Hong Kong Audio Visual Show 2016 Report -- HKAVE 2016 Show Report By Cheung Roger

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Hong Kong Audio Visual Show 2016 Report
HKAVE 2016 Show Report By Cheung Roger

The annual audio festival, one of Asia's most representative high-end consumer electronics events organized by Hong Kong Audio Technique magazine, is the 2016 Hong Kong Audio Visual Expo / Show. It was held, as usual, within the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Wan Chai, Hong Kong) and spanned three floors totaling 80,000 square feet of display area. It has been 13 years since the very first Hong Kong AV show.

Laser-based (CD, DVD-Audio, etc) plus digital and vinyl records were being employed at a nearly 50:50 basis in most show rooms. There were a few reel-to-reel units as well! Exhibitors generally used a SACD / CD system together with a vinyl LPs to meet the different preferences, but I hear the same result as from the Munich show. To my ears the vinyl sounds better than CD / SACD, yet can’t help wondering what we actually did to improve laser sound during the past 30 years? In addition, PC and digital audio players also has an opportunity for a listen, with many manufacturers catering to the youth market. Alas, due to some uncertainty of the software, the sound results were varied.

Just as with the Munich HIGH END 2016 show, I saw many familiar foreign faces. As far as I remember: DICK DIAMOND from YG ACOUSTICS, IRV GROSS from CONSTELLATION, TIM DE PARAVICINI & OLIVA from EAR，VOLKNER BOHIMEIER from EINSTEIN, KEN ISHIWATA from MARANTZ, HIDEAKI NISHIKAWA from TECHDAS, MICHAEL SCHWAB from ZELLATON，CHARLES VAN OOSTERUM from KHARMA，FLORIAN COSSY from CH PRECISIO，RON CORNELIUS from MCINTOSH, BRUCE JACOBS from STILLPOINTS, BILL MCKIEGAN from DAN D’AGOSTINO, etc. Their presence shows great interests and confidence on the Chinese market.