The last time I went to a HiFi show was quite a few years ago. So long ago that I don’t even recall the year it took place. What I do remember is that it was Hi-Files Show. Back then, I took little to no interest in high-end headphones. Instead, I was interested in speakers. Sure thing, Hi-Fi was something I was curious in general, but I was leaning more towards everything related to loudspeakers than to headphones. I remember there being a stand with a lot of headphones, and I only looked at it from a distance. That is, until I had the courage to take a seat and listen to a headphone only for a couple of seconds before standing up and moving on. I recall there being a lot of talk about Focal’s towers which cost quite a bit. If I’m not mistaken, it was a flagship that cost close to hundred grand. No wonder people were talking! There was also a pair of Kef tower loudspeakers, which didn’t impress me one bit. And the last thing I remember is a home theater room where SVS subs were featured. Those blew me away—literally.
Now it’s 2022, I’m a few years older, and tables have turned. I take more interest in headphones than in speakers. To be fair, I kind of gave up on my loudspeaker dream when I realized that I do not have conditions for such a setup. However, I have to say that I’m currently following the loudspeaker industry from afar. What’s most important is that Hi-Files Show is back after a 3 year break. Well, it’s not really a break, it’s more of a global ban for any sort of big meet-ups. The pandemic, as some of you may know it.
To be fully honest, I had no plans to attend. I thought to myself “ahh, speakers, speakers, speakers… not my thing”. After finding out that my friend Ivan was going to be an exhibitor there, I knew I had to go. It was a last-minute decision, to say the least.
The show took place on October 1st and 2nd, which fell on Saturday and Sunday. I attended on Sunday and arrived a little late. For your information, the show was open from 12:00 to 19:00. Even with 4 hours on my hands, I found myself to be short of time. Believe it or not, out of 18 exhibitors, I only had the time to spend with 3.
Velikinac Audio Lab
Savo Veliknac is a legend here in Serbia. If you know, you know. I won’t dare partially touch on his legacy. That would be disrespectful. His legacy is one of those that you either respect in its entirety or you don’t make an attempt to at all. Ivan Velikinac is the heir of Savo. Me and Ivan spontaneously got in touch in 2020. At the time, the company was called VS Audio (Velikinac Savo Audio). I inquired about some of their finer speakers, specifically, their “Monitor” horn speakers. I then contacted a seller through WhatsApp. I was looking to purchase professional studio monitors, but my wallet couldn’t afford much… It turned out that Ivan was the seller and that we’ve been in touch before. That’s when Ivan was honest with me and that’s where our friendship began. What’s funny is that we scheduled to meet up only a few days before our government declared a state of emergency. While Ivan was busy with establishing what's now known as Velikinac Audio Lab, I was busy writing articles and reviews. Hi-Files was an opportunity for us to meet in person.
Finally meeting Ivan was a big relief. But it was an even bigger relief to see Ivan’s dream come to reality. I know how difficult the journey has been for him. He had a lot of pressure to live up to his father’s accomplishments and name. Not to go into any personal details, it took a lot of courage for him to revive and rebrand VS Audio. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the Velikinac Audio Lab room was one of the most packed rooms throughout the whole day. There was always a line of people waiting outside, while the room was always full. In fact, it was so busy for them that I kindly told Ivan that I would come back once things clear up and calm down… That didn’t happen. I visited the room several times, but no luck. Even with 50 minutes left until the show was over, their room was packed. I only had a chance to exchange some brief words, but there was something else that fulfilled me, and that’s seeing how happy both Ivan and Savo were to finally let people hear their creations. By no means am I someone who is used to loudspeakers. I have no clue how a good loudspeaker is supposed to sound, nor do I know how to critically listen to one. This said, I was just trying to process and take in what my ears were hearing. Even though the room was fairly small, the soundstage that their Fakir loudspeakers produced was greater in size than the room itself. Sound-wise, my favorite part were the highs and the treble of the Fakir. Crystal clear!
