Hong Kong High End AV Show 2026 Report

August 13, 2026

WE SENT JON LUMB ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO THE FABULOUS HONG KONG HIGH END AV SHOW 2026

We have been attending the Hong Kong High End AV Show for the last few years; this time we decided to send Jon Lumb to snoofle around the show for us, so he set off on his first trip to HK. Read on to find out just what he saw and heard there…and of course, who received the Golden PiG?

We would like to thank the show organisers, Rebecca and Lincoln at Audiotechnique, all the exhibitors and everyone who made Jon’s trip to the show an amazing experience. A huge shout-out and thanks to our coverage sponsor Electrocompaniet…who you will read more about later on the report.

Please note, all content and photos are the copyright of HiFi PiG Magazine/Big Pig Media LLP and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior, written consent of the editor.

Of course, the Hong Kong High End AV Show 2026 had to have a spectacular opening event involving speeches, robots, dancing dragons and confetti cannons…it really is the way to open a show!

FLOOR THREE LISTENING BOOTHS

Around the edge of the main exhibition hall and marketplace you find a series of listening booths, full of interesting gear, some well known brands and some that were totally new to me.

Able Audio (+ Accuphase and TEAC)

A hybrid electrostatic + bass driver speaker, but built within a regular cabinet. Gem 13 playing (13″ bass driver). Driven by Accuphase E-800S. Brand new startup. Big effort with rear damper to try and allow for placement much closer to the wall to aid with domestic placement.

Fung Lab

LM Vintage 44 horn loudspeaker, driven by LM Vintage 86B monoblocks, LM-44 Line Stage and their 121 Tube CD Player.

Also had a fascinating Line Magnetic 805 A Amplifier on static display

Sound of Strings Audio Supplies

B.audio D.dac one EX streamer, feeding a full stack of Vitus Audio electronics: SL-103 preamp and a pair of SM-103 monoblocks. These were driving the Estelon XB Mk2s. All the equipment was sat on Bassocontinuo racks – Aeroline F2 for the source/pre, and one monoblock on an Accordeon XL4 2.1 and the other on a Lyra XL4 2.1.

Very crisp and agile-sounding setup, made excellent work of the complex percussion piece that was being played.

Audio Visual Master Room 1 – Triode and Klipsch

Klipsch Forte actively playing, with Klipsch Heresy also set up and ready to go. The amplifier was a Triode Junone 845SE integrated, sporting both 300B and 845 valves. The source was a Triode TRV-CD6SE.

Also on the racks were Triode TRV-A300XR and 88XR, and a number of integrateds from the Evolution line.

Audio Visual Master Room 2 – Thrax and Elac

Three components to the loudspeaker setup here. At the heart, the Vela 2.0, but with the addition of the FS 409 2 Supertweeter, and the Varro DS1000 Subwoofer. The rest of the system was Thrax, from the Yatrus turntable, through the Opheus Mk3s phono, Dionysos Pre, and a pair of Heros Mk2S power amps.

Early teething problems meant music wasn’t playing.

Ambago Limited – Kinki Studio, Cosvox, Shark Wire

Kinki Studio pre-amplifier, driving the Cosvox Eclipse Point standmount. The standmount is fully active, uses an adjustable AMT Tweeter, and features dual rearward-firing bass drivers.

The source was a Musicnote CD Transport using the Philips PM4 mechanism, running through the Esoteric Grandioso N1 Streaming DAC with external PSU and clock.

Aria Audio – Linn, Soulnote, Audiovector

Pride of place here went to the new Audiovector R5s that were launched at the Vienna show this year. The electronics were from the Soulnote 3-series lineup, and the sources were both from Linn – an LP12 and a Klimax Radical. Aria have a great selection of brands which work very nicely together.

Audio Technica – TechDAS, Goldmund, Orpheus, Kroma Atelier

This was a serious setup, with equipment from TechDAS, Goldmund, Orpheus, and Kroma. It was particularly great to see the art-style finish on the Kroma Atelier Stella loudspeakers.

Thierry & Wango Audio

A company I’ve never heard of, Theirry & Wango are a manufacturer utilising a particularly rare form of driver construction, the orthophase cell. The rest of the system featured an Acoustic Signature turntable, and amplification from Octave.

