Audio Show Deluxe 2025 Highlights
Thanks to all who came out for this year’s Audio Show Deluxe! Big thanks also to Kris Sawicki and Hifi Pig’s Stuart & Lin for organising another fantastic event. It’s always great to see new faces and familiar ones, and to share some of the very best that our industry has to offer. This year we billed the WADAX Studio • Player as the star of the show, but the supporting cast was no less impressive. This was our “less is more” system, dramatically less costly than our 2024 all-out showing which added up to a wallet-draining ~£750,000 (although it was awesome).
We listened, and this year we tuned our system more towards value for money. It’s still serious hifi, but a bit more reasonable shall we say. We were very proud of the sound we were able to draw out this year at a significantly lower cost, and we were delighted to hear some amazing feedback from show attendees over the course of our two days at Whittlebury Park.
A huge thanks to Brandon Lauer of WADAX and Miguel Carvalho of Kroma Atelier for their incredible expertise in putting the system together and making it gel with the space. Monza at Whittlebury Park is not an easy room to manage sonically, but these guys always do an amazing job and we’re lucky to have them as part of the team.
If you missed the show, here is a summary of what we put together, along with photos and some of the wonderful feedback we’ve received online from visitors (including Sound of the Show Award!). Do make sure you attend in 2026 - it just keeps getting better!
It’s not all about the sound - visitors to our room this year got to escape the hustle and bustle of the hallways to bathe in a calming sunset glow, while enjoying music from a system composed of WADAX, Kroma Atelier, Shunyata Research, Engström, Bassocontinuo - and brand new to our line-up: the fabulous Orpheus Labs A Four I200 integrated amplifier, which at £16,000, was punching well above its price tag. Full system and prices below.
“I visited Whittlebury at the weekend and the Boyer room was by far the finest sound – not just at the show, the finest I have ever heard! I’m probably a few £££££ short for that, but it certainly left an impression and the Kroma Jovitas held their own in a very large room.
They played a Wagner cd from 1964, the venue acoustic was like nothing in have ever heard, absolutely palpable, with creaking floorboards and members of the audience coughing from different places in the building. I have played the same at home and whilst noise floor is very low, it only hints at what I heard at the show.
I am still quite stunned by it!!”
Brandon Lauer, Director of Sales & Marketing at WADAX, presented the Studio • Player on both days, drawing attention to its versatility as a streamer and CD player, demonstrating the power some of the settings provide, and always firmly anchored in music and emotion.
Brandon always comes with great music. If they haven’t found their way onto your playlist already, we recommend Club For Five - Äitien Äidit and AURORA - A Different Kind Of Human.
Engström LARS power amplifier + Shunyata Research EVEREST power distributor
“One room that several keen eared folk made positive comments about was that run by Guillaume Boyer, he was using a Wadax Studio streamer/DAC with a Network Acoustics Tempus switch, Engström LARS valve power amps and Kroma Atelier Jovita loudspeakers, the Orpheus Labs A Four I200 integrated alternating with the monoblocks. I heard the tube powered system and was enchanted by its calm, precise delivery to the extent that people coming in out of the room started to get irritating, which oddly enough is a good sign. This is a high end system with a high price tag but not the highest at the event by any means.”
Mike Blackmore, The Ear
The £16,000 Orpheus Labs integrated was a revelation
“The Swiss made Orpheus A Four I200 integrated amplifier (220W/8 Ohms) at £16K was something of a revelation, driving the £41.5K Spanish Kroma Atelia Jovita floorstanders (source was Wadax Studio Player - CD/SACD, Streamer, DAC, Preamp - £38K) and for a £100K system (minus cabling costs) put to shame many other systems at the show, costing up to ten times more!”
Sound of the Show
When you go to a show such as Audio Show Deluxe, and you know about the cost of the systems on demonstration, you might hope to be bowled over by the experience in every room. If you've been reading through the full report, you'll know that this is not a given. In fact, even at this level, it is still the exception. And here is the exception.