The room featured Velikinac Audio Lab’s new Fakir model, Margarita SE (featuring their own drivers) tower speakers, Tisa tower loudspeakers, a small loudspeaker model, Disc Demagnetizer, Vinyl Demagnetizer, and their hand-made speaker and interconnect cables. This is the loudspeaker setup that was featured.
Power Amplifier: Boulder 500AE
Preamp: Handcrafted Tube model
Streamer: Naim NDX
Hard Disk Player: Naim HDX
Tape Recorder: Rovox PR59
From what I’m hearing, people absolutely loved the tape recorder.
This is just the beginning for Velikinac Audio Lab, that’s all I will say. Ivan was very excited to share his future plans for the company, and let me tell you, he’s got quite some plans! The company is moving forward and it’s not slowing down, and I don’t see it doing so any time soon.
RAAL-requisite / SAEQ (Serbian Audio Equipment) / Solaja Audio
Head-Fiers, this one is for you!
I don’t know how to put this one into words. When I first started taking head-fi seriously, I spent a lot of time researching the market. I wanted to know what’s out there, what’s good, what’s not, etc.. RAAL was one of those companies that I learned was just on a different level. In the speakers world, they are often referred to as the manufacturer of the finest tweeters. In the headphones world, they are known as the manufacturer of the best headphones. While I cannot fully translate what RAAL represents for me, I can tell you that it was one hell of an experience to finally get to hear the SR1 headphones. All these years of expectations, and now finally got to hear them for myself, in person. I have to say, everything I read about them, every expectation I had, it was true. These are it.
Aside from listening to the almighty SR1, I also got to listen and see the new CA-1a headphones. The truth is that no online images do these headphones justice. The true glory of them is lost in translation… First of all, the material they are made of, polycarbonate… Wow! Just wow. It looks like something else, and the finish is quite appealing. In one word: unique.
There have been talks that Aleksandar Radisavljević (@Aleksandar R. founder and director of RAAL), better known as Aca, has been throwing… smashing would likely be a more appropriate word, a pair of CA-1a at the show. The headphones took no damage and functioned perfectly fine. so I guess their special feature is that they literally built like a tank.
I listened to both the CA-1a and the SR1b. Of course, I prefer the latter. However, both headphones have their characteristics, it’s a thing of preference and what you are looking for. CA-1a is a platform for modding, you can play around and truly tailor it to your needs, whereas SR1 is a finalized product that is not meant to be further fiddled with. As though the RAAL stand was in the open, it was not really a listening experience. There was a mass of people, all of them were talking, walking, or making some sort of noise. Even in such a noisy environment, I heard what I wanted to hear. Something I did not expect is the mid-range to be more forward on the SR1b. On the brighter side, RAAL has promised us to bring a booth to the next Hi-Files and allow people to listen to his creations in peace. I think that it's pretty insane that we now have a closed-back ribbon headphone, that's a major step forward in the use of this driver technology.
SAEQ (Serbian Audio Equipment), a company I wasn’t even know exists. For some reason, I failed to see “Created by SAEQ” on the front of HSA-1b and PDA-1a. I have no clue where my eyes have been for all these years. Dragan Domanović [Picture 3, right] is the man behind these amplifiers, and is also the man behind the company SAEQ. Ivan is the one who introduced me to him, and then I spent the majority of my time speaking with Dragan. He was very welcoming and patient with me. What can I say, a knowledgable person with decades of experience. What left me scratching my head is how there isn’t that much coverage directly on him. When you think of the magnitude of the success of RAAL’s SR1a and how it is almost always paired with the HSA-1b, it makes even less sense. Regardless, I got to listen to the SR1b and the CA-1a on SAEQ’s new Morpheus amplifier.
I missed out on the opportunity to both meet Dragan Šolaja (founder and director of @solajaaudio) [Picture 1, man standing on the far right] and to listen to his VM-1a amplifier. Just from the look of it, you can tell it’s a serious piece. From what I heard, his parallel tube design has been well-received.