LACO Hifi – Playback, Pass Labs, Wilson Benesch, Kimber

The source here was a CD player from Playback. Amplification revolved around Pass Labs electronics, with the XP-22 and X.A 100.8 Signatures driving the Wilson Benesch Resolution 3Zero, and then the INT80 Signature driving the Harbeth M30.3 XD2 standmounts.

Audio Access Trading Company – AVID, Chord Electronics, Totem

This room was primarily devoted to UK manufacturer AVID. Featured here was the Relveo turntable, along with two loudspeaker options, the Reference 3 standmount, and the Evo 3 floorstander. The Ref 3 were being driven by the Opus Pre/Power Combo, and also included was AVID’s newest product, their flagship Velsonic 2-box phono stage.

Defini International

Defini were demonstrating their loudspeaker feet. Two pairs of ATC SCM 50 loudspeakers were in position, one mounted on the feet and the other on regular spikes, allowing for easy demonstration of the difference between the two options. Vinyl was running on a TechDAS Air Force V, and electronics were from Burmester.

Voxativ

Voxativ’s room was running all their own equipment. The Elektra is a 110dB sensitivity loudspeaker, which means it can be driven very comfortably by the 10w output from their T-211 integrated amplifier (albeit with about 700w of Class D amplification built into the bass units). The source was their very own streamer, the Mod. 2.

MBS Productions Limited – Matrix, Starke

The Starke Sound loudspeakers were the clear focus here, and it was rather lovely to be able to see the opened-up version of the standmount sat atop the hifi rack. On demonstration were both the HALO M1 and M2, being driven by their HALO A2 amplifier. The source here was the Matrix Audio MS-1.

King’s Audio Limited

Big electrostatic panels from King’s Audio were being driven by some modern Leak electronics

Innuos

Another refined room from Innuos here, who’d done a very thorough job of hiding the basic interior of the booths in use in the main exhibition hall. The Nazare stack was being used, feeding Audio Reference amplification, and Marten Parker Quintet loudspeakers.

Egglestoneworks Audio

The Andra 5 was the centrepiece here, partnered with digital electronics from Emm Labs, and analogue amplification from VTL.

Shanghai Shenda Sound Electronics Co.

Lots of Jolida electronics in use in this room, including the JD10 phono stage, JD20 preamp, and JD90 power amplifier. The speakers were a completely new brand to me: the Lawrence Audio Dove Diamond floorstander.

Garner Co.

One of the fun things about going to a show on a completely different continent is that a lot of the rooms feature equipment pairings that are quite different to the combinations you get used to seeing in Europe. In this case, however, we had an absolute classic lineup of Sugden electronics being partnered with Art Audio loudspeakers. Expression 5s and 8s were both in situ, and were joined by a pair of Totem Model 1 standmounts.

Roksan Trading Company

The starting point for this system was a Reed Muse 1C turntable, followed by a full stack of Moon Audio electronics. It’s interesting to note the design differences as the name Simaudio is far more widely used than Moon here in Hong Kong. In the higher spec system there was the 891 Streamer-Pre, using the 820 external power supply, running into the 861 power amps. These are stereo amplifiers that were being run in bridged mode. Finally came the Raidho TD 2.2 signature floorstanders, and I must single out the absolutely glorious veneer and finishing that has been done on these units.

The other system was running the 491 streamer-DAC-pre into the 461 power amp. These were then driving the X 2.8.

Radio Unison

This room was TAD Electronics through and through, although an Aurender streamer had snuck its way into the system. As with a lot of these rooms, there were effectively multiple systems set up and ready to go. One was a full TAD Reference series of electronics, the other was all from their Evolution series. The speakers were the Compact Evolution One, Evolution One, and Grand Evolution One.

Pixel Magic Systems

This system comprised Lumin streaming products, McIntosh amplification, and Marten Parker Quintet loudspeakers.

FLOOR THREE STANDS

The main part of the floor 3 Hall is a warren of stands, including cables, connectors, accessories, loads and loads of HeadFi, “Software” which is basically CDs, Tapes and Records…and a few HiFi Stands too.

“Software”

HeadFi & Cables

HiFi

Pylon & Fezz

Richcoln

LaiV

Cambridge

FLOOR FOUR

Chancellor Room

Fung Ning Audio take over this huge ballroom; it is packed with high-end systems, each getting their turn to play in rotation throughout the show.

