OSCAR AND KELLY COVER THE LOWER GROUND FLOOR PLUS THE HEADFI ROOMS

Here’s our big North West Audio Show 2025 Report Part 2, in which Oscar and Kelly cover the Lower Ground Floor of Cranage Hall, plus the HeadFi rooms on the Ground Floor.

If you haven’t read it yet, check out the North West Audio Show 2025 – The Cranage Show Report Part 1 here, covering the First Floor and Ground Floor rooms of the show.

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.

NORTH WEST AUDIO SHOW 2025 REPORT PART 2

And where better to start than with our NWAS 2025 coverage sponsor, Auden Distribution.

AUDEN

Well, the Auden room is always a highlight at whichever show they are at. This year they were pairing Hegel with EgglestonWorks speakers in the Bell suite, using the Hegel H600 amp, new Hegel D50 DAC and a UK first showing of the brand new EgglestonWorks Kiva II. These new speakers have excellent scale and dynamics; they have a lively yet controlled sound that never comes across as fatiguing. One thing that really stands out on these is the width, depth, and height of the soundstage.

Around the room they had a lot of kit on display too, including UK first showings of the new EgglestonWorks range featuring Andra V, Nico, Emma, Oso and Viginti. Elsewhere they had displays of the various Hegel models, Amphion Argon and Krypton, Merason DACs, Luphonic Turntable and Audiomica cables.

As always it was a pleasure to catch up with Bill and the Auden Team, in our humble opinion Bill is one of the best distributors out there with carefully selected HiFi brands that complement each other perfectly, as was obvious in this, and the smaller Auden room that you can read about later in this report.

Once again huge thanks to Auden Distribution for being the sponsor of the HiFi PiG NWAS 2025 coverage.

KARMA AV

Karma AV this year were focussing on point source and valve technologies in the Aston suite, using the MoFi SourcePoint 888 speakers with a Unison Research Triode 25 Black Edition amp. They also had another setup consisting of the Perlisten S5t speakers being driven by the Primare A58.8 power amp and Pre35 pre-amp. The source used for both was a MoFi Master Deck with Master Studio cartridge and they were using in-akustik cabling throughout.

They were playing the SourcePoint 888 speakers when I visited the room and they sounded excellent with the Triode 25 Black Edition amp – smooth, full, and natural.

DOOLEYS HIFI

A well-regarded retailer, Dooleys were showing off the Fyne Audio F701SP speakers with SuperTrax super tweeters. They also had a pair F701 SP’s on static display at the side of the room.

They also had the F1-8S on demo when I went in, using the SuperTrax in gloss black, powered by a Rotel Michi X3 S2, they had a Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista CD and M8-XTT in the system too. They were using Van den Hul cabling throughout and this setup had that typical Fyne sound – refined, natural and effortless.

AUDIO DREAMS

In the Audio Dreams room, you had the new Ophidian Seren speakers, EAM Studio 162 power amplifier, Studio C100 pre-amp, Puritan PSM 156 mains conditioner and an Atoll CD400 CD player. The new Seren speakers sound great, much wider sound than they look and they go deep too.

LUCAS AUDIO LAB

Lucas Audio Lab make a range of server/streamers and they had the new Golden Mini Max on demo with a Laiv Harmony DAC, Qualiton 300B push-pull amp and Horns Symphony 10 speakers – Laboga Reference Series cabling was used throughout. These horns worked incredibly well with the Lucas Audio Lab server and Qualiton valve amp. They played Daft Punk – Giorgio by Moroder through these, the sound was incredibly cohesive and dynamic, digging deep into the recording yet presenting it in an engaging way.

RUARK

On display was the brand’s range of streaming speakers and lifestyle speakers, including their recently released MR1 MK3 speakers. The demo system consisted of their streaming amp, the R610, with their passive speakers – the Sabre R. A fab little system with a super cool remote, that is perfectly suited to the modern home.

