This weekend I visited the first Audio Expo in Budapest. It was the first music event I truly enjoyed in years. Even if corridors and rooms were packed, there was enough fresh air. What sets this event apart from other events is the focus on listening to music on the vendors’ products rather than just the speeds and feeds on why you should buy their products. While, of course, the expected outcome is the same, with the emphasis on listening to live systems, I found the event much more comfortable to walk around.

Key takeaway

Do not judge quickly! Go back to a place multiple times! If you are lucky, there will be less people in the room, and you can sit at a better spot. You can also listen to a different music, or listen to the same speakers with a different amplifier. Actually, both of these happened to me this weekend, and brought drastic changes to the experience.

Best of Audio Expo

Everyone is asking me what I liked the most. I am not an engineer when it comes to listening to music. I just listen to my ears and do not care much about the technical details. At home I listen to a pair of Heed Enigma 5 speakers, which are omnidirectional. At the expo the best listening experience was another omnidirectional speaker: the MBL speakers at Core Audio. This was also probably the most expensive setup at the expo.

According to my ears the best value award should go to NCS Audio Reference One PREMIUM. I visited all rooms on all floors and listened to many different speakers along the way. Some were close to or matching the sound quality of the NCS Audio speakers, however for a lot higher price. I only felt with the MBL speakers that they sounded better, however from the price difference you can buy a luxury car :-)

Exhibitors

I had various programs in the neighborhood, so instead of a long block at the Audio Expo, I spent three times a few hours there. Some places I visited multiple times, just to ensure that my first judgment was not too quick. Let me share here my experiences with some of the exhibitors, in alphabetical order.

Allegro Audio

As usual, the system exhibited at Audio Expo sounded really nice. Allegro Audio not only distributes some quality components, but also has its own amplifier: Flow. I really love listening to their Franco Serblin Accordo monitor speakers, but Ktema was not bad either :-)

Core Audio

Probably the most expensive setup of the expo was exhibited by Core Audio. However, the first time I visited them, they played some terrible (at least to me) music. With that music, the whole setup sounded like a pair of $100 computer speakers. So, I started to wonder what is all the hype about MBL speakers… Fortunately, I returned to the show the next day and with a different selection of music, the system really shined, and became the best sounding system of the whole Expo. However, price is prohibitively expensive for most people…

Heed

I listen to various Heed components at home: DAC, amp and speakers. So, I was very happy to see the founder talking about the latest Heed products, and also having the opportunity to listen to them. I love Heed speakers, especially the omnidirectional variants, however for the demo they used GoldenEar speakers with the Heed amplifiers at the Expo. Not bad at all, but different.

NCS Audio

I already listened to Reference One a few times, and I was amazed. Rock, classical, jazz and others, all sounded perfectly on these speakers, no matter the room size. This time Reference One Premium was on stage, using cables from Bonsai Audio. This pair sounded even better than speakers costing many times more.

Popori Acoustics

I have been reading about Popori Acoustics for years. Finally I had a chance to listen to these electrostatic speakers made in Hungary for the first time. And I must admit that my first listening experience was not that good. Hearing a woman singing was fantastic. However, even if the sound of bass guitar was very detailed, it still sounded a kind of meh. Luckily I went back on the second day of the expo again. The amplifier was replaced, and suddenly not just human voice, but everything sounded perfectly.

Closing words

Of course there were many more exhibitors. In some cases I loved the sound I heard, but did not have enough time to go back, ask questions, take photos. Some examples are 72audio and Sabo Audio. And there were many more, where the sound was not bad, but did not impress me too much either.

I really hope that next year we will have a similarly good Audio Expo in Budapest!

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