Kalista, Goldmund

Full flagship Kalista CD player setup, including multiple outboard power supplies, running into a Goldmund DAC and pre-amp. Goldmund Gaia active loudspeakers followed.

hong kong high end audio visual show 2026 report

MSB, Marten

PS Audio CD Transport and external PSU, feeding an MSB 3-box Sentinel DAC, and into a pair of MSB 500 series monoblocks. Both speaker options were from Marten Audio – ready to play were the Dexter Quintet Statement Edition but there were also the Coltrane Quintet as well.

Orpheus, Kharma

TechDAS turntable Airforce 20, Graham Phantom 10″ tonearm, Goldmund cartridge. EMT JPa-66 Mk3 phono. Amplification was all from Orpheus.

Speakers were the sizeable Kharma Exquisite Extreme Grand Limited Edition.

Goldmund, Kharma

Probably the most expensive system at the show, with a ballpark retail price of about 4.5m Euros. This was the world premiere of the new Goldmund Telos 9800 amplifiers…they retail at about £370k each.

Static Display

Goldmund amplifiers, including the prototype of the new Mimesis Statement pre-amplifier, which has been created to match the new monoblocks. Wadax’s newest line, the Studio series. Various Brinkmann products.

S421: Zesen Hifi

Electrocompaniet and Graham Audio

An interesting mix of price points here. The electronics are essentially Electrocompaniet’s reference range, including the HiFi PiG Towers reference AW 800M monoblocks…and the new Electrocompaniet EC5 preamplifierr (one of these is in transit to Stu from Norway as I type), running into a pair of speakers costing around 15% of the cost of the electronics. It was however a really great sounding system, even in such a large room as this one.

Chord Electronics and Vivid

A massive Chord Ultima / Reference setup here, running into Vivid Audio Moya loudspeakers. The power amp setup used both an Ultima 3 and the Ultima Reference monoblocks, with the Ultima 3 driving the treble. Also of note was the presence of the Quartet Scaler hiding away under the DAVE DAC.

Linn

Audio Group Denmark

There’s been a huge amount of hype around this setup, right from the original launch of the Borresen M8 Gold Signature loudspeakers. We’ve already written extensively about this setup in HiFi PiG, but it’s a very rare opportunity to hear something like this for real, and outside of AGD HQ in Aalborg, Denmark. The speakers are a million euros by themselves, and of course they are accompanied by four Aavik M880 monoblocks which add another 400k to the price tag..not forgetting the rest of the system! And yes, it did live up to the hype!

You can read all the info here in our report from the launch in Denmark earlier this year.

Static Display

S422: House of Music – Accuphase and Fyne

This setup featured a smorgasbord of Accuphase electronics, that were being used to drive one of either a pair of Fyne F1-8S or F1-10 Anniversary edition loudspeakers. It was also nice to see a display case of PCBs from the various Accuphase products as part of the static displays.

S423: First Impression Marketing – SOtM, Zavfino, Prima Luna, & Franco Serblin

There main setup in this room revolved around the Franco Serblin Accordo Unica loudspeakers, being driven by Prima Luna amplification. Digital came via SOtM and Esoteric, and analogue was a Zavfino turntable.

A second system comprised of the Focal Diva Mezza Utopia active wireless loudspeakers and was also set up in the room.

S424: Siltech Group – Siltech, Crystal, HMS, Sphinx

The main objective here was to demonstrate the relatively new Sphinx Element 5 loudspeakers. Sphinx are part of the Siltech Group, and it’s their first foray into loudspeakers. There are some really interesting ideas combined together here, including the shaping, the use of a transmission line, as well as additional porting on the midrange drivers.

S425: Audio Extreme – Bergmann, Phasemation, Atlantis Lab

Bergmann Golder turntable with Odin linear tracking tonearm.
Aurorasound Vida Supreme phonostage.
Phasemation CM-2200 Controlmeister pre-amp, MA-3000 monoblocks
Atlantis Lab AT38 Pro.

S426: Roksan Trading – Transrotor, Telos, Dan D’Agostino, Magico

Consistently one of the louder rooms at the show, this was a very classic pairing of D’Agostino and Magico equipment, complemented by the Transrotor turntable and Telos streaming options.

