High End Vienna 2026 Show Report
Normally, the High End show is located in Munich, Germany, which we have attended a few times. So when they announced it was moving to Vienna, having never been to Austria, Jonny and I booked ourselves in.
The show is the biggest of its kind in Europe, with over 900 brands exhibiting. The venue is the Austria Center Vienna in Vienna's 22nd District. The venue has great transport links via the S-Bahn and buses. It is spread over 4 days, 4th-7th June, the first two days are for trade, which were the days we visited. Saturday and Sunday are for the general public.
Our aim was to meet with all our suppliers and assess whether any new manufacturers would be worth stocking. Although the show is primarily for finished Hi-Fi products, various component makers were in attendance.
We took an Airbnb in the 7th District, a lively area with lots of bars and amazing restaurants. We flew in on the 7:10am flight from Heathrow, arriving at the venue around 10:30am. With the ticket, we were able to pick up a free travel ticket for the whole weekend. A great touch.
The show was huge, taking up 5 floors of the Austria Centre, and we walked many kilometres over the weekend!
It was a superb experience, lots to see and hear. It was fabulous to see so many suppliers, and plenty of customers came up to say hello. It was well organised, once you got to grips with the layout. Lots of food and drink outlets were dotted all over. The organisers did a superb job. As to next year, I am not sure if they will do it again in Vienna, but it did make a nice change.
The first thing you see as you walk up to the entrance is a grey painted double sea container housing the Devon Ojas system. An air-conditioned environment showing off Devon Turnbull's take on the very in vogue of Japanese listening bar Hi-Fi. Minimalist / old school large speakers with flared horns. Very impressive.
A brand that we took on from our last trip to the High End show was Viborg. They offer affordable / high-quality connectors produced in China. It was lovely to see Leo and Cassie again. Cassie took a particular shine to Jonny.
Close to the Viborg stand we bumped into Armarin from Weava in Thailand a great customer of ours. I do feel a visit to Thailand is on the cards.
There was some great looking Hi-Fi everywhere, this one is the Rose RA150 integrated amplifier. Retro looking and bold to boot.
On a similar vain here is the LAB 12 power amplifier.
A whole lot of record players in the huge Project room.
These Dragon speakers alone would set you back $100,000 - a huge sound.
A nod to Danish furniture design holding aloft these simply design Guru 8 speakers.
A catch up with Mundorf, showing off their all new foil capacitors which will be in store very soon.
An EIZZ display case, a popular connector maker who I have yet to meet in person... Oh well.
Something from the future from Wilson Audio.
Great to see a British Speaker maker in the Show.
Power conditioners from Stromtank, absolute beasts.
Shows can be exhausting!
Pylon Audio Loudspeakers with Fezz amplifiers. I do admire the look of these.
The Duelund display case - ouzing quality.
And the man himself, Duelund's Frederik.
Cessaro's huge setup sounded tremendous.
EAT E-Glo I Valve Integrated Amplifier, great design.
Amazing Austrian eating at the Cafe Rudigerhof with Christian from Mundorf.
Our guys from Lundahl, always a delight to see them.
Always good to run into Rob Osbourn from Network Acoustics, who had an excellent room with collaborators.
A rear shot of his setup. Impressive stuff.
The mighty Zorin TP-S7 turntable in all it's glory.
Dutch & Dutch 8C active loudspeaker.
Meeting a unique manufacture from France, Solen. Plenty of interesting things going on there.
Bold stuff.
A trip away wouldn't be the same if we didn't fit a Parkrun in. This time at it was Donaupark.
Nor a Modern Art Gallery, this is a peice by CAWS at the Albertina Gallery