The 2026 Toronto Audio Fest, (herein referred to as TAF 2026), was held at the Toronto Sheraton™ Airport Hotel on Dixon Road that’s a few miles (er… kilometres) away from the Lester B. Pearson™ International Airport. For TAF 2026, I’m going to provide two – count ‘em… two – show reports. There were a lot of exhibitors at this year’s TAF. To properly document everything that I experienced at this year’s audiophile Lollapalooza, I figure I need two articles.
My first duty is to say a sincere "Thank You" to the organizers of TAF 2026 and all of the exhibitors who invested the considerable expenses of time, energy, and money to display their gear, cables, and ancillary audio items at the show. Uninformed critics and reviewers – and there are many of them – have no idea of how much stress dragging anything to a high-end Consumer Electronics (CE) audio trade show like TAF causes.
Sheraton Toronto Hotel exterior
The stroke inducing physical stresses (plural) caused by hauling components, speakers, equipment racks, cable looms, power regenerators, grounding devices, acoustical panels, product banners, promotional literature, armoured road-worthy flight cases, and whatever else an exhibitor feels is needed to produce decent sound in a hotel environment is just… jumpin’ Jesus on a Rotax-680… soul crushing and back-breaking. Germane to these stresses, before you critically judge the sound quality of this or that, please consider how much effort it takes to exhibit anything at a CE trade show.
Ground Floor Hallway (Renato Rossi)
As I type this, the Canadian economy is sputtering along like a greasy f*rt haphazardly blown after ingesting a spicy Indonesian curry and a half-dozen pints of Guinness™. Although I wouldn’t suggest that Canada’s economy has dropped down into recession-level territory… yet, all things financial in Canada are not looking sunny; to say the least.
Beatles Guitar Exhibit (Renato Rossi)
Canada’s biggest trading partner (by volume of goods traded) is the United States. Or… well… it used to be. Canada and the US do not currently have an international trade agreement that’s been ratified. While trade is still (obviously) occurring between the two countries, the lack of a formally and legally recognized trade agreement between Canada and the US is creating a lot of economic pressure and stoking financial uncertainty. Not surprisingly, fears of potentially higher – indeed… much higher – tariffs on incoming and outgoing goods are also causing Canadian consumers to re-think buying luxury audiophile goods.
Hallway – audio goodies
None-the-less, TAF 2026 was well attended. By mid-day on Saturday 17 October, many of the smaller rooms on the 3rd and 4th floors of the Sheraton™ were so busy that I couldn’t get into them. I hadn’t planned on coming back on Sunday the 18th, but I did because I needed – not just wanted… but needed – to hear some of the key rooms that were on my ‘must visit’ list.
Rega
British analog giant Rega™ had a number of turntables set-up on… er… tables in a hallway area on the ground floor. While I did not manage to get any quality listening time in the Rega room, the ultra high quality of their ‘tables and other gear is, at this point, self evident.
Rega Hallway Banner
Rega Planar 10 + power supply
Rega Planar 8 TurnTable
Rega components + speakers
For TAF 2026, the Earvana™ headphone event was held in the Ambrosia III Room. A staggering number of headphones, headphone amps, audiophile-grade headphone cables, and all things relating to headphones were available for salivating audio-dorks to listen to. This room dedicated exclusively to headphones was aptly called “Earvana Fest®”.
Earvana Fest Hallway Banner
Earvana Fest entire room
Dedicated headphone companies like HiFi Man™, Asona™, Fiio™, Aeon State™, Québéc Acoustique™, Grado™, and Noble Audio™ all had their headphone displays and listening demos set-up in this large room.
Marantz™, B&W™, and AudioQuest™
In the Ambrosia I Room, I listened to a 2-ch rig that showcased B&W™ and Marantz™ gear.
Marantz + B&W system pricing
Marantz + B&W 2-ch rig
This stereo featured a Marantz Link 10n streamer ($17,000 CAD), a pair of Marantz Model-10 mono-block amplifiers ($44,000 CAD per each amp), and a pair of B&W 801D5 loudspeakers ($90,000 CAD). Cables were a mixture of AudioQuest Thunderbird Extreme® speaker cables, AQ Bass-Zilla® speaker cables, and Typhoon® A/C power cables. Feed by an AQ Niagara® power conditioner, this $100,000 CAD level AQ cable loom did this stereo system’s elite sound quality palpable justice.
B&W loudspeakers (Renato Rossi)
Single orange B&W Nautilus loudspeaker
McLaren sports car
In another part of the same open-concept room, B&W also had a single orange-coloured Nautilus® loudspeaker on static display. The base model for the Nautilus currently retails for $110,000 CAD per speaker. B&W also brought a street legal McLaren sports car for TAF visitors to dream about and drool over.
