Trade fair report: North German HiFi Days 2026 in Hamburg – freezing cold and hot sounds | News

There was once again a lot to discover at the first major hi-fi trade fair of the year, the North German HiFi Days in Hamburg. However, the visit required a lot of effort due to freezing temperatures and a difficult parking situation. But it was worth it.

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Last year I couldn’t be there for health reasons, so this year’s visit to the North German HiFi Days in the Hamburg Hotel Le Meridien directly on the Alster was a first for me too. At a very cool -5°C and what felt like an icy -15° due to a sometimes biting wind, the journey was almost only possible with clothing suitable for the Arctic. Anyone who came by train could – well bundled up – walk from the main station to the venue in just a few minutes. It was also easy to get there by public transport. However, anyone like me (and many others) who drove into the Hanseatic city from outside the city needed a bit of luck in the Hamburg urban jungle and the surrounding streets to find a suitable parking space. And then it was usually a few minutes walk to the destination.

Last year, the trade fair organizers dared to experiment with charging admission. Although, with the exception of the leading High End trade fair, the regional trade fairs generally grant free access. Apparently the experiment worked, because this year too, a ticket for adults cost a whopping 15 euros – plus 4 euros for the cloakroom if you didn’t want to lug your winter gear through the hallways, like me, idiot. Of course, other costs such as coffee or snacks are not included. Parking costs certainly not.

As is usual at such hotel trade fairs, the exhibitors were spread over several floors and in the foyer area to present and often demonstrate their innovations and highlights. The Le Meridien Hotel turns out to be not really ideal for my taste. If the area on the ground floor is still quite clear and has not been grazed for too long, orientation for first-time visitors to the hotel requires a lot of spatial imagination and good map reading skills. (The program booklet with site plans was available free of charge. Still.)

Floors 2-6 can be reached either via elevators, which usually takes too long, or via partially unheated garage stairwells. For this purpose, the levels are divided into a left and a right area, which are only connected to each other on the 3rd floor. While the left area is still relatively clear (because there are only a few rooms), the right area turns out to be very winding, so that you quickly lose your orientation and can easily miss some exhibitors. In some areas, the exhibition rooms were spaced farther apart so that they could not disturb each other with their demonstrations. But not everywhere.

I was there on Sunday. As I was told, it was packed until about 5 p.m. on Saturday, so my choice for Sunday was probably right, because the crowds and their distribution were manageable, and there were no unpleasant crowds in the hallways, as was usual at the NDHT in the Holiday Inn. In terms of the ambience, I liked the Steigenberger Hotel Treudelberg – the venue for the NDHT in 2023 – much better. But getting there was very inconvenient if you didn’t drive. Located in the middle of Hamburg on the Alster, Le Meridien is easier to reach for everyone. Still, I didn’t think it was really nice. I particularly found the confusing room arrangement and the sometimes icy stairwells uninviting. By the way, just a few houses away is the famous Hotel Atlantic, which was the setting for a Bond film and “where Udo lives”. But that’s only on the sidelines. For the NDHT, the noble flophouse is hardly an option.

The circumstances described and the urge to stall after a few hours ensured that we (I was there with my brother) left the fair well before closing time (Sunday at 4 p.m.) and headed home. So I didn’t photograph every room down to the smallest detail and the trade fair report is therefore a little more concise than usual.

Here are the discoveries and highlights in pictures:

The Danes at Audio Group Denmark, known for their extreme and uncompromising development efforts (and the associated prices), were my first target on the ground floor. And that was also one of the best performances, where my brother, standing behind the last row of seats, remarked that with his eyes closed it could easily be mistaken for a real live performance.

The Danes demonstrated with their own electronics from Aavik and accessories/cables from Ansuz. At the center of the action were the fantastically beautiful Børresen T5 loudspeakers and the brand new BM3 subwoofer in “folded dipole” technology.

Right next door, the young German company Auer Acoustics (founded in 2021) played their top loudspeaker in an extensively acoustically optimized room.

One of several trends: Electrostatic speakers are on the rise again. Of course they never disappeared completely, but they always only occupy a niche – and will stay that way. Despite their definitely existing qualities, as could be heard here with the speakers from Final from the Netherlands.

Another trend: tape machines are becoming significantly more popular again. No wonder, like record players, they offer an overall musical, visual and tactile experience. Here is a Revox example restored by the HiFi line. Incidentally, Revox itself was also represented at the trade fair and showed, among other things, the brand new B77 MK III tape machine. And Revox is now producing compact cassettes again.

Another example of the new passion for tapes.

Trend number three: horns! The fact that there were so many of them on the NDHT26 was mainly due to the presence of the two horn specialists Avantgarde Acoustic and Acapella (pictured here).

