As Jason Victor Serinus reported just ahead of High End Vienna 2026 earlier this month, some of the expectant exhibitors didn't get the rooms they wanted—or any rooms at all. To be fair, that's not unique to the main Vienna show, as there have often been satellite events adjacent to other big trade shows that endeavor to pick up spill-over exhibitors, and some of those satellite shows are also genuinely preferred by the brands that participate in them.
In Vienna, there were no fewer than three such auxiliary shows, the smallest of which—Xclusive High End Show Vienna 2026—is the subject of this report. The Xclusive event took place 20 stories up in the Ares Tower, a building adjacent to the gargantuan main show, from June 4–7, 2026. While the Xclusive event only had four systems on display, their combined performance—and collective price point—might have eclipsed those of some bigger shows.
I've been to plenty of audio shows in various parts of the world over the past few decades and tended to write about them from an enthusiast-consumer perspective, but attending Vienna 2026 was my first time as a designated reporter. Such an official debut at this Vienna show—or shows, rather—was a little bit like having been a soccer fan who suddenly gets to play in the World Cup final.
The resulting stress I felt must have been evolution's quaint attempt to sharpen my senses, but my tunnel-vision focus led me to somehow miss one of the Xclusive rooms, the one featuring Clarisys speakers. My apologies! I hope to get another chance to experience them next year, as what I came across in the other three Xclusive rooms was spectacular.
ARIES CERAT
The Xclusive event was organized by Aries Cerat, whose electronics were featured in all four systems on display. The largest room also featured the company's latest speakers, a new model called Sirene. This humongous open-baffle design had no trouble pressurizing the massive space, but the room's visually striking RD Acoustics panels couldn't do much about the resonances that appeared to have happened between floor and ceiling. In fact, the diffusion on the distant side walls likely didn't have to work hard at all, because the Sirene speakers' off-axis attenuation was some of the most extreme I think I have ever heard, almost like closing a gasketed door once I stepped out from the line of sight to the deeply recessed drivers. This presumably made these mega speakers more room friendly than I could have imagined from just looking at them.
Despite the troubling room modes and huge listening distance, the sound was fascinatingly intimate. To play very loud at such distances puts strain on everything. I felt there was some audible compression on David A. Stewart Featuring Candy Dulfer's 1989 hit song "Lily Was Here"—but it was hitting 94dB-A at my seat, so maybe it was my ears doing the ducking.
Stavros Danos, the creator and designer of Aries Cerat, loves to go big—really, really big—and this room's system had lots of components. The analog source was a Pandora turntable equipped with two arms—one with a DaVa field-coil cartridge from Darius Valunias, the other with a Top Wing Red Sparrow cartridge—both feeding an Aries Cerat Hermes phono stage.
The digital source was a Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra server ($37,950) with an Aries Cerat Homerus DAC. After that, the topology got a little hard to follow since there were both an Aries Cerat Aether 3 chassis preamplifier and Aries Cerat Incito S preamplifier in the chain, continuing to Aries Cerat Odysseas two-chassis-per-channel monoblock amplifiers and an Aries Cerat Quindecim stereo amplifier. All components appeared to cost in excess of $100,000 each.
How the double preamps and power-amp pathways were connected was difficult to deduce, in part because of a) the external crossover boxes that were larger than most power amps on the market and b) they had, if I counted it right, 20 different connectors. (If you're thinking outside the box, perhaps you just need a bigger box.)
I'm curious how many buyers there are of these systems. I'm not saying that in a dismissive way, as I find this uppermost segment of esoteric equipment fascinating. Aries Cerat presented a different mega speaker at High End Munich last year, and neither that model nor the Sirene are listed on the company's website as of this posting. Regardless, those with enormous rooms and even bigger bank accounts (plus some affinity for extravagant visuals), will want to keep an eye on Aries Cerat.
PRODIGIO
Hungarian electrostatic speaker manufacturer Prodigio, previously known as Popori, brought a pair of the visually striking Vitorla electrostatics to the Xclusive event (as seen flanking the system above). Their prices have seen a bump recently to €95,000 per pair. These sail-shaped speakers have integrated LED lights that I had only seen pictures of before and initially dismissed as gimmicky, but I have to admit they were quite a pleasant sight.
The Aries Cerat electronics deployed in this system included the Heléne DAC, the two-chassis Ianus Ageto preamplifier, and Vulcan monoblocks. (At the time of this posting, the Vulcans aren't yet listed on the Aries Cerat site.) This setup was all fed by a Pink Faun Scion streamer ($24,000).
