Audio shows

[petrat]

Here's what doctorjohn wrote about the Hong Kong hifi show on his excellent blog ( http://cheaptubeaudio.blogspot.co.uk/ ) ...



Hong Kong High End Audio visual Show 2015 Part II

Although it is a reflection of my own station in life, my continuing declining interest in audio shows is a sad commentary on state of the industry.

When things are priced so unrealistically, they invite ridicule when they perform less than satisfactorily, which is more often than not. Below are some general thoughts.

Worst Sound of Show

This dubious honor goes to Luxman electronics driving YG loudspeaker. For years on end, Luxman has been lousy, driving whatever loudspeakers, so I'll acquit YG here. Shocking to me was the completely unrecognizable voice of the Cantonese opera singer 任劍煇.

Trends

"Lifestyle" products, which include earphones and headphone amps, continue to proliferate. I don't investigate these, as they are not*my*preferred lifestyle.

LP is*king.*No true hi-end showing will do without a turntable, even as display. In the 80's people said LP is dead, but many things have come and go and the LP is still around. Even old LPs in lousy condition, especially worthless later "mono" LPs, fetch good prices at the show.

CD is not dead (and I don't think it ever will be), but the same catalogue is being milked again and again and new gimmicks are everywhere. After K2, XR etc, there have been various "_Q" CD's. I believe the terrible CD played at Luxman was an "Ultimate" HQ CD sampler. Priced at over HKD200 (more overseas), it is a farce. Avoid it like the plague.CAS/Hi-Res is not doing as well as you think. Although ubiquitous, it is no longer fresh and I fail to see emphasis in this area. Also see below.

What I missed

Meridian MQA. If it is what it is said to be, I believe all other audio file formats and hardware shall perish. I'll love to see it succeed and all the CAS idiots do their CAS all over again!

Analog Tape. This niche market is not covered.

Basically, there is nothing much to write about.


Pretty much sums up why, after years of attending, I have given up on going to trade shows ...

[Reffc]

Some interesting observations, some of which I empathise with.

There is a trend, as is the way of progress, to lifestyle products (Devaliet anyone?), technology for technology's sake and an ever increasing number of players chasing fewer punters, so the mass market has become the new target for greater sales and turnover, not cardigan wearing pipe smoking enthusiasts (ok, a stereotype but point made). The extreme end has proliferated for years with ever more unaffordable high priced lifestyle hifi aimed exclusively at the rich where brand strength and quality of finish./aesthetics buys profits big time.

For the rest of us caught between these extremes, it is true that very little has actually moved on and in some respects things have actually got worse in some areas.

The Hifi show is less about what's good and great in the world of the average punter and more by way of entertainment and gossip.

There have been a large number of enthusiasts embracing file storage and streaming more for convenience than for any genuine claim of better fidelity but that bubble is bursting now with the emphasis more on the services and quality of services provided, so more about software and flexibility than hardware.

Hi-Res has been shown to offer little if any REAL advantages for true leaps in high fidelity and indeed, the humble CD can and does hold its own when decent recordings are to be found, so all this begs the question "where is all the hifi going"? The hifi enthusiast scene, as was, has for many years being going out of mainstream or "going underground" to coin a hackneyed phrase and I believe will continue to do so. This is actually good news for the more artisan companies such as my own but I shall continue to enjoy the hifi show, come what may, as a way of meeting people, listening to what's new in spite of little really seeming to move things on if only just to confirm that.