|
|
|
|
January 2023
The Premium Audio Experience Is 'Fire' As We Enter 2023
More luxury events, more equipment, and most important more music lovers.
Editorial By Steven R. Rochlin
As
we wish the challenging past few years farewell, I predict 2023 is the year of
increased growth and maturity within the luxury audio sector. With more
manufacturers and new product launches than ever within the history of high-end
audio, this great expanse provides music lovers with an amazing array of choices
to satisfy their aural desires. During 2022, luxury hi-fi shows were in full
swing all around the world. Furthermore, the great strength of our industry
shines brightly as used gear prices have been on the increase too. Like luxury
cars, timepieces, etc, the proof is always showcased within the used marketplace
as new developments take the forefront in technical and artistic prowess.
We all know the past few years have brought many
challenges from supply chain and parts availability plus slow shipping and other
undesirable disruptions. Thankfully, as things are getting back to historic
norms, we now have new DAC chipsets, new parts availability, and yes indeed new
vacuum tubes are making their way into the hands of enthusiasts. From cool retro
vinyl LPs from upstart pressing plants to the latest in true lossless
Hi-Res Music streaming, there's no doubt we have more choices today to enjoy
music than ever in the history of humankind.
While decades ago Enjoy the Music.com's
industry news could post most new product announcements within our site's
Industry News page, today that is (literally) an impossible task! As our site
has expanded and matured over the past 28 years, we've also let our longstanding
business partners provide new product announcements while we concentrate on the
higher level of industry news. To further this initiative, Enjoy the
Music.com has recently launched our LinkedIn page
so our business partners and the industry have a single business location
for important announcements.
Our business partners should join us on LinkedIn.
As I said earlier, during 2022 luxury hi-fi shows
were in full swing all around the world. While a magazine can't report on every
event, during 2022 Enjoy the Music.com has reported on 11 luxury audio
shows and sponsored 6 of them (would have been more, yet a few shows were
canceled). The ebb and flow of manufacturers and distributors taking advantage
of our industry's luxury audio experience, attendees have enjoyed a front-row
seat to the many new developments now available.
I reinforced the global coverage of satellites
for internet access back in the 1990s with the announcement of Teledesic. Today,
thanks to Elon Musk's SpaceX, we now have a viable alternative to terrestrial
access to the web. We all know, at some point in human history, the internet
will flow freely as we now have water and the air we humans breathe. It will simply be a
given, not something we have to think about. Long ago we said good-by to 1200
baud dial-up access (DUN). Today we say hello global wireless high-speed
bandwidth that easily supports true lossless uncompressed hi-res music of
24-bit/88.2kHz and higher There is no longer a need for any compression,
folding, or other lossy schemes that may steal from the music of its
human essence (eliminating access to pure data in the name of lossy
compression schemes is akin to outright theft of your beloved music imho).
As many readers / friends know, for decades my
personal activity within various luxury goods sectors provides a broader
understanding. We want to not just meet, but to exceed the needs, desires, and
goals of music lovers. Products that showcase the technical prowess of our
industry are epic! From reasonably-priced gear to true luxury with no costs
constraints, we have more choices today than ever before! In addition, we also
have niche products that are visually fascinating eye candy. With each new
digital music streamer, turntable, preamplifier, amplifier, cable, tweak,
loudspeaker… the quality of playback is also enhanced to bring more joy to the
soulful experience music provides.
Personally, one of the factors I take note of is
the viability of pre-owned gear. In a sense, it proves the value premium audio
affords. Without a doubt, the used hi-fi audio marketplace has been on fire
during the past handful of years. Decades ago there may have been perhaps a
small sampling of legendary used products that gained attention. Today, we all
know that premium luxury high-end audio gear is equally as popular as the latest
bang-for-the-buck and cost-no-object audio gadget. Whatever the reason, there
are many excellent values to be found with pre-owned gear if one takes the time
and energy to seek them out.
What To Expect During 2023?
I expect 2023 to be a very positive turning point for our
sector of consumer electronics. Now that we as an industry have matured, plus we're
more well-known in general, there will be more shows to come see and hear our
gear. Growth is virtually assured. All of us within the industry enjoy seeing a
more youthful grouping of attendees too. With full respect to the original Old
Goats, plus early adopters such as myself, we're all elated to see the youth of
our society as a strong force in what products come to fruition. Vintage music
playback formats including reel-to-reel tape, vinyl LPs, etc are also as viable
in 2023 as they were 'back in the day'. We do indeed live in interesting
times.
For the newcomers, have a look around our website
and those of our business partners. Take time to read both new and old gear
reviews. Also give attention to editorials, as they showcase a moment in history
that has led us to today's developments. Please read the well over 250 show
reports contained on Enjoy the Music.com, as they are a glimpse into the past. We
look forward to representing the industry in the best possible light, and to
further promoting luxurious premium audio equipment.
Connections
Am sure most of you reading this know, I personally have a
unique perspective. My long chats / e-mails correspondence with many of our
longstanding loyal readers, manufacturers, distributors, magazine editors, show
promoters.... Usually I know of upcoming developments months before they are
made public. There are also the many phone calls as I do my best to be an honest
neutral arbitrator when there are internal industry debates. There are some situations that have been 'arbitrated'.
I already know of a
few very interesting developments that will be announced during 2023, and welcome you joining us and
benefiting from our shared efforts.
Gratitude
There's been a single word that has been echoing through
my mind as I look back at 2022. That word is Gratitude. My deepest heartfelt
thanks to everyone. Each e-mail, each new review, many show reports... we are
here for your benefit.
Twists And Turns
Even after the many twists and turns over the decades, the
many friends, frenemies, and sadly those who have openly worked against our site's
efforts... all of this and more has enabled Enjoy the Music.com to grow
and help music lovers globally.
To our supporters, I say a most humble thanks. We could not have done it without your kindness.
To our frenemies, we trusted you and you
betrayed that trust.
We learned and grew stronger.
And to those who openly worked against Enjoy the Music.com, doubted the internet (and this site) decades ago...
This year (2023) celebrates this site's 28 years of being of service to music lovers throughout the world. We have more premium audio show reports than any site online to date. Furthermore, Enjoy the Music.com sponsors more premium high-end audio events than anyone else, ever, within the history of the luxury premium audio consumer electronics industry. We're also very humbled to have the honor of being partners with more like-minded publications than anyone else has ever achieved. We do all this for you our readers.
Moving Forward
We continue to live up to our promise to you, as
we've never rented, lent, or sold our opt-in eNewsletter list (this link
for public and if you're a member of the industry join at this link). Please join our eNewslletter list to stay up-to-date with what's
happening. Furthermore, our business partners can find us on LinkedIn.
Please come and take part in the discussion on our Instagram and Facebook pages as we have fun questions, review highlights, and of course much more!
Zero Ego, Only Love
Rest assured there's zero ego here as we all love music
(there's no time for ego, am too busy helping others and coding). Please sit
back and take a moment to comprehend the efforts of hundreds within the industry
who have kindly given their time and efforts to bring you this website. With
well over 8000 web pages, 1000s of gear reviews, and 250+ show reports online,
there's surely something for everyone from the young to the young at heart.
Our single-minded goal, which has been true since day one of this website back in 1995, continues to be a way to easily answer the many questions you have about high-end audio. Our laser-focused goal is, as has always been and remains true to this day decades later. As always, in the end what really matters is that you...
Enjoy the Music,
Steven R. Rochlin
|
