Bristol HiFi Show 2026 Report Part 1

JOIN TEAM HiFi PiG™ FOR PART ONE OF THEIR BRISTOL HiFi SHOW 2026 REPORT COVERING THE LOWER FLOORS OF THE SHOW

It’s February, so it must be time for the Bristol HiFi Show 2026, one of the UK HiFi Shows which we love to visit. This fabulous event is organised by HiFi retailers Audio T and is held at the Delta by Marriott hotel in Bristol city centre.

Officially, this is the start of the year for our HiFi Show Diary and what a way to kick things off, a great chance to catch up with all the new gear, industry friends and UK readers and have a rather splendid time in Bristol.

BRISTOL HiFi SHOW 2026 REPORT PART ONE

We’ve been going to the Bristol HiFi Show for years, and it’s always a bit of a highlight of the show calendar for Team HiFi PiG™, and this year was no exception. For us, the show offers a wonderful mix of kit at all levels, meaning that there’s something for everyone and for all pockets; and this was well evident in rooms like Fyne, who have showed off a system costing just 1400 quid. That’s still a chunk of dosh for many people, but still attainable with a bit of saving – just like all of us oldies had to save for our systems. What the Bristol HiFi Show also has is a great mix of people. Yes, this is still a predominantly sport for older blokes, but I did note that there was a good number of women at the show, and a smattering of younger folk too. This is all really important if the industry is to thrive going forward!

I don’t have the number of visitors yet, and Lin and I didn’t venture up to the 4 upper floors other than for a quick scoot around on Saturday afternoon, but the crowds did seem a bit more manageable this year; busy enough to feel buzzy, but not so packed that you couldn’t move down corridors or get into rooms – this has been a previous gripe for many at Bristol. This might seem like a negative if all you look for is big numbers, but from my perspective, I actually found the show much more comfortable this year. To give you a HiFi analogy, the best solution for your system isn’t always going to be that gazillion-watt muscle amp.

Rooms that Lin and I covered were universally well-dressed, and most sounded great. One thing I found particularly encouraging at this year’s Bristol HiFi Show was the diverse range of music that exhibitors chose to play. I did see a bit of a moan on one of the forums that said there wasn’t enough classical, choral, and acoustic music, but if we are to encourage younger folk into the hobby, then we need to move beyond Keith Don’t Go and Hotel California on constant rotation.

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The Clarity Awards returned to the show this year and were held in the PMC room, but by that time the Stu part of the Lin and Stu show was well-oiled and talking bollocks in the bar. However, despite her absence, we are reliably informed that Linette won an award for her ongoing efforts to promote Women In HiFi™. There’ll be more news on this in the coming weeks, but she’s put together some great partnerships and collaborations, including with the HighEnd Society in Germany. There was also a Women In HiFi get together on Saturday afternoon, organised by Lin, a first for the Bristol Show, which brought together both women from the HiFi Industry and those into the hobby of HiFi.

The bar at Bristol was packed and lively…a great place to unwind after the show and discuss what you had seen and heard.

On Saturday morning, we once again delighted those queuing early for the show with delicious HiFi PiG cupcakes, made by local bakery, Fakery Cakery…why, just because it’s nice to put a smile on people’s faces, and who doesn’t love a cupcake.

I was invited to do a short talk in the Fyne room about what I look for in tracks when reviewing, and despite being very nervous (I have no idea why, given I’ve an ego the size of a small planet and enjoy the attention), it seemed to go very well and HiFi PiG reviewer Debbie was moved to tears at my choice of track – The 2 Meter Sessies recording of Bruce Cockburn’s If I Had a Rocket Launcher.

If you are reading this, you will know that HiFi PiG has totally rebranded the site, and we used the Bristol HiFi Show to formally launch this to the British public. The fresh look seemed to have gone down a treat with lots of folk commenting positively on the new website, and of course enjoying our little squeaky HiFi PiGs. A big thanks to Kris and Kasia who run NWAS at Cranage and Audio Show Deluxe (with Stu) for helping us out and manning the HiFi PiG stand during the show.

Both Lin and I were invited to be interviewed by Brad, who deals with all the marketing and whatnot for The Bristol HiFi Show, and you can see them in the links below.