Almost a modern classic are the active Avantgarde Acoustics ZERO, which were first introduced in 2016, and which were here in their latest version thanks to Innuos to demonstrate their latest high-end streamer. But what I heard was a bit too intrusive for me. The speakers require greater listening distances.

In another room it worked much better with the new, smaller Opus 1 model from Avantgade Acoustic. You could even win these stylish and living room-friendly active horn speakers.

There were an above-average number of active speakers of different types and sizes to be discovered. In addition to the horns mentioned above, this also included speakers from the Backes & Müller brand, which played their line emitters developed together with the Fraunhofer Institute. However, due to the choice of music, I found this performance very meaningless. In general, there were often only two types of music played: the demonstration classics that could be heard in every other room, and a lot of minimalist banter that says little about the overall capabilities of the playback chain. Luckily (and thanks to streaming), you could express music requests almost everywhere, which was often used.

The Canton brand is almost a German cultural asset and is present at every important trade fair. Here, the focus was on its latest compact Reference 9 model in the revised GS version.

The brand’s top all-in-one model was on display in front of the AVM room. The AVM 30. A streamer, CD player, receiver, DAC and integrated amplifier made in Germany. Here with the optional chrome-plated front and a glass lid that allows a view of the complex interior.

And another electrostat. This time from the legendary Quad brand from England, which made the converter principle famous in the 50s.

A quick look over the partially frozen Alster. – Brrr! Where are the warm tube amplifiers actually located? – Distributed everywhere at the trade fair, of course.

The Pylon Jade 30 “men’s speakers” sold by Audium are always nice to hear and also very photogenic. And here is also a nice tube amplifier from Fezz that you could warm your hands on. …But don’t touch it!

Horn again, this time in a workshop with HiFi veteran Ingo Hansen.

Of course there were also numerous headphones, such as the exceptional Grell Audio OAE2. A test in REWIND will come, but it will take a while.

An insider tip for a long time: the speakers from Voxativ. The top model Elektra, which cost almost 65,000 euros, was played with a field coil driver that does not require a crossover, as well as with dipole subwoofer modules (similar to the Børresen above) and power supply via battery. It sounded damn good here!

At KEF, for example, you could experience that good sound cannot only be achieved through high prices and large speakers. The recently introduced active Coda W for 899 euros a pair were played here (the small speakers), which are also intended for a test in REWIND.

There are always very unusual designs in loudspeaker construction, which was not only emphasized by the lighting in this room. Seen here are the Vivid Audio Giya 2.

What Gunter Kürten (formerly of ELAC, among others) has achieved with the Thorens brand after taking over deserves the greatest respect. Under his leadership, the traditional record player brand experienced a sensational revival. This success is due to a very loving model policy that always quotes the most valued classics. One of the most modern concepts in terms of optics is the TD 404 DD shown here. The “DD” stands for Direct Drive. And the turntable design is – who would have thought – based on the reels of tape machines. A record player of the kind that almost makes me faint again. Cool!

Ascendo is a well-known quantity, especially in the professional sector such as cinema. The manufacturer builds perhaps the best-sounding cinema speaker systems anywhere and holds the world record for the largest subwoofer driver (100 inches). But HiFi is also very important to Ascendo boss Stefan Köpf (pictured here). Here he explains his active Live 6 Humming Bird active loudspeaker, which can be flexibly adapted to different living space conditions thanks to DSP and measurement. That sounded promising, but here too the music selection wasn’t meaningful enough for my taste. Nevertheless, an exciting system!

Colleagues of journalists strongly advised me to visit the Progressive Audio room, whose demonstration was said to sound extremely good. Hmm, maybe I was just a little unlucky again with the music and the choice of seating. As we know, it only sounds really good at the sweet spot and only when there are no giant seats in the row in front of you that you have to hear through. These are the limitations of a well-attended trade fair that have to be taken into account. Although the small active speakers with coax drivers showed huge potential, the demonstration speakers also produced a small rattling noise from the back of one of the speakers. I’m overly sensitive to things like that. Still, it’s amazing what comes out of these compact speakers – even when it comes to bass.

Conclusion: Successful start to the trade fair season with small weaknesses
There was once again a lot to discover and marvel at at the North German HiFi Days. It may be that the visit to the trade fair in Darmstadt last October, which also took place in much friendlier temperatures, is too high a venue for me. In any case, I find Le Meridien, which is very drafty on the ground floor and in the stairwells and has a very confusing room layout, not ideal for a hi-fi trade fair. But apart from my personal feelings, it was a very worthwhile visit in terms of content.