This is is my first post on this forum. I’m just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. I got my first stereo at 13, which was an aspiration for kids my age. I am a consumer researcher by profession helping companies to understand and improve their customer journeys (their experiences with products and services from awareness through purchase and use). High end audio has to be one of the most confusing and overwhelming categories I’ve ever encountered. It puts other notorious consumer categories to shame in terms of the difficulty of making a confident choice of gear. And, the prices have skyrocketed since I bought my last system 20 years ago. It’s no wonder the “hobby” is not expanding its audience beyond the already initiated. The brands need to seriously re-think the way they engage and support potential customers across the journey. To me the current model is not working.
New York HiFi Show: Tubes and Turntables
I was at the New York HiFi Show today. It was hard to find many CD players, despite one with a price tag $40,000. Virtually every room featured turntables and tubes. Sonically, it was a definite improvement over shows in the past. Not too much sizzle and boom, although a lot of systems demonstrated big bass. Natural sounding components were the rule.
There were hardly any systems affordable by the average audiophile. $100,000 rigs were not unusual. It seems demonstrators were prone to showing their best.
With all the myriad of exotic stuff, I’m sorry I can’t remember too many names, but the re-introduction of sophisticated treble and bass controls and room-conditioning processors were impressive.
Of course, streaming was featured in many displays.
It wasn’t a large show, so it was comfortably do-able in one day.
There were hardly any systems affordable by the average audiophile. $100,000 rigs were not unusual. It seems demonstrators were prone to showing their best.
With all the myriad of exotic stuff, I’m sorry I can’t remember too many names, but the re-introduction of sophisticated treble and bass controls and room-conditioning processors were impressive.
Of course, streaming was featured in many displays.
It wasn’t a large show, so it was comfortably do-able in one day.
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- 44 posts total
- 44 posts total