“You’re the only person who’s ever broken one,” Doug said in response to my offer to carry two of the four SoundStage! Network Product of the Year trophies he was hauling around. “I’ll carry them.” The trophies are made of glass but are quite well packaged in sturdy boxes lined with form-fitting foam.
We’ve been giving out these trophies for years now, and Doug always packs a spare suitcase full of the things when he heads to a show. We could ship them, but we like to present them in person, and shows are a good place to do that. They’ve survived every plane flight, every schlep to the shows without damage.
Until, that is, I tripped on a curb in Munich two years ago and dropped the box I was carrying, smashing one company’s trophy into three separate pieces.
Doug holds his anger close to his chest and can carry a grudge like a faded tattoo. Whenever it’s show time and he’s dealing with the aggravation of hauling these boxes around, he makes sure to send a little dig my way about that smashed trophy. He’s also happy to share the anecdote with whoever’s present. I’m totally cool with that. It makes for a good story, and it’s become a bit of an inside joke between us.
Today is Wednesday, June 3, the day before the opening of High End 2026. It’s the first year that this show is being held in Vienna, after its move from Munich, Germany. You can read more about this change in Doug’s June 1 editorial on SoundStage! Hi‑Fi. Since High End 2026 is being held in a new venue, the Austria Center Vienna, and there are three other audio shows running concurrently at nearby locations, we felt it would be a good idea to check out the local transportation and get an early peek at the ACV.
We also planned to drop off a few trophies at the same time to get them out of the way. Doug brought along four trophies, two each to a shopping bag. Like I said, I offered to carry a bag, but he just looked at me in what I’m hoping was mock disgust.
The trek to the ACV from the Moxy Vienna City East hotel, where Doug and I are staying, was dead simple and right quick. A five-minute walk from our hotel took us to the U3 subway line, and a quick transfer to the U1 line at the Stephansplatz station took us right to the show venue, Doug carrying both shopping bags and me navigating. A quick note about the Moxy hotel—it’s one of those we-want-to-be-hip corporate establishments masquerading as a boutique hotel. It’s comfortable and all, but it just tries too hard.
The ACV is a bright, clean facility. My first impression was extremely positive, and given that much hinges on the success of this iteration of the show, that’s a very good thing. We didn’t explore much of the building and relegated ourselves to just finding the three manufacturers that would be receiving these trophies. There was one award each for Dynaudio and DALI, and two for Meze Audio. Doug has 12 award trophies to hand out, but these were the ones we had with us today. The plan was to drop off these four awards, and then tomorrow, when the show begins, visit each booth so that we could get photos with the principals of each company.
On the day before show opening, the exhibitors’ rooms were an absolute mess—boxes everywhere, workers all over the place wiring stuff up, and packaging material scattered as if a tornado had ripped through the building. If, that is, the equipment had even shown up. We saw one completely empty booth with two dejected-looking people sitting on the floor. I’m sure there’s a story behind this, but I didn’t want to be a grief vulture and get in their faces, so I just snapped a surreptitious photo, which is still a dick move.
Anyway, we found the Meze Audio and Dynaudio booths in short order and handed off the boxes.
DALI was exhibiting at the Meliá Vienna, an off-site hotel not part of High End 2026 and not far from the ACV, so we nipped over there to drop off their trophy.
We had hooked up with Edgar Kramer of SoundStage! Australia and Carlo Lo Raso of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, so after we’d scoped out the facility, the four of us headed over to meet some of Kramer’s Australian buddies. These chaps had already secured seating at the Schweizerhaus beer garden, which turned out to be a fantastic place to down a beer and plow through a gigantic schnitzel.
This wasn’t even a show day, but we packed it full. Stay tuned for our actual show coverage, which starts tomorrow.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Editor, SoundStage!