Aca was cool and chill, as many have described him. He was sitting back, puffing on his vape, and doing the most talking. I only managed to steal a few minutes of his time, but I made each minute count. My impressions about him are that he is a very genuine and honest person. A genius above everything!
Auris Audio / EarMen
The lad in the black shirt was the highlight of the room. Led Zeppelin, if I recall correctly
After visiting Auris Audio’s HQ in Kruševac a few months ago, I couldn’t wait to meet with the Auris team again. In reality, it’s the EarMen team whom I met, but this time I also got the opportunity to meet Milomir Trošić, better known as Miki. He was a fast-paced ball jumping around in the room. Full of energy, enthusiasm, and passion. When he shared some near-future plans with me, I was quite shocked. Back at the HQ’s, some ideas were shared with me, but now Miki confirmed that this idea is seeing the light of day in just about 2 months. Mind you, this was a big one, so I have no clue what sort of magic they are using at Auris Audio, but it sure as hell is working.
I also spent a considerable amount of time there. The biggest treat for me was hearing the brand-new Auris Audio Nirvana-IV. I’ve seen this amplifier in person at the HQ’s, but it was still not ready to be listened to. I brought along my iBasso SR2 and a pair of Japanese headphones that I am yet to talk about. Hearing the amount of clarity in the upper end was a weight off my shoulders. I like clarity and energy in treble, I’m not particularly fond of warm sound. Aside from the great energy in the upper end, the mid-range was very neutral and reference-like. It’s safe to say that Nirvana-IV is my cup of tea!
Among other things, Auris Audio debuted its HA-2 SE+ headphone amplifier, Tahion loudspeakers, and featured its Bayadere 3 and Bayadere 5 turntables, the magnificent Hawk 24 Gold tonearm, and Hawk tonearm. EarMen also had had a revealed a secret, and that's the upcoming ST-Amp. This will be a mid-range amplifier, and it looks and feels quite robust. Think of it as TR-Amp on steroids, and minus the battery. EarMen also had Meze's Empyrean Elite and Dan Clark Audio's Ether 2 to be used with the Nirvana-IV and HA-2 SE+, and Meze's Liric was available to be listened to with the EarMen stack.
Head-Fi enthusiasts, I won’t spill the tea, but I strongly suggest that you keep your eyes on Auris.
My stay at the Hi-Files Show 2022 was an experience. Even though the primary focus was on loudspeakers, I got to finally meet my friend, talk to several important people in this industry, and have fun. I finally listened to RAAL's SR1 headphones!! I want to thank Ljuba Miodragović (founder and owner of Hi-Files) for kindly letting me through. He is the one who made all of this a reality, and he is keeping the Serbian audio scene alive. For that and for being a genuine guy, I am sincerely thankful.
I hope to come again next year, and that time I will aim to open a thread ahead of time... This Hi-Files show was packed, and I am looking forward to seeing even more people at the next one!
Ljuba (right)
Now it’s 2022, I’m a few years older, and tables have turned. I take more interest in headphones than in speakers. To be fair, I kind of gave up on my loudspeaker dream when I realized that I do not have conditions for such a setup. However, I have to say that I’m currently following the loudspeaker industry from afar. What’s most important is that Hi-Files Show is back after a 3 year break. Well, it’s not really a break, it’s more of a global ban for any sort of big meet-ups. The pandemic, as some of you may know it.
To be fully honest, I had no plans to attend. I thought to myself “ahh, speakers, speakers, speakers… not my thing”. After finding out that my friend Ivan was going to be an exhibitor there, I knew I had to go. It was a last-minute decision, to say the least.
The show took place on October 1st and 2nd, which fell on Saturday and Sunday. I attended on Sunday and arrived a little late. For your information, the show was open from 12:00 to 19:00. Even with 4 hours on my hands, I found myself to be short of time. Believe it or not, out of 18 exhibitors, I only had the time to spend with 3.
