4 cost $129 while the ANC version costs $179. Both models start shipping September 20th.

AirPods Max get a minor upgrade

AirPods Max get a minor update with USB-C charging, new finishes and personalised spatial audio. Pricing remains the same at $549 and they start shipping on the 20th September.

AirPods Pro 2 are getting an update!

AirPods Pro 2 are getting a surprise update which includes a wealth of health upgrades including Hearing Protection, Hearing Test and a Hearing Aid feature.

iPhone 16 arrives with new finishes!

Here it is, folks. The iPhone 16 is official and available in five new finishes: blue, pink, teal, white and black. Powered by a new A18 chip, iPhone 16 uses a 2000 nits 60Hz OLED display and is available in 6.1in and 6.7in sizes. The design now includes a bigger battery and new camera button functionality for preparing the camera and taking pictures.

Don't forget the iPhone 16 Pro

Of course, there are also Pro and Pro Max versions of the iPhone 16. These handsets use a more powerful A18 Pro chipset, and feature an 'Always on', OLED ProMotion display (in 6.3- and 6.9-inch sizes) and the new camera button functionality of the non-Pro models. The range comes in black titanium, natural titanium, desert sand titanium and white titanium finishes. Good news - pricing for both models appears to be identical to their predecessors, starting at $999 for the Pro and $1199 for the Pro Max.

So, now you've had a few minutes to digest Apple's announcements, how do we feel? Do we think two variants of AirPods 4 is a good thing? How will the ANC fair on Apple's open earbuds? Will they sound better than the AirPods 3? We'll report back just as soon as we get our hands on a review sample.

And what about the AirPods Max? Their refresh is mild to say the least. New colours is nice and all that, but isn't it time we had a new version with some interesting new features? At least they can charge via USB-C now... 

Another year, another IFA. This year’s event was a special one, celebrating 100 years of one of the biggest tech expos in Europe, an event that enjoyed its first-ever shows way back in 1924 – that predates a World War, the Moon Landings, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Will Young stunning audiences everywhere to beat Gareth Gates to the Pop Idol crown in 2001. So much has happened. 

This year's event saw many of the biggest hitters in consumer electronics descending on the Messe Berlin exhibition centre to showcase their wares, many of which were enjoying a public airing for the first-ever time. With the likes of Samsung, LG, Hisense, TCL and Sennheiser all in attendance, What Hi-Fi?'s roving reporters were pounding the show floor seeking out the biggest and most exciting reveals from this year’s centenary showcase. 

Technics SC-CX700

Technics sprang something of a surprise on us at IFA 2024, unveiling its first active wireless speaker system in the shape of the new SC-CX700. The new all-in-one system is designed to be a no-hassle setup that serves all (or most) of your audio needs, offering up HDMI, phono inputs, and hi-res streaming in a neat, manageable package. 

We even got a chance to hear them a little, albeit for a relatively short time, and while we won't pass comment on quality (more time needed, poor listening conditions etc.), the SC-CX700 was definitely capable of going loud and proud. A good sign, especially when you also consider all of those connectivity options. 

Panasonic Z95A

The latest flagship OLED from Panasonic might not be new to us (we've actually seen it a few times before) but it still dazzles every time we get a moment with the set. It’s yet to launch in the UK, so getting the opportunity to view it in action yet again at IFA 2024 was a treat, especially with the new Fire OS system in full swing.

The Z95A feels smarter, and despite our scepticism about opting for Fire OS, we're happy to report that the Z95A already seems better off for it. Panasonic’s previous My Home Screen effort just wasn’t cutting it, and the familiar warmth of Fire OS instantly made the Panasonic feel more user-friendly and approachable thanks to the wide app compatibility. 

Pair that with a stunning Micro Lens Array imbued OLED display with gaming support up to 4K/144Hz via HDMI 2.1 and a Technics-tuned Dolby Atmos sound system built in, and the Z95A is already shaping up to be a prominent late arrival on the 2024 OLED TV scene. The big news from Panasonic is that after an eight-year hiatus, Panasonic is officially returning to the US. The Z95A is spearheading this stateside operation, so the pressure is on for this TV to perform.  

Technics SL-1300G

The high-end Technics SL-1000R currently takes pride of place at the heart of What Hi-Fi?'s reference system, so the idea of a more affordable, streamlined deck that still has so much of the peerless Technics DNA pumping through its metaphorical veins is deeply exciting to us. 

The new SL-1300G direct-drive turntable packs in new Delta Sigma motor control software for minimising vibrations, as well as a more powerful iron core-less motor and a three-layered heavy platter design. Aimed squarely at the consumer who wants Technics sound for their vinyl at an elevated performance, the SL-1300G will cost £2799 / €2999 when it hits the market in October this year. We can't wait. 

Xgimi Aura 2

Xgimi hinted at a new ultra-short throw projector at last year's IFA showcase, and it’s followed through with that tease by unveiling the Aura 2 UST projector at this year’s event. Xgimi as a brand has undergone somewhat of a transformation lately, with the boxy gunmetal grey designs of old being swapped out for stylish fabric jackets and mechanical moving lens covers as seen on the Horizon Ultra. Now, the Chinese projector brand is applying that ethos to the Aura projector. 

It’s had a radical design, to the extent that this new version looks entirely unrelated to its predecessor, but that’s no bad thing. The Aura 2 is a suave-looking unit, and it’s got the specs to back it up, making it both a beauty and a beast.

The new projector supports Dolby Vision and Atmos on the built-in 60W Harman/Kardon sound system, as well as upcoming support for the IMAX Enhanced format. With 2300 ISO Lumens of brightness thanks to Xgimi’s Dual Light 2.0 system and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, the Aura 2 is an impressive sounding beamer on paper, and it even has a nifty trick up its sleeve when it comes to positioning.

It features a 0.177:1 throw ratio, meaning you can project a 100-inch image by positioning the Aura 2 just 17.8cm away from the wall. Now that’s what we call ultra ultra-short throw!

AKG N9 Hybrid 

New wireless headphones! From AKG! Unveiled at this year's IFA, AKG has returned to the uber-competitive arena with its new AKG N9 Hybrid over-ears alongside its N6 Hybrid N5 wireless earbuds (£329 / €349).

We got listening time with the AKG N9 Hybrid and, without question, it was an enviable highlight of our time at IFA. The N9 house 40mm dynamic drivers equipped with bespoke liquid crystal polymer diaphragms to deliver what the maker describes as "wide-range detail and brilliant dynamic sound". 

We even managed a hands-on review of the AKG N9 Hybrid, and while we're always non-committal at this stage, we liked what we heard a great deal. As we stated in our proto-review: "These are clearly cans that honour AKG's studio legacy", serving up a sound that struck us from the get-go as poised, controlled and immensely well-balanced.

Early days, but these could, could, be something a bit special.

AKG N5 Hybrid 

AKG's above over-ears aside, we had a good deal of listening time with the N5 Hybrid wireless earbuds, and in all honesty, it's a similar story. Again, more in-ear time is required, but the premium wireless earbuds sounded cohesive, clear and focused, with a bass response that never allowed itself to become unwieldy or disparate. Priced at £250 / €269, they're the latest pair of wireless earbuds to try and gain purchase in the premium space – as we've written many times before, the Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are the key rivals here.

They might have the sonic capabilities to do it, though. From Waxahatchee's Right Back To It through to Erik Satie's Gnossienne No.1, we enjoyed our time with the buds as much as the new over-ear headphones. They're comfortable and nicely made, have a host of features at their disposal and, if further testing reveals their sound to be up to scratch, could definitely be ones to watch in the future.

Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 

Beyerdynamic, better known for its (mostly) excellent range of wired, reference-style headphones disclosed that not only did it have a pair of new wireless noise cancelling dropping at IFA 2024, but a set of true wireless earbuds, too. They even released a pair of gaming headphones for gamers who want some studio-grade pedigree from their cutting-edge cans. 

The flagship Aventho 300 (priced at $400) are the ones we're interested in here, packing in customisable noise cancelling, Dolby Head Tracking capabilities and a pair of the company's signature Stellar.45 drive units. With Bluetooth Multipoint, customisable ANC, six built-in mics and up to 38 hours of total charge time, they're hardly light on features either.  

They sounded impressive, too. We've got a hands-on review in the pipeline, but if you just can't wait a few days, here's a spoiler: we were impressed. From the brief moments spent together, it was clear that the influence of those Stellar drive units, plus a good deal of Beyerdynamic's substantial studio knowhow, had crafted a pair of wireless cans that sounded resplendently clear, sumptuously well-ordered and strikingly detailed. 

Want analytical headphones with a hint of studio-grade flair? These could be the ones. 

Canvas Hi-Fi

We’re always moaning about shoddy TV sound systems here at What Hi-Fi?, but a solution might have just presented itself courtesy of Canvas Hi-Fi. If the Sennheiser Ambeo Max is the notion of a soundbar turned up to eleven, then consider this turning it up to 100. 

The Canvas Hi-Fi is a combination TV stand and soundbar system that features hi-fi grade drivers and an integrated stand for your TV to be mounted on; pair that with the magnetic grilles that come in a range of wood and fabric features and you have a surprisingly suave solution to an all-in-one screen and sound system. Better yet, if you decide to upgrade your TV and opt for a different screen size, you can switch the grille out for a seamless look without having to buy a whole new speaker system. 

The Canvas connects to your TV with eARC and the cables are neatly hidden in a section with a removable cover, ideal for those who despise unsightly cables. The drivers in this unit are a combination of next-gen paper cone mid/bass units, high precision stiff paper cone long excursion passive radiators and a pair of die-cast aluminium waveguide silk dome tweeters – this is about as hi-fi as a soundbar gets.

Considering those drivers are backed with a four-channel Burr-Brown DAC and HiFi amplifier, you can expect them to deliver a clear, punchy sound with bone-rattling bass in both the stereo and 3D surround sound modes.

Beyerdynamic Amiron 300 

Not ones to be outdone, Beyerdynamic matched AKG's double drop with the release of the Amiron 300 wireless earbuds to accompany the Aventho over-ears above. Aiming for the market’s major players with a price tag of $280, the new buds offer a superb 38-hour total battery life, customisable ANC, and quite a lot else besides. 

With our most comfortable walking shoes donned and a wilful disregard for the pain caused by carting around a large backpack all day, we just had to sniff them out for a listen. Happily, it's more (tentatively) positive news: the Beyer buds sounded solid, engaging, balanced and refined, leaving us wanting to hear a great deal more of what they can. There was a decent amount of wallop in the bass, although not too much for us to be perturbed or worried that this is just a pair of bass-heavy buds with far more style than substance. Again, control and refinement are the order of the day for Beyer, it seems. 

Will they have the chops to tackle their five-star rivals? Stay tuned, folks...      

MORE:

Catch up on all the IFA 2024 news and highlights

These are the best budget finds we scouted at IFA 2024 

The new Bravia projectors look great, but it’s discounts on the Sony VPL-XW7000ES I’m really excited about

World’s first tape recorders, colour TV broadcast, MiniDisc and Einstein: 12 highlights from 100 years of IFA

Like the best hi-fi and tech showcases in the calendar, IFA is a chance for the biggest names in audio and home cinema to exhibit their latest products and technologies, from cutting-edge TV panels to new turntables or wireless speakers.

be they the hottest market releases or simply the products that eager punters are desperate to see in the flesh. With the likes of TCL, Samsung, Hisense, Technics and Panasonic in attendance, it's hard to resist the allure of the now-100-year-old showcase. 

This year's IFA, however, felt like one for the bargain hunters. That isn't to say that there weren't big-name brands or high-end launches on display to dazzle and impress us. Instead, many of the new products we witnessed came with real-world prices – from budget Bluetooth turntables, desktop speakers, numerous earbuds and a compact projector.

For those buyers or browsers searching for budget brilliance, IFA 2024 was the place to be.

Lenco's trio of turntables

Lenco likes a turntable launch at IFA and this year has been no different. The Swiss company unveiled a whole trio of budget turntables at IFA 2024, and while the decks differ somewhat in terms of design and feature set, they're all clustered pretty close to the lower end of the price landscape.