The sound had mindbogglingly precise imaging and depth, genuinely some of the best I have ever heard. Such performance in these domains normally require exquisitely well-tuned rooms as reflections can smear spatial cues, but the treatment here was basic. However, while the sound was extremely illusory, it seemed a smidge lacking in midbass heft, which could certainly be a suckout in the room response because the advertised 30Hz reach seemed truthful. There was also, across the music being played while I was sitting in the room, a slight sense of plasticky artifice in the textures. Whether we can blame that on the room itself is difficult to say, but I for one will take all opportunities to hear Prodigio speakers at future shows.
AEQUO AUDIO
The third room I experienced at the Xclusive event had speakers from Aequo Audio, a relatively young Dutch brand from designer Ivo Sparidaens and general manager Paul Rassin. They have two current models sharing the same striking yet elegant physical design. The Adamantis is a traditional passive speaker, while the Ensium model shown here ($50,000) has, as they put it, "assisted bass." This also lets the Ensium be more configurable via two dials at the back of the speaker for "room size" and "placement."
The bass assist makes the speaker a lighter load for the amplifier since built-in amplification handles the low end. JVS's report on the Ensiums from High End Munich 2025 has more on all that, including details on the exotic cabinet material.
Electronics were again primarily from Aries Cerat, including a Kassandra II DAC and Impera II preamplifier with an external power supply—both seemingly brand-new products, as they too are not yet listed on the company's site—as well as the equally new aforementioned Vulcan monoblocks. Here too, a Pink Faun Scion streamer was the digital source.
Soundwise, I saved the best for last. Within seconds of sitting down in this room, I was struck by a sensation I don’t think I've felt ever before. I reflexively wanted to get up and leave, but for the opposite reason you might expect. The room sounded so marvelous, so deep, so airy, and so real that it felt blasphemous to sit there with the amount of show coverage stress I still had in my body. Sound this stunning deserved a more worthy listener, and I wanted to avert my gaze as if in the presence of a deity.
I don't quite understand how a speaker could have made me feel this way—and I might not be able to investigate this phenomenon any further in the short term, alas, as one of my esteemed colleagues apparently has the inside track on reviewing them. I am officially overcome with Gollum-strength envy.
ARIES CERAT
The Xclusive event was organized by Aries Cerat, whose electronics were featured in all four systems on display. The largest room also featured the company's latest speakers, a new model called Sirene. This humongous open-baffle design had no trouble pressurizing the massive space, but the room's visually striking RD Acoustics panels couldn't do much about the resonances that appeared to have happened between floor and ceiling. In fact, the diffusion on the distant side walls likely didn't have to work hard at all, because the Sirene speakers' off-axis attenuation was some of the most extreme I think I have ever heard, almost like closing a gasketed door once I stepped out from the line of sight to the deeply recessed drivers. This presumably made these mega speakers more room friendly than I could have imagined from just looking at them.
How the double preamps and power-amp pathways were connected was difficult to deduce, in part because of a) the external crossover boxes that were larger than most power amps on the market and b) they had, if I counted it right, 20 different connectors. (If you're thinking outside the box, perhaps you just need a bigger box.)
I'm curious how many buyers there are of these systems. I'm not saying that in a dismissive way, as I find this uppermost segment of esoteric equipment fascinating. Aries Cerat presented a different mega speaker at High End Munich last year, and neither that model nor the Sirene are listed on the company's website as of this posting. Regardless, those with enormous rooms and even bigger bank accounts (plus some affinity for extravagant visuals), will want to keep an eye on Aries Cerat.
PRODIGIO
Hungarian electrostatic speaker manufacturer Prodigio, previously known as Popori, brought a pair of the visually striking Vitorla electrostatics to the Xclusive event (as seen flanking the system above). Their prices have seen a bump recently to €95,000 per pair. These sail-shaped speakers have integrated LED lights that I had only seen pictures of before and initially dismissed as gimmicky, but I have to admit they were quite a pleasant sight.
AEQUO AUDIO
The third room I experienced at the Xclusive event had speakers from Aequo Audio, a relatively young Dutch brand from designer Ivo Sparidaens and general manager Paul Rassin. They have two current models sharing the same striking yet elegant physical design. The Adamantis is a traditional passive speaker, while the Ensium model shown here ($50,000) has, as they put it, "assisted bass." This also lets the Ensium be more configurable via two dials at the back of the speaker for "room size" and "placement."
Soundwise, I saved the best for last. Within seconds of sitting down in this room, I was struck by a sensation I don’t think I've felt ever before. I reflexively wanted to get up and leave, but for the opposite reason you might expect. The room sounded so marvelous, so deep, so airy, and so real that it felt blasphemous to sit there with the amount of show coverage stress I still had in my body. Sound this stunning deserved a more worthy listener, and I wanted to avert my gaze as if in the presence of a deity.