So, sit back, make yourself a brew, and enjoy this year’s coverage of the show. This first part is from Lin and Stu and covers the lower floors of the show. Oscar and Kelly’s coverage will follow, with floors 1 to 4 in their report, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank both Oscar and Kelly for their efforts in helping us cover the show – we couldn’t have done this without you guys!

Also a huge thank you to Tellurium Q for being the sponsors of our Bristol HiFi Show 2026 coverage, and to all of the Hotel staff and Team Audio T for putting on such a brilliant show!

And now, without further ado, let us take you around the Bristol HiFi Show 2026…

ELITE AUDIO UK

What a wonderful thing to walk into. Two young kids dancing around to The Pogues!
The full system in this room was made up of the excellent Electrocompaniet electronics and Revival Audio speakers. Full system One was: Revival Audio Atalante 3 with Revival Audio stands and Electrocompaniet ECi80D, Lindermann Woodnote SOLO and HiDiamond TopBronze cables. This system came in at around 8 and a half grand. We didn/t get to listen to System TWO but that was made up of Audio Physic Classic 25 speakers, Electrocompaniet ECi6Mk2, ECM1Mk2 and the HiDiamond Top Gold cables. That system came in at around 22 and a half grand. I particularly liked the floating prices that were very easy to read and not obtrusive.

DECENT AUDIO

Based in Stockton, Decent Audio had a really nicely set up room with good branding all around and a really welcoming and friendly team. New products were the order of the day in the form of the new Advance Paris APEX range, making its UK premier, the latest M-Series loudspeakers from Scansonic HD, also making their UK premier and cabling from Van den Hul.

I recall the Dual brand of turntables from when I first got into HiFi, and whilst I never actually owned one (I went Technics in the end), it was the budget turntable of the era. At the Bristol HiFi Show, the Dual CS 718Q enjoyed its exclusive reveal at the Bristol HiFi Show (the model playing was a prototype). The turntable looked beautiful and had an estimated market price of around 2.5K. Good to hear the funky, jazzy vibes of Ezra Collective in this room. Very cool!

INNUOS

Portuguese digital specialists Innuos always put a lot of effort in putting their rooms together. This time, they were using ATC speakers.

The main system was the Stream 3 with Phoenix DAC, with other variations with different DACS. We got the usual very high quality demonstration that moved us through the Stream 1 and LPS1 with the Performance DAC, then to the Stream 3 with the same Performance DAC, and then finally the Stream 3 with the Phoenix DAC. All were fed through the Phoenix NET. None of these systems is in any way slouches but the difference between the systems was clear, The top system is a very affordable 8.5K, which, whilst a chunk of money, is still relatively affordable in the world of high-end audio.

The usual very high standard from Innuos!

ACOUSTIC ENERGY

Keith Don’t Go got its first airing of the show in this room through the perennial favourite AE1 speakers. These are a diminutive little speaker, but sounded fabulous with the Michell front end and Exposure amplification.

Even just after 10:30 am, this room was rammed.

CHORD COMPANY

The Chord presentation at the Bristol show is a bit of an institution that is kind of obligatory to attend, and it’s always a bit of an occasion. Chord always uses The Bristol HiFi Show to launch their latest product, and this year was no exception, with them introducing a rather interesting-looking bit of kit. We had a bit of an “intrigued” look at it before the official launch, and our interest was suitably piqued.

So what was the new product? Well, it looked like a pair of short cables with either red or black rubber endings. Patrick and Ant did a wonderful presentation as always. The room was branded with album covers from 1985, when Sally started the company…and all the music was from that year. We got treated to how the brand and its products have evolved since 1985. The development of new coverings, insulations, and whatnot, and the improvement they make was pretty clear to hear.

So, the new product was The Phoenix, which are new speaker links. A full news item will follow with all the specification details. We got to listen to the current Chord Company jumpers whilst playing Tears for Fears and then the new ones.

In addition to the Phoenix links, we also got a sneak peek of a new range of cables that should be available later this year.

It’s always a highlight and always something we really enjoy. It’s also very much appreciated to be invited. Thank you!

WILSON BENESCH, CAD, AND TRILOGY

I don’t know the track, but when I walked in this room, there was a Fink tune playing, This Is The Thing it turned out to be. The room was cool in both temperature and the way the system was playing…really beautiful. Really beautiful!

