[Hi-Fi Show reportage] Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2026, a visit

It's been around 15 years since I wrote for TNT-Audio. One of my last articles was a write up of the Sound and Vision Hi-Fi show in Bristol. Soon after that, I found that most of my listening was being done on studio monitors or headphones. I stopped chasing Hi-Fi nirvana and focused on what I needed for music production. I'd put together systems I was fairly happy with and left it at that. My interest in chasing down equipment to listen to waned, although I kept in touch with industry developments, at least partly, through following TNT-Audio.

Anyway, fast forward another few years and I started to notice crossover from professional to consumer in-ear monitors (IEMs). Good reviews were appearing for very low cost IEMs from China so I bought a few pairs and started to make comparisons for my own benefit. I then came across very good deals on HiFiMan gear and, never able to resist a bargain, ended up with several of their IEMs and headphones.

I was aware that I'd relied heavily on YouTube reviews and massive discounts in buying them so I wanted to see how mine compared, as well as see how the industry had changed in the intervening years. Bristol is now only an hour's drive away so it seemed a good opportunity and since I was going anyway, I offered to do a brief report for TNT-Audio. Unfortunately a camera malfunction means I'm unable to offer any visual delights to accompany the words however.

A Day Out In Bristol

Bristol is in the South-West of England, a major city with a deep maritime history and a very modern shopping arcade. The show takes place, over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the end of February, every year, in the old Marriott hotel. There are a couple of large rooms on the ground floor with the remainder spread around conference rooms and bedrooms. I went on the Sunday. It's now organised by a large retailer Audio T and had attracted around 150 brands. As on my previous visit, it was very busy and listening conditions were challenging. Since my focus was on headphones I spent the majority of my time with these and only made fleeting visits to some of the many other rooms.

Going In Head First

Let me talk about headphones first. The brands represented were Sennheiser, HiFiMan, Fiio, Meze Audio and Focal. For context, I had always used either Sennheiser HD650 for open backed or ancient Sony MD-CD1700 for closed. I had Bose and, latterly, Sony noise cancelling headphones but never found the experience close to decent cans.

Sennheiser

I first visited the Sennheiser display tempted by the prospect of hearing the HD800S open backed headphones. I wasn't disappointed. It was an immediate step up from anything I'd heard before and was one of the few pieces of kit that passed my simplistic smile test. They had the natural vocal timbre of the HD650s set in a much wider and more vibrant soundstage. Nothing surprising given the many reviews I'd seen but good to confirm for myself and a clear temptation if funds were to allow. I also tried the 660S which roughly aligns with the 650 in the Sennheiser range. It was another enjoyable set with a wider stage than I remember from my old daily driver but it didn't make enough of an immediate impression to consider buying a pair.

HiFiMan & Fiio

Moving onto the HiFiMan and Fiio room and a massive range was on display. My experience with each pair was necessarily brief so these are very much first impressions. HiFiman was showing its new range. I started with the Edition XV which largely replaces the Edition XS in the range. It's certainly a step up in build quality and comfort. Sound quality was excellent overall with good detail and imaging. It would be a contender if I was looking at that price range.

Wondering how increasing prices affected the sound I next tried the Arya Organic (UKP689). It was less immediately impressive to me, maybe lacking impact, so I passed on to the higher end. The HE1000SE was the obvious choice as it's reputed to have many of the same qualities I'd enjoyed with the HD800S. Indeed it did match the Sennheisers in most respects. The sound stage was similarly massive, imaging seemed spot on and the level of detail was stunning. I wasn't sure the sound was quite as natural as the HD800s but I could be wrong and, in any event, could easily listen to either pair for hours.

I had an interesting conversation with the HiFiMan distributor about the firm's pricing strategy. Their approach of pricing many of their products at the top of the market led to them being poorly reviewed for value for money and probably not achieving the anticipated sales volumes. In response they have been offering the products at increasingly low prices - almost a Dutch auction. We agreed that the challenge they now face is to sell the new models to customers who may hold off in the hope of price reductions. Their current range appears, on the basis of what I saw in the show, to be better aligned with the competition.

I had a quick try of the interestingly designed Isvarna (UKP2679). This is a closed back with a vent to allow some passage of air. My initial impression was probably marred by moving from open to closed backs but I was surprised at how boomy they sounded and, in the interests of time, moved on.

Fiio shared the same room with HiFiMan and displayed their small and well regarded range. The FT1 Closed Back (UKP139) was light and comfortable and sounded quite acceptable as a good basic set of cans. As a step up I tried the FT7 (UKP699) which was a major improvement. The large planar drivers delivered a more immediately satisfying experience and would be worth spending time with to explore their potential.

Meze & Focal

Lack of time became a theme. The Meze Audio display hosted their full range but with queues at each station I focused on the 109Pro as a good mid range offering. It was light and comfortable and the sound was perfectly satisfactory although there was nothing outstanding from a quick listen. Given their wide UK distribution it should be an easy pair to audition in store if you're in the market for headphones at around UKP769.

Finally (for headphones) I looked briefly at the Focal range. I spent a little time with the Clear MG, driven by a physically enormous Naim headphone amplifier. It lived up to its name for clarity. My impression was of a physically smaller pair of headphones that reminded me a little of my Sony WH 1000XM4 albeit with far nicer materials. Sticking with Focal I tried moving up the range to the Hadenys (UKP599). By this time my ears were too exhausted to form an impression so I grabbed a bite to eat then wandered through the rooms.

