Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2026 - Highlights

Bristol 2026 was its usual busy and bustling affair with much to see and hear. I felt, in many conversations I was having, that there was a sense of huge progression in the sound quality we were presented with, across the board; for example, the Kii Seven room was so simple but impactful, as was the Bluesound Powernode/Martin Logan Motion XT B100 demo, which was very impressive, as discussed below.

My personal highlight of the day was a first look at the new Kii Seven loudspeakers (above); they were stunning in a room angled sideways, widening the soundstage at a still-noisy venue.  As a total HiFi solution, there was much to admire.

One of the showstoppers at Bristol this year was ATC’s amazing ATC EL50 active loudspeakers.  The room was rather busy indeed, though at £50,000, a little unaffordable for most, I suspect!

I saw the DALI SONIK 7’s at a side event on Thursday (above) in this walnut colour, and they were spectacular, both in look and sound.

At the same side event, the new iBasso DX340 was on show.  This unit is unique in that you can change the amplification card as preferred.  At the show itself, the iBasso was the source for the very impressive Ferrun Audio headphone stack (below), which comprised a power supply, a DAC and the amplifier itself.

Naim, as always on the Terrance, had a significant presence this year, though dominated by Focal’s headphone range and Focal’s new AV-focused Mu-so Hekla sound system, powered by Naim, which I was advised is not a soundbar.  It sounded great as I settled in to watch a Bond film! The Mu-so Hekla has just about every type of connectivity you could imagine, as you can read here, from AirPlay to Google Cast to all the Connects you can think of!

There was more amplification from Ultrafide, which was showing its ENSO integrated amplifier for the first time. The amplifier can be modified, as I learnt, and used to drive the Kudos Audio Titans in an active configuration, as we have seen here at HF&MS before with the passive Kudos Audio Sigao Drive.

As I mentioned in the introduction, the Bluesound Powernode/Martin Logan Motion XT B100 demo was very impressive.

One of the busiest rooms at the show was the Connected Fidelity room, which was packed. I had three attempts to meet Martin Osborn in the room.  The Connected Fidelity new wirewound Unity power cable was there, and the wirewound bit was much larger than I expected.

Probably one of the best rooms at the Bristol HiFi Show 2026 was the spacious (and quietly reserved) Trilogy Audio room, featuring their 925 integrated amplifier, Wilson Banesh Horizon loudspeakers, and a suite of CAD grounding solutions.  It probably helped being tucked away from the main fray in a quieter area of the show.

John Pickford attended the Chord Company launch event. He commented;

The Chord Co. room had a 1985 vibe going on in honour of the company’s first year in business. With walls adorned with blow-up album covers from classic 1985 albums by Dire Straits, Kate Bush, and The Smiths, among others, The Chord team demonstrated advances in cable technology by using various cables from its history, up to the current designs that employ proprietary ARAY tech.

Also demonstrated at the show was a range of interesting-looking V Link loudspeaker jumper cables available in Chord Co’s higher-end ranges from Epic upwards. Prices to be announced.

The final word goes to Acoustic Energy with their stunning AE1s, a Limited Edition 40th Anniversary production run that has taken over their sales and reflects my thoughts on the recent upturn in quality HiFi across the industry.  Some are doing it better than others, as we saw recently with the AE320²s!  Congratulations to AE on a great room.

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