They seem to really know how to set these up in a smaller room, with great depth from such a small speaker.

They did swap over to the MR1 MK3 when I was in the room, and to be fair for such a small speaker, they put out quite a big sound, they are also incredibly affordable. Accesible and stylish HiFi made for modern audiophiles with an eye on design trends, that partners classic mid-century modern design with a fresh touch and easy functionality.

MARTIN LOGAN / BLUESOUND

In this room we had the Martin Logan Motion XT B100 speakers, paired with the BlueSound NODE Icon and a Rega Brio MK7 integrated amplifier. They also had the BlueSound Vault 2i and PowerNode on static display. This is a relatively modest system price wise yet brings out plenty of detail and punch from recordings.

AUDEN DISTRIBUTION

In the second Auden room you could find the Hegel H400 paired with the new Hegel D50 DAC, driving a pair of the Amphion Argon 3s stand mount speakers. A brilliantly sized system for this smaller room showing off how good sound doesn’t have to mean massive speakers, and at £2650 for the pair, they’re also relatively affordable. Hegel were demoing between the internal DAC of the H400, and the external D50, and the increase in depth and clarity was easily noticeable.

YORKSHIRE AV

Yorkshire AV had two rooms together, in the first you could find the Piega Coax 411 standmount speakers running out of a HiFi Rose RS151/RA280 combo and an EAT C-Dur turntable with E-Glo Petit phono stage and Atlas cabling throughout. The Piegas always have a wonderfully controlled sound – working extremely well with the HiFi Rose kit – a fantastic sounding room.

In their second room they had the Lyngdorf FR-2 speakers paired with the TDAI-3400 streaming amplifier with room correction, they were using an Innuos ZENith NextGen server in this system. The FR-2 speakers sit right against the wall and once setup with the Lyngdorf Room Perfect room correction, offer a hugely impressive sound from quite a small footprint. Bringing a great level of groove and engagement whilst blending in to the room’s aesthetics.

ALCHRIS AUDIO

I recently reviewed the lovely TX-1 from Alchris Audio and it was great to see Alan at the show. He had the larger TX-9 on demo alongside the TX-5.

He was using a CTC turntable which uses a Garrard 301 as the base, fitted with a Linn Kandid cartridge running into an EAR 324 phono stage. Amplification was from the EAR 834T and he had a Cambridge Audio CXN100 as a streamer alongside a Yaqin SD-33A CD player, he also had a Pioneer PD-S901 CD player too. 

I had a listen to the TX-5 in this room and they are hugely impressive, with a full and deep sound that’s also detailed and crisp. Alan really does know what he’s doing when it comes to speakers and the Alchris range are well worth a listen, punching nicely above their price point.

PEAK HIFI

Peak HiFi had a wide range of kit on display from Tannoy, Oracle, Avid, DS Audio, Thorens, Ortofon, Sugden, Leben and Lateral audio stands. The demo system consisted of the Oracle Delphi turntable with Avid Nexus V2 tonearm and DS Audio DS003 cartridge, running into the DS Audio DS003 phono stage into a Leben CS600 integrated amplifier. The speakers were the Tannoy Stirling II LZ with Supertweeter-GO on top – a wonderfully put together system in terms of synergy, with a lifelike and realistic sound.

SYMPHONY DISTRIBUTION

In this room we had the Kerr Acoustics K320 speakers paired with an Esoteric S-05 power amplifier and N-05 streaming pre-amp. They were using a Montaudio Manuka rack and cabling, alongside an SME Model 8 turntable and Shelter Audio cartridge. This was an enjoyable room, with the K320 delivering plenty of body and extension in a controlled manner. This was also the world show debut of the SME Model 8 – of which I attended the launch event of.

DIVERSE VINYL

Always fab to catch up with Paul and the Diverse Vinyl guys, with a prime position in the bar the stand was always packed with enthusiastic crate diggers.