The cheapest of the three is the Lenco LBTA-165, setting you back just £199 / €219. The Bluetooth deck features automatic operation, comes fitted with its own Audio-Technica AT3600L moving magnet cartridge and has a built-in phono preamp for plugging directly into active speakers. 

The Lenco LBT-215BK is up next, sitting in the middle of the three at a price of £299 / €329. The middle child goes further by offering a USB output so you can convert your analogue vinyl records into digital music files to a PC or Mac and then download them to a portable music player. The cartridge is better, too, rising to a Audio-Technica AT-VM95E moving magnet model.

It's still a budget deck, but the Lenco L-455BK is the costliest of the new triumvirate, featuring a brushed aluminium frame and an Ortofon 2M Red moving magnet cartridge. At £449 / €499, it's going up against five-star rivals such as the Dual CS 418 and Rekkord F110.

Xgimi Elfin Flip compact projector  

Xgimi launched a revitalised lineup of projectors at this year’s IFA expo, with no fewer than six new projectors being announced. While the price 4K Aura 2 or Horizon S Max are the models that have grabbed our attention most, Xgimi’s cheaper new option is also well worth mentioning. 

The adorable Elfin Flip is a compact portable projector that features a nifty rotating built-in stand that protects the lens when not in use or can be tilted to practically any position to project on a wall or ceiling. It can beam a 1080p HDR image anywhere you decide to take it, and the built-in Xgimi OS with Netflix support means you can take it on the go without needing an external media streamer.

It may not be the highest spec device we’ve seen this IFA — it’s brightness of 400 ISO lumens and fairly basic sounding dual 3W speakers should hint at that — but just look at it, isn’t it cute? Xgimi hasn’t skimped on picture adjustment tech either, with auto keystone, focus and alignment baked in for easy viewing. 

And at just £399, it’s simple, easy fun.

Kanto Ren active speakers

We've known about the Kanto Ren for a while, with the Canadian audio brand announcing a new pair of versatile active desktop speakers earlier this year. This, however, has been one of the first major chances we've had to really get a good look, and listen, to the boldly coloured units.

Aside from a robust and assertive sound, the Kanto Ren are strong on connections, offering an HDMI ARC input for hooking up to a TV plus a USB-C input for playing files up to 24-bit/96kHz from a given source player. Better still, you get an optical input that supports up to 24-bit/96kHz hi-res files, as well as a single RCA input alongside a 3.5mm jack. And you know what? We quite like them in orange.

JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 wireless earbuds

If nothing else, you're getting a lot of battery life for your money with the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3. As you might have guessed, the new buds combine active noise cancelling and some seriously impressive battery life figures with a decidedly sporting design, using the over-ear hooks we've seen deployed with the more costly Beats Powerbeats Pro or some of JBL's older sport-focused headphone designs.

They feel quite nice to hold and touch, too, especially when you consider they won't set you back north of £50 / $50 / AU$80. Noise cancelling, Multipoint Bluetooth, 52 hours of battery life and 10mm dynamic drivers in each bud? That's a lot for your money.

Panasonic RB-M600B wireless headphones and RZ-B120W wireless earbuds

How about that, then? Panasonic has decided to launch a few pairs of headphones at this year's IFA, including a pair of wireless headphones and a set of pretty feature-heavy earbuds.

The Panasonic RB-M600B might end up going up against the Sony ULT Wear, promising to deliver buckets of boosted bass via the use of a dedicated bass button. Details are still a little thin on the ground, but we do know that they'll give you around 15 hours of battery life with noise cancelling switched on, although that active bass button might drag those numbers down a bit. 

The counterpart earbuds, meanwhile, offer Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and will offer 6.5 hours of listening off a single charge, with the case offering 19.5 hours of extra juice. The buds' IPX4 waterproof certification, meanwhile, should mean they'll survive outdoor use and/ or as a gym pair. We don't have exact pricing, but previous models have been around the £100 / $120 mark, so we imagine they'll be in the same ballpark.

Majority Audio – various

Majority launched a lot of products at this year's IFA, so much so that it's a little tricky to give each one its own proper rundown. But we'll give it a go: the British brand's debutantes included, but were not limited to, its Elias Plus Dolby Atmos soundbar and subwoofer, the Darwin Bluetooth DAB+ Radio, the Fitzwilliam internet music system, the Moto Plus Bluetooth turntable-plus-speakers package, and four (count them) portable party speakers: the P100, the P200, the P400 and the P500. All are aimed at the budget end of the market.

EarFun OpenJump, TunePro and UBOOM X

EarFun is another budget brand that always reliably launches a collection of affordable products. This year at IFA saw the brand launch its first open-ear headphones (OpenJump), a new over-ear pair of ANC headphones (TunePro), and a beefy, JBL Xtreme 4-rivalling Bluetooth speaker (UBOOM X). The UBOOM X promises 30 hours of playback and the ability to link 50 units for a house party, while the TunePro boasts 120 hours of battery life. Prices range from $160 / £150 to $70 / £60, making them one of the most affordable launches we've seen at IFA this year.

MORE: 

Best of IFA 2024: our pick of the best 9 new products we saw from the renowned tech showcase

Read our hands-on review of the new AKG N9 Hybrid headphones

IFA 2024 news and highlights: the latest turntables, speaker systems, headphones, projectors and more

The Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin – or the International Radio Exhibition Berlin, or IFA to us – has been around for a while. Originating as a radio show back in 1924 (called the Große Deutsche Funkausstellung), Europe's biggest and oldest consumer electronics exhibition is a playground for brands from all over the world to showcase their latest products and innovations. It has also been through a fair few name changes, one World War and a global pandemic – and it continues to thrive today.

• IFA 2024: latest news from this year's tech show

IFA has seen the debut of various new technologies and audio/visual products, such as tape recorders and cassette players, TV technologies – from early CRT and inaugural colour TV to cutting-edge 3D TV and OLED of the 21st century – along with a few format wars, crazy conceptual products and era-defining hi-fi and home cinema products that we know and love.

Below is a whistle-stop tour of some of the key moments in IFA's 100-year history. If you were around for any of them in person, or have any other product, tech or personal highlights from the IFA show, feel free to share in the comments.

Albert Einstein opens the show (1930)

Celebrity guests don't get better than this. Forget Michael Bay and Paris Hilton; esteemed theoretical physicist and all-round genius Albert Einstein opened the seventh IFA show in Berlin in 1930. He paid tribute to his fellow scientists, engineers and inventors (Oersted, Reis, Maxwell, Hertz) and spoke of the wonder and importance of radio communication; the first live radio broadcast had taken place at the 1926 exhibition.

It was called the Great German Radio and Phonograph Show back then and the key highlight was the first showing of a prototype 'television receiver' to the public. This was one year before television broadcasting officially started in Germany.

You can see a video of Einstein's speech here.

World's first CRT TV demo (1931)

Speaking of which, another German physicist and inventor, Manfred von Ardenne, was responsible for giving the first public demonstration of a cathode ray tube (CRT) television system at the 1931 show.

This TV was able to both transmit and receive images, and a few years later in 1939 the first prototype of a colour TV was unveiled. The exhibition was rebranded that year as Große Deutsche Funk- und Fernseh-Ausstellung (Great German Radio and Television Exhibition) to recognise the advent of TV technology. 

It wouldn't be until 1967 that colour TV broadcast was fully implemented in West Germany...

Magnetophon K1 tape recorder (1935)

The German electronics brand AEG (founded in 1883) showcased the first practical audio tape recorder at the 1935 Berlin show. Called the Magnetophon K1, this magnificent device was a reel-to-reel tape recorder, based on the magnetic tape (or 'sound paper machine') invented and patented by Fritz Pfleumer in 1928. This tech was licensed to AEG, who then developed a more stable cellulose acetate-based tape, and thus the K1 was born. It was more cost-effective and had superior sound quality to rival steel-tape designs.

One of the first live concerts ever to be recorded was on a Magnetophon tape recorder (on the next-gen K2 model): Mozart's 39th Symphony was played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1936, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. While early Magnetophon-recorded tapes weren't of the greatest quality, later generations (and even better tape material) resulted in greater recording quality. 

You can hear a recording made in 1935 of the original K1 here.

Philips EL3300 – world's first compact cassette recorder (1963)

In August 1963, Philips revealed the first compact audio cassette recorder to the world, and music storage and playback would for ever be changed (until CDs, iPods, computers, and downloadable digital files appeared...)

The Philips EL3300 was developed by cassette inventor Lou Ottens. It was battery-operated, had inputs for the microphone, a red light to indicate recording and it was brown. Very brown. It was also pretty pocketable, measuring just 11.3 x 5.6 x 19.6cm (or 4.4 x 2.2 x 7.7 inch). 

60 years later, who would have thought that cassette tapes would be having a mini resurgence?

Colour TV launches in West Berlin (1967)

We can only imagine the frisson of excitement and wonder, as on the morning of 25th August 1967, at the IFA show floor (then called the International Radio and TV Fair), foreign minister and vice-chancellor Willy Brandt symbolically pressed a red button to mark the new era of colour TV in West Germany.

It didn't just switch on colour TV; West Germany became the first country in Europe to introduce colour on two TV channels at the same time (ARD and ZDF). A momentous occasion, indeed. 

Colour TV had arrived to UK viewers only a month earlier. On 1st July 1967, BBC2 presented the first TV show in colour – the Wimbledon Tennis Championships presented by David Vine – to the public. The broadcast used the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) system, which originated from German television pioneer and engineer Walter Bruch. The PAL system was used for the colour TV launch at IFA 1967.

1971: IFA goes international, Funk-Otto logo

It was in 1971 that IFA became the internationally renowned technology show we know today. It was rebranded as the Internationale Funkausstellung (or IFA for short) and the famous "Funk-Otto" logo, created by German graphic artist Helmut Lortz, became the emblem of the show.

IFA has become one of the fixtures of the technology calendar, with the latest innovations and new products being presented to a global audience – CDs, MiniDiscs, digital/HD TVs, DAB radio, MP3 players, games consoles and – since the late 2000s – home appliances all have made their debut at the Berlin show since.

HD TV and Casio pocket TVs (1985)

Philips's prototype 3D TV made its debut in 1983, but 1985 was more momentous. Not only did high-definition HD TV get shown to the public for the first time – along with the first satellite receivers for TV – but Casio (yes, the makers of calculators) introduced pocket TVs.

These adorable pocket-sized TVs were about the size of a calculator or Sony Walkman and had a 2.5-inch screen.

Sony introduces MiniDisc prototype (1991)

Sony presented the first prototype of its MiniDisc at IFA 1991, with the format widely available from 1992 in Japan and Europe. Pictured above is the first MiniDisc player, the Sony MZ1.

As a replacement for the compact cassette, MiniDisc allowed you to store more than an hour of digital music (and it was rewritable) on a tiny 2.5-inch disc. The slow uptake of MiniDisc in the US, combined with fierce competition from cheaper CD-R discs and the introduction of MP3 players, meant that MiniDisc and MD players didn't quite catch on and became obsolete as digital music technology advanced.

HD DVD vs Blu-ray (2006-2008)

The hi-fi and home cinema landscape is rife with format wars (RIP Betamax), but one of the most brutal, short-lived format wars was for the successor to DVD.

The Toshiba-backed HD DVD (High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) launched in 2006 and ended in 2008, with the rival Blu-ray format winning the battle. Those attending IFA 2007 would have been privy to pretty heated to-and-fro during the press conferences from the Blu-ray Disc Association (whose approach we called "bullish" and "aggressive" and the HD DVD group (who valiantly fought back with a cheaper alternative).

An HD DVD disc could store 15GB, three times that of DVD, and its audio support – 24-bit/192kHz audio (for two channels) or 24-bit/96kHz (for up to eight) – was impressive too. However, Blu-ray could store 30GB and 2007's PlayStation 3 being equipped with a Blu-ray drive cemented the future.

By IFA 2008, HD DVD had dissolved and Blu-ray (backed by Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.) emerged victorious.