The full system was fronted by the WB Horizon speakers at 26K. The CAD kit included 1543 MK2 DA at 21.5K and then a load of their cables and Ground Control devices.

The Trilogy 925 integrated provided the juice at 18.5K, and the Innuos Next-Gen server provided the zeros and ones. ISOL-8 did power distribution.

Really lovely sounding room that just seemed very live and cool.

This room was on the very shortlist for Lin and Stu’s Golden PiG award.

MONITOR AUDIO, ROKSAN & BLOK

A nicely put together room and a lovely, relaxed sound from the Monitor Audio brands.

REL ACOUSTICS

Subwoofer specialists REL had timed demonstrations for their system, and judging by the constant queue down the corridor, visitors were very interested in hearing their system. They were treated to the REL Carbon Special line array and new Serie S subwoofers were presented with Hegel’s H30 power amplifier and P30 preamplifier, DALI’s Epikore 11 floorstanders, with digital sources include the Innuos Zenith Next-Gen streamer and an Esoteric CD transport. Cabling from Chord Company, power conditioning from Puritan, and a Montaudio Manuka rack completed the system. John Hunter from REL was running the dems and the audience were very appreciative indeed.

PMC, BRYSTON, MICHELL

This time last year, we were at the launch of the new Prophecy loudspeakers from legendary UK brand PMC, and whilst nothing new was getting launched this year, the room was suitably packed and sounding fab playing Summer Soft by Stevie Wonder. It was the Prophecy 9 playing when we were in the room Bryston Bi200 integrated amp, a BDA 3 DAC, and a BlueSound Icon streamer.

Needless to say, there was a collection of Michell turntables spinning records.

A very nice room to spend time in.

Michell also had their own stand on the stairs, giving visitors a chance to chat to the team about the latest turntables away from the listening room. The new Michell Gyro and Revolv turntables were getting a lot of attention. You can read more about them here.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

What I really like about the Bristol HiFi show is that there is a very British feel to it. And in the Chord Electronics room we had a whole load of British kit with an American twist of a pair of Wilson speakers at the front.

The front ends were by Innuos and Michell, dealing respectively with digital and analogue duties.

The Chord Quartet digital upscaler and ULTIMA PHONOSTAGE were being demonstrated alongside the ULTIMA PRE 3 preamplifier and ULTIMA 3 mono power amplifiers.

The Quartet is a two-box FPGA-based digital upscaler developed over an eight-year period. It is designed to work with Chord Electronics’ DACs and uses multiple high-capacity FPGAs running bespoke code to perform high-rate digital upscaling. The processing architecture operates at sample rates up to 705.6kHz and 768kHz.

The ULTIMA PHONOSTAGE represents Chord Electronics’ most recent work in analogue vinyl replay. Drawing on the company’s ULTIMA amplifier topology, the phono stage is designed for use with high-performance turntables and cartridges. The Chord ULTIMA PHONO was first seen at High End Munich last year.

A very enjoyable room indeed, and was another room on Lin and Stu’s shortlist for the Golden PiG Award.

AUDIOQUEST

Audioquest rooms are always on point with regards to branding and whatnot. Bristol was no exception. The system was a Heed amp, Innuos Stream 3 (see earlier report from the Innuos room), a pair of Acoustic Energy Corinium speakers, and fronting the system was one of the new Technics direct drive turntables (one of which I ordered immediately at the Warsaw show last year – remember what I said, Popey!)

Obviously, the whole lot was wired by Audioquest cables.

DYNAUDIO

Dynaudio started the Saturday morning for this part of Team PiG, and the room was absolutely rammed. Dynaudio always go the extra mile with their room dressing, and I have to say Lou Reed sounded really magnificent and the audience were hugely appreciative. Bill, who runs Dynaudio in the UK, is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet and took great delight in showing me a copy of a white label of T Rex with Marc Bolan’s handwriting on it.

Fab!

Whispering Bob Harris OBE, of Radio 2 and the Old Grey Whistle Test fame was giving talks throughout the show in the Dynaudio room, these were so well attended that it was ‘fighting for standing room time’ and his wisdom was well received by the audience.