RECORD FAIR / LIVE MUSIC

KERR ACOUSTIC

On demo were the K200 paired with a Chord Electronics setup, consisting of the Hugo TT2, Mscaler and Ultima power amp, they had an Innuos PhoenixNet network switch and Zenith Next-Gen streamer/server. Even in this rather small room, the K200 produced brilliantly balanced sound with plenty of air and space to the sound staging.

RMB LOUDSPEAKERS

In this room we had the RMB 12/3 speakers paired with a Michell ORBE (RMB modified), with SME Series V arm and Lyra KLEOS MC cartridge, LFD mct s.e phono stage, Music First Classic v.2 silver wired and a pair of NORD Three class-d mono blocks. A really natural and smooth sound, showing that class-D really isn’t soulless and cold like many you have you believe.

ARKE AUDIO / STACK AUDIO

Here we had the Arke Audio Mikros standmount speakers paired with the Kratos bass enhancer, a Denafrips Arcas streamer/server, Denafrips Terminator 15th DAC, Bigbottle Audio BT2 pre-amp, Bigbottle Audio P-6525L power amp, Studio Connections reference plus cabling, Solid Sounds rack, Dynaudio speaker stands and a Puritan PSM156 mains conditioner. They were also demoing various Stack Audio isolators, by switching the speakers between two sets of stands – with the Stack Audio isolators providing increased clarity and a tighter sound. Overall, a great sounding system and the Arke Audio speakers really did sound very good.

ATLAS

Atlas were doing timed demos and switching out specific cables to demonstrate the sound differences between their ranges – a great way to demonstrate how cables can make a difference.

LATERAL

Lateral had their Aria stand in the system, which consisted of the JM-Reynaud Lunna 2 speakers, TEAC TN5BB turntable with AT33PTG/II MC cartridge, Living Voice step-up transformer, Triode TRX-EQ7 phono stage, Exposure “Original” CD player and a NAF Legend KT66. These JM-Reynaud speakers use a transmission line design and sound incredibly detailed, balanced, and can kick out some impressive low end when required – a brilliant sounding room.

Kii

Of course, Kii would have their fantastic Seven speakers at this show. They are a superb active speaker that work well in many spaces, and I’ve heard them in quite a few. This room was playing some excellent electronic music that really highlighted the dynamics of the speakers, and their ability to fill a larger room without any loss of composure. An effortlessly clean, fun, and highly addictive speaker – if you do get the chance to listen to a pair, I highly recommend you do so.

Later in the show I got to revisit this room and Wiim played me a heavy song, Kublai Khan Tx – Self-Destruct, these speakers handle this track superbly and were such a blast to listen to. Wim from Kii and the Sound Design Distribution team are not afraid of playing different music, and the Kii Seven can handle anything.

ELECTROMOD

Electromod had a full HiFi setup with the Schiit Wotan power amp, Topping Pre90, D90 Sabre and Wharfedale Evo 5.4 – a system that comes in at under £5k yet one that sounds impressively full, open, and engaging.

Mark also had the Dan Clark Audio range of headphones, from Corinna to the new Noire XO and many more. A huge range of Topping was on demo, as well as Schiit headphone kit and also the brand new Violectric HPA V324 – a real treat of a room for both HiFi and plenty of Headfi enthusiasts – not forgetting the range of MS HD Power accessories (power cables, mains distribution blocks and wall sockets) and Dekoni earpads too.

CONNECTED FIDELITY

Connected Fidelity had their new two-arm version of their TT Hub turntable on demo, with the Hana Umami red on one arm and high output Hana MH on the other. This was in a system with Audio Detail valve amps running in to a pair of the brand-new Coppice Audio Modular BG speakers, which as their name implies, are a modular speaker system. They were using the Connected Fidelity AC-2K mains conditioner in the main demo system too, and the whole lot sounded extremely smooth and spacious.

