The Dublin Audio Show - November 16/17 2019

[Rayfi]

It was ok first show I was ever at might go again to a show but hard to tell much about the gear in those rooms. Lots of it was mad prices so totally unobtainium but the guy from Cloney Audio was friendly so I think I would just go there to listen to gear rather than a show again. Nice to see it but guy from Linn with audiofoolery like this system is 16k but can you hear the difference with this one at 40k hard to see how he can keep a straight face. The Esoteric CD player looked nice but overengineered tank like ,god knows the price. Unless you have a treated large space most of those huge loud systems they offered are total overkill.

[cybot]

....and the best report of the show goes to Ivor.

If you're not one for detail.

Modest as ever 🤓

[Rocker]

One of the demos at the show was a fairly ordinary tune but at one stage a very low unmusical bass kicked in. Much lower in frequency than even the low B of a 5 string bass, it added nothing to the overall tune except show that the speakers could reproduce such notes and still work as speakers!

Anyone remember that track and, for a bonus point, please give me the name of the track and any other details that may be relevant. I don't want to buy it or anything like that, simply to read up on it. Thanks.

[Georgi]

'Why so serious?' - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard.
The Dark Knight /Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/.

I did played at home on my speakers, got same results. Surprised, I'm not. ;)

[Rocker]

Ah I see it all now. I use my hi-fi system to play music. Others use their systems for AV and music so the ultra low frequency sounds are needed for AV. Begs the question though: what is the sub woofer doing if the main speakers are doing all the work?

[tony]

I get Ivor's walking in and walking straight back out. Have to admit I did that in a few rooms.
Assume the marketing people have an input into what excites most potential punters. Maybe it is like a car show. Nice that BMW or Mercedes have this mad bling car for €200k on display. It makes one feel good when you buy your A Class or 20yr old E200 for some folk!

[Kevin1]

yes I agree completely. Much more meaningful for most attendees would have been if a dealer had offered a few rooms with perhaps (and clearly marked), in one a 1000 euro system, in another a 3000 euro system, in another maybe a 10,000 euro system, finally a price-no-object system. Then the unitiated could truly get a sense of what you are paying for as you go up the grades in HIFI. Instead they demonstrated mainly leviathan amplifers from niche manufacturers which hardly anyone in Ireland is ever going to buy, and ultra large speakers that few Irish homes can accommodate (they are designed in the main for the american suburban basement concrete-floored 'den').

[Diapason]

One thing that has become increasingly clear as I get older is that my "taste" in hifi has changed.

Actually, strike that!

My taste in hifi probably hasn't changed at all, but the compromises I'm willing to put up with in real-world systems have changed a lot over the years. Ultimately, I'm still ideally looking for listen-through midrange, liquid and unfatiguing treble, unconstrained bass, unlimited headroