Audio Show Deluxe 2025 – Part Two

A small but friendly high-end event, Audio Show Deluxe has become a prominent fixture on the UK audio map in just three years. The show is intentionally kept small because the organisers prefer quality over quantity; they believe this allows them to provide a better experience than events that cram exhibitors into a maze-like hotel floorplan.

However, being almost perfectly located between the audio expos in Bristol, Chicago, and Munich, the number of ‘new’ products at Audio Show Deluxe is relatively small. Many are ‘new to the UK’; however, downplaying the emphasis on novelty allows us to appreciate systems based on quality, rather than solely on their ‘shiny and new’ appearance!

We’ve also taken the opportunity to include a few long-form video reviews of new products, featuring discussions with Oz Turan about the Viva Audio Verticale, Tony Crocker of Swan Song Audio on his 3D printed headphones, Jerry Bloomfield of Oneiros loudspeakers, and Craig Milnes of Wilson Benesch on the mighty GMT One turntable. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcZ3-SKKcco for more details.

Musical Fidelity

UK distributor Henley Audio now has all three brands from the Lichtenegger stable under one roof: Pro-Ject, European Audio Team, and Musical Fidelity. The latest versions of the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista preamp and mono power amplifiers played in the main system, but the new Nu-Vista 600.2 integrated amplifier caught our attention. This 160W, all analogue integrated amplifier is remarkably close to Musical Fidelity’s top pre/power combination in a single chassis. Featuring 6S51N nuvista screened triodes, this £7,999 integrated amp is an exciting addition to the line.

MusicWorks

High-End distributor and manufacturer of support and power essentials MusicWorks was showing off both Accuphase electronics (with a DP-770 SACD player, C-3900 preamp and the A-300 Class A mono power amplifiers) and Peak Consult Sonora loudspeakers, all hooked up with Audiomica Reference cables and the company’s own AcouPlex tables and power products. The total cost of the system? Around £130,000.

Oneiros

We cover this new product launch as part of our YouTube show coverage, but this complex loudspeaker design is the ultimate expression of the people behind Falcon Loudspeakers. Using state-of-the-art materials science more commonly seen on F1 cars (and taking advantage of the UK’s heritage in that field) the Oneiros Audio project is an ambitious high-end loudspeaker first seen in VR prototype form at AXPONA 2024. The product of generative AI meets painstaking execution, this £650,000 pair of loudspeakers is set to help restore the UK’s place at the top-end of audio performance.

Storgaard & Vestskov

A new, family-owned, Danish loudspeaker company, Storgaard & Vestskov is making a name for itself at great speed. The company makes just three loudspeakers; the £21,165 Frida two-way stand-mount design (which despite its size, is claimed to reach down below 30Hz in room) and the £25,415 Gro two-way, three-driver floorstander. There is also a Fenja model, but was too big for the room. Specially finished in Aston Martin Podium Green and black (to celebrate the Silverstone connection), making everything in house paid off with an excellent sound from Moon electronics. We hope to hear more from these loudspeakers, soon.

Swan Song Audio

Personal Audio is not a strong suit at Audio Show Deluxe, but that didn’t stop Swan Song Audio coming all the way from Oklahoma to attend. The company showed its unique Transcend 3D printed headphone system designed to replicate the in-house listening experience in the home. Although the 3D printed horns feel sharp on your head and the looks are ‘challenging’, this did present a more three-dimensional soundstage than many headphone systems. We discuss this more in our YouTube coverage

Symmetry

Symmetry shares its room with Chasing The Dragon records and invites the permanently effervescent Mike Valentine to talk through his recordings with examples throughout. The system itself is as outstanding as Valentine’s remarkable direct-cut records, comprising of a full set of Brinkmann Audio electronics (including two turntables – Balance and Taurus, Nyquist Mk II DAC, Marconi Mk II preamp, and mono power amps) into Wilson Audio Sasha V loudspeakers and a Shunyata Research cables and Denali power conditioner.

Technics

Technics showed two systems in one. The first – using the brand’s new SL-1300G and SL-G700 Mk2 streaming SACD player from its Grand Class into a Reference Class SU-1000 integrated amplifier – was driving a pair of YG Acoustics Cairn two-way stand-mount loudspeakers (using Cardas Audio cable throughout). The second was a pair of Technics SC-CX700 wirless loudspeakers. What was surprising was just how close the latter system came to the former!

Wilson Audio

Of the many rooms run by high-end distributor Absolute Sounds, the one that featured dCS Audio digital electronics, Audio Research amplification (alternating with D’Agostino) and Wilson Audio loudspeakers was one of the most interesting. This was not the first UK outing for the new Audio Research Reference 330M mono power amplifiers before, but it was one of the first times these had been heard with the new WATT/Puppy loudspeakers. These have proved to be no pastiche of past glories, but a perfect encapsulation of what made the original Wilson Audio loudspeaker so popular in the 1980s and 1990s, mixed with the best of today. This was a system of effortless power and space, and kept listeners capitivated for the timed demonstration sessions. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to experience the last room in the group; the 30 minute gong bath sessions run by Wellbeing Strategist Kasia Richter, but those who did were as impressed as they were relaxed.

Wilson Benesch

Once again, we covered the mighty Wilson Benesch £250,000 GMT One turntable extensively with our interview with Craig Milnes on our YouTube channel, but there are few new turntables that challenge every preconception we have about the way the turntable plays a record, but this totally uncompromising turntable arm and cartridge combination certainly does just that. It sounded truly spectacular in the context of a Ypsilon system (with CH Precision phono stage and Innuos Statement streamer), all driving the Eminance loudspeaker from Wilson Benesch’s own Fibonacci series.

YouTube highlights of the show

Audio Show Deluxe 2025 Part One

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