This year's High End Show uprooted itself from its established base in Munich and found a new home in Vienna, meaning a new venue, a new city and, most importantly, the chance for lots of new people to come and see the best that the world of high-end hi-fi has to offer.
While the venue might have been different, one thing has remained the same: the propensity for the High End Show to throw up some mind-blowing marvels for the delectation of thousands of eager punters.
From massive horn speakers to setups costing more than your family home, Vienna has been host to some of the most striking hi-fi concoctions on the planet over the past few days.
ESD Acoustic Super Dragon horn speakers
Ah, the ESD Super Dragon speakers – it's always good to see them.
Not that you can miss the mighty Dragons, mind. We've been crossing paths with the mammoth horn speakers for quite a few years at High End Munich, and now they've flown themselves over to pastures new to wow Viennese audiences with their big sound and unmistakably gigantic horns.
Calling themselves the "biggest hi-fi speakers" in the world, ESD's monsters stand at 140cm tall, weigh 1190kg, and house foiled beryllium and titanium sandwich diaphragms.
Want a full Dragon System? Prepare to hand over $1,531,163 for the "entry level" version. The even higher-end, special edition Super Dragon we saw at Vienna reportedly costs over $3.6 million...
Acoustic Signature Invictus Neo turntable
"We could now write an essay on our Invictus Neo. But this would make no sense. You wouldn’t believe us anyway until you have heard our masterpiece yourself".
Now that's how you market your product. If big-money turntables are your sort of thing, you won't find many that will empty your bank balance with the same rapidity as Acoustic Signature's Invictus Neo.
At €184,798, it's easily one of the most wallet-busting decks we saw at this year's High End Vienna show. To justify the price, its makers candidly describe it as "the best turntable in the world".
To live up to such a lofty moniker, the Neo packs six integrated AC motors and an external digital control, as well as a rigid DTD bearing, a diamond-coated spindle, and an anodised aluminium and brass sandwich platter. Oh, and a 15-year warranty to soften that mighty financial blow.
MBL 101 X-Treme MKIII loudspeakers
From its polished website to its richly adorned listening space, it's clear that German audio brand MBL is trying to evoke a sense of luxury from its price-stretching range of hi-fi separates and speakers.
MBL had a number of its enviably high-end wares on display in its Vienna showroom, though there's no question that the 101 X-Treme MKIII were the centrepiece of the company's not-so-modest exhibition.
The 101 X-Treme MKIII house a tweeter, upper-midrange, lower-midrange, and a large twin-layered aluminium sandwich subwoofer housed in a downward-firing enclosure. The speakers' drivers use a radial design made from carbon fibre and aluminium segments, which flex outward to fire sound more evenly throughout the room.
We don't know prices yet, but considering the previous generation speakers sailed north of £300,000, that should give you a good idea of what we're dealing with.
Kharma Enigma Veyron EV1D loudspeakers
We don't know about you, but when we hear the word 'Veyron', we think of Bugatti's iconic supercar from a few years back, which smashed records left, right and centre and was the darling of the Top Gear trio for pushing the boundaries of what a legal road car could do.
Kharma teases similar boundary-pushing levels of engineering with its namesake floorstanders, claiming they offer "a new level of sound quality" and "superior technology that pushes the limits of current dynamic loudspeakers".
At the heart of the Enigma Veyron EV1D is the brand's new Omega C-Driver, engineered in-house with a rigid metal composite chassis and solid silver connectors. Those massive cabinets, meanwhile, are constructed using CNC-milled bulletwood, chosen, according to Kharma, for its "exceptional density and acoustic properties".
The EV1D don't just push the boundaries of performance, either. Some have reported the Kharma towers to be "the most expensive speakers in the world" – at $1.5 million, they can't be far off.
Wilson Audio Autobiography loudspeakers
There are houses... and then there are houses. There are cars... and then there are cars. There are speakers... and then there are Wilson Audio's Autobiography towers. Do you get where we're going with this?
To illustrate our point, the Bowers & Wilkins flagship 801 D5 Diamond Series speakers will cost you £43,000 / $65,000 / €50,000, and that's not exactly pocket change. The Autobiography are a tad pricier at $788,000. That's not a mortgage on a house – that's just a house, and quite a nice one at that.
We don't have the time or the space to tell you everything there is to know, but the key bullet points include seven drive units, handcrafted sculpted cabinets, around two meters of height and a total weight of roughly 1000kg.
AMR Luna Series
AMR is back, and it unveiled at High End Vienna its new Luna Series of ultra-high-end separates. The series includes three new models: the Luna Ingenii DAC, Luna Medii preamplifier, and Luna Procellarum monoblock power amp. AMR claims each will offer "unconstrained audio...conceived without commercial compromise".
Production is limited, though. No more than 176 sets of Luna Ingenii, 186 sets of Luna Medii or 148 sets of the Luna Procellarum will be built. According to the firm, this is mainly due to the scarcity of the components used in each and AMR’s desire to provide lifetime service and support.
AMR describes the Luna Series as boasting "engineering without economic restraint". The Luna Procellarum, for instance, uses a unique four-quadrant FET design in which four complete amplifier circuits operate in concert for every channel.
What sort of money are we talking? If you want the entire system, prices will start to creep beyond £400,000 for the pleasure.
Revox Deep Purple Limited Edition series
Are Deep Purple still considered cool? The jury's still out on that one, but we're pretty confident in saying that Revox's limited edition series, built in collaboration with the British hard rock pioneers, isn't exactly lacking in style.
The range consists of the T77 turntable, the Studiomaster A200 speaker and, as pictured above, the B77 MK III stereo tape recorder, all of which sport a rich blue design and distinctive iconographies as part of their special production aesthetic.
Limited edition really does mean limited, too. Only 25 units of the B77 MK III will be available worldwide, while only 50 T77 turntables and 200 A200 speakers will be produced.
We've got to admit that up close and personal, the exclusive new Revox range really does look the business. We only have one question: shouldn't they have been purple instead?
MORE:
10 of the most exciting hi-fi products we saw at High End Vienna 2026
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I’ve had a first listen to Bowers & Wilkins’ new flagship 800 Series Diamond speakers – and now I’m desperate to hear more