Here is a system that instantly grabs your attention. Not in a by-the-throat kind of way, but in a thats-so-much-more-believable kind of way. Its not that easy to describe a sound that's both outstandingly separated (each instrument or voice is distinct in its on right) whilst being a fully coherent part of the whole musical message. Clarity without being obvious or over emphasised, may be that's the way to explain it? There's something here that's different - the ability to suspend disbelief, maybe? Sit back, relax and drink it all in. As a veteran of tens of shows, it’s perhaps easy to become a little jaded, waiting for that room that you want to spend time in. Over the weekend I probably spent nearly 2 hours in this room. That's very disproportionate when there are 30 rooms and only 10 hours spent at the show. One track that really stands out in the memory is Dim by Syml - its recorded in St Mark's Cathedral - on the Boyer system the acoustic is immense, giving a sense of the sheer scale of the venue - I listened to this tonight on my own system and it seems the Cathedral shrank when it came down my connection to Qobuz.
What goes to make up this experience? A number of brands that many will not have heard of, never mind had the chance to listen to. Wadax provided the CD player used as a streamer, being the Studio Player, launched this weekend. Power amplification is from Engstrom - the stunning looking LARS valve monoblocks. Cables and power were provided by Shunyata Research. Finishing off the system is a pair of Kroma Atelia Jovita speakers in a dark blue finish. At times over the weekend, the amplification duties were delivered by the Orpheus Labs integrated in the front of the pictures.
If you wonder about paying 15 pounds to attend a manufacturer showroom such as Audio Show Deluxe, just consider the value for money you'd get from spending 6 hours in this room and you're sorted...
Kroma Atelier - Jovita speakers
Sound wizards Miguel Carvalho & Brandon Lauer
Bassocontinuo’s Revolution-X rack, designed specifically with WADAX in mind
“Excellent show. The best I've been to in a while. A lot of expensive high end systems, that ranged in sound from hi-fi to highly musically engaging. Boyer and Definitive Audio were my favourites.”
“The £100k Boyer system was very good and the music today was fine on my multiple visits, even a decent Wish you were Here cover. Thought the music in general was slightly better than previous - Kef dared play Tool.”
“Superb show! Went yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. As last year - the Boyer room was very good indeed - couldn't get a decent seat as it was so busy but sounded very very good.”
“I really enjoyed the Definitive Audio, Audionote and Boyer rooms though some of the prices seem to be aimed at Elon and his compadres!”
“The Boyer room: as mentioned above, the Wadax Studio Player (incl. SACD/CD player) with the Engstrom monos and Kroma speakers sounded really good. Not cheap but quality.”
“Like previous years, the Boyer room was probably the best room at the show. Not quite as good as last years room, but this is only to be expected as the system this year was a lot less costly and not using the top high end components that graced that room last year. CDs and SACDs played via the Wadax Studio player were outstanding. Other good rooms were the Definitive Audio room, also the Symmetry room with Brinkmann was also very good, as was the smaller Absolute Sounds room run by The HiFi Consultants. In particular the lovely Devore 0/96s playing, and the excellent Thiele Turntable and their parallel tracking tonearm, plus the basic Relax MC cartridge was all sounding very good. Take note Wilson Benesch!!!”
“Boyer were demonstrating a system comprising Wadax Studio player (incorporating CD/SACD player, preamp, DAC and streamer, in one box, for £38K), Orpheus integrated amp (16K), and Kroma floor standing speakers from Spain, priced at £42K.
So, not far short of £100K + cabling (I think they were using Shunyata), but so much more musical and capable than the “million pound system” demonstrated in another room.
For me, definitely the stand out room of the whole show!”
Hans Thessink brought the blues, and also had the chance to hear his own music through our system!
Nice to see Reema again (above), performing live over by our friends at Symmetry Systems, who also featured presentations by Matthias Lück of Brinkmann and Mike Valentine of Chasing the Dragon Records (we got to see this whole ensemble recently at KJ West One’s Strictly Analogue event). The Symmetry and Wilson Benesch rooms - like our own - were powered by Shunyata Research power distributors and cabling.