S427: Richcoln – SME, CH Precision, Burmester

SME Model 35
CH Precision P1 phono stage and D1.5 Transport
Burmester 077 pre, 909Mk5 Monoblocks, BC150 loudspeakers
Cables from Siltech (Royal Single/Double Crown) and Chord Company ChordMusic

Static displays from PMC, Octave, Tidal loudspeakers, and SME

S428: Richcom – DCS, Constellation, Wilson

Wilson came to party, bringing their flagship Autobiography loudspeakers. These were being driven by the new Constellation Statement Monoblocks and the Performance 2 preamp. The source was the extraordinary 5-box dCS Varèse system.

S429: Richcoln – SME, Lector, Unison Research, Opera

The playing system featured the Lector CDP-707 cd player, feeding the new Unison Research Uni Pre v2 and DM v2 amplification. The DM v2 were being run as monoblocks. Speakers were the Opera Grand Callas Special Edition.

Cabling was from HMS, combining their Suprema, Gran Finale 50, and Armonia offerings.

S430: Grand Asia HiFi – Emm Labs, Boulder, Egglestonworks

Emm Labs TXi transport, DV2i DAC
Boulder 3010 pre, 3060 power (1000w Class A)
Egglestoneworks Viginti 20th Anniversary Limited Edition loudspeakers

FLOOR TWO

S221: Wire Sound

The Wire Sound room was one of the bigger, and also running four different setups. One thing I really appreciated with this room was the quite sizeable display boards they had set up for each system showing exactly what was being used in each one, along with the scheduled demonstration times. These sorts of details really make it much easier for visitors to navigate a big room like this one.

Luxman, Audia Flight, Pathos, Revival Audio

This system was an interesting one. A Luxman D-07X acted as source, but then there were a choice of integrateds, with the Audia Flight FLS10 Mk2 and Pathos Acoustics InPol2 Mk2 both being on demonstration. These were driving the new Revival Audio ATALANTE Grande Réserve.

Luxman, YG Acoustics

A plethora of Luxman electronics were in use here – it’s clear this is a very significant brand for Wire Sound, as they feature in 3 out of the 4 systems in this room. The new B-100 Centennial monoblocks (125W in 8Ω) were being used to drive the YG Acoustics Sonja 3.2 floorstanders. I’m quite a fan of the current YG Acoustics speakers, and it was great to add yet another model to the list of the ones I’ve heard.

Kronos, Audia Flight, Auer, REL

This was the biggest system in the room, featuring flagship lines from both Audia Flight’s Strumento line, and Auer’s Versura V6, which is so new it’s not even on the company’s website yet! Alongside the V6 was a 2×3 array of REL Carbon Special Black Label sub woofers.

Luxman, Wharfdale

A rather more accessible system here, again built around Luxman electronics. The NT-07 streamer, running into the new D-100 Centennial SACD player/DAC. This fed the new L-100 Centennial integrated, which generates 20W per side of pure Class A. Loudspeakers also came from IAG, in the form of the new Wharfedale Elysian 4R.

Static Display

Amongst the fairly usual static display cases of various accessories and products used in the systems, was a single pair of AlsyVox Botticelli planar ribbon loudspeakers.

S223: Ideon Audio – Ideon, T+A, Brodmann

This room was a joint effort between Greek brand Ideon Audio, and Austrian loudspeaker manufacturers Brodmann. Ideon had their full Absolute stack of streamer, DAC, and master clock, along with their Alpha and Σigma wave network and USB isolation units. Brodmann had brought the JB175 model, one down from their flagship JB205 that they had at Vienna.

S224: DCH – Esoteric, Devialet, Piega, Tannoy

Another room that was mixing and matching systems. The racks were dominated by a huge number of Esoteric boxes, including their Grandioso T1 turntable, which I don’t think I’ve seen at a show before. Whilst I was in there, they were using the Piega Masterline 2 loudspeakers, a particular favourite of mine. These were being changed around with both the Coax 811 floorstanders, also from Piega, and the Tannoy Kensington GR with the additional Supertweeters.

S225: Avantgarde Engineering – AMG, Vinnie Rossie, Halcro, Kondo, Audio Nostrum, Avalos, Zellaton

A huge array of kit on the racks here, and it wasn’t entirely clear what electronics were being used at any given time, just which speakers were in operation. On the racks were units from Vinnie Rossi, Halcro, and Kondo Japan. Speakers were a changing roster of Avalos, Zelaton, and Audio Nostrum floorstanders.

