TheFlash
Reiki Audio
Credit re: the video. That was an excellent and informative watch. Wish I could have been there in one sense but in another it absolutely confirmed stuff we’ve previously discussed about shows.
- bunch of overwhelmingly white middle aged blokes showing stuff to… white middle aged blokes. All that angst about the future of high end audio has clearly been overplayed .
- the headphone section where there was a significant drop off in numbers because the younger demographic who actually do have an interest weren’t in attendance.
- the utter idiocy of using display banners behind speakers and systems both from a sound perspective and the rather basic perspective of wanting to read the damn things.
- the number of display banners which were in fact unreadable regardless because some design genius thought a tiny scripted font and lots of words was a great idea. Hardly reassures in terms of the design/marketing credential for certain products and definitely misunderstands that your audience is white middle aged blokes with ageing eyesight.
- the number of rooms wanting to make a song and dance about source, amplification, DACs, speakers, stands and cables instead of simplifying the system and saying “this is the product we think you should look at/listen to”. It’s just so basic. In the end you leave with a false impression because you don’t know why something is good or terrible or indifferent.
- old complaint but, goodness, the music is awful.
- the same fat bloke stood in multiple doorways blocking egress. Bravo. You are the show cliche to end all sh-w cliches.
- the lighting within rooms. Apparently “harsh” is the only achievable outcome. If I lit my system like that I’d be blind within the week.
And apart from that, you would have had a great day!
Seriously, being there in person and being able to move from room to room depending on mood, music, temperature, hunger, thirst and whether you can sit down is a completely different experience from watching one guy's journey through the rooms, not to mention being able to actually hear how each room actually sounded to the actual listener. You talk about "leaving with a false impression" which is of course a risk but to leave with any real impression at all you actually need to be there. Listening to something recorded on someone else's microphone and played back on your own 'phones or speakers gives at least two stages of reproduction at which so much can be lost. It was a great day.