Manley Labs tube gear combined with Davone Grande loudspeakers. The Neo Classic 250's nostalgic appearance matched not only the Eames Lounge Chair inspired loudspeaker in design but the sound combination did likewise. A perfect lounge setup.

Headfi pressed on resolutely into the stylish arena with design studio Pinifarina signed up for the looks of the Magnat LZR headphones. 

Heco loudspeakers like the 2-way Direkt and Magnat Quantum Signature were on demo for those who prefer to share their musical experience with others. That Direkt model not only looked like a real musical speaker à la Audio Note or Snell but sounded musical as well. Heco might have struck oil with this retro revivalist.

An international collaboration of brands distributed by a Czech company extending into Poland had Italy's Gold Note Mediterrano turntable spinning precious vinyl whilst Dutch brand Van Medevoort celebrating their 30th anniversary were in charge of the gain. Speakers again were by Gold Note and hand-made in Florence.

Polish Inact are a loudspeaker house who claim not to just build affordable speakers but also produce the best sound at an affordable price. Noted.

Bronze sound bowls in abundance were the theme with the HighEnd Novum passive multi-vocal resonators from Germany which, according to their manufacturer, add overtones that were lost in the recording process. These are very smart bowls then which know what was lost from recording to recording. Acoustic Solid were the turntable supplier, Atohm the loudspeakers while Atoll provided the electronics.

Polish Amare Musica presented their new DeForest preamp which is built around an Emission Labs 1605 tube. Even more interesting was their new DAC designed similar to the LampizatOr concept of converting or keeping all incoming signals in the DSD domain and treating that with a simple low-pass filter*. This new model of course had a tube output stage but lacked the firm's signature high-gloss stainless steel casing. Harpia Acoustic speakers moved the air in this exhibit.

Auris Audio from Serbia demonstrated their tube electronics and speakers. Auris are very open about how they do business and with whom. Some speaker designs are inspired by Sven Boenicke whilst Trafomatic Audio are a reliable source for transformers and musical feedback from Sasa Cokic. This is a brand to keep an eye on.

New to the Polish market were Einstein Audio from Germany. In a setup with a CEC CD3 CD transport and SME model 15 turntable with RCM Theriaa preamp, American AudioMachina CRM II monitors showed that small can be beautiful at least in sound. The sign identifying the loudspeakers as Pure NSE was in error.

Ancient Audio presented their P-3 speaker processor's capabilities. According to the Polish company, loudspeaker manufacturers need assistance to get the best from their designs. That assistance now comes courtesy of Ancient Audio who developed an algorithm which corrects the major flaws of a given loudspeaker design for which certain specs and measurements need to be written to DSP. What exactly the flaws are which he corrects our Jarek Waszczyszyn didn't divulge but we suspect standing waves based on the three primary axes of a speaker's enclosure. His correction library for speaker brands and models is constantly growing. During his A/B demonstration there was a difference no doubt but whether this really overcame intrinsic flaws of the speaker as claimed remains in question. With Jarek already having our Avantgarde Duo Omega parameters in his library, perhaps we can one day have first-hand experience with his P-3? Jarek also showed his first solid-state power amplifier.

Next came a small system with Morel speakers and Lector electronics.

Equilibrium Athmos S7 were the next transducers, with Atoll of France their electronics supplier and power filtered through an Enerr Zero 6S power conditioner.