By It is official. AXPONA has secured itself as the best audiophile show in the United States in 2026. In years past, shows like Rocky Mountain Audiofest were contenders, but today, with a right-sized venue and a centralized location near the Chicago O’Hare Airport, AXPONA is the current best audiophile show to attend in the United States.
A lot went on at the show in 2026. Here is an incomplete but hopefully insightful look at some of the highlights and trends as I saw them.
Note: Staff writer Eric Forst deserves some serious credit for catching publishing industry leader Stereophile.com (our friends: Hi, Keith – Hi, Jim) on Instagram in just a few months. 5,500 is a nice goal but 10,000 is even better, as the best “influencers” in the audiophile space are in the 15,000 range. With your help (follow us at @FutureAudiophileMag), we should be at that level in the coming months. That is for later. For now, here are some random thoughts from AXPONA 2026.
No. 1: Attendance was up!!!
There are too many little, poorly attended audiophile shows in the United States for audiophiles in 2026. AXPONA has taken on a more national appeal, as people were lining up outside of the venue, almost like a concert, to get their audiophile on by Friday morning. Elevators had attendants this year, and the queues were smartly managed – bravo for that. Rooms were packed more often than not. The overall energy of the show was very positive, from both consumers and manufacturers.
No. 2: There is concern about the upcoming (unrelated) Vienna HIFI Show
For 22 years, the largest audiophile show that many of us attended was in Munich, only a few weeks after AXPONA. That show is moving to a new city in Vienna, Austria, and many are concerned in the weeks before Europe’s biggest show. I used miles with the help of my “Millennial Milage Ninjas” at Points.me to get my sorry ass from Los Angeles to Vienna on Virgin Atlantic to London and Austrian to Vienna (then to Naples, Italy, to cook with Mama Agada and back to L.A. with a 12-hour layover in Paris). I am looking forward to the show quite a bit, but there is much more anxiety about the new venue, in that many exhibitors, some with 20 years seniority, are left out with reportedly 60 percent fewer listening rooms at the new venue. Hopefully, these concerns are unfounded. I will report back on this event, too, so stay tuned.
No. 3: Speaker Designer Andrew Jones had a lot of buzz at AXPONA 2026
Andrew Jones has been designing great speakers that always have been approachable, be it with KEF, Pioneer, ELAC, and now with MOFI (their MOFI SourcePoint V10 review is going live in June) was out with a speaker design “side project” for some $34,000 speakers that had a line around the corner and down the hall. I was able to weasel my sorry, slightly less fat (these days) ass into the room and the hype was legit. $34,000 is a lot of money for speakers and Jones and his partner make a good case for why you should spend that kind of coin with them.
No. 4: IsoAcoustics was doing the best AB demo at AXPONA
I just got a set of IsoAcoustics Gaia feet on my Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4 speakers at home, and they are proving to be a low-cost, real-world upgrade that even entry-level audiophiles can get into without breaking the bank. The idea is to get your speakers decoupled from your floor that allows them to perform in ways that remove resonances and other issues that, as I heard in Tampa, as well as here at AXPONA in Chicago, were stunningly impressive, especially in the bass. Industry veteran John Bevier was doing an AB test with some modest KEF speakers, and the difference with the volume-matched demo was not subtle. It was very obvious with the flip of a switch that these aftermarket feet were an upgrade worthy of your consideration.
No. 5 – Stacked subwoofers are a new trend that we really like
REL started the movement and Paul Wilson, who is here at the show with us, has six (yes, six) REL S-550 subwoofers stacked vertically and crossed over uniquely for each level of his line array subwoofers (review pending). I first heard a six-pack of REL Subs at their factory in Berkeley, California, this past fall, and it was visceral, tall and powerful-sounding. At AXPONA, REL was showing the same six-pack with Wilson WATT Puppy speakers, Dan D’Agostino electronics, and WADAX digital, and it was quite impressive, as you might expect. PS Audio is out with a new subwoofer, and they were stacking four of their speakers in their room. While it runs the price up, we like the upgrade path and sonic effect of stacked subwoofers.
No. 6: A 45-watt single-ended triode amp?
We visited Mark Conti’s MC AudioTec room and heard the most powerful single-ended triode tube amp that we’ve ever experienced. It was a 45-watt SET, which is not normally the level of output you expect from a single-ended triode tube amp. You always see something unexpected at these shows. To see large speakers well-powered with such low power was something unique.
No. 7: Audiophile concerns about Iran War were real
There were billion-dollar companies calling the current war in Iran “COVID v2” in terms of the potential impact to the supply chain. There is talk on the news about how liquefied gas is a problem, as well as fertilizer, but other more offbeat commodities like helium impact parts availability. Smaller companies that rely on Asian manufacturing are already being warned about potential shortages coming in the next few weeks or months if there isn’t a resolution to the conflict.
No. 8: AC power components plugged in the wrong direction
There were a lot of companies showing and/or using audiophile AC power products but, at this AXPONA show, many of them were oddly oriented in a way where the big, bulky, well-insulated and often rigid power cables connected into the top of the power conditioner. They make the cables and the wire management a visual focal point of the system. We can tell you this not a good way to appeal to non-enthusiast audiophiles, as cable mess is an automatic turnoff for many consumers.
