Here are some good-sounding rooms at the StereoNet Southeast Asia Hi-Fi & AV Expo 2026 which was held from July 10-12 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore.
AUDIO EXOTICS
In this room I saw things I had never seen before such as the Arya Airblade Signature, the Goebel speakers, Robert Koda amps, DaVinci Audio Labs turntable and JMF Audio pre and power amps.
Of late I have been asking exhibitors at AV show to play Queen Mary by Francine Thirteen because I have discovered that for some reason or other many systems, including really expensive ones, cannot reproduce the low bass which kicks in at the 25-second mark and is played every 8 seconds after that.
This demo system was one of those that could reproduce the low bass notes. Not only that, but the Arya Airblade Signature units, which are actually wide-dispersion ribbon tweeters, made the soundstage appear almost 180 degrees wide.
The Goebel speakers were driven by the JMF PRS 1.5 preamp and JMF HQS 6002 stereo power amp.
The sound was larger than life, but was thoroughly enjoyable with great density and dynamics.
AUDIO-TECHNICA/AUDIOLINE
In this room, I saw and heard something I had never encountered before — an Audio-Technica headphone amp-cum-preamp featuring 300B tubes. It was the Audio-Technica HPA-KG Narukami Tube Headphone Amplifier which can also be used as a preamp.
It is quite rare to find 300B tubes used in preamps. According to Audio-Technica’s website: “The signal amplification stage employs paired JJ ECC83S tubes, known for their rich and resonant sound characteristics. In the power stage, two pairs of Takatsuki TA-300B tubes are utilized, delivering powerful driving force and dynamic high-quality sound.”
During the AV show, the new flagship cartridge, the Audio-Technica AT-MCD1 Dual Moving Coil Stereo Cartridge was also launched and demoed.
The power amp was a TAD-M700S stereo power amp driving TAD Grand Evolution One speakers.
This system sounded really dynamic and lively and even though the preamp uses tubes, it has none of the warm, romantic and slow sound that some tube preamps are known for.
AUDIO BASIC
This room was dominated by a pair of lemon yellow Vivid GIYA G3 Cu speakers which were driven by a Soulnote P-3 preamp and M-3X monoblocks.
The room was huge and the speakers looked rather small in comparison, but they reproduced a sound that managed to fill the room without constraints and the bass was surprisingly full and deep. This was another system that could reproduce the low bass notes in Queen Mary by Francine Thirteen.
ONG RADIO GROUP
This room featured possibly the most powerful amplifiers at the show — the McIntosh MC1.25KW Quad Balanced Power Amplifier.
The monoblocks drove the B&W 801 D5 speakers and the tremendous amount of power resulted in the amps having a tight grip on the movements of the speaker cones.
The sound was tight and tuneful; the bass was deep and impactful. Though the amps had so much power, they sounded fast, lithe and agile which worked very well with the B&W 801 D5 speakers.
