AVID HiFi Reference System at Studio AV Review

If you follow my social media channels and reviews then many of you will know how much I admire AVID HiFi and what they do with their incredible speakers and amplifiers, this year I have reviewed the stunning AVID HiFi EVO Fours and awarded them with The Speaker Shack Reference award as they are truly stunning in every way for the money and offer a quality for which I have not heard at that price level and the only other standmount speaker to offer this level of performance was at 3 times the price of the EVO Four's which is a testament to their quality and performance. This was not the only piece that I have managed to review as I also had their Accent Integrated amplifier in for review and this again proved to be one of the most competent and accomplished amplifiers I have reviewed and awarded it with an Editors choice award, power and performance is just stunning from this entry level component and puts many other high end Integrated amplifiers to shame, it excels with its sheer musicality and power delivery which belies its 70 watts of power output feeling and sounding a lot more powerful thanks to its high current output and brilliant design, it also offers one of the best phono stages I have heard from an Integrated design at this price level !

Fast forward to now and I was invited to the beautiful premises of Studio AV in Chobham Surrey where AVID HiFi have installed a spectacular full Reference system comprising of the AVID HiFi Reference Three Speakers, Reference Stereo Power Amplifier, Reference Preamplifier, Acutus turntable, Nexus tonearm and the beautiful Ruby Reference phono cartridge and dedicated Reference PSU and for the digital front end they had the beautiful dCS Bartok DAC / Streamer for high resolution audio.

I attended Studio AV and had the pleasure of meeting when there Conrad Mas the owner and person responsible for the brilliance behind AVID HiFi, Conrad is an extremely talented and passionate person when it comes to all things HiFi and engineering and makes some of the most highly regarded turntables in the industry with a huge following and fans of his work and it is clear by all the great responses on my social media channels how many people love what he does. I also met the owner of Studio AV Jim Punter who is an equally passionate audiophile who loves everything about music and high end HiFi and it shows in the stunning premises of Studio AV which is his home and is set in an idyllic location in Surrey with some stunning rooms full of speakers and all things HiFi but in the main demo room / lounge is the incredible AVID HiFi Reference system which takes centre stage and for good reason this is a truly exceptional system and manages to produce and replicate music to the highest of standards. 

I'll start off by saying that the build quality of this system is by far one of the best I have seen with all pieces fashioned out of solid aluminum, the Reference Three speakers are a work of art with such an intricate design and they look absolutely stunning on their dedicated stands which they are fixed to, these speakers are not for the faint hearted as they weigh in at an astonishing 100kg net and their shipping weight is a back breaking 150kg, solid is an understatement and every part of this speaker is built to perfection as the cabinets show in their design. In between the 2 speakers is a beast of an amplifier the Reference Stereo Power Amplifier again with a back breaking 81kg of weight and such a beautiful design and match the Reference Three speakers perfectly. The Reference Preamplifier focuses heavily on its analogue roots with a plethora of settings for every eventuality where vinyl is concerned with every setting you could possibly want to change and set, there is no remote for this beast as it is a purist design and built with one goal to be the best at what it does and Conrad is a perfectionist when it comes to building the best components and to meet his high level of standards, there is a dedicated Reference PSU to feed the preamplifier with a pure power supply.

For the digital front end Studio AV were using the stunning dCS Bartok DAC and this was the first time I have heard this unit in action, I have reviewed the dCS Debussy DAC and the stunning Rossini DAC and player with Master Clock and also heard the Vivaldi on many occasions but not the Bartok and it proved to be the perfect partner for high resolution audio playback. For vinyl the beautiful Acutus turntable was being used with the new Nexus tonearm and Ruby cartridge which is again a work of art in its design and how beautiful it looks !

This year so far I have heard many high end systems and some ultra high end systems too, some have been disappointing for the money and some have totally blown me away with the quality and level of sound quality that I have heard, this AVID HiFi system has left me in total awe at what this system is capable of with a sound which is truly reference in every sense of the word, it is completely effortless in its delivery with a musical experience that few systems could match at this price level or at any level to be honest.

We listened to a variety of material and music and they let me have free reign of the system allowing me to play any music and at any volume level I so desired there was no limits to what this system could achieve and it was my ears that was giving in and not the system as it played to levels which were totally unacceptable unless you live in a detached house but it was so much fun.