S226: Purist Audio – Audio Research, Wilson Benesch, Vitus, Estelon

Two full systems configured perpendicular to each other were set up this room. It’s always fun to watch a room full of people all try and shuffle their chairs through 90 degrees and then try and get everything set back up into rough lines when they switched between systems.

On one wall was a system comprising an Acoustic Signature turntable, Audio Research electronics, and a pair of Wilson Benesch Omnium loudspeakers.

On the other wall, a pure digital system of Vitus Audio electronics, and the Estelon Extreme Mk2 loudspeakers.

S227: CH Precision – CH Precision, Wattson, Rockport

A large rack of CH Precision units dominated a side wall, feeding into a chunk pair of CH Precision M10 monoblock power amps. These were doing a solid job of driving the Rockport Orion loudspeakers. You see CH Precision used in a great many rooms at hifi shows, not just their own, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a system of theirs put a foot wrong. They’d also brought a number of static display units with perspex covers showing all the internal workings, which I absolutely love to see, especially when you’ve got such mad capacitor’s as they use inside!

The second system was from CH Precision’s baby brand, Wattson. These are some delightfully compact units for those that don’t have a huge amount of space to play with, and I love the slightly quirky aesthetic they have gone for. Rockport loudspeakers again here, the Atria II.

S228: Jadis – Jadis, Ayre, Aesthetix, Stenheim, Dyptique

Two really substantial systems set up end-to-end dominated the room. At one end, a system primarily there to demonstrate Jadis Electronics and Stenheim, featuring the absolutely enormous Jadis JA-668 monoblocks, of which there were two per side driving the Stenheim Reference Ultime Two SX.

On the opposite side, a pair of Diptyque DP 170 panels were in residence. Electronics to drive these were being alternated between a stack of Ayre Reference line amplification with the Ayre QX-8 Digital Hub and a significant Aesthetix setup featuring the Romulus CD player/DAC, Pallene pre, and a pair of the Atlas monoblocks.

S229: First Impression Marketing – IsoAcoustics

IsoAcoustics were running their very effective switching demo setup, which means they can instantly switch between a product using the NeoGaia feet, and a matched pair of loudspeakers without. Here, they were using Focal Utopia loudspeakers, driven by a stack of Naim 300 series electronics.

S230: Precision Audio Limited – Ansuz, Aavik, Borresen

To counterbalance the enormous and very expensive flagship system upstairs, Audio Group Denmark had this second room running a much more accessible system, focused around the brand new Borresen A1 stand mount that is due for release around October 2026. Electronics was Aavik’s all in one U301 unit. There was also some bass re-enforcement courtesy of a pair of their BM2 bass modules. In terms of trickle down, the A1 uses the same tweeter as they use in the M8 Gold, and the BM2 uses the same design approach of a Ripol style bass unit as the M8 as well.

HONG KONG HIGH END AV SHOW 2026 GOLDEN PIG AWARD

There were a number of really standout rooms at the Hong Kong show, and it’s clear that an awful lot of people had put a huge amount of effort into making it what it is. There are two rooms I’d like to give honourable mentions to. The first was the Voxativ room, which, pound for pound, was probably my favourite system to listen to. It’s still not cheap, the total cost was a ballpark £120,000 or so, but there were also systems present here that were 40 times that cost. The second was the Siltech room, and a particular mention of Sphinx’s product designer, Marko Licanin, who was more than happy to give a really in depth run-down of all the interesting design choices they’d made when developing these loudspeakers.

And so to the Golden PiG itself. One of the things about the Golden PiG is that it’s not just about which system produces the best sound. It’s the people, it’s the ambience, it’s the whole experience of being in the room. For this year’s Golden PiG, the award goes to Zesen Hifi, and their four way room. They’d pulled out all the stops in terms of the people they’d brought in from the manufacturers, including Lasse from Electrocompaniet, Chord Electronics’ CEO John Franks, and Michael Borresen from Audio Group Denmark.

In many ways, though, it was the Borresen M8 system from AGD that really tipped it over the edge. Yes, it’s extraordinarily expensive, and will only ever be purchasable by an incredibly small number of people, but as a statement piece about what the company is capable of, it is truly incredible. By no small margin, the finest-sounding audio setup I think I’ve ever heard.