KEF

KEF had their Reference 5 Meta on demo paired with a Hegel H600 streaming amplifier, they were using an Innuos Zenith Next-Gen server with Phoenix NET network switch as the source. I’ve always liked KEFs latest reference range, they have a super clean yet full bodied sound that works with a wide range of music – cabling was all from Chord. As always the room was well dressed and lit and had a fab atmosphere.

HIFONIX HEADPHONE ROOM

This room was packed with different brands, first off being Meze and a huge range of their headphones including the Elite, Empyrean II, Poet, 105 AER, 109 Pro and more – these were paired with a Benchmark headphone amp and the Manley headphone amp.

Then we had Spirit Torino with their new models which debuted at Munich last month.

HiFiMAN were here of course, with a huge range including their DAC/Amps and headphones, including the HE1000 Unveiled, Arya Organice, Arya, Sundara, Susvara and the newer Isvarna. I listened to the Isvarna and they are a little different to the usual HiFiMAN tuning with a healthy dose of added low end to really bring out the punch in your music. Whilst I usually like my heavier music with a more neutral tonality, these things are extremely fun, giving drums impressive impact and weight without losing focus of the mids and treble. If you like a sound with a bit more bass, these are well worth a listen.

Then you had that main Hifonix tables, manned by Aseem and Tony, which had a couple Cayin headphone amps + DACs, a Bluesound Node Icon, Laiv Harmony uDAC, Audma headphone amp with crossfeed EQ settings paired with the HiFiMAN Susvara, Meze Poet and Focal Utopia 2022 edition. Then we had the range of Noble IEM’s including the Shogun, Agis II and Knight – I spent some time with the Shogun and they are a brilliant earphone with excellent vocal clarity, big bass punch and crisp treble whilst retaining a good overall balance. They work very well with more electronic music, and are a really engaging listen.

They also had the new Noble Fokus Amadeus true wireless model which had impressive clarity for their price with extremely good bass extension and a punchy sound.

Chord had their Dave running into a Hugo Mscaler paired with the Audeze LCD-5, they also had the Qutest + Anni + Huei stack paired with the Audeze LCD-2. They also had two setups with their Alto headphone amp, one using the Qutest as the source, the other with the Mojo 2, one running in to the Audeze LCD-4z and the other in to the Meze 109 Pro.

The last table in this room had the various components from Ferrum Audio including the new Wandla HP which includes a new headphone amplifier within, Oor, Wandla GoldenSound, Erco 2, and Hypsos (dual output). These were running in to the Meze Elite, HEDD HEDDphone 2 and a pair of Kennerton headphones.

HEA DISTRIBUTION

HEA had a range of Campfire Audio earphones on demo including the latest Axion and Alien Brain – the Axion I listened to at Munich and really enjoyed, the Alien Brian is an earphone that I had yet to try out. So, I had a listen and am glad I did, they have a good tuning, one that is both balanced yet detailed, crisp, and controlled. They still have that “Campfire” edge and engagement yet in quite a refined signature that doesn’t get congested.

I also sat down with the Volcano – a new £99 earphone from Activo which features 3 dynamic drivers per side. These impressed me for their price, a very well balanced and smoother sound signature that still has good energy when called for. These are not your typical £100 earphone, they really do have a level of insight and refinement that often costs more.

There was plenty of Astell & Kern kit on demo including the new SP4000 and PD10 (which includes a nice little dock do desktop use), they had various pairs of headphones to demo with the A&K players.

And that’s it from me, thank you to all the hotel staff, visitors and exhibitors for making this show what it is – an inviting, fun, and friendly show. One that has solidified itself as one of the most important audio shows in the UK!

There will be more to follow from Team HiFi PiG as we get the views of our writers and reviewers who joined us at the show this year.

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.

Don’t forget you can check out the first part of this main report here.

See you at the North West Audio Show 2026 on the 27^th and 28^th of June next year.

Oscar Stewart. Additional photography by Kelly Bowden