Even with foresighted planning of the awarding of prizes, some things can go wrong: For example, despite a firm commitment to attend our party in Warsaw, one of the participants was absent due to an upset stomach, which is why Wojciech Pacuła and I agreed not to publish any pictures of the award presentation at all. Fortunately, this time everything worked out.

The situation was quite different when the award winners were invited. Gerhard Hirt, the owner and head of Ayon, had decided not to attend the fair in Munich - but he will be there again in Warsaw. Since the winners of the Awards are selected however from the test of the last six months before the respective Hifi show, a shift of the delivery to end of October was impossible. The Ayon boss, who had a not inconsiderable share in the realization of the cooperation of High Fidelity.pl and hifistatement.net long years ago, decided however spontaneously to travel with his wife to Gröbenzell for the Saturday evening. For dCS the participation turned out more easily, since the Englishmen had come with a whole set of coworkers into the Bavarian capital, in order to play the own demonstration area, and the booth with the World OF Headphones and support some of their international distributors too.

But now to the excellent components: This year Wojciech Pacuła chose the dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC: “It offers a perfectly smooth, fluid and coherent sound. Its spaciousness, or rather the stereoscopic illusion of space, is of absolutely top quality. In timbre, it draws attention to the emphasis on the midrange. Not warmed up, mind you, but illuminated, which differs this source from most turntables. The bass is perfectly readable and well controlled. Its lowest range is smoother and a hair less energetic than with the other mentioned sources. However, this is part of the "package", in which we get the whole range properly balanced and well thought out, in which nothing is overemphasized or masked. Simply put, it is a top digital source, one of the best in the world.“

Hifistatement's choice for the Statement in High Fidelity | German Edition 2023 is the Ayon Crossfire Evo, that Carsten Bussler reviewed: “The Crossfire Evo is a tube integrated amplifier that is technically mature to the last detail and is one of the best units on the world market in terms of sound. Essentially, the key lies in the clever design of both the input and driver stages, consisting of a double triode and a composite tube, so that the AA62B power triode, made by a small, fine team of former Tesla employees, can show its 25 watts to full advantage. This tube, developed by Ayon itself, is based on the concept of a 300B and can deliver an almost brutal four amps of current! The Ayon excels in captivating electrical engineering as well as a very deep understanding of what really matters in tube amp design."

The previous Statements in High Fidelity:

2022 Polish Edition

Crystal Cable Da-Vinci-Serie
Raidho X1t

2022 GERMAN EDITION

Børresen 05 Silver Supreme Edition
Soulnote P-3 SE

2021 POLISH EDITION

Siltech Classic Legend Kabelserie
Thiele TA01

2021 GERMAN EDITION

Ferrum Hypsos
RCM Audio Big Phono

2020 POLISH EDITION

Ayon CD-35 II HF Edition
Transrotor TRA 9

2020 GERMAN EDITION

Gryphon ETHOS
Melco S100

2019 POLISH EDITION

Nordost QPOINT
Audioquest NIAGARA 1000, 5000, 7000, TORNADO, THUNDER, NRG-Z3