Velikinac Audio Lab
Finally meeting Ivan was a big relief. But it was an even bigger relief to see Ivan’s dream come to reality. I know how difficult the journey has been for him. He had a lot of pressure to live up to his father’s accomplishments and name. Not to go into any personal details, it took a lot of courage for him to revive and rebrand VS Audio. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the Velikinac Audio Lab room was one of the most packed rooms throughout the whole day. There was always a line of people waiting outside, while the room was always full. In fact, it was so busy for them that I kindly told Ivan that I would come back once things clear up and calm down… That didn’t happen. I visited the room several times, but no luck. Even with 50 minutes left until the show was over, their room was packed. I only had a chance to exchange some brief words, but there was something else that fulfilled me, and that’s seeing how happy both Ivan and Savo were to finally let people hear their creations. By no means am I someone who is used to loudspeakers. I have no clue how a good loudspeaker is supposed to sound, nor do I know how to critically listen to one. This said, I was just trying to process and take in what my ears were hearing. Even though the room was fairly small, the soundstage that their Fakir loudspeakers produced was greater in size than the room itself. Sound-wise, my favorite part were the highs and the treble of the Fakir. Crystal clear!
The room featured Velikinac Audio Lab’s new Fakir model, Margarita SE (featuring their own drivers) tower speakers, Tisa tower loudspeakers, a small loudspeaker model, Disc Demagnetizer, Vinyl Demagnetizer, and their hand-made speaker and interconnect cables. This is the loudspeaker setup that was featured.
Power Amplifier: Boulder 500AE
Preamp: Handcrafted Tube model
Streamer: Naim NDX
Hard Disk Player: Naim HDX
Tape Recorder: Rovox PR59
From what I’m hearing, people absolutely loved the tape recorder.
This is just the beginning for Velikinac Audio Lab, that’s all I will say. Ivan was very excited to share his future plans for the company, and let me tell you, he’s got quite some plans! The company is moving forward and it’s not slowing down, and I don’t see it doing so any time soon.
RAAL-requisite / SAEQ (Serbian Audio Equipment) / Solaja Audio
I don’t know how to put this one into words. When I first started taking head-fi seriously, I spent a lot of time researching the market. I wanted to know what’s out there, what’s good, what’s not, etc.. RAAL was one of those companies that I learned was just on a different level. In the speakers world, they are often referred to as the manufacturer of the finest tweeters. In the headphones world, they are known as the manufacturer of the best headphones. While I cannot fully translate what RAAL represents for me, I can tell you that it was one hell of an experience to finally get to hear the SR1 headphones. All these years of expectations, and now finally got to hear them for myself, in person. I have to say, everything I read about them, every expectation I had, it was true. These are it.
Aside from listening to the almighty SR1, I also got to listen and see the new CA-1a headphones. The truth is that no online images do these headphones justice. The true glory of them is lost in translation… First of all, the material they are made of, polycarbonate… Wow! Just wow. It looks like something else, and the finish is quite appealing. In one word: unique.
There have been talks that Aleksandar Radisavljević (@Aleksandar R. founder and director of RAAL), better known as Aca, has been throwing… smashing would likely be a more appropriate word, a pair of CA-1a at the show. The headphones took no damage and functioned perfectly fine. so I guess their special feature is that they literally built like a tank.
I listened to both the CA-1a and the SR1b. Of course, I prefer the latter. However, both headphones have their characteristics, it’s a thing of preference and what you are looking for. CA-1a is a platform for modding, you can play around and truly tailor it to your needs, whereas SR1 is a finalized product that is not meant to be further fiddled with. As though the RAAL stand was in the open, it was not really a listening experience. There was a mass of people, all of them were talking, walking, or making some sort of noise. Even in such a noisy environment, I heard what I wanted to hear. Something I did not expect is the mid-range to be more forward on the SR1b. On the brighter side, RAAL has promised us to bring a booth to the next Hi-Files and allow people to listen to his creations in peace. I think that it's pretty insane that we now have a closed-back ribbon headphone, that's a major step forward in the use of this driver technology.