There was a wide range of accessories on display as well as a couple of stalls selling records. Chord Electronics, Isotek and Atacama had impressive displays of cables and furniture and a wide range of record cleaning products was shown by Keith Monks. Record decks continued to be represented by gorgeous looking and sounding turntables, used as a source in many of the rooms. I'm afraid I didn't make any notes on these as I remain satisfied with a Rega Planar 3 for my limited analogue listening.

Loudspeakers (mostly)

I was interested to see Martin Logan demonstrating the Motion XT B100 loudspeaker as I normally associate the firm with electrostatic panels. They were very big sounding for small enclosures and, driven by a streaming amplifier, a good choice for the small listening room.

The firm Lockwood, that I'd not come across before, advertises itself as “the world's oldest family owned brand”. They make a range of single driver loudspeakers in the UK with basic but, to my eye, pleasing aesthetics. Their 5" single driver in a small enclosure did the loudspeaker disappearing trick in the way only single drivers can. Obviously performance at each end of the frequency range is constrained by such a design but it can be quite magical.

Another company I'd not been aware of was March Audio, an Australian manufacturer of electronics and loudspeakers. They were demonstrating a new three driver loudspeaker, the Kuoro. I'd not seen the driver design, by the manufacturer Purifi, before, sporting an unusual edge design to manage reflections at the boundary with the cabinet. I have no way of telling if this design factor was significant but the speakers sounded worth checking out if you get the opportunity.

A massively realistic sound was coming from the ATC display in a larger suite than most of the other rooms. This allowed the sound of their newly introduced EL50 active loudspeakers to fill the space. When I visited it was playing orchestral music that I didn't recognise but which was achieving a rare sense of scale and realism. Given how impressed I was, I checked the price when I got home. A little outside my budget at around UKP50K. Maybe I'd found a way to justify those Senny 800s as reasonable after all.

Finally, and in brief. Fyne Audio had a large display of big sounding loudspeakers but the room was crowded and the sound diffused by the space making it difficult to form an opinion as to quality. I rather liked the look and sound of the new Wilson Benesch Discovery 3zero standmounts. These are very substantial and serious loudspeakers and, given more time and energy, I would have liked to have spent more time with them having been impressed by Wilson Benesch floorstanders in the past.

Conclusion

Overall the show was a useful experience. I gained some more insight into headphones which had been my main aim and into the state of play of the industry more generally. A few things had changed since my last visit in 2011. At that time my last paragraph concluded with some observations:

“it looks like “Real Stereo” is alive and well and co-existing with 3D TV and other multimedia developments. The vast majority of rooms were playing two channel music even if the source has become more diverse, with many driven from Macs, iPads or notebook PCs... hard disk and other streaming technologies are likely to line up alongside, or maybe challenge CD for its place at the table. Getting a share of this new arena is a key focus of the big audio firms... with the USB DAC growing in importance... Vinyl remains important... in high end systems but no low end vinyl replay systems were being demonstrated leading me to think that the vinyl resurgence remains an important, but ultimately pretty niche phenomenon.”

If anything, “Real Stereo” has weathered the storm of multi-channel better than I expected, with the latter barely featuring at the show. It's been less good for CDs though. This time it was clear that streaming has completely superseded them. Streaming devices controlled by tablets were the most common source (with high end portable audio players feeding the headphone amplifiers). Vinyl records continued, as before, to feature in many of the high end rooms however.

There was a good range of more modest decks on display too this time. My prediction about vinyl remaining niche was broadly accurate but it has sustained its growth better than I expected. USB DACs clearly did prove essential for these businesses although there are now a plethora of options with an embedded DAC and the standalone DAC now perhaps becoming the niche product. There has definitely been a trend towards integration into less devices with streaming amplifiers featuring in several rooms.

Several of the companies at the show didn't exist, or were much smaller, fifteen years ago. Most of the headphone manufacturers I visited, for example, were only starting up or just entering the headphone market for the first time. Prices, on the whole, didn't seem to have risen out of proportion to other consumer goods - in fact Hi-Fi may have become better value. At the same time advances in digital technology, miniaturisation and manufacturing seem to me to have brought the average quality level up significantly. At one end of the market that means many people will be satisfied with Bluetooth speakers (which can sound fine) and amazingly small and capable digital amplifiers. At the same time it's good to see the pursuit of great sound continuing and how the timeless ability of a record player through a good amp and speakers can create magic.

DISCLAIMER. TNT-Audio is neither a shop, nor a HiFi company or a repair laboratory for HiFi components. We don't sell anything. It is a 100% independent magazine that neither accepts advertising from companies nor requires readers to register or pay for subscriptions. If you wish, you can support our independent reviews via a PayPal donation. After publication of reviews, the authors do not retain samples other than on long-term loan for further evaluation or comparison with later-received gear. Hence, all contents are written free of any “editorial” or “advertising” influence, and all reviews in this publication, positive or negative, reflect the independent opinions of their respective authors. TNT-Audio will publish all manufacturer responses, subject to the reviewer's right to reply in turn.

Bristol Hi-Fi Show February 2026

Once More Down The Rabbit Hole