The premier Audiophile show in Europe…. maybe even the world.

I have attended this European show many times before when it was previously held annually in Munich, Germany. For 2026, the HighEnd Society (the show organisers) decided on change of location to the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria. As I have not had the pleasure of visiting Vienna before, this was the perfect opportunity to attend this fabulous show and take in some sight-seeing around historic Vienna.

This is by no means a full show report as I will leave that to the experts (both in print and online). This blog post will hopefully provide an insight into some of the weird & wonderful products/systems I experienced while walking the halls, rooms and suites. I will highlight below a few of my own favourite and unforgettable experiences from this year’s show below.

1 – PMC

PMC, always create a great space at HighEnd to showcase their stunning products and audio solutions. If it was not clear before, this year they absolutely demonstrated the very strong link between the Studio and Home Audio. Their well-presented room was split into two areas for Hi-Fi and Dolby Atmos surround. This is where across the duration of the show they were running super-interesting listening sessions with renown music artists and producers.

 

I attended two of the four available sessions, the first one Jazz, Stripped Bare was demonstrating Jazz music mastered for Dolby Atmos. Co-hosted by Maurice Patist (PMC USA) and Steve Genewick (Grammy award-winning recording and mix engineer). They played a selection of music from exciting projects they have both been involved with including mastering/mixing ‘A Kind of Blue’, Miles Davis. Listening to ‘So What’ this stunning Dolby Atmos surround version versus the standard vanilla stereo mix was a real revelation and highlight for me.

The second listening session I attended was absolutely my favourite ‘The Vinyl Groove with Miles Showell’. Miles Showell is a leader in the art of half-speed vinyl mastering. Based at the world famous ‘Abbey Road Studios’ in London, his impressive body of work speaks for itself, including mastering work on; The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Genesis, The Who, Dire Straits and many more.

During the session Miles played a great selection of music he has worked on including John Martyn, The Eurythmics, Seal and The Beatles. My own reference level is quite high but listening to an inside/out cut of ‘A Day In The Life’ from Sgt Pepper was an extremely emotional and moving experience that I will truly never forget. This stunning Hi-Fi system consisted of a Michell Gyro turntable and Apollo phono stage, Bryston amplification driving PMC’s flagship home speaker the Fact Fenestria. All I can say is wow, just wow.

 

Lastly, it was a pleasure to attend a private party on the Friday evening, celebrating PMC’s 35th anniversary since the company was formed back in 1991.

2 – Innuos

Innuos was based in one of the main halls with an impressive listening room. This was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to their stunning flagship Nazaré system and was hands down my joint favourite experience at the show.

Innuos are really pioneering just what can be achieved in the world of streaming. Some of the ground-breaking Nazaré tech is now starting to trickle down into both the Next-Gen and Stream series products. Now featuring, upgradable options to further improve on the sound performance. This can be easily actioned in stages and now perfectly showcases their clever approach to a modular designed system.

Stephen from Innuos was demonstrating the difference of using the Nazaré Flow (re-clocker) with the main Nazaré streaming transport and the difference with was truly astonishing. Innuos announced the Next-Gen Flow (re-clocker) and new dedicated network switches for both Stream and Next-Gen series, available later this year (prices TBC).

HighEnd Vienna Show – Music Playlist

As I wondered around the show’s many halls, rooms and suites, I thought it would be interesting exercise to capture the music being played in some of the visited rooms by each supplier/host.

I used Shazam to create a 34 track music playlist, that could be shared and listened to via your own Hi-Fi system.

QOBUZ | TIDAL | SPOTIFY

Happy Listening!

Other New Products Announced:

Ruark

  • R710 £2199 – Music Console with an integrated CD player, larger screen and more power.
  • Talisman-R £1499 – Floor-standing speakers.

Dali

  • Vega £2599 – Premium wireless all-in-one speaker system (wall-mountable).

Cyrus Audio

  • Cyrus 80 £5399 – Streaming Amplifier (with BluOs).

McIntosh Labs

  • MA2375 £16,900 – Integrated all-valve amplifier.

Moon by Sim Audio

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