Vienna Sound Fest 2026 Report
THE SPANISH TEAM BEHIND MADRID’S ART & SOUND FEST BROUGHT THE SHOW TO AUSTRIA FOR THE VIENNA SOUND FEST 2026
HiFi PiG’s Jon was also tasked with exploring the various off-site shows, which took place independently of the High End Vienna show at the Austria Centre. Here he takes you around the extremely High-End Vienna Sound Fest 2026.
Vienna Sound Fest came about following the need for an additional platform and large rooms for brands to exhibit in alongside the main show in the ACV.
Many of the brands that were present were also represented in the main show, and the Vienna Sound Fest was literally on the doorstep of the ACV, making it easy to pop between the shows and check out what was on offer. Brands included Artesania Audio, Argento Audio, AudioNostrum, Carbide Audio, DS Audio, Engstrom, Esoteric, Hifistay, Marten, Pilium, Stage III concepts, Taiko Audio, Tannoy, Teac, Telos Audio, Tech Das, Torus Power, Kroma Atelier, Kuzma, Vinnie Rossi, Wadax, Wattson Audio, YG acoustics and Ypsilon.
If you think you have seen the Sound Vest logo before, you would be correct, with the organisers being the same Spanish group who brought us the excellent Art & Sound Fest 2025, held in the Est_ArtSpace Gallery in Madrid, last November. This was where Kroma’s flagship Maribel speaker made her Spanish debut and was a fantastic event blending Art and HiFi in a stunning setting, you can read all about it here.
VIENNA SOUND FEST 2026 REPORT
With welcome drinks and a laid-back feel to the show, it provided a relaxing environment to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the main show. Join Jon as he reports back on what he found there.
WADAX, KUZMA, ENGSTRÖM AND KROMA ATELIER
This room was being run by distributor Dream Audio, pairing high-end sources with Engström amplification and Kroma Atelier’s Maribel loudspeakers from their Reference Series. Analogue came from a Kuzma Reference turntable fitted with a DS Audio Grandmaster Extreme cartridge. Digital was handled by the Wadax Atlantis Reference streamer. Engström provided both the Lars preamplifier and Eric Encore power amplifiers.
I know we don’t tend to talk much about prices for show systems, but this was probably right up there, with a guesstimate system value of about £2.2m. And boy did it sound like it. It’s very rare that a HiFi system feels like it can replicate the feeling of a bass drum sound going through 40-50 18” drivers, as you might hear at a full stadium scale rock concert, but this setup achieved a noteworthy level of low-end punch.
TEAC, ESOTERIC AND MARTEN
Three separate systems across the room, each using Marten loudspeakers and Esoteric or TEAC electronics.
The main system was built around the Esoteric Grandioso range: the K1X SE SACD transport with its external PSU, N1 network streamer/DAC/pre, and M1X monoblocks. The loudspeakers were the Marten Mingus Septet Statement Edition. Lateral equipment racks were used throughout, and the C1X Solo preamplifier was present but not in use.
The second system stepped down to the Esoteric mid-range: K-05XD SACD player, N-05XE network/DAC/pre, G-05 clock, and S-05-XE stereo power amplifier, driving the Marten Parker Trio Diamond Edition.
The third system was TEAC-based: TN-5BB turntable, UD-701N network DAC/pre, VRDS-701T CD transport, and AP-701 stereo power amplifier, with the Marten Oscar Trio on speaker duties. The TEAC system sat at a considerably more accessible price point than the Grandioso stack, which made the three-room format a genuinely instructive exercise rather than just a display of scale.
TANNOY CENTURY
The Tannoy Westminster Royal GR-OW loudspeakers were the centrepiece, driven by an Esoteric F-02 integrated amplifier with the PS-01F external PSU. The source was the Esoteric N-01 XD SE network DAC. Cabling was by Montaudio. The Westminster Royal is one of the longest-running and most recognisable designs in high-end audio, and hearing it driven by a well-sorted Esoteric front end is an experience that reminds you why the design has persisted for as long as it has.
WATTSON AUDIO AND KROMA ATELIER
Wattson Audio were showing their new Madison series, which appears to be a comprehensive lineup: a streamer, a phono stage making its world premiere, a DAC/pre, an external PSU, and power amplifiers available in stereo, mono, and bi-amp configurations. The range is clearly designed to give buyers flexibility in how they build their system, which is a sensible approach for a relatively new electronics brand looking to establish itself across different room sizes and budgets. Cabling was by Organic Audio. The loudspeakers were the Kroma Atelier Stella, from their classic series.
VINNIE ROSSI AND AUDIO NOSTRUM
Vinnie Rossi were showing their Brama preamplifier, which uses 300B valves, alongside the Brama monoblocks, class A/B designs rated at 300W into 8 ohms. Sources were a Transrotor turntable and an Esoteric Grandioso K1X SE SACD transport. The loudspeakers were the Audio Nostrum Saturn floor standers. The combination of a 300B-based preamp feeding high-powered solid-state monoblocks is a fairly classic approach to getting the tonal character of the 300B into a system without being constrained by its output limitations on the power side.
TAIKO AUDIO, YPSILON ELECTRONICS AND YG ACOUSTICS
The YG Acoustics Sonja 3.3 floor standers were driven by a split amplification arrangement: Ypsilon Orion solid-state monoblocks handling bass duties at 1kW per channel, with Ypsilon Hyperion hybrid monoblocks at 350W per channel taking care of the top end. The Ypsilon PST100 Mk2 handled preamplification, and the DAC was the Ypsilon DAC1000. The source was a Taiko Audio Olympus Server with Olympus I/O streaming interface. The decision to run separate amplifiers for bass and treble is not unusual at this level, but the combination of solid-state and hybrid designs within the same brand is a less common approach, but one that distributor Dream Audio made work to excellent effect.
Jon Lumb