Kennedy HiFi™ + PS Audio
In the Niagara Room, Kennedy HiFi™ had a PS Audio™ 2-channel rig set-up that employed an Eversolo™ T-10® media streamer, a PS Audio PMG DAC ($12,999 CAD), a PS Audio PMG solid state pre-amp ($12,999 CAD), a 400w/ch PS Audio PMG S400 stereo amplifier ($14,000 CAD), and a pair of PS Audio FR-20 floorstanding loudspeakers ($32,499 CAD).
Kennedy HiFi Hallway Banner
Kennedy HiFi PS Audio 2-ch rig
Kennedy – PS Audio components
Wired up with a full loom of Kimber Kable’s™ Select® wires, even early on the first day, this full-range system produced sound that was clear, accurate, and engaging.
Local Markham Ontario specialist audio company IsoAcoustics™ had a table set-up in the Kennedy HiFi room that displayed some of their vibration and resonance control footers, platforms, and acoustical tuning devices.
Kennedy IsoAcoustics display table
For more information, please visit Kennedy HiFi’s website at:
Kennedy-hifi.com
IsoAcoustics | Award Winning Audio Isolation Products
Charisma
Set-up in room #223 on the second floor, local Toronto audio retailer Charisma Audio™ was showcasing an analog 2-channel stereo system that worked extremely well in the smallish hotel room. Source components were a Well Tempered Labs™ Amadeus Junior® turntable ($10,815 CAD) that was mated with a Charisma Audio YYZ® low output M/C cartridge ($5,230 CAD).
Charisma Audio room (Renato Rossi)
The turntable’s analog signal was feed through a Wonder Audio Labs™ Reference® vacuum tube phono-stage ($22,000 CAD), an Audio Space™ Reference 2S vacuum tube pre-amplifier ($7,140 CAD), and then into a pair of Kinki Studio™ EX-B7® mono-block power amplifiers ($5,410 CAD).
Charisma Well Tempered® TT- (Renato Rossi)
Charisma- Wonder Audio Labs™ Reference® phono-stage
The Wonder Audio Labs Reference® phono-stage comes with an irrationally beautiful remote control unit that allows users to adjust ALL of the phono-stage’s settings from a seated listening position. This is sheer genius on display for the whole world to see. For the life of me, I can’t understand how no other turntable or phono-stage company anywhere in the world has previously thought of including a remote like this for a phono pre-amp.
Charisma Wonder Audio Labs™ Reference® phono-stage remote control
This vinyl rig drove a pair of Caprisse® bookshelf monitors ($8,370 CAD) that sat on top of a matching pair of Caprisse speaker stands ($2,380 CAD). Charisma also brought a pair of REL Acoustics™ T/7x subwoofers ($1,790 x 2 subs = $3,580 CAD) to add some more weight in the bass registers.
Placed upon a Tiglon™ Grand Magnesia® 4-tier equipment rack ($3,830 CAD) and powered by two – count ‘em… two – GigaWatt™ PowerPrime® A/C power filters ($4,065 CAD x 2 A/C filters = $8,130 CAD) that come with GigaWatt’s matching PowerSync® A/C power cords, Charisma Audio’s stereo system offered a warm and natural sound.
Charisma Revox reel-to-reel tape decks (Renato Rossi)
For TAF 2026, Charisma also brought a wide array of equipment dampening devices, footers, component platforms, and cables from Japanese high-end manufacturer Tiglon™. Many North American audiophiles may not be familiar with Tiglon’s products. Tiglon has recently released a new flagship pair of interconnects – their GT3000x-WT series interconnects ($5,070 CAD) – which I’m hoping to soon review for Positive Feedback.
Charisma Tiglon interconnects
<Insert Pic#6g- Charisma- flagship Tiglon PL-GT3000x-WT interconnects- HERE>
I recently reviewed Wonder Audio Labs’ P1 Deluxe® tube phono-stage ($7,990 CAD) for Positive Feedback here:
Wonder Audio Labs’ P1 Deluxe Phono Stage
CHARISMA AUDIO | HOME | Charisma Audio
Audio by Mark Jones™
Displaying their gear in the Spartan Room on the Ground Floor, Audio by Mark Jones™ brought an ultra high-end 2-channel stereo system. Source components included a Linn™ LP-12® turntable ($47,730 CAD), an Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux® M/C cartridge ($7,250 CAD), and a Grimm™ MU-1 music streamer + DAC ($18,550 CAD). The Mark Jones room also showcased a full loom of AudioQuest™ cables, an AQ Niagara 5000 power regenerator ($8,900 CAD), and a SolidSteel™ equipment rack.
Mark Jones room wide angle shot (Renato Rossi)
Mark Jones room
Combined with a pair of Grimm LS1c floorstanding speakers ($37,400 CAD), a matching pair of Grimm SB-1 subwoofers ($18,900 CAD) that were neatly integrated into the base of the LS1c loudspeakers, and a Grimm PW1 phono pre-amp ($7,250 CAD), this system created the biggest 3-dimensional soundstage that I heard at the entire TAF show. As such, for 2026, I’m awarding my annual ‘Yennifur Low-Pez Big Ass Soundstage’ award to the Mark Jones room.
Thinking back on my first day at TAF 2026, listening to the song “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles on a vinyl pressing played through the Linn + Grimm stereo system now sticks out in my memory as one of the best sounding and most musically enjoyable moments of the entire weekend.
Audio Sensibility
Located in Thornhill in the heart of central Toronto, custom cable fabricator Audio Sensibility™ was selling a wide range of audiophile cables and tweaks. AS makes four different cable lines that include: 1), their entry-level Impact SE cables; 2), their OCC-Copper Testament line or wires; 3), their OCC-Copper and OCC-Silver Statement series of cords; and 4), their top-of-the-line Signature OCC-Silver range of cables.
CEO Steven Huang has invested heavily in 3D printers to custom-fabricate specialty cables, odd connectors, and unique power supply tweaks for audiophiles. If no-one else can figure out how to build a one-off cable or a connector for you, AS is the company to go to.
Audio Sensibility big banner
Audio Sensibility various cables
Audio Sensibility cable looms banner
Not too long ago, I wrote a review about AS’ top-of-the-line Signature ‘Special Edition’ (SE) A/C power cord for Positive Feedback here:
For more info, please visit Audio Sensibility’s website at:
OCC Silver / Copper Audio Cables - Audio Sensibility
Audio Note UK
Located at the far end of the hall on the third floor in Room #348, Audio Note UK™ brought an impressive sounding 2-channel stereo system to TAF 2026. Audio Note UK custom fabricates ALL of their goods – including their speakers and cable lines – under one roof; their roof. The result of designing and building everything under one roof is a sonic synergy with Audio Note’s stereo systems that few (if any) other companies in the high-end audio CE industry can match; let alone beat.
Audio Note UK room (Renato Rossi)
Source components were an Audio Note TT-2® Turntable ($7,200 CAD) mated with a matching TT2® external power supply ($5,700 CAD), an ARM-1® tonearm ($3,000 CAD), and IQ2 M/C® cartridge ($1,500 CAD). Phono signal amplification was via an Audio Note Integrated OTO-SE Phono® phone stage ($10,300 CAD). Speakers were a pair of AN-E SPE-HE floorstanders ($20,000 CAD).
Audio Note UK entire room
The system was cabled-up with Audio Note’s AN-SPe® (silver) speaker cables (1.5m length $4,850 CAD) and AN-Vx® (silver) interconnects (1.0m length $4,200 CAD). Power cords were Audio Note’s own ISIS A/C cables.
As a softer song played, I chatted with Audio Note’s Daniel Qvortrup for a few minutes about speed metal, doom metal, and death metal. I was wearing an Electric Wizard T-shirt and I guess(?) he sensed that I wanted to hear something heavier. He then played a track by Orange Goblin (I think it was from the Big Black album?) that, even in a smaller hotel room, sent shivers down my spine.
Two years ago at TAF 2024, I’d written: “If you think that Audio Note’s speakers are only designed to play delicate female vocals or gentle acoustic guitar lines, think again. Had I not heard this system, I never would’ve believed that AN’s speakers could play THAT loud with soooooh much gosh-darned bass while still maintaining the music’s blistering PRaT (pace, rhythm, and timing), textures, and overall musicality.”
Listening to the punishingly heavy sound of Orange Goblin’s music being reproduced so accurately by Audio Note’s 2-ch rig was, once again, a joyous experience. The sound made me think of crippled Lucifer piloting an overpowered Lithium-battery mobility scooter. Ohhhh my Heavens is there a lot of energy in that recording. Looking back, hearing the glorious doom-laden sound of that song now sticks out as one of the happier moments of the entire weekend.
For more info, please visit Audio Note’s website at:
Music's Finest Conductor | Audio Note (UK) England
Drawing by Bruce Walker, 1995.
