After twenty-one years at the MOC in Munich, the world's leading high-end audio show is on the move. High End Vienna 2026 opens its doors at the Austria Center Vienna on Thursday 4 June, marking a new chapter for an event with more than four decades of history behind it. StereoNET will be there in force as one of many media partners, with our editorial team filing daily reports, galleries, and video content direct from Vienna.
Back in September 2024, we broke the news to our readers in Vienna Calling — High End Moves From Munich, setting out the rationale and the long-term schedule. Then in May, our opinion piece on how Eurovision could affect the world's largest hi-fi show flagged the date conflict before High End Society had moved on it — a development confirmed a few weeks later when the show was officially postponed to June 2026. Aside from some ongoing airline disruption, all seems calm in the lead-up.
A New Date, A New City
The Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Vienna at the Wiener Stadthalle on 12, 14, and 16 May 2026, drew an estimated 500,000 visitors to the city and placed real strain on hotels, transport, and access across the wider district. With Eurovision now wrapped, the audio industry can move into the Austria Center Vienna without competing for a hotel bed within tram distance of the Donau.
Worth noting: Thursday 4 June, the first day of the show, falls on Corpus Christi, a public holiday in Austria and across several German federal states, so the city may be a little quieter than usual on day one.
Why Vienna
When the relocation from Munich was announced in September 2024, many long-time visitors were sentimental about the MOC. Most, however, welcomed the move, citing the Austria Center Vienna's better-suited rooms — less glass, sloped ceilings, dedicated sound cabins ranging from 13 to 124 square metres, and 30,000 square metres of exhibition space across multiple levels.
High End Society Managing Director Manuel Pinke and his team have been clear about the rationale: broaden the show's international reach, exploit Vienna's unique cultural pull, and give exhibitors a venue purpose-built for serious demonstration work. The Austria Center Vienna had already hosted the Finest Audio Show as a trial run in November 2023, drawing roughly 4,000 visitors and 66 exhibiting brands — giving organisers a working knowledge of the venue's strengths and quirks well before the main event arrived.
The Vienna premiere is, by any measure, a serious undertaking. Exhibition space sold out by January. The organisers project around 500 exhibitors representing close to 1,000 brands, more than 10,000 trade visitors, and total attendance comfortably above 22,000 across the four days. Some 550 media representatives are accredited.
I have written previously about the importance of hi-fi shows to the industry, and the evidence speaks for itself. Munich 2025 drew 22,818 visitors from 92 countries; AXPONA broke records again in 2026; Vienna sold out months in advance. The international audio industry is voting with its feet, its diary, and its chequebook.
When and Who For
Thursday 4 June and Friday 5 June are trade-only days, requiring pre-registration. Saturday 6 June and Sunday 7 June are open to the public. Show hours run 10am to 6pm Thursday through Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
The theme for 2026 is The Power of Music, and the show's brand ambassador is Canadian jazz and soul vocalist Dominique Fils-Aimé. She will perform an exclusive concert with her band on the main stage on Saturday 6 June at 7pm — a fixture that, in recent years with artists such as Anette Askvik, has become one of the genuine highlights of the calendar rather than a corporate add-on. Expect listening sessions, panels, and tie-in events that lean on Vienna's deep musical heritage.
While the full exhibitor map is still settling, the early signals are strong. Estelon, Audio Research, Bowers & Wilkins, Mark Levinson, JBL, McIntosh, and dozens more familiar names will be returning, and the usual run of world premieres is expected. The Austria Center Vienna's better-isolated rooms should, in theory, deliver more honest demonstrations than the cavernous, glass-walled spaces many of us spent years working around in Munich.
The fringe is alive and well, too. The alternate show hifideluxe Vienna 2026 runs concurrently from 5 to 7 June at the Arcotel Kaiserwasser, just across from the Austria Center Vienna — a more intimate, hotel-format alternative for brands that prefer the boutique-show feel.
High End Society has locked in Vienna for the next three editions: High End Vienna 2027 is scheduled for 6 to 9 May, and High End Vienna 2028 for 25 to 28 May.
What StereoNET Will Bring You
StereoNET has covered High End in Munich across our UK, Asia, and Australian editions for nearly ten years. Our annual What We Liked feature has become essential reading for enthusiasts who want a curated take on what actually mattered out of a show with hundreds of rooms. This year, we will focus on what is genuinely different, seriously impressive, or groundbreaking. Coverage will go live as it happens on our Facebook and Instagram pages each day, followed by full photo galleries and commentary in our forums.
If you plan to attend, registration is open at highendsociety.de. We look forward to seeing you in Vienna.
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