06/10/2026
As Dominique Fils-Aimé’s manager, who served as this year’s High End Vienna ambassador, I had the pleasure of experiencing the show (organized by the High End Society) for the very first time. The event took place at the Austria Center Vienna following a 15-year run in Munich.
To be fully honest, I didn’t know what to expect from the world’s largest audio fair, which hosted over 500 exhibitors, 1,000 brands and 22,000 attendees.
I certainly didn’t expect to connect with so many friendly folks who share such a deep passion not only for top of the line hi-fi systems, but more importantly for the music that makes these systems shine. Without good music, there’s no point in developing incredibly good sounding loud-speakers, amplifiers, streamers or turntables!
Some of my highlights during the 4-day visit include:
Listening sessions of Dominique Fils-Aimé’s latest album “My World Is The Sun” in different formats and rooms. Two of which took place at PMC Speakers HiFi's full Dolby Atmos 11.2.6 room, thanks to Maurice Patist, Phil Millross, Keith Tonge and David Patching.
I also had the honour of spending time with PMC Speakers HiFi’s founder, Peter Thomas, his son Ollie Thomas (co-CEO) and recording / mix engineer extraordinaire, Steve Genewick.
We also heard digital tracks from the album with Innuos’s flagship Nazaré streamer in two different rooms. One with Marten’s Coltrane Supreme Extreme loud-speakers and the other one with TAD Laboratories’s GE1 speakers (and TAD’s M2500TX power amp and D1000TX DAC) I must admit that this 3-unit streamer sounds incredible.
Finally we listened to songs from the vinyl record in AUER Acoustics’s listening room and had an emotional session. The founder, Robert Auer, explained to Dominique that the design for the company’s latest flagship speakers were inspired by Dominique’s music!
Aside from these listening sessions, Dominique and I finally got to meet the great team behind our German distribution partners, in-akustik GmbH & CO. KG. Special thanks to Bernhard, Petra and Dieter for believing in the power of Dominique’s magnetic presence and music!
And we finally got to spend time with Justin Gray who’s behind the Atmos mastering on Dominique’s last two albums. I got to experience his Grammy award-winning album “Immersed” in Trinnov’s Dolby Atmos listening room which wowed the crowd.
The biggest highlight of it all has been the entire High End team which made sure we had the best time possible, every step of the way, from beginning to end.
Much love to Stefan, Claudia, Manuel, Katayoun, Klaus, Ali and to the friendliest chauffeurs and security team, Simon, Raj and Benji!
Kevin Annocque - Co-founder, Ensoul Records