SAEQ (Serbian Audio Equipment), a company I wasn’t even know exists. For some reason, I failed to see “Created by SAEQ” on the front of HSA-1b and PDA-1a. I have no clue where my eyes have been for all these years. Dragan Domanović [Picture 3, right] is the man behind these amplifiers, and is also the man behind the company SAEQ. Ivan is the one who introduced me to him, and then I spent the majority of my time speaking with Dragan. He was very welcoming and patient with me. What can I say, a knowledgable person with decades of experience. What left me scratching my head is how there isn’t that much coverage directly on him. When you think of the magnitude of the success of RAAL’s SR1a and how it is almost always paired with the HSA-1b, it makes even less sense. Regardless, I got to listen to the SR1b and the CA-1a on SAEQ’s new Morpheus amplifier.
I missed out on the opportunity to both meet Dragan Šolaja (founder and director of @solajaaudio) [Picture 1, man standing on the far right] and to listen to his VM-1a amplifier. Just from the look of it, you can tell it’s a serious piece. From what I heard, his parallel tube design has been well-received.
Aca was cool and chill, as many have described him. He was sitting back, puffing on his vape, and doing the most talking. I only managed to steal a few minutes of his time, but I made each minute count. My impressions about him are that he is a very genuine and honest person. A genius above everything!
Auris Audio / EarMen
The lad in the black shirt was the highlight of the room. Led Zeppelin, if I recall correctly
After visiting Auris Audio’s HQ in Kruševac a few months ago, I couldn’t wait to meet with the Auris team again. In reality, it’s the EarMen team whom I met, but this time I also got the opportunity to meet Milomir Trošić, better known as Miki. He was a fast-paced ball jumping around in the room. Full of energy, enthusiasm, and passion. When he shared some near-future plans with me, I was quite shocked. Back at the HQ’s, some ideas were shared with me, but now Miki confirmed that this idea is seeing the light of day in just about 2 months. Mind you, this was a big one, so I have no clue what sort of magic they are using at Auris Audio, but it sure as hell is working.
I also spent a considerable amount of time there. The biggest treat for me was hearing the brand-new Auris Audio Nirvana-IV. I’ve seen this amplifier in person at the HQ’s, but it was still not ready to be listened to. I brought along my iBasso SR2 and a pair of Japanese headphones that I am yet to talk about. Hearing the amount of clarity in the upper end was a weight off my shoulders. I like clarity and energy in treble, I’m not particularly fond of warm sound. Aside from the great energy in the upper end, the mid-range was very neutral and reference-like. It’s safe to say that Nirvana-IV is my cup of tea!
Among other things, Auris Audio debuted its HA-2 SE+ headphone amplifier, Tahion loudspeakers, and featured its Bayadere 3 and Bayadere 5 turntables, the magnificent Hawk 24 Gold tonearm, and Hawk tonearm. EarMen also had had a revealed a secret, and that's the upcoming ST-Amp. This will be a mid-range amplifier, and it looks and feels quite robust. Think of it as TR-Amp on steroids, and minus the battery. EarMen also had Meze's Empyrean Elite and Dan Clark Audio's Ether 2 to be used with the Nirvana-IV and HA-2 SE+, and Meze's Liric was available to be listened to with the EarMen stack.
Head-Fi enthusiasts, I won’t spill the tea, but I strongly suggest that you keep your eyes on Auris.
Closing thoughts
My stay at the Hi-Files Show 2022 was an experience. Even though the primary focus was on loudspeakers, I got to finally meet my friend, talk to several important people in this industry, and have fun. I finally listened to RAAL's SR1 headphones!! I want to thank Ljuba Miodragović (founder and owner of Hi-Files) for kindly letting me through. He is the one who made all of this a reality, and he is keeping the Serbian audio scene alive. For that and for being a genuine guy, I am sincerely thankful.
I hope to come again next year, and that time I will aim to open a thread ahead of time... This Hi-Files show was packed, and I am looking forward to seeing even more people at the next one!
Ljuba (right)