• 13 heroic tech failures, from Betamax to HD DVD

11 foot tall, £300k iPod dock (2011) 

Proving it's not just Las Vegas's CES trade show that attracts the weird, the wonderful and the extravagantly expensive, 2011's IFA saw "the most extraordinary creation in the history of recorded sound: half machine, half work of art".

That would be the AeroDreamOne, a prototype speaker system from French musician Jean Michel Jarre, which boasted 10,000 watts of power, weighed 394kg and stood 11-foot tall. Of course, you need a ladder to reach the top to dock in your iPod or iPad.

Priced at around £300,000 (or $565,000), this is an iPod dock that only giants could dream of owning. 

Technics makes a hi-fi comeback (2014)

After six years away (a lifetime in the tech landscape) parent company Panasonic announced that Technics would be back in business at IFA 2014. The brand returned with a host of new hi-fi products, including the high-end Reference Class R1 series that consisted of an amplifier, network streamer and preamplifier, a pair of speakers, and the more real-world-priced Premium Class C700 range that also included a CD player. 

We reviewed three of the C700 products to rather disappointing results (two and three stars abound), but while it wasn't the most successful comeback, Technics hi-fi products since have only grown stronger and stronger. 

Technics has launched two new products at this year's IFA 2024: a new SL-1300G direct drive turntable and the SC-CX700 wireless speaker system.

LG unveils world's largest 77-inch curved 4K OLED screen (2013)

TV tech has not stopped advancing. In the 2010s and onwards, we have seen 4K OLED TVs, transparent TVs, rollable TVs, curved screens, ultra-slim and gigantic 8K screens with even newer technology to dazzle our eyes. 

January's CES show tends to get world-first dibs on the craziest, most eye-catching displays, but LG reserved a "world's first" for showgoers at IFA 2013. There, it unveiled the (then) largest 77-inch curved 4K OLED screen. Wowzers. 

We've also seen, courtesy of LG, a spectacular OLED tunnel which remains one of the best uses of the curved OLED screen tech beyond watching David Attenborough's Blue Planet in 4K.

MORE:

Technics surprises us with a KEF-rivalling wireless speaker system at IFA 2024

Hisense confirms its super-sized 110-inch Mini LED TV with 40,000 dimming zones is coming to the UK

Like clockwork, another Apple Event is here and those eagerly anticipating brand-new iPhones and AirPods don't have long to wait. According to Apple, it's "Glowtime", with the iPhone 16 launch set for later today. AirPods are also expected to get some attention, with new entry and mid-level models and, according to some last-minute rumours, maybe even an update to the high-end AirPods Max over-ear cans.

We're counting down the hours now, and if you're catching up on all of the current rumours and leaks for products that we expect to see announced, including the AirPods 4, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, AirPods Max 2 and AirPods Lite. Of course, Apple could well surprise us, so you can find out more about what we expect and hope to see at today's event, as well as how and where to watch it. 

Apple Event 2024: where and when to watch

Apple kindly livestreams its yearly presentations, and it often does so in a fairly sleek fashion – expect plenty of sweeping shots of the Apple Park in Cupertino, as well as some questionable transitions and attempts at humour. You can find the livestream on YouTube (as seen above) or on Apple's event page. Apple usually streams its events on the Apple TV app as well, which you can access with an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV 4K.  

It's expected to kick off at 6PM here in the UK, 10AM PT / 1PM ET for those in the United States, or 3AM ACT for those tuning in from Australia. Apple usually posts the recorded versions of its livestreams on its official YouTube channel too, meaning you can still watch the full event even if you're not able to tune in live.

What to expect: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro and AirPods

As is the case with these annual events, we're anticipating new iPhones to be unveiled on the 9th of September. Apple's strategy has been fairly consistent for the last few years here, with a four-strong lineup of devices consisting of two standard models and two Pro models. 

We expect these new models to be the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, although that is subject to change. Apple has amended the iPhone lineup in recent years – swapping the compact iPhone 13 Mini for a larger iPhone 14 Plus and subsequently the iPhone 15 Plus – however, it seems to have settled on the current lineup according to various leaks and rumours that have already circulated. 

We don't anticipate Apple straying too far from its formula, and the iPhone 16 series isn't slated to be a radical departure from the 15 series it is replacing. Expect 60Hz displays, aluminium frames and dual cameras on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and 120Hz ProMotion screens, titanium frames and a triple camera arrangement on the Pro and Pro Max.

As always, Apple hints at what's to come with the artwork for these events, and this time it looks like AI – and no, this isn't artificial intelligence. In true Apple fashion, it has created "Apple Intelligence" which it says places a greater emphasis on privacy and security, while adding a plethora of useful-looking features to the iPhone. Apple already demonstrated the new features at WWDC earlier this year, but we can expect to see advanced photo editing, custom picture and emoji tools, smart writing suggestions and editing, and a more powerful Siri assistant on the iPhone 16 models. 

Furthermore, Apple's current AirPods roster is overdue an update; an issue we expect to see rectified in the upcoming Apple Event. While we believe the AirPods Pro 2 will remain in place (they were only recently updated to feature a USB-C case and are less than two years old), the AirPods 2 and AirPods 3 could be up for renewal. The second-generation AirPods are about to reach their fifth birthday, while the third-gen wireless earbuds are almost three years old.

We've heard mutterings of new AirPods models for some time now, with new entry-level and mid-tier buds reportedly releasing sometime this year. Rumours which circulated in March of this year suggest that Apple will bring noise cancelling and the Find-My speaker feature to the AirPods 4, while the AirPods 2 will be replaced by a cheaper AirPods Lite (or perhaps AirPods SE) model. 

Contrary to the previous suggestion that fans of the over-ear AirPods Max will have to wait for an upgrade, a last-minute rumour suggests that we could see a second-generation version of these headphones. Reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggest that the new models could feature USB-C charging, better noise cancellation (which was already a highlight of the current-generation cans) and adaptive audio.  

Bonus: what we'd like to see

While this event will likely be dedicated to the iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods, we would also be very receptive to seeing our favourite Apple gadget get an upgrade. We deemed the Apple TV 4K (2022) to be "comfortably the best streamer", but now that it's over two years old, we think now would be the perfect time to update it. 

We're not willing to bet the house on a new Apple streamer being unveiled on the 9th of September, but we can always dream. Bringing Apple Intelligence to the media streamer (akin to how Gemini has been implemented into the Google TV Streamer) and upgrading the already excellent picture and sound quality would be a surefire way to win us over, so our fingers are crossed. 

MORE:

Everything you need to know about the iPhone 16 before the Apple Event

And the iPhone 16 Pro: price and release date rumours

As well as our picks for the best iPhones

Samsung has already had its fun with the Galaxy S24 and Z 6 series, and Apple is expected to launch its new phones next month, but August is all about Google. Android fans listen up, as a whole new series of Google smartphones are about to break cover.

Google's annual "Made By Google" event is tonight, and we've been promised the ninth generation of Pixel phones. In true Google fashion, the new Pixel 9 series has leaked extensively and it was even officially revealed weeks ago in a series of flashy introduction videos. There is still plenty to reveal though, with specs and features all still a mystery, 

Furthermore, we hope that Google can whip up a couple of surprises tonight, so we've included a short wishlist of what else we'd like to see, alongside when and where to watch the live-streamed event.

Made by Google 2024: when and where to watch

The Made by Google event will be streamed live on the Made by Google YouTube page, which should come as no surprise as Google owns the video-sharing platform. You can visit the account now to take a sneak peek at two new devices; the Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

To catch the live stream from the very start, you'll need to tune in at 6PM in the UK, 10AM PT/1PM ET if you live in the US, or 3AM if you're watching from Australia. Don't worry if you miss the stream though, as Google will (most likely) upload a recording of the show, and we'll be covering the event right here too. 

Made by Google 2024: what to expect

As we've already established, new Google Pixel phones will be revealed today, and we're expecting a new approach from Google. Previously, the company has employed a two-tiered approach with a standard and premium model, the latter sporting a "Pro" suffix. While we're expecting a Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro duo, Google is also adding a third option to its lineup with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

This isn't Google's first foldable phone, as Google launched the first Pixel Fold back in May of 2023 – separately from the Pixel 8 series. Google is now streamlining its lineup by launching all three devices under the Pixel 9 banner, with the foldable version appearing to be a step-up model from the Pixel 9 Pro. 

While we've seen what the 9 Pro and 9 Pro Fold look like, little is known about the specifications of these devices. We presume Google will debut a new version of its in-house developed Tensor processor with these new phones, and we're also willing to bet that they will have some fairly intense AI integration too. 

If the Google Pixel 8 Pro specs are anything to go off, then we anticipate 12GB of RAM backing up the new processor, and the display could be a very similar Quad HD LTPO 120Hz OLED screen with a variable refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz. Google has traditionally equipped its non-Pro variants with 1080p displays, and we don't expect that to change this year.  

Moving away from phones for just a moment, Google also recently announced the Google TV Streamer; a successor to its popular Chromecast series of media streamers. While the device has already been announced with pricing, we'd like to see it get some time in the spotlight during this live event. 

Made by Google: what we'd like to see

Everything we'd discussed thus far has all been officially announced, but now we're treading into uncharted territories of speculation and guesswork. First and foremost, we would like to see Google refresh its Pixel Buds series of wireless earbuds, as it's been over two years since the Buds Pro launched, and three years since the entry-level Buds A became available (not counting new colour releases). 

In a perfect world, we'd like to see Google refresh both pairs of buds, however, the Buds A are the older of the pair, so we think they are most deserving of an upgrade. We are huge fans of the Pixel Buds A, awarding them five stars in our 2021 review; however, we'd appreciate an updated pair with newer features and even better sound.

Google also launched the Pixel Tablet last year, so it's possible we could see a revised second-generation model. We're quite fond of the current model, and even though it didn't score the full five stars, we rather like its included magnetic speaker dock (it makes for a great kitchen companion) and sharp picture. A revised version with better shadow detail, an even punchier and more dynamic speaker dock and better headphone audio would be a treat to see at Made by Google, but we're not willing to bet the house on it making an appearance. 

Finally, it's been a while since we've had any news regarding Project Caviar. This new Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos rival was hinted at nearly two years ago, with the company partnering with Samsung to develop its own HDR and immersive audio formats that would be more open-source than their Dolby alternatives. Little has been said about this proposed picture and sound feature since, but we'd certainly welcome an update this evening. 

MORE:

Read our Google Pixel 8 Pro review

And our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review

Check out our picks for the best smartphones

Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) starts today. The annual event lets Apple shed some light on its upcoming features and generally shows its direction of travel. We might even see a new product or two.

This year promises to be AI-heavy – Google and Microsoft have already gone all in on AI during their conferences, and Apple will want to show it's keeping pace, if not steaming ahead of the pack. But what else could we see?

Here's how you can watch WWDC for yourself, as well as what – and what not – to expect.

How to watch WWDC 2024

You can watch WWDC 2024 live on Apple's website, on YouTube (via the link above), or through the Apple TV app. WWDC 2024 takes place in Apple Park, Cupertino, and starts at 6pm GMT / 10am PT / 1pm ET / 3am (11.06) AEST.

WWDC 2024: what to expect

AI

It's the tech phrase on everyone's lips at the moment, and justifiably so: artificial intelligence has the power to upend almost every aspect of our digital lives, though critics argue not always for the better. Earlier this year, Samsung introduced plenty of AI features to its Galaxy S24 smartphone, while Microsoft's AI-powered Recall feature recently caused controversy by promising to constantly take screenshots of whatever's on your PC screen. Now it's Apple's turn.

Rumour is that Apple has reworked its Siri personal assistant using large language models to make it more responsive. Given that Siri is present in most Apple devices, it's a safe bet to assume AI will spread its tentacles throughout Apple's ecosystem of products and services.

Apple's AI will reportedly be known as 'Apple Intelligence'. Other features mooted include AI summaries of messages and webpages, real-time transcriptions (all from within the relevant apps), a custom emoji generator and easy removing of people and objects from photos (just like Google's Magic Eraser feature on its Pixel smartphones).

A chatbot

It was previously reported that Apple was looking to ink a partnership with a third-party AI provider in order to supercharge its artificial intelligence. Google and Anthropic were mentioned, but Bloomberg recently reported that OpenAI will be Apple's partner, with a ChatGPT-style chatbot coming to Apple's products.

Better messaging and more

Apple is expected to follow Google in adopting a new messaging standard. Rich Communication Services (RCS) should become the default fallback for iMessage as part of iOS 18. That should enable longer messages between Android and iOS devices with bigger attachments, and all end-to-end encrypted.

Customisable homescreens are also expected, meaning you can arrange your apps as you want, with spaces allowed between them. Themes should also allow you to change icons' colours so they match.

WWDC 2024: what not to expect

Sadly, a lot of Apple's most exciting developments will have to wait for another day, as WWDC is usually heavily focussed on the software side. So it's most likely we won't see the below.

iPhone 16 range

The iPhone 16 isn't expected until September, but it sounds like it will be worth the wait. The Pro models are rumoured to have bigger screens and beefier processors, while capacitive touch buttons, better cameras and – of course – plenty of AI features are also rumoured.

iPhone 16: what to expect

iPhone 16 Pro: all the rumours surrounding Apple's higher-end handset

AirPods Max 2

The original AirPods Max launched in 2020, so many think a sequel is long overdue. The originals created a whole new market of premium wireless headphones, one above the likes of the Sony and Bose models that dominated at the time. Rumours abound that the second-gen model will land at the end of this year or beginning of next.

AirPods Max 2: release date rumours, potential price, features and spec leaks

A new Apple TV

The third-gen Apple TV 4K is a two time Award-winner, so Apple is probably in no rush to update it. But while excellent, it could still be improved. We're thinking of a new processor, better wi-fi and more advanced Bluetooth, among other things. 

Apple TV 4K 2024: our wishlist for a fourth-gen video streamer

AirPods Pro 3

It's a similar story with the AirPods Pro 2. Yes, they are excellent, being Apple's first pair of in-ear AirPods to earn five stars from us. But we want more. What about a new design? Better battery life? Higher quality codec support over Bluetooth? There's plenty to be done. Let's hope Apple doesn't wait too long.

AirPods Pro 3: release date rumours, price predictions, and 5 features we want

MORE:

Our expert pick of the best wireless earbuds you can buy

AirPods Pro 2 vs Sony WF-1000XM5: which five-star earbuds are better?

Is wi-fi for headphones the death knell for Bluetooth?

[UPDATE 18 June 2024: The Vivid Sydney event to which this article relates has now ended. An extended interview with Mr Brady appears in Sound+Image magazine #357.]

As part of Vivid Sydney’s celebrations, Sennheiser is setting up an “immersive AI audio experience that blends sounds with emotion to create a musical journey for participants”, taking place in a space called the “Mirrorbox” in Darling Harbour’s Tumbalong Park, as part of Vivid Sydney’s Light Walk. 

Sennheiser says that this ‘FLOW’ experience, which is free to visitors during Vivid, reflects the Vivid Sydney 2024 theme of ‘Humanity’ in a three-part experience reflecting the journey of water, but somehow incorporating an AI analysis of your sound personality, mental mood, and biometric signature, together providing a “unique sonic fingerprint”.

We had no idea what they’re talking about, and the published explanation from their marketing release didn’t much help: “Our Mirrorbox will embody Hear More – through a dedicated space where visitors can reflect on the sounds that surround them,”  it says.

So we headed down to the Mirrorbox for the full experience (see pictures below). We won't insert too many spoilers here however, lest you are heading there yourself. 

Meanwhile we spoke with Anthony Brady, who is General Manager at Sonova Consumer Hearing ANZ, based in North Sydney. Sonova is the Swiss company which purchased (more accurately ‘licensed’) all of Sennheiser’s consumer business a few years back. We asked Mr Brady to explain the Mirrorbox.

ANTHONY BRADY: So basically the Mirrorbox is doing two things. It’s obviously creating an experience with sound and emotion, but also we’re blending artificial intelligence. And how that came about, there’s a back story.

We have partnered with Music Health, and those guys have a very interesting proprietary technology called Precision Music. They use this in aged care, mainly, and the original partnership came about when they came to us saying they were looking for headphones with cables, good quality, not wanting to spend a fortune bcause they’re a start-up, and we did them a favour, gave them a product at basically cost – so that’s how it began. 

So we’ll have their technology at the Mirrorbox: iPad, facial recognition, and our headphones. The Mirrorbox will be dark — with a light installation as you’d expect at Vivid, and it’ll also have haptics on the floor. So essentially you will have an audioscape and a lightscape, blending sound and image and vibration, all to affect emotion. 

SOUND+IMAGE: So you connect your own headphones? What’s the procedure?

ANTHONY BRADY: When you walk into the Mirrorbox you’ll be handed a pair of Momentum 4 headband [overears]; you’ll be connected to the system. You’re given an iPad, you’ll fill in some information, then the iPad will scan your face for mood, it’ll take a temperature check, we’ll see how you’re feeling. So maybe if you had a few wines it might make you feel better! But the idea is that it gets a 'before' and 'after'. 

You walk into the box, it’ll play some sound – water flowing, buses passing, all sorts of things going on. The lights will also be going on in front of you, and the floor might vibrate for different sounds. And it’s really quite a quick event, three to four minutes you’ll be inside the box – Vivid was very clear it couldn’t be longer than that because there will be queues round the block.

Then when you come out the other side, you again get your face scanned as the ‘after’ reading, and this will give you a unique sound and sonic identity, your sound profile, of which there are apparently seven of these personalities – I didn’t know this – and whatever one you are, it will measure and generate a unique playlist for you that you can download on Apple Music or Spotify or wherever. 

S+I: To clarify, the AI and the idea of seven sound personalities, that’s all from Precision Music and Music Health?

AB: Exactly – the core of this technology is Music Health’s VibeDNA analysis. It's more than simply genre and artist – it focuses on how the music makes you feel. They’re using this system in aged care for dementia patients, to make their quality of life better. Those patients wear our headphones, they get a playlist that allows them to unlock memories; it just makes them feel better. Obviously at Vivid the environment is very different, people will be coming from work or the pub so their mood may be quite different to what you’ll find in an aged care facility! 

What we’re trying to do is create that emotional connection, and this is a really meaningful way to do it, because we’re really personalising your sound. We sometimes say we’re magicians with sound but that sound is really what we’re about. So if we can create that connection, all the better. We’re expecting about 6000 people through the Mirrorbox and hopefully people get something out of it.

SOUND+IMAGE: And new exposure for you.

ANTHONY BRADY: We get access to a whole group of customers who may not ever have heard of Sennheiser. That’s kind of the synopsis. We’re trying to get an emotional connection with some new consumers, and possibly some current consumers who see the brand and already love it and come along. Vivid is a fantastic event in Sydney, so to be partnering with that we’re super proud, and we can’t wait to get started.

Sennheiser’s Mirrorbox was situated in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, part of Vivid Sydney’s Light Walk, free for all visitors and open for the duration of Vivid Sydney, from 24 May to 15 June 2024.

• Check our Australian reviews here!

• Australian Hi-Fi Show Sydney 2025 - dates announced!

Hot on the heels of Apple's iPad event, Google is hosting its own live-streamed event where it will be showing off a plethora of new developments. It is likely that software will be at the forefront of this event – so be prepared to hear the words "artificial intelligence" or, more likely, its abbreviation many, many times.

With just a few hours until Google's developer conference kicks off, we have rounded up some key information about how and where to watch the show, when it starts, what to expect and some things we would like to see announced. 

What time does Google I/O start?

It's set to kick off at 6pm BST here in the UK. Which means, if you live on the east coast of the US, you will need to tune in at 1pm ET, or if you're on the west coast then it's a 10am start. Google enthusiasts Down Under will need to either stay up late or wake up very early, as the Google stream will take place at 3am AEST.

You can track the start time on the official Google I/O website, with its nifty countdown clock ticking down until the stream begins.

Where can I watch Google I/O?

Google appears to be hosting its livestream on YouTube which should be no surprise. You can tune into the keynote stream now if you're particularly eager, where you will find a trailer of what's to come. Truthfully it doesn't give much away, but the bouncy graphics and tunes should get you in the mood. 

What should I expect from Google I/O 2024?

As mentioned previously, this is likely to be a software-heavy event, with the spotlight probably on Android. We have reviewed a handful of excellent Google-powered handsets recently, such as the Google Pixel 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and Sony Xperia 1 V – so we anticipate new features coming to those devices. Obviously, we are interested in new picture and sound features first and foremost, so we'll be looking out for those where we can.

It's likely that Google TV will also get its time to shine, hopefully with new features inbound too. Google TV powers some brilliant TVs (Sony A80L and A95L, Philips OLED808 and OLED908) and media streamers (Google Chromecast with Google TV), so new software features for those devices would be most welcome.

New hardware also isn't out of the realm of possibility. Google tends to drop a sneak peek of its upcoming Pixel smartphones within these streams, however it decided to launch the Google Pixel 8a (successor to the Pixel 7a) last week with very little fanfare. We're not anticipating a full reveal of the Pixel 9 series, as we are expecting that honour to be reserved for the yearly Made By Google event, which usually takes place in October. However, it may not be off the cards completely, as Google announced the Pixel Tablet, Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold at last year's I/O event. 

What do we want to see from Google I/O?

One word: Chromecast. It's been ages since we have seen a new Chromecast device, and while the Google Chromecast with Google TV is an excellent media streamer (Award-winning, no less), we are overdue a refreshed model. If Google announces a major update to Google TV, it would be a no-brainer to announce an upgraded Chromecast to coincide with it. 

I have certainly aired my grievances about not having a high-end Chromecast streamer to rival the likes of the Apple TV 4K or Amazon Fire TV Cube before, so Google has the opportunity to rectify this now. It's debatable as to whether this is a realistic request – it may reserve something like this for a Made By Google event – but it could very well be time for an all-new Chromecast.

Elsewhere, we would like to see some news regarding Google's Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos rivals. It has been developing Project Caviar in collaboration with Samsung, with a focus on bringing dynamic HDR and immersive audio to YouTube videos. This project was born from the desire to circumnavigate Dolby's licensing fees while offering the latest AV-focused features. We haven't seen much about this project, although we did get a hint towards what could be in the works last November. 

Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF) is claimed to be the first open-source 3D audio technology, and it could take on Dolby Atmos in the near future. While it has yet to be applied to any current services or devices, now could be the time to delve deeper into this intriguing AV feature. 

MORE:

What is Google TV?: Apps, features, compatible TVs and everything you need to know 

And the best Android phones

Pro-Ject brought the colour to this year's High End Munich expo. The established audio brand took this year's event as a chance to showcase a variety of its coveted turntables, both established and brand new, including the never-before-seen Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 deck. 

• Read the full details from the official launch: Pro-Ject's Debut Evo 2 is a stylish, updated turntable with technology borrowed from Award-winning model

Following on as the sequel to the original Debut Carbon Evo turntable, the colourful spinner comes with a number of important improvements and features which, says Pro-Ject, offer unparalleled value and quality at what is a relatively reasonable price point. The belt-driven deck comes equipped with Pro-Ject's own moving magnet Evo cartridge plus an 8.6-inch carbon tonearm with sapphire bearings, which has been streamlined for greater tracking precision and audio reproduction. 

The new deck's rather handsome chassis is constructed using resonance-resistant MDF. It incorporates a damped aluminium platter for greater stability and less noise or unwanted vibrations that could affect your vinyl's sonic fidelity. The belt-driven player is capable of playing at 33.33 and 45 rpm speeds via an electronic switch. 

Pro-Ject's colourful new deck comes equipped with a phono output that boasts gold-plated sockets, as well as a dust cover, felt mat and power supply all included in the box. You're not short on colour options, either, with Pro-Ject offering a choice of white, black, yellow, blue, green or wine red satin finishes alongside red, white or black gloss exteriors. If you want to go for a more natural look, there is also a classic walnut skin.

Whichever finish you go for, the new Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 turntable is priced at €699, although further prices are pending. We'll keep you updated as soon as we have more information on the exciting new player. 

MORE: 

Read our Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo review

Here's everything you need to know about High End Munich 2024 

These are the best Pro-Ject Primary E deals

The High End Munich 2024 show is underway and delighting our eyes and ears right through to the weekend, so prepare yourself for an onslaught of new product announcements and hands-on impressions brought to you by the on-ground What Hi-Fi? team. (Between currywurst and stein consumption, you understand.)

Europe's biggest hi-fi show this year has already blessed us with product launches from Focal, NAD, Chord Electronics, Q Acoustics, Pro-Ject, Elac, Sonus Faber, WiiM and Luxman, while brands such as Tannoy, Mission, Quad, Audiolab, Epos and many more have teased what they will be launching later in the year.

Last year's High End Munich 2023 show was the biggest yet, celebrating its 40th year and showcasing more brands than ever before. The High End Society is set to smash those records once more, with 1000 brands exhibiting (check out the full list of exhibitors here) and even more visitors estimated to stroll through the halls and atriums, looking in awe at the latest designs and technological marvels from the world's finest hi-fi brands.

Speaking of, let's get to some hot-off-the-press news, shall we?

High End Munich 2024 highlights

• Hands-on review of the Q Acoustics 3000c speaker series
• I heard a Burmester hi-fi system bring Elvis back to life, and it blew me away
• 7 of the best hi-fi separates at High End Munich 2024
• 7 weird and wonderful pieces of hi-fi we saw at High End Munich 2024
• 9 of the best stereo speakers at High End Munich 2024
• Hands-on review of the open-back Focal Hadenys headphones
• PMC's 21-speaker Dolby Atmos system is the ultimate argument for spatial audio
• I listened to the £1900 Meridian Ellipse wireless speaker – and you should too
• We found 5 surprisingly affordable hi-fi gems at High End Munich

High End Munich 2024 news

High End Munich 2024: all the news

Arcam takes the fight to Naim with two new all-in-one music streaming systems
The Radia range expands with the premium SA45 and SA35 all-in-one streaming systems featuring Class G amplification, HDMI ARC and MM/MC phono stage, and hi-res full-colour displays.
Read the full Arcam streaming system news

Vertere Acoustics introduces its high-end Calon phono stage
The Calon is an exquisitely engineered MM/MC phono stage from Vertere Acoustics, a brand that brings a fresh approach to the phono design in every aspect.
Read the full Vertere Calon news

Mission's 778 series CD transport and music streamer could be half-width hi-fi heroes
We got our first look at the upcoming 778CDT and 778S hi-fi separates to join the excellent, five-star 778X amp, and we are loving the compact, half-width chassis design. Read the full Mission 778 news

Q Acoustics 3000c is the entry-level speaker range we've been waiting six years for
New driver technology, refined cabinet bracing designs, new finishes and rather reasonable price tags are the highlights of the latest generation of Q Acoustics' 3000 speaker series. Read the full Q Acoustics 3000c news

Elac updates its Award-winning Debut range with seven new speakers
The new Debut 3.0 series promises improvements with a brand new tweeter design, increased efficiency and compatibility and a sleeker finish. Read the full Elac Debut 3.0 news

Fyne's Special Production speakers promise class-leading technologies in a more affordable package
The new series bridges the price gap between the Vintage and Classic series, while the high-end SuperTrax tweeter module is designed to sit atop (most) speakers. Read the full Fyne Audio news

Fiio's fully automatic Bluetooth turntable promises a modern, fun design
The new TT13 deck features large buttons for automatic operation, aptX HD Bluetooth streaming, built-in phono stage and LED lighting. Read the full Fiio TT13 news

Pro-Ject's eye-catching deck is here to put the colour back into your records
The updated Debut Evo 2 turntable is a belt-drive design with Evo MM cartridge and an 8.6-inch carbon tonearm, aiming to bring unparalleled value and quality to a reasonable price point, says Pro-Ject. Read the full Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 news

Meze's trio of new headphones includes affordable in-ears with USB-C adaptor
The new Alba wired in-ears are the brand's new entry-level offering, boasting a custom-designed 3.5mm to USB-C headphone adapter with a DAC built in, while new open-back 105 AER over-ear headphones are also unveiled. Read the full Meze Audio news

Dali’s new Rubikore speaker range packs flagship tech in five new models
Using trickle-down tech from the epic Kore and Epikore flagship speakers, the new Rubikore range brings new driver technology to a less high-end price bracket. Read the full Dali Rubikore news

Sonus Faber brings flagship driver technology to stylish Sonetto G2 speakers
The Sonetto G2 series consists of seven models and features new driver technology derived from the flagship, £/$700k Suprema speaker system along with updated concrete base, reflect duct tech and a sleek new design. Read the full Sonus Faber Sonetto G2 news

WiiM Ultra and WiiM Amp Pro are updated, versatile, multi-tasking streaming units
Boasting new DACs, new features, extensive streaming and connectivity and still remaining affordable, the WiiM Ultra streamer (with a new design and touchscreen display) and Amp Pro streaming system are sure to be popular yet again.
Read the full WiiM Ultra and Amp Pro news

Sennheiser's HD 600 range of audiophile headphones gets a surprise new addition The new closed-back HD 620S cans feature custom-tuned 42mm drivers and aim to offer isolation while also mimicking the airy nature of open-back designs. Read the full Sennheiser HS 620S news

Audio-Technica’s limited-edition wood headphones should sound like music to your ears
These ATH-WBLTD cans are encased in three layers of hardwood that are typically used in musical instruments, with only 300 pairs being made. Read the full Audio-Technica ATH-WBLTD news

Wheels of steel! Technics partners with Lamborghini for a special-edition SL-1200 turntable
The SL-1200M7B is a special-edition model based on the popular SL-1200 turntable decks, available in three finishes and comes with a picture disc record of the V12-engine sounds of six Lamborghini super sports cars. Read the full Technics x Lamborghini news

Final's flagship D7000 planar magnetic headphones promise to bring the bass
After spending some time developing its range of wireless headphones, Final has returned its attention to its high-end roots with a new addition to its flagship line. Read the full Final D7000 news

Focal's nature-inspired headphones follow in the Bathys' footsteps
Promising to make the "purity of high fidelity sound accessible to as many people as possible", the new open-backed Hadenys are arriving alongside the closed-back Azurys. Read the full Focal Hadenys and Azurys news

Chord teases Suzi pre/power amplifier concept that's like Lego for your hi-fi
Designed by Chord’s founder and owner John Franks, the new Chord Suzi modular concept includes a preamplifier and a power amplifier that boasts Ultima-derived technology. Read the full Chord Suzi news

Tannoy Autograph 12 speakers pay tribute to iconic driver 70 years on
The original Tannoy Autograph launched in 1954, seven years after the dual concentric driver was invented, and now a modern-day version is coming.
Read the full Tannoy Autograph 12 news

Astell & Kern takes on the Sony Walkman with new Activo P1 player
Astell & Kern is relaunching the presumably budget-conscious Activo sub-brand with an all-new player, the P1. Read the full Activo P1 news

High End Munich 2024 preview: what else to expect

High End Munich 2024 preview: what else to expect

Astell & Kern
A brand new high-end flagship hi-res player, the A&ultima SP3000T, and its second collaboration with Empire Ears – the Novus in-ear wired monitors – are on the agenda for Munich this year. Also being unveiled is a new Activo P1 digital audio player, which looks like a more slimline music player and it features 32-bit hi-res audio support, 20-hour battery life, 64GB built-in storage with 1.5TB microSD card slot, two ESS Sabre DACs, and a sleek white finish with rounded edges rather than A&K's typically sharp-edged designs. Pricing and availability are TBC.
Hall 1, B10a/B10/C05/B10b

Audiolab
Audiolab will be taking the wraps off a new flagship pre/power amplifier – the 9000Q and 9000P – and the speaker pairing for the demo will be the Leak 250 Sandwich speakers, which made their debut earlier in the year.
Atrium 4.2, E223/E224

Audiovector
The Danish brand has unveiled the Trapeze Reimagined floorstanding speakers just recently and we expect these new, nifty-looking high-end models to have their first public showing at Munich.
Atrium 4.2, F203

Burmester
It wouldn't be the High End Show without a press conference showcasing new products from the established German brand, and this is taking place at 2.30pm CET on Thursday 9th.
Atrium 3.1, C119

Cambridge Audio
Cambridge Audio turned heads last year when they set up camp right outside the MOC exhibition doors in a bright red London double decker bus. Will the bus (full of the British brand's latest audio products) return this year? Cambridge has already started the year with two hi-fi launches – the five-star CXN100 music streamer and the just-launched CXA81 MkII stereo amplifier, the latter of which we're hoping to see in the flesh for the first time at High End. We're also hoping to have a peek at the special Evo 150 Delorean Edition...
Hall 4 entrance

Chord Electronics
The British brand always has a shiny new product or two to reveal (last year's Ultima Integrated amp certainly caught our eye) and we're told there will be three new products unveiled this year. Two new analogue products – the Suzi pre/power amplifiers – are confirmed, while a "groundbreaking" new digital product will be shown in its pre-production prototype form, with five FPGAs (field programmable gate array DAC architecture) at its core, we're teased. Founder John Franks and digital design consultant Rob Watts will both be at hand throughout the show to give insight into the products, too.
Atrium 3.1, C122 & Atrium 4.1, F107

Dali
Dali has treated us to high-end product launches such as the towering Kore and Epikore speakers, along with premium wireless IO-12 headphones, in the last few years – could we see more of the same or something completely new? We don't know yet, but we're excited to find out.
Atrium 3.1, D107/D108

Epos
After launching the Epos ES-7N bookshelf speakers at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Epos are set to launch a full floorstanding model at Munich, called the ES-28N. No details yet, but the teaser photo shows it could be a three-way design with a tweeter (most likely the same as in the ES-7N and existing ES-14N), a midrange driver, two bass drivers, spiked feet propping up the tall speaker and the same angular design as the excellent ES-14N speakers.
Atrium 4.1, Room E121

Fiio
Visitors will be treated to a whole bunch of new products from Fiio, which includes a turntable! From the teaser press image, the TT13 looks like it has a metal plinth with various shiny buttons and a remote control – so it may well have automatic operation and Bluetooth features. Also being revealed are flagship £999 / $999 FA19 in-ear wired monitors, a new SR11 music streamer with a large display screen, and SP5 desktop active speakers.
Hall 1, B05

Fyne Audio
Get your retro fix as Scottish brand Fyne will likely be bringing its fine line of Classic and Vintage speakers, as well as its latest (and more modern looking) SP (Special Production) models.
Atrium 4.1, E116 & Hall 3, L04/M03

HiFi Rose
Products from emerging brands like HiFi Rose have cut through the established hi-fi separates fare and stood out with their stunningly crafted design and smart streaming tech. Last year we saw the debut of the RS130 streaming transport, but perhaps we'll see the new RA280 – the more streamlined but still stylish sibling to the flagship RA180 amplifier – this year at Munich.
Hall 2, G04/J03

iFi Audio
The Zen DAC 3, Zen Phono 3 and Diablo 2 are just some of the recent DACs/headphone amps/phono stages from iFi that will be on show this year. Visitors will also get to see the iCAN Phantom electrostatic headphone amp from last year and the five-star hip-dac 3 amongst many other models when they head to iFi's multiple stands.
Atrium 4.1, E109 and Hall 1, B12/C09/C11/D01

Lumin
High end streaming brand Lumin will be launching the P1 Mini – a scaled-down version of its $10k P1 streamer/DAC that boasts versatile connectivity including HDMI inputs.
Hall 3, M13

Luxman
High-end Japanese brand Luxman will be showing off its first-ever NT-07 network music streamer, alongside a new matching DA-07X DAC that will launch in the summer. There is also a new reference-level E-07 phono preamp that will launch in the autumn
Atrium 4.2, F229

Meze Audio
Meze has teased that a white version of The Empyrean flagship headphones will be unveiled, alongside previews of future new additions to its line-up, which include a new pair of "Alba" in-ear wired headphones and a pair of "105 ARE" over-ear, open-back headphones.
Hall 1, B04 & Hall 1, B10a/B10/C05/B10b

Mission
We've been teased that products to match the five-star 778X amplifier will be shown, including the 778S network audio streamer and 778CDT CD transport. All products will launch in the autumn.
Atrium 4.2, E223/E224

Moon
Canadian brand Moon will be demoing the flagship pairing of its North Collection, the 891 streaming preamp powered by two 861 mighty power amps, throughout the show. The 861/891 combo (each costing £25,000) will be plugged into a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 60 loudspeakers, and Moon promises a "relaxing environment" so people can sit down and just enjoy the music.
Atrium 3.1, C120

Naim/Focal
A mainstay at any hi-fi show, we expect to see the Naim/Focal partnership out in full force. Naim celebrated its 50th anniversary last year with the Naim Nait 50 limited edition amp and the new 300 series. This year, maybe we'll see the Uniti Nova Power Edition? Focal has already revealed it will be showing two new wired luxury headphones, the open-back Hadenys and closed-back Azurys.
Atrium 4.1, F105

NAD
The Canadian brand has already revealed its Munich launch and it's a new addition to its C/Classis series: the NAD C 379 Class D amplifier, which boasts ample digital and analogue connectivity, including HDMI eARC and a moving magnet phono stage. The amp is designed to be future-proofed and modular, allowing users to add extension modules – such as BluOS network streaming with Dirac room correction or emerging AV tech – if they wish. Not bad for £899 / $1099.
Atrium 3.1, D107/D108 

Perlisten/Trinnov
AV fans will be glad to hear it's not all two-channel. Perlisten and Trinnov are joining forces for an 11.1.6-channel AV system that promises an "unprecedented acoustic level of immersive audio" in an 18-seat cinema. The system will feature Trinnov's WaveForming technology with Perlisten's THX Certified Dominus surround system. and there will be eight 15-inch active subwoofers used. Mighty. Demos are by appointment only.
Atrium 3.1, room D112

PMC
PMC will be flexing its pro and hi-fi muscles together with an ambitious large-scale Dolby Atmos speaker system to play prog legend Steve Wilson's latest album, The Harmony Code, in full. Wilson himself will be there on all four show days at Room K1, Foyer 1 to showcase how he uses and mixes reference-level audio, using the PMC set-up to demonstrate the capabilities of Dolby Atmos and spatial mixing. Also on show will be PMC's new Twenty5i Active speaker range that was launched at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show earlier this year.
Atrium 3.1, D106 & Room K1, Foyer 1

Pro-Ject
We've become accustomed to seeing Pro-Ject reveal special edition turntables with artist collaborations – who can forget the snazzy Metallica turntable, or the beautiful Pink Floyd one, or the delightful Yellow Submarine deck? – but we also tend to see innovations like the T2 W wireless turntable. Could we see even more turntables, please?
Hall 3, M04/N03/N04/P05 

Q Acoustics
Q Acoustics launched the new 5000 series of speakers last year, one of which (5040) became a What Hi-Fi? Award winner, while another (5050) just made their official global debut – read our full review here.
Atrium 4.1, F110

Quad
On demo throughout the show will be the Quad ESL 2912X, the first update to the iconic ESL electrostatic speakers in 12 years. The new model will feature technical and aesthetic enhancements, we're told. Also on display will be revived and evolved versions of a 1967 classic, the Quad 33 and 303 pre/power amps. We're told they will be "wrapped in an industrial design that echoes the past and embraces the future". All new Quad products are set to be available in the autumn.
Atrium 4.2, E223/E224

Ruark Audio
Ruark's retro-styled products are always a delight to see and experience, and last year the brand revealed the excellent all-in-one R410 music player. Could we see the flagship R810 (the modern-day successor to the radiogram) at the show? The brand has teased they will be showing two new products, and we're very excited to find out what they are.
Hall 3, L05/M03

Sennheiser
The German headphone brand will be launching "a new addition to its audiophile profile" – that could mean anything, but we have our fingers crossed for a new wired headphone in the vein of the HD 800S range, perhaps? It's a wild guess for now.
Hall 1, B14

Sonus Faber/McIntosh
We were treated to the exquisite Suprema speaker system earlier this year at CES 2024 to kick off its 40th birthday celebrations, and we fully expect the Suprema/McIntosh demo to happen again. This ambitious project consists of two main speakers, two subwoofers and an electronic crossover, priced at a whopping £695,000 / $750,000. Also on demo will be the stunning Stradivari speakers, all powered by McIntosh amps.
Atrium 4, F109

SVS
US brand SVS will be demoing its new flagship Ultra Evolution series of speakers, with seven models in the range including three floorstanding speakers, two bookshelf models, a centre channel speaker and a home cinema speaker with multi-angle mounting bracket. All models boast improvements to driver design, cabinet architecture and components, with SVS claiming the Ultra Evolution will usher in a "new era of reference-quality sound". There will be two-channel and home theatre system demos throughout the show.
Hall 3, P02/R03

T+A
T+A will be showcasing its new Criterion S 240 floorstanding speakers with transmission line technology (prices start from $16,490) with the R 2500 R multi-source receiver/amplifier that features a CD player, Bluetooth, streaming (via AirPlay, wi-fi etc) and DAB/FM radio.
Atrium 3.1, D102/D103/D104

TAD Labs
The Japanese brand will be displaying the latest addition to its flagship Reference Series, the TAD-C700 preamplifier, costing a cool $68,000. The hefty unit comes with balanced and unbalanced inputs, has a dedicated separate power supply and aims to deliver "near-perfect stereophonic sound reproduction".
Atrium 3.1, C113

Tannoy
Tannoy's 100th anniversary is looming in 2026, but the Scottish-based brand is celebrating another milestone. It will unveil the Autograph 12 speakers, which pay homage to the 70th anniversary of its Autograph speaker series, along with new technological developments made to its iconic dual concentric driver.
Hall 4, S06-1/S06-2/S06-3 

Vivid Audio
This is one we can't miss: we are very much looking forward to seeing and hearing the behemoth (and near half-million quid) 13-driver Vivid Moya 1 speakers from Laurence Dickie's brand in person.
Hall 3, K16

WiiM
The wildly popular affordable brand will be launching two new products at Munich, one of which is the WiiM Ultra, which seems to be an advanced version of the superb WiiM Pro Plus music streamer with an improved DAC and full-colour touchscreen. The other launch is still under wraps, but we'll bring you the latest news as soon as we have it.
Hall 2, F07

Yamaha
We loved listening to the HA-L7A headphone amplifier at last year's show with the exceptional YH-5000SE headphones. We're not sure what Yamaha has in store for us this year, but we will be sure to share the news once we know.
Atrium 4.2, F207

YG Acoustics
We don't know what the high-end American speaker brand has in store for us either, but it has announced a press conference on Friday 10th, at 1pm CET, so we're expecting something new.
Atrium 4.2, E218

MORE:

See all the highlights and launches from last year's High End Munich 2023

Our guide to the best speakers you can buy across all budgets

Check out the best high-end record players we love and recommend

Apple has announced that its next product event, called 'Let Loose', will take place on the 7th May, and you can watch it from the comfort of your living room thanks to a livestream that will kick off at 7am Pacific Time (4pm BST).

Apple will stream its event on its website, YouTube channel, and the Apple TV app which can be found on iPhones, iPads, Macs and the Apple TV 4K.

Little is known about the event so far, although the invitation artwork gives us more than a small hint as to what could be launched at it. An artsy, stylised Apple logo (which you can see above) features splashes of colour with a hand grasping an Apple Pencil in the centre, making it pretty clear that the focus will be on the iPad lineup.

New iPads inbound

Just a few weeks ago we reported on rumours that Apple could launch its first OLED iPad in May, so it's looking likely that this new iPad Pro could break cover. That rumour, which originated from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, hinted towards a new iPad Pro with an OLED display and Apple's latest M3 processor, alongside upgraded Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil accessories. Considering an Apple Pencil is front and centre with this announcement, the signs are looking promising.

Apple could also announce a bigger and better iPad Air too. Early reports point towards an upgraded chip (either the M2 or M3 processor), while a new 12.9-inch screen size is set to debut on the Air model.

It's a little quieter on the iPad Mini front, though a seven-generation model would be welcome considering the current iPad Mini 6th Generation has been two years in Apple's roster. Meanwhile, according to Gurman's rumours, the 10th Generation iPad is expected to stick around for another year. 

Truthfully we'd like to see updates for all models in Apple's iPad lineup as they're all overdue an update.

Affordable AirPods on the horizon too

On the subject of rumours, Gurman has also referenced new AirPods in his reports. These apparently wouldn't replace the AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Max but instead sit underneath them as more affordable options. Interestingly, this generation of AirPods could bring a 'Pro' feature down to the mid-tier Apple earbuds.

More specifically, the new model, expected to be called the AirPods 4, will reportedly add active noise cancelling to the mix, a feature that is currently reserved for Apple's pricier 'Pods. They are expected to replace the AirPods 3, Apple's current non-Pro model, which includes Spatial Audio but not ANC or interchangeable ear tips. 

Apple is also expected to release a new entry-level model, which could be dubbed the AirPods Lite. These likely won't include ANC or support for Spatial Audio, but they could serve as a gateway into Apple's wireless accessory ecosystem. Most importantly, it's suspected that both models will include USB-C charging cases as standard, a feature first introduced with the AirPods Pro 2 mid-generation update.

The AirPods Max, which launched in December 2020 and haven't been updated since, isn't poised to get a successor quite yet, according to current rumours. However, as we well know, rumours don't always dictate what will be revealed, so Apple may well surprise us. 

A fresh new iPhone colour for Spring?

Apple has upheld a tradition for the last three generations of iPhone: adding a fresh new finish midway through the current handset's life cycle. This began with the iPhone 12 getting a pastel lilac purple in 2021. The iPhone 13 received a dashing green finish (on both the Pro and regular models) the year after, and then the iPhone 14 got a summery yellow finish last year.

So will we see a bright and bold new finish for the iPhone 15? We hope so, though MacRumours' Tim Hardwick has reported on rumours that Apple will forgo this tradition this year. 

And now all we can do is wait...

MORE:

What to expect from Apple in 2024 – iPhone 16, AirPods 4, new iPads and more

Read our full Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max review

And our Apple HomePod 2 review

As well as our picks for the best iPads

PMC is teaming up with prog-rock legend and acclaimed music producer Steven Wilson at this year's High End Munich show. Aside from his time fronting long-running prog outfit Porcupine Tree, Wilson has collaborated with artists as diverse as XTC, Black Sabbath and Elton John, and the great man brings 30+ years of experience to this year's event.

PMC will be providing the large-scale Dolby Atmos speaker system for Wilson, with which he will be holding a string of demonstrations across all four of the event's action-packed days. 

As part of the showcase, audience members will have the chance to experience how Wilson uses and mixes reference-level audio, using the PMC set-up to demonstrate the capabilities of Dolby Atmos and spatial mixing. Naturally, there will be a special focus on Wilson's latest album, The Harmony Code, but attendees will enjoy mixes from some of the big-name artists with whom Wilson has collaborated, including Ultravox, Roxy Music and Tears for Fears.

PMC promises that this will be the largest such installation it has ever undertaken, using a blend of the British brand's professional studio main mix monitors and the company's Ci series. Three PMC BB6 XBD Active monitors (as used by the BBC) will make up the front left, centre and right channels, while surround sound duties will be managed by 14 models from the PMC Ci series. Lower frequencies, meanwhile, will be overseen by four of the company's BST subwoofers.

According to Oliver Thomas, PMC's commercial director, "Partnering with a musician of Steven’s calibre is a real honour, and we know the presentations will be an eye-opener for many visitors. There is nothing like it and, with Steven at the helm, the demonstrations will show just how creatively and carefully this technology can be used to enhance the enjoyment of music."

PMC will also be using this year's High End Munich event to showcase its Twenty5i Active speaker range. We first caught a glimpse of the brand's latest line at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2024 a few months back, but Munich will be a chance for PMC to bring its newest models to an even wider audience. 

If you are heading down to High End Munich (9th to 12th May), Steven Wilson’s presentations will take place in Room K1, Foyer 1, at the following times:

- 9th May: 11:00 and 14:30 

- 10th, 11th May: 11:00, 14:30 and 16:30 

- 12th May: 11:00 and 14:30 

MORE: 

PMC launches Twenty5i Active speaker range at the Bristol Show

Read our Award-winning PMC Prodigy 5 review

These are the best prog test tracks to give your system a workout

Discogs has partnered with Record Store Day for an international online shopping event on 22nd April.

This post-event sale is called "Record Store Day Afters" and is scheduled to kick off at 8pm in the UK. It will allow fans all around the world to buy exclusive limited-edition releases from official shops online.

The full list of participating regions – which includes the UK, Australia, and Canada – can be found on the Discogs Site. If you’re in an eligible area, it could be a great chance to get hold of anything you missed during the main event on Saturday 20th April. 

Record Store Day was started in 2007 by a team of six dedicated music fans. It was founded as a celebration of both vinyl records and the stores that sell them and has since grown into an influential force behind the resurgence of vinyl.

Many artists have special releases hitting shelves (or online shopping baskets) this year, including David Bowie, The Cure, Gorillaz, Fleetwood Mac, Paramore, The Rolling Stones and The Weeknd.

Discogs, the online music shopping network, will also have several Record Store Day lists, guides and more available throughout the event. 

This year’s Record Store Day is the 17th edition of the event. Vinyl sales rose by nearly 12 per cent in the UK during 2023, hitting close to six million LP sales in total, a huge increase from the paltry 200,000 sold in 2007 when RSD was founded. 

MORE:

Check out all the latest Vinyl Week 2024 features and reviews

The 17 best turntables of What Hi-Fi?'s lifetime

What led to the resurgence of vinyl? Here are 5 reasons why it’s back and booming

Not many things would have descended on Sydney in greater numbers than millimetres of rainfall on the weekend (150mm over 24 hours!), but hi-fi brands were indeed one of them. After a successful inaugural event last April, the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2024 returned to the Novotel Sydney Central Hotel to give Sydneysider audiophiles the opportunity to see and hear some of the best audio and AV products from Australia and all around the world.

Brought to you by Australian Hi-Fi, What Hi-Fi? and Sound+Image magazines by Future Publishing, the three-day celebration of the hi-fi and home cinema industries featured nearly 30 rooms of kit, which included an all-Aussie system costing the equivalent of five Teslas, AlsyVox ribbon speakers from Italy that delivered mind-blowing sound and got everyone talking, and even the latest Avantgarde Acoustics horn loudspeaker system ahead of its official unveiling at the renowned High End Munich show next month.

If you couldn’t weather the storm to get there, don’t fret – the showfloor highlights can be found below, so you can at least see what sonic heaven looked like and get an idea of which demos to chase your local retailer for as the winter months draw close. And hey, there’ll always be next year!

Finally, don't forget to call back to see which room won our show awards for 'Best Sounding Room', as voted for by show attendees. Watch this space.

Lower Ground Floor

Bowers & Wilkins, Classe, Denon & more (Masimo Consumer)

A natural next stop following the Bowers & Wilkins 700 Series speaker demo in Masimo’s room on floor nine was its two rooms on the lower ground, one of which housed the 801 D4 representative of the all-singing-all-dancing 800 Diamond Signature Series. Alongside high-end Classe Delta pre and power amplification, naturally, fed by the Marantz 30n player (a Denon turntable was there to tag-team) and connected by AudioQuest, the new 800 did what they do best – highly insightful, dynamically expressive, tonally-straight-down-the-middle renditions. You wouldn’t have heard Leonard Cohen’s vocal in You Want It Darker quite like that through another system had you held up every other room demonstrator at knifepoint to play it. 

Across the corridor was another B&W speaker series with 800 Diamond-levels of fame: the affordable – and ever-brilliant in its eighth generation – 600 Series, paired with Marantz’s PM7000N streaming amplifier. And ensuring no visitor was left short of demonstrations to choose from in Masimo’s lower ground floor representation, Polk speakers and Denon electronics formed a likely, also accessible pairing.

Wilson Audio, ADG Productions & Grimm Audio (Indie Hi-Fi)

If ever a queue needed to be formed over the weekend it was for Indie Hi-Fi’s single-seat (!) demo of the Wilson Audio SabrinaX speakers, Grimm Audio MU1 streamer (and Roon server) and AGD Productions’ Andante DAC/preamp and Audion mono amps. Indeed, this system deserves to be heard in that central, up-close sweet spot, and sweet it did sound. 

It would’ve been pretty bold of you to occupy that room for more than 15 minutes, but you could’ve far from reasonably spent hours in Indie Hi-Fi’s other room, which thankfully catered for a few more bodies – specifically head-fi fans, who had before them a veritable selection of person listening gear, including Raal Requisite ribbon, Meze Audio and Dan Clark Audio headphones and complementary components from the likes of HoloAudio and Ferrum. Exquisite! 

Ground Floor

Sonus Faber, McIntosh, Aurender & more (Synergy)

Sonus Faber’s Stradivari sequel, which saw the iconic Italian speaker make a comeback last year to celebrate the brand’s 40th anniversary, made a thrilling – and lasting – impression at the Australian Hi-Fi Show, aptly paired with McIntosh’s MC1.25KW monos, 1200 Series digital components and MT5 turntable, as Aurender’s N20 streamer brought the sweet streams and REL’s No.32 subs jacked up the lowest end. An enthralling rendition of Meute’s You & Me, particularly as the techno brass brand’s chorus horns come in, while the Stradivari’s imaging and sub integration were touted using Gojira’s Drum Solo.

The Synergy room’s more accessible, ‘real-world’ system saw Advance Paris – fresh from its glowing A12 Classic integrated amplifier review in Australian Hi-Fi magazine – and the ever-reliable ELAC join forces, while an all-Rega system fronted by the British brand’s new Aya speakers gave visitors good reason to revisit on their way out!

March Audio

We were more than happy to be reacquainted with the Ukkonen AWG floorstanders by March Audio, who drove (!) their homegrown wares and themselves down to Sydney from Albany, WA to show visitors why it won second place for ‘Best Sounding  Room’ at last year’s event. With the floorstanders and its Sointuve WG standmounters driven this time by its new Pre1 preamp and flagship P801 power amp, March Audio once again demonstrated how spectacular sound doesn’t have to cost the earth. And if you made the most of the 10 per cent discount the company offered at the show, then congratulations on your latest bargain!

Vivid Audio, Jeff Rowland, PS Audio & more (Avation)

The phrase ‘blue and green should never be seen unless there’s a colour in between’ simply does not apply to Vivid Audio’s side-side-by-side positioning of its Kaya S12 (green) and Giya G2, which looked gorgeous next to one another in Avation’s room. The former, hooked up to a Lumin P1 streamer, the didi Jeff Rowland Capri preamp and PS Audio BHK M600 monos, sounded just as sonically pleasing as it was visually, despite its large environment. Read Sound+Image’s Vivid Audio Kaya S12 review for all the superlatives.

First Floor

Duntech, Dohmann & Halcro (Nirvana Sound)

Ever wondered how your music collection would sound through a system costing the equivalent of five Teslas? The Three Aus-keteers in Duntech, Dohmann and Halcro treated show attendees to a demo of a near-million-dollar supersystem that sounded like, well, a million dollars. Duntech’s two-metre-tall Princess loudspeakers took the helm, flying the flag for the company’s "Prime Directives" design ethos, and were driven by Halcro’s new stereo version of its legendary Eclipse amplifier, which Audio Esoterica magazine recently heralded as one of the best-sounding amplifiers in the world. 

These talents were fed by another in Dohmann’s equally renowned Helix One turntable, featuring a new Supatrac Blackbird tonearm whose revolutionary patented 'Sideways Uni-Pivot Arm' bearing is, if you ask us, worth further reading. Mavis Staple’s 2019 Live in London LP was the highlight of one particular demonstration, with the system utterly nailing the recording’s wonderful Union Chapel, London sonics.

Elementi, BenQ & Meridian (Wavetrain Cinema)

Home cinema design company Wavetrain Cinema, who last year became the first outside Europe and North America to win ‘Best Global Home Cinema’ at the CEDIA Awards, offered nothing short of a spectacle at the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2024. 

The AU$100,000 set-up comprised surround speakers (Firebird, Firefly), subwoofers (Obsidian) and amplification (Tungsten, Magnesium – located close to the speakers in vertical enclosures to reduce cable lengths and consequent interference) from the company’s own brand Elementi, plus a Severston Impression Series screen, Lumagen Radiance Pro video processor and BenQ’s brand-new W5800 laser projector (which was placed too high to photograph!). And boy, was it a showstopper! Barbie showed off the BenQ’s rich colour palette, No Time To Die reassured that it could ‘do natural’ while being a glossy double-page advert for Elementi sound, and the final The Greatest Showman demo clip would’ve sealed the deal for anyone umming and ahhing over turning their nest-flown teenager’s room into a dream home cinema. Fantastic!

Avantgarde Acoustics, Piega, Innuos & more (Maxmedia)

Avantgarde Audio’s all-new Mezzo G3 active loudspeaker system (powered by its own iTRON power amplifier) arrived Down Under in time for the show ahead of its official launch at the High End Munich show next month, dazzling not only with its orange horns but its equally beguiling performance, not least its pin-point-precise stereo imaging when fed trip-hop electronica by the connected COS D10 streaming DAC/preamp. 

Less orange but no less impressive was another Maxmedia brand showcase in the Innuous Pulse player, Fezz Audio’s tube Equinox DAC and Titania stereo amp driving Piega loudspeakers, their rendition of Annie Lennox’s Put A Spell On You an early show highlight! And lest we forget the brightest corner of the room – Leica's Cine 1 Cinema TV, a glossy advert for the increasingly popular big-screen TV-style projection market.

Beyerdynamic

The Beyerdynamic headphones stand from Australian distributor Synchronised Technology was visitors' first post-show-registration stop, loaded with award-winning and best-in-class cans from the German brand's diverse, budget-spanning catalogue – including the brand-new (but numbers-limited) DT 770 Pro X Limited Edition, bringing tech from the company's higher price points down to a $349 headphone. Not a bad way to start your audio show experience! Celebrating its 100th year in the business, Beyerdynamic isn't short of reputable pairs (as our 9 best Beyerdynamic headphones list goes some way to prove!), and show attendees would have discovered the reason why professionals consistently choose the company's headphones for Broadcast, Film and Stage applications, and seen how their technologies transfer into stunning consumer headphones for home and away.

Boomerang Records

If Beyerdynamic was a first stop for visitors, the adjacent vinyl racks from Boomerang Records were everyone's essential last stop, to load up on "just a couple" of takeaways from the Sydney-based store's trove of the black stuff and exchange collection stories with Boomerang's endlessly knowledgeable team (though we had to have a word about Led Zeppelin being filed under 'Metal'). Our Sound+Image editor Jez Ford betrayed his love of prog by leaving with a rare Fish/Tony Banks 12-incher under his arm, though also a more respectable (especially for a Brit) Masters Apprentices compilation.    

Floor 9

Secret Chord Analogue

Secret Chord Analogue’s often-packed room 901 included demonstrations of the “world’s finest vinyl record cleaning method”, Record Restore, while music was flowing from 15-inch open-baffle Confluence Decor-series speakers driven, on our visit, by neat little red-fronted RedRoo electronics, the SE5 tube amplifier and PR5 Tube Phono Preamp. Designed by Phil Wait, former staff engineer at Electronics Today International magazine, the RedRoos are available in kit form at a couple of levels, including completed circuit boards that require “little more than a screwdriver” to construct, Phil told us.   