No. 9: Simplified or all-in-one audiophile solutions were on the rise
There were more and more simple system configurations at AXPONA 2026. Todays mid- to high- (even very high-) end integrated amps are able to do it all, thus delivering a “just add speakers” solution that is very appealing to new customers or even advanced audiophiles who are seeking a simpler solution without all the complexity. Burmester, Devalliet and others were showing this new audiophile system configuration trend.
No. 10: Surround sound made its way into AXPONA 2026
SVS was doing a little home theater in one of their demo rooms, as they were showing off their tiny new Micro 3000 subwoofer (review pending). The product that caught my attention, in Focal’s booth, was a $3,500 all-in-one, table-top component that somehow outputs Dolby Atmos from a small, easy to justify and somewhat affordable all-in-one-box solution. When I tell you that this surround experience was believable, I am not blowing smoke up your you-know-where. Enthusiast audiophiles could put a solution like this in their TV room and be very happy and never need a drywall saw, painters etc.
No. 11: Room treatments, plants and more
There were more rooms with “rented” live plants, small USB-powered LED lights, and acoustical treatments. Let’s face facts: it is hard to make great sound in a tiny-ass hotel room. A few room treatments go a long way to deliver more respectable sound in an admittedly complex environment to deliver a good sonic performance.
No. 12: Lucca Chesky had midterms
18-year-old Lucca Chesky is the youngest of the speaker empresarios, but he had to call in a marker with Mom and his Grammy-winning Dad for AXPONA 2026. The room was packed to hear his new LC2 $1,999 per pair stand-mount speakers (review pending), which was encouraging, as they were using affordable Schiit gear to deliver a realistic-priced system that sounded great. I’ve got the texts to prove that Lucca was missing the action of an audiophile show, but classes first, friend – classes first.
No. 13: There was more affordable audio than at most other recent shows
Schiit, Chesky Audio, Kanto, FiiO, Fosi, Orchard Audio, Buckeye, new Paradigm speakers, a bunch of brands from MOFI, and much more was on display. Far too often, these audiophile shows exclusively show uber-expensive audio, which absolutely is fun to experience, but having a healthy amount of options that people can afford was refreshing and good for the overall positive vibe at AXPONA 2026.
No 14: Industry icons were walking (or riding) the halls
I bumped into Dan D’Agistino in front of the event hall, and saw Monster Cable and Beats founder Noel Lee at AXPONA 2026, which was fun. I heard from speaker legend Sandy Gross before the show to find out that he’s recovering from a simple surgical procedure and that he’s doing really well. The audiophile business is filled with some truly great characters, and we are lucky to still be able to interact with them as mere mortals. Nearly all of them are super-approachable and friendly, which just makes the hobby that much more fun.
No. 15: New speakers from Revel, Paradigm, and ELAC
It has been a long time since Revel had new speakers out and this was a welcome sight. Paradigm has new Premier Series speakers ready to ship that are both affordable and great-sounding. ELAC was showing a very fancy $50,000 per pair speaker, using a folded motion tweeter and a unique configuration of circular midrange drivers that was really compelling. Even electronics company Bricasti was showing a pair of $36,000 speakers designed to match their very good electronics. SVS, PS Audio, and PSB had new subwoofers to consider.
No. 16: What sounded good that was expensive?
The Nordost-VTL-Stenheim room was a killer. The big Stenheims were kicking ass and taking names. The T+A room next door was really strong sonically, too. The NAD PSB demo was much more affordable but was making notably good sound. MBL was making great sound upstairs, as the company has new ownership, which seems like a good thing. The Rockport room was making very good sound with some of their bigger speakers on display The REL-Wilson-D’Agostino-WADAX room was rocking a REL six-pack of subs but wasn’t missing in the rest of the room, even if it was small. It sounded great. Andrew Jones’ new $34,000 speakers were solid and very popular.
No. 17: What sounded good that was NOT expensive?
SVS’ micro 3000 sub was a standout, as you might expect. We talked about Chesky Audio, which always makes good sound at shows. The new Paradigm Premier speakers definitely fall into this class. The ISO ACOUSTIC Gaia upgrade is an impressive, low-cost upgrade. Kanto’s new right-priced but bigger powered speakers were sounding good, too. There were some more CHI-FI-like companies at AXPONA 2026, which might perturb some dealers, but audiophile enthusiasts want to see value gear on display, and there was far more to see and hear than this short list of examples.
No. 18: New owners and new executives
The corporate turntable was spinning with new owners for MBL and Focal. The executive in charge of Harman’s Luxury Audio Brands is going to run the newly-acquired Sound United (Polk, Definitive, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, and Marantz) brands on April 20, 2026. As they say in Hawai’I, “If you don’t like the weather – give it 15 minutes,” and sometimes that is the case with audio companies with their executive teams and overall ownership.
Final Thoughts from AXPONA 2026 in Chicago
AXPONA has solidified itself as the top show in the United States for audiophiles. If an enthusiast were to travel to a show and didn’t want to use their passport, this is the show to attend. It is centrally located with easy access to O’Hare Airport. Hotels are inexpensive. Dining options make for often memorable audiophile dinners. The overall venue at the Renaissance Hotel is quite good and, with extra parking now built, it is even easier to deal with logistics. There was a lot for everybody to hear at AXPONA 2026, regardless of budget, as no one city can approach the scope of audiophile experiences that you can have at AXPONA.
Did you go to AXPONA this year? What did you hear/see that you thought was great? Were there any rooms that were less than excellent? Share with us your thoughts, and we will publish your comments.