THE BRISTOL SUITE HALL & CORRIDOR STANDS

The large hall area of the Bristol Site had stands from HEA Distribution (with triangle, Isotek, Astell&Kern, Meze and Campfire Audio), HiFi+ Magazine, Chord Electronics, Innuos, Tonar, Puritan Audio Labs, Majority Audio, Shokz Headphones, Star Audio and GIK Acoustics.

Out in the corridor area were stands from Qobuz, Attacama, Solidsteel, REL, Symphony Distribution, Keith Monks and The Chord Company.

TRIANGLE AND CANOR

In a listening booth in the main hall, Triangle and Canor could be found with HEA Distribution. Playing a very dubby Grace Jones, this relatively affordable system had no right to sound so good. The new Isotek doing the power with IRN cables. The Canor Verto and the Vertus i4s integrated sorted power. The turntable was the Triangle Lunar 3, available in different colours to match the speakers, with the Triangle Borea 04. The CD2.10 from Canor was also being shown, but I didn’t get to listen to it.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Triangle speakers and have owned them in the past. This is affordable audio done very well, and the partnership with Canor is certainly one that works very well.

FYNE AUDIO

I’d already done a talk in the Fyne Audio room, but returned for a bit of a listen to the main system. This room was massive and was where the show’s previous media partner used to hold court. I think having a brand like Fyne in this space is a much better proposition for people attending the show, and a better use of the space. The room was big, but also really well put together.

Fyne used the space to demonstrate a range of loudspeakers from its entry-level models through to its higher-end designs, including the F704SP floorstanders and its omnidirectional SuperTrax and S-Trax supertweeters.

I really liked that Fyne had put together three levels of system. One at 1400 quid was affordable. One was achievable. And the final Fyne system was aspirational. This is how we get new folk into the hobby and keep them here!

CYRUS AND KERR ACOUSTICS

We talk a lot about exhibitors dressing their rooms and going the extra mile to make visitors feel welcoming, and this room managed to pull that off really nicely.

The new Cyrus 80 streaming integrated amplifier (£5,399) was debuting at the Bristol HiFi Show. The turntable is the TTP (3495) that went on to the Cyris PP phonostage (£1,999), the 40 CD player (£2,549), a pair of 40 PSU attached ot the phono and CD players (£1,999 each). The speaker cable was Chord Sarum as was the rest of the loom, and the mains block was Chord’s M6. Speakers were the K200 by Jess Kerr (£19,995).

We’d heard a lot of people say very good things about this room in the bar, and I really did get this, and I’d been looking forward to experiencing it. I wasn’t disappointed in any way, and this room was definitely on the shortlist for the Golden Pig award from Lin and me.

ENTRANCE LOBBY, CONSERVATORY AND TERRACE STANDS

Lockwood Loudspeakers had a really eye-catching stand in the entrance with their speakers shown in a variety of finishes, with Focal and Naim and Ruark Audio on stands upstairs.

In their usual spot next to the bar were our friends from Diverse Vinyl; they were, of course, doing a brisk trade in record sales, the stand was really busy every time we passed it.

In the conservatory area, next to the HiFi PiG stand was the very busy MCRU stand and the Vinyl Adventure, again shifting a lot of discs to the record-buying public. Also, Antrobus Audio had their very good-looking HiFi furniture in here, we liked it a lot!

THE GOLDEN PIG AWARDS (Lin and Stu)

At this point, Lin and I returned to the bar to discuss which of the rooms on our shortlist would receive our Golden PiG Award – Oscar and Kelly also chose their favourite. This is not an award based purely on the sound of the room. Of course, the sound of a room is very important, but as I have said countless times over the years, and have written about very recently, punters are paying good money to attend a show, and they deserve brands and exhibitors to go the extra mile to deliver an experience.

Chord Electronics, Wilson Benesch/Trilogy/CAD, and Cyrus/Kerr Acoustics were the shortlist from the rooms Lin and I covered on the lower floors of the show.

In the end, it was a very closely run race, but both Lin and I thought that the Cyrus/Kerr Acoustics room delivered on sound and the way the room had been set up. The main room was nicely lit, and I felt an immediate sense of calm as I sat down to listen. There was ample staff who were attentive to visitors, but not overly so to the point of getting in the way, and the separate area of static displays was dressed really nicely, with space for discussion about products that did not interfere with the listening going on in the main part of the room. Congratulations to the team!