Revival Audio, Musical Fidelity & more (Audio Marketing)

Audio Marketing brought the latest release in the successful Revival Audio Atalante loudspeaker range from France to Room 902, the new Atalante 4 sounding super-clean in a more conventional tower-like design rather than the wonderful width of the first two giant standmounts, yet with the same Atalante engineering and French-built design details. The speakers were generously powered by the 550W Musical Fidelity M8xi super-integrated amplifier, while the source topping the stack was MF’s acrylic aesthetic wonder, the $18k M8xTT turntable which was playing, among others, the LP collection issued by Inakustic, whose giant cables linked all components.

Microphase Audio Design 

M.A.D. speakers are renowned for their extraordinary clean midrange, certainly demonstrated up in Room 903 but newly supplemented by the more significant bass performance of the latest Tower 4 design (left of picture), now the highest level of the brand’s iteratively expanded speakers. This is the first to introduce an MTM arranged pair of 13cm midrange drivers flanking the tweeter, while below are twin active 10-inch bass drivers in a push-pull arrangement, each powered by a 150W MosFet amplifier. From an eclectic collection of electronics on hand, MAD’s Jean-Marie Liere was using a classic Quad 606 amplifier to drive the Tower 4s, which were most definitely on song, our favourite being a thrilling delivery of London Grammar’s Hey Now.

Yamaha Music Australia

Yamaha had two rooms up on the 9th floor, the first pairing the company’s 2000 Series hi-fi with the NS-2000A floorstanding speakers in their Yamaha true piano-black gloss, and everything on Les Davis Entropic Isolators. We suffered through a visitor’s choice of Simply Red, the system ruthlessly revealing its 80s’ appallingness, before the demonstrator took mercy and switched to two gorgeous slices of Lana Del Rey in The Grants and A&W, thus reassuring us as to the enveloping True Sound abilities of the 2000 Series.

Next door Yamaha had the 5000 Series hi-fi system, and no such reassurance was required there, even though the Giant & Tremendous turntable wasn’t initially being used in this usually all-analogue system (it arrived late), so that we instead enjoyed (greatly) the 5000 Series pre-power and speakers’ abilities when fed from a Tidal stream. We also enjoyed the Yamaha team's all-new 70th-anniversary (of hi-fi products) t-shirt, almost as much as we did the deck's performance when it did arrive for the Saturday showing.

Yamaha also brought the biggest prize of the show: a pair of the YH-5000SE orthodynamic headphones, valued at $7499, so the room held a regular flow of competition entrants getting their cards initialled and their entries assured. Winners will soon be revealed!

Bowers & Wilkins, Marantz & more (Masimo Consumer)

Masimo Consumer’s many brands were spread liberally across the Show, with the ninth floor hosting a dynamite demo of the latest Signature edition from Bowers & Wilkins, the 702 S3 Signature with luxurious Datuk Gloss finish, internal upgrades and just a little gold bling trim. Driving the system was the Marantz Model 50 amplifier, with the newly award-winning CD 50n spinning CDs and streaming, plus the calming influence of a Furman power conditioner. Top tunes during our visit included Joshua Bell’s Slavonic Fantasy in B minor and Beats Antiques Surges.

Kudos Audio, Copland, VPI & more (Audio Magic/Krispy Audio)

Audio Magic and Krispy Audio shared Room 907, and delivered one of our very favourite-sounding rooms (though the coveted 'Best Sound of Show' is chosen by public vote). The cunningly chamfered Kudos Audio Titan 808 speakers were effortlessly rolling out the tunes under the command of Copland’s CTA407 integrated tube amplifier, almost invisible in black at the top of one rack, while a VPI Scout turntable topped the other, above the very new Manley Oasis phono stage from California, which replaces the highly regarded Chinook. Digital tunes came from the versatile Lumin P1 streamer, DAC and pre-amplifier. Glorious.

Harbeth, Ayre Acoustics, Bergmann Audio & more (Audio Magic/Space Hi-Fi)

Audio Magic teamed with Space Hi-Fi for its second show room. It’s always a pleasure to relax in front of a pair of Harbeth speakers, here the Super HL5 Plus XD model with their Harbeth-made 200mm RADIAL2 bass/mid driver, and connected with Ultra Black II Tellurium cables (which Space Hi-Fi is currently including for free with the speakers). Johnnie Bergmann’s very black air-bearing turntable from Denmark wasn’t playing when we visited, but we greatly enjoyed digital tunes served from Aqua’s LinQ network interface Formula xHD DAC, playing through an Ayre pre-power combo of KX-5 Twenty preamp and VX-5 Twenty fully-discrete, fully-balanced, zero-feedback power amp.

Auralic, Rogue Audio, Devore (Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment)

Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment always provides a darkened listening haven, this year equipped with Devore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 speakers – designed especially for compatibility with lower-powered valve amps, though Mcleans brought something rather higher in the wattage department, with 90 watts of pure valve power from the four matched KT88s in the Rogue Audio Stereo 100 power amplifier, taking its lead from the Rogue RP-7 preamp. An excellent choice of tunes – including Diana Krall’s take on Desperado, and Nick Cave’s Into My Arms – made this a room hard to leave.

MartinLogan, Anthem, Bluesound (Audio Active)

Audio Active switched out its planned Sony/Theory demonstration for a wall of MartinLogan’s surprisingly affordable Motion XT loudspeakers with their Gen2 Obsidian folded-motion (aka Oskar Heil) tweeters: the black floorstanders are the Motion XT F200, the white ones the F100s, along with the B100 standmounts. Powering the set were Anthem stereo amplifiers: the STR Preamplifier with its (excellent, in our experience) ARC room correction, and the STR stereo power amplifier capable of 400W into 8 ohms, 800W into 2 ohms, all playing tunes sucked from the ether by a streamer from fellow Canadians Bluesound.

Serhan Swift

Serhan Swift brought the brand-new mµ3F floorstander, as well as the award-winning mµ2 MkII standmount. The floorstander is a 2.5-way incorporating two differently-tuned cabinets in an arrangement which presents a friendly impedance curve, making them easy for amplifiers to drive accurately. Both Brad Serhan and Morris Swift were on hand to explain the speakers and argue over music selections; they went for 2.5 over 3-way in this design, they said, to avoid a second crossover at critical listening frequencies.

A late bonus in this room came from the inclusion of the latest wonderbox from fellow Australians DEQX, also on hand to explain their boffin-brained latest creation. Years in the design, and still in beta software (for this period thereby available direct from DEQX at significant discount), DEQX’s new Gen4 LS200 is the first DEQX processor to come with amplification in the same chassis. It performs first speaker correction and only secondly room correction, and it can do so not only for passive speakers but for up to 4-way active speakers, and now using cloud computing instead of requiring a PC to run the software. So this was another room thrillingly showcasing the skills of Australia’s homespun hi-fi industry.

Sennheiser Hearing

Sennheiser Hearing (the consumer division) brought its award-winning Accentum Plus wireless noise-cancellers and its very latest Momentum Sport wireless earbuds, which integrate both heart rate and body temperature sensors and are compatible with popular fitness apps including Apple Health, Garmin Connect, Peloton, and Polar. 

With the new owners of Sennheiser Consumer being a Swiss medical company, we were also interested to discover the Conversation Clear Plus earbuds, designed as hearing supplements to cut out room noise and focus on the speaker in front – just the thing for all those restaurants with horrible hard acoustics.

Plenty of full-sized cans were there for the auditioning, while also in attendance was the latest junior member of Sennheiser’s Ambeo soundbars, the Ambeo Mini.

AudioSolutions, Vitus Audio, Silent Angel & more (Hi End Audio/Absolute Hi End)

Hi End Audio and distributor Absolute Hi End brought the brand-new (just reviewed!) AudioSolutions Figaro M loudspeakers in a very fetching shade of electric blue, these floorstanders being driven by the all-dancing and definitely all-singing Vitus Audio RI-101Mk2 amplifier/streamer/DAC, along with Silent Angel’s dinky switches and streamers, the new $34k SoulNote A3 SE amplifier, and Vyda Orion cabling throughout. During our stay we particularly enjoyed a powerful dose of Yello, the Swiss electronica pumping forth alive and real from these stylish speakers and high-end components.

Richter

Richter had perhaps the most unexpected demo of the whole show. We were (again) fully impressed with the performance of the latest Wizard S6 Plus floorstanders, just perfect, tight yet bouncy, beautiful vocals, and yet at AU$2899, among the least expensive speakers at the show. They ran from a Bluesound streamer with Musical Fidelity amplification. 

But then Richter’s Brian Rodgers played the same tune (Jane Monheit’s version of Honeysuckle Rose) through a wider-situated pair of Richter’s new Unicorn LCR ‘centre’ speakers. And then again with the Unicorns standing up vertically. Rear switches on the Unicorn allow adjustment for horizontal or vertical use, as well as tuning for left or right positioning, and with a 1-1.5dB lift over 3-10kHz available to improve dialogue as an optimal centre speaker. So one Unicorn could operate as a centre, two as a stereo pair, or three for LCR in a home cinema set-up. And the sound is a perfect match for Richter’s other S6plus speakers, lacking only the lowest substance that a sub would bring to a full system. The Unicorn is, therefore, Richter’s most versatile speaker ever, and made for an odd but certainly sensational demo. 

Dellichord (Stereotech)

Dellichord’s Australian creators were on hand in Room 920 to introduce – and explain – both their newly-award-winning isobaric four-driver FR6 standmount speakers, and the brand-new FR2035 IsoActive System (outside speakers in the picture above), which combines an FR35 bookshelf monitor atop the FR20 IsoActive Bass Module, both powered by internal amplifiers which deliver 250W into their 4 ohms. 

For the passive speakers there were Exposure amps to do the driving, while an Aurender streamer was sourcing the tunes. 

A cutaway of the FR6 usefully demonstrated its hidden additional isobaric midrange driver, and the space which drives its rear passive radiator; “otherwise hardly anyone realises that isobaric means there is another identical drive unit inside the box,” they told us. 

AlsyVox, Aries Cerat, Pink Faun & more (PuraSound)

PuraSound delivered definitely one of our favourite sounds of the show (the coveted 'Best Sound of Show' is chosen by public vote) in Room 922, largely thanks to the bewitching AlsyVox full-range ribbon loudspeakers from Italy, these actually one of the brand’s smaller models despite weighing 85kg each, using two panels 58cm wide and 1.44 metres high, and with 93dB reference sensitivity, making them easy to drive. 

Doing so here was the $75k Aries Cerat Aperio integrated amplifier with its innovative TriodeFet technology, while on the floor in front were two simply massive Ithaka ladder DACs, each channel using 24 parallel switched resistor ladder converters. Pink Faun's 2.16 Ultra digital server/streamer brought the tunes, with the system completed by cables from Luna and Skogrand. PuraSound's Robert Campbell predicted to us that this system would be an addictive listen; he was not wrong.

PSB Speakers (Amber Technology)

Amber Technology brought PSB Speakers to Room 923, running the latest Imagine T65 floorstanders from the 50-year-old Canadian company founded by the great Paul Barton, with source streaming and power from sister Canadian company NAD. 

Amber cleverly built in a second demonstration, bringing two pairs of Imagine T65 towers. The black pair sat straight on the hotel carpet, while the white pair perched atop a set of IsoAcoustics isolating feet. A switch box (supplied by IsoAcoustics) then allowed seamless comparison between the isolated and unisolated speakers. The difference was clear; this is the second time we’ve heard this IsoAcoustics demo, and the second time the difference has been more than we’d expect, so much so that we (again) headed round the back to check for cabling furfies. Finding nothing (other than being unable to assess the switching box itself), we suspect the effect must be real. 

Of course, Amber Technology understandably couldn't resist bringing along the fantastic flagship Synchrony T800 too, even if they really belong in a larger room!

Our thanks to everyone who visited and/or exhibited at the Show this year – one day of tropical rain and two days of sunshine, three days of fine music and AV entertainment across four floors of the Sydney Central Hotel. 

Let's do it again next year!