I spent a day at an elite hi-fi show to pick out 6 affordable speakers and hi-res players even I'd buy, so maybe you can too | Tech Radar

Overview

I spent a day at an elite hi-fi show to pick out 6 affordable speakers and hi-res players even I'd buy, so maybe you can too

Headphones, speakers and DAPs that won't break the bank

Details

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

I saw some of the best stereo speakers while wearing my boots down at Bristol Hi-Fi Show between February 20-22, and I wrote a whole listicle on some of the premium audio gadgets which will absolutely shatter your bank account.

But at the annual show, I also saw a decent amount of kit that wasn’t so wallet-shredding. I enjoyed listening to plenty of headphones and speakers which you and I could even end up buying — I mean, if my landlady decided I could be exempt from rent for a month or two.

None of the following gadgets will be eligible for our best cheap headphones or speakers lists; they’re all still far from the ‘budget’ border which we patrol for those round-ups. But they’re still within the budgets of some audiophiles, as long as they’re OK with saving for a little while — and I think that means something.

I spent a day listening to 'money no object' audio systems at an elite hi-fi show to find 11 products I'd buy, if I won the lottery

6 design-focused wireless speakers from CES 2026 I can't wait to hear

The best hi-fi kit we saw at CES 2026: an iconic turntable updated, Edifier's first e ARC active speakers, and much more

I wandered into the Dali suite as Kraftwerk was blasting out of the Sonik 9, though for this 'budget' list, I'll refrain from mentioning that £2,199,

Sonik is the new flagship series for Danish audio brand Dali, and while the 9 is the top-end model, there's also a 1, 3, 5 and 7, as well as On-Wall and Cinema. We covered these models, and their differences, when they were announced.

I was most drawn in by the smaller Sonik 1 (pictured above), for £449,

The Sonik 1, though, seem to offer all the audio chops of the pricey models, but for a lesser fee. These stereo speakers have the same 29mm soft dome tweeter along with a 5 1/4 woofer, and maintain the versatile placement of previous Dali speakers. Sure, this model is the weakest of the bunch, but it's not exactly a crime to fall short of a floor-standing monolith like the Sonik 9. (Oops: I mentioned it again!)

Bristol Hi-Fi isn’t as much a show for headphones as it is for home Hi-Fi kit, but Sennheiser reminded me that wireless cans can keep up, if they’re done right. I was ready to wax lyrical about their prowess until I realized that Tech Radar published a Sennheiser HDB 630 review at the tail end of 2025.

Oh well; I tested them at the show, and I liked them. I’d even go so far as to call them the best headphones I listened to at the big event, though they're also among the only headphones I listened to (other than pairs for testing DAPs). They offer fantastically-detailed, spacious, and nuanced sound, and the i Pad Sennheiser had paired with the cans was full of music — the brand was clearly confident that I’d get great audio, whatever genre or song I picked.

Beyond audio, the feature list looks better than I’d expect for audiophile headphones, with a long-lasting battery and range of connection options. Our reviewer praised the ANC and companion app too, so they’re clearly great all-rounders. All that for

6 design-focused wireless speakers from CES 2026 I can't wait to hear

The best hi-fi kit we saw at CES 2026: an iconic turntable updated, Edifier's first e ARC active speakers, and much more

The Mitchell Acoustics room was bedecked in so many speakers it was hard to tell where the music was coming from — or where it wasn’t coming from. This is from its range of u Stream speakers, coming in a variety of models and were all refreshed in 2025.

There's the u Stream Cube for £349 (around

These devices seemed designed to act as jack of all trade models, delivering high-quality wireless audio to your home, and working with TVs as much as your music player. They can apparently be positioned independently, with their own power outlet (so they don't need to be placed too close to one another), and can sync up with Alexa or Google Assistant to run multiple rooms' sound at once. It seems like a large bevy of features for some solid-sounding speakers.

