Wave Audio Show 2025 has drawn its curtains, however, the number of the visitors and exhibitors, based on my observation has declined. The crowds are gone. It was a stark contrast to the famous Hong Kong High End show 2025 with record breaking number of visitor year after year. The loss of interest among the younger crowd, could this be the decline of audio? Audio needs newcomers to sustain the health of the industry. Is the economic hardship becoming burdensome? Or audio has priced themselves beyond the reach of the consumers? Even the familiar faces are not to be seen. Things are not all that bad because I see some affordable products too.
The highlight of the show was Marten Coltrane Quintet and Mingus Septet speakers. Every visitor wanted a sip of a RM4 million system, a system out of the reach of most audio enthusiasts, including me. I'm a cheap audio enthusiast, value preposition is important to me. Of course, how can I not mention the debut of Sonus Faber Amati Supreme with Nagra electronics. Sadly, I missed out the Audiovector Trapeze and Manger.
The quality of the show overall is good. All rooms performed without severe acoustic issue. Resolution continues to be the trend of audio, with a touch of musicality. This is an improvement over the last few years with bright sound.
My spouse tagged along with me to the show after a nice lunch. We spent as much time in each room whenever we possible to really "capture" the sound. She has good ears and favors tonality, purity and musicality. We agreed on many systems, but a system that clearly won our hearts is the Lumin-Phasemation-Devore Orangutan system. The tone was spot on, the bass was lightweight.
T+A-Mofi V10 and Monitor Gold gets our vote too for its natural sound albeit a thinner sound, I wish it could be a bit meatier. Praises to the Acoustic Energy, for a lively demeanor. Monitor Gold was good too. Now, the ones we disagreed is retro looking Vestlyd, ha ha ha. She thought it was not emotional but the bottom end won my heart. They stretched your money and they do music.
It was nice to spend an afternoon to see what the market has to offer.
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