“I hope you’re decompressing from AXPONA,” I recently wrote to a frazzled-looking friend I’d met at this greatest of North American hi-fi shows. Google’s spellcheck offered to change decompressing to decomposing. I declined, though it’s true that such expos can be grueling—just not grueling enough to stay away.
In these observations about high-end audio shows, fondness is foremost, but a few dark side notes will slip in.
1. Everybody There Is Crazy—In A Good Way.
In the real world, do people slap you on the back when they learn that you’re about to spend the equivalent of a Tesla on a hi-fi system? Unlikely. They may slap you across the face instead, trying to bring you back to your senses.
One of the rewards of being at audio shows is that you’re surrounded by like-minded people. (My wife calls them enablers.) The vibe is heightened, with a strong sense of camaraderie. That we all understand each other is rewarding, even intoxicating. I suppose this is no different from a furries convention, although audiophiles have better-sounding music and fewer fleas (footnote 1). Probably.
2. Hi-Fi Shows Are a Welcome Respite from Politics and Other Problems.
I’ve seen a grand total of one overtly political T-shirt at the audio shows I’ve attended. If I read the situation correctly, that gentleman wasn’t endearing himself even to visitors who agreed with his candidate of choice. When we have audio on the brain, politics are a no-no. For a few days, the most divisive topic we face is whether we really want to listen to “Hotel California” for the 3127th time. (Maybe we are all just prisoners here, of our own device.)
3. Discovering New Recordings Is The Sweetest Bonus Benefit.
Hi-fi systems need well-recorded music the way fire needs oxygen. As you emerge from one room and jump into another, then another, three things happen, music-wise. You repeatedly hear audiophile chestnuts you’re too familiar with. You remind yourself that this isn’t entirely bad: Knowing a recording like the back of your hand helps you assess the system in the room.
But the main musical benefit of audio shows is a bevy of unknown-to-you tracks that grab you and won’t let go. I’ve come home from every show with a list of more than a dozen gorgeous songs—let’s not call them test tracks—that I’d never heard before. I’m grateful.
(On the other hand, to be honest, I’m a little weirded out that entire genres are missing at most shows: bluegrass, reggae, ska, R&B, metal, rap, and classic country, to name a few.)
Sometimes you get to return the favor. As you respond to exhibitors’ invitations to suggest demo music you’d like to hear (long live Qobuz and Tidal!), you can share some of your own favorites with the people in the room. I’ve turned showgoers on to Paquito D’Rivera’s “Habanera,” Gordon Goodwin’s “The Incredibles,” Post Malone’s “Stay,” and more. That makes me happy enough that I don’t mind hearing Nils Lofgren’s “Keith Don’t Go” and London Grammar’s “Hey Now” half a dozen times in one day.
4. Endgame Gear Never Is.
“Did you hear anything you’d like to buy?,” a friend who’d stayed at home texted me during a show. I shook my head in disbelief. “Does the Tin Man have a sheet-metal c**k?” I texted back—a funny vulgarism from Trailer Park Boys, a show we both sometimes reference.
Whenever I hear or see fellow audiophiles declare that they’ve achieved an “endgame” setup, I’m happy for them, but I’d also put good money on their systems undergoing additional changes in the not-too-distant future. Most of us want better, even best; long-term satisfaction is elusive. Audio shows bring us face to face—ear to rig—with dozens of distinctive, superlative speakers and components. If coveting is a sin, every visitor to AXPONA and High End Munich is going to hell.
5. We Prize Realistic-Sounding Music, Not Realistic Prices.
This is a corollary to the previous point. If you don’t have oil-sheikh money, the prices of much showcase gear are prohibitive. True, at every audio expo, I’m struck by how much quality can be extracted from modestly priced setups. But state-of-the-art systems I covet and daydream about? Those often cost $100,000, $200,000, or even more.
It’s a hotly debated topic among audio writers as well as other showgoers: “Affordable gear is getting lost amongst all of the audio porn with six-figure price tags,” one colleague commented at a recent hi-fi show. Another believes that at shows, there’s “too much bling” and no focus at all on affordable systems that could grow the hi-fi hobby and make it a bigger tent.
I’ve sung that gospel myself on occasion. But I’m also with Stereophile writer Julie Mullins, who says she loves seeing and hearing “the widest variety of hi-fi gear anywhere, across all categories, especially the most unusual and exotic.” I hope we can at least agree that the pursuit of perfection isn’t gauche or foolish or disreputable. I find it thrilling that some audio designers and manufacturers aim for the most ambitious goals, damn the torpedoes (and our wallets).
And let’s not forget that it is, after all, a show. I’ve never been to a car show, but do you reckon that its attendees are turned off by too many Benzes, Bentleys, and Bugattis? Would they rather gawk at Ford Fiestas and Fiat 500s?
Not me.
Footnote 1: If you don’t know about furries, consider yourself lucky.
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