Also catching my eye was the u Stream Groove, which you can see at the top of this article. It combines the brand's TT1 turntable with two u Stream Cube speakers, all for £499 (about

Fii O had a healthy roster of new gadgets on display at Bristol Hi-Fi, including the top-end M27 audio player, DM15 R2R CD player and EH11 headphones, but a busy room and certain technical limitations meant I only managed to test out one device. This is the M33 R2R, a successor to the Fii O M23 which costs £449 /

As a regular phones reviewer, I recognize plenty of the M33’s specs from budget phones a few years ago: a Snapdragon 680 chip, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, Android 13, 5.5-inch screen, 14-hour battery life. But obviously it’s a music player, so let’s ignore those specs. The M33 offers hi-res music up to 24-bit/384k Hz, with an R2R DAC, built-in amplifier, 2200m W power output and two headphone ports. It doesn’t look too different from the previous model, and it’s under the hood that some improvements have been made.

Well, here’s another product I liked at Bristol, only to discover that we’d already written a Wii M Sound review (and heard it soon after its release, at the Paris Audio Show). So not brand-new, per se, but only a few months old. This smart speaker sells for £299 (around

The Wii M Sound units come with double tweeters and woofers, outputting at 100W. They have 2-way architecture so can be placed in the center of rooms, with an open design to ensure spacious sound – they also have a room analyzer feature to tune your music for the space. The difference between the models is that the Sound has a 1.8-inch screen while the Lite doesn’t.

When I stepped into the Wii M room (or the Roo M, as I’m sure they’d like to call it), I heard one of each playing together, using a feature which lets you double up the speakers to fill a larger space, and they really did conquer the room in away that smaller speakers often don’t. There was also a Wii M Sub Pro thrown into the mix, which actually costs more than either speaker.

Our tester really liked them too, especially the sound quality and how handy the Sound’s touch screen was, though wasn’t a fan of the lack of Apple Air Play. As I’m not an Apple user, that’s no problem for me.

Kanto had a few speakers on show at Bristol. When I visited the test room a harried employee was frantically switching around inputs so move the music between them, all at the behest of a demanding (presumed) potential customer who wanted to hear the difference. The one that caught my eye (and ear) was the smallest of the bunch: the UKI, which was announced a year ago and put on sale towards the end of 2025.

These cute little desktop speakers, which were displayed in green but also come in five different hues, are compact but secretly pretty powerful. The ¾-inch silk dome tweeter and 3-inch paper cone woofer output at 100W, more than you’d expect for creatures their size, with a sound quality I’d definitely enjoy for my home PC. There’s a pretty solid range of inputs (Bluetooth, USB-C, RCA) and outputs (sub-out, 3.5mm) compared to some alternatives I’ve heard.

The Kanto UKI is entry-level Hi-Fi kit – a brochure I picked up says they’re good for “those new to Hi-Fi”, and the price matches. They go for £199 /

➡️ Read our full guide to the best stereo speakers

1. Best overall: Q Acoustics M40 HD
2. Best compact: Dali Rubikore 2
3. Best desktop speakers Creative Pebble Nova
4. Best budget buy: Q Acoustics M20 HD

Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course, you can also follow Tech Radar on You Tube and Tik Tok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on Whats App too.

Tom Bedford is a freelance contributor covering tech, entertainment and gaming. Beyond Tech Radar, he has bylines on sites including Games Radar, Digital Trends, Whatto Watch and BGR. From 2019 to 2022 he was on the Tech Radar team as the staff writer and then deputy editor for the mobile team.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

1I spent a day at an elite hi-fi show to pick out 6 affordable speakers and hi-res players even I'd buy, so maybe you can too

2 The i Phone's Emergency SOS feature just saved six skiers hit by an avalanche

3 How to watch Galaxy Unpacked on February 25 — and what to expect

4RAM crisis shows signs of easing as DDR5 prices drop — but there's a catch

5 The PDP Riffmaster rekindled my love of rhythm games like Rock Band 4 and right now, it's back to its lowest-ever price at PS Direct

Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Key Takeaways

• I spent a day at an elite hi-fi show to pick out 6 affordable speakers and hi-res players even I'd buy, so maybe you can too

• Headphones, speakers and DAPs that won't break the bank

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• I saw some of the best stereo speakers while wearing my boots down at Bristol Hi-Fi Show between February 20-22, and I wrote a whole listicle on some of the premium audio gadgets which will absolutely shatter your bank account

• But at the annual show, I also saw a decent amount of kit that wasn’t so wallet-shredding