A couple of tracks that I heard recently at the Munich High End Show 2024 was from an artist Hedegaard and they sounded stunning in the Tannoy and Audiovector rooms but on this system they blew me away with the incredible bass that the Reference Three speakers managed to produce, the bass was deep and powerful energising the large room with ease with pulsating bass notes and dynamics which were astounding, starting and stopping with lightning fast transients but with amazing clarity to the music.

I listened to the brilliant cover by Stone Sour of the beautiful track Wicked Game which is a Live Acoustic version and the hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stood up as it was a mesmerising performance and it was as if the band were performing it in the room such was the immediacy to the music and the emotional experience allowing to truly feel the beautiful music being played in front of you, imaging was perfect with pinpoint accuracy of the artists playing, taking center stage.

Another track that I heard in Munich was by a band called 2 Feet with the track Love is a Bitch and it sounded utterly superb with stunning bass reproduction, having the AVID HiFi EVO Fours at home I have come to love what these speakers can do in the bass department with some of the best from any of the stand mount speakers I have listened to and reviewed in the past and puts many floorstanders to shame, the same can be said about the Reference Three speakers as these are a very large standmounts but produce prodigious amounts of bass from this type of speaker, the tech behind this and the TMT (Tuned Mass Technology) has a lot to do with how these speakers perform so well as it allows the drivers to perform flawlessly without any coloration from the cabinets at all, all the energy from the drivers is absorbed by this clever tech and keeps them free from any cabinet interaction which can plague other speakers, this tech was trickled down from the Reference series and clearly gives the results in the stunning sound that you hear, obviously this is just one part of the speakers design and with advanced driver tech and cabinet design it all adds together to make for what is the Reference series of speakers.

We listened to vinyl too and this proved yet again that this system is of the highest calibre and the analogue playback was simply sublime and what astounded me the most with vinyl was how good the soundstaging was with such a holographic image of the music being played and with incredible depth and width to the image and the soundstage which seemed to go well beyond the limits of the room, sitting quite a way back into the room music came way off to the sides of the stage and beyond which was incredible and left my jaw on the floor as I sat there with my eyes closed just grinning with pleasure.

A track that I heard at the Munich show was Fanfare for the Common Man now this played on the big YG Acoustics system with Boulder and it proved to be a stunning demo of how this system performed with the big Orchestral music with huge dynamics and bass from the big drums, I was not expecting it to be as good but it proved yet again that this is a top flight system and the bass and slam from the big drums could be felt through the sofas that we were sitting on and massaging our bodys with waves of bass notes coming from the Reference speakers I came away with jaw ache as I had been grinning with pleasure all day from this systems quality such was the performance, the power delivery from the big Reference stereo power amplifier was effortless and just seemed to be cruising and never felt as if it was breaking a sweat with so much power in reserve.

It's clear that this system is simply one of the best money can buy and I know for a fact that if my six lottery numbers do ever come in I will be installing this AVID HiFi Reference system into my home such is the quality and level of performance that this system can give you, it does not matter what music is played it plays all genres perfectly with startling clarity and you can feel the raw power in the room with this system it is completely effortless in its delivery and for the five hours that I listened to music never fatiguing just an extremely enjoyable and fun experience which is what music is all about and the pleasure that it brings and this system delivers it in spades.

If you are looking for the very best in high fidelity playback then I strongly urge that you book a demo with the guys at Studio AV to listen to this world class system as you will not regret it and I feel deeply honoured to be given such a wonderful experience like this with such an in-depth listen to what this system can do.

I would like to thank Conrad Mas who I believe is an utter genius for what he has created as he has makes so many beautiful components for us audiophiles to enjoy, I would also like to thank Jim Punter for allowing me to come along to his beautiful premises to hear this stunning system and to Matt who looked after me so well during my stay.

Make sure you check out all my social media channels where I have posted so much of my content for people to see and hear but to appreciate this system in full you really need to get down to Studio AV in Surrey which is where this stunning system resides and can be listened to by appointments only made with them.

AVID HiFi Reference Three Speakers price - £60,0000

AVID HiFi Reference Stereo Power Amplifier price - £70,000

AVID HiFi Reference Preamplifier price - £75,000

AVID HiFi Acutus Reference Turntable price - £37,500

AVID HiFi Ruby Cartridge price - £6,500

AVID HiFi Nexus Tonearm price - £4,500

dCS Bartok DAC price - £15,700

All cables used were from the Atlas cables range.

Web - AVID HiFi

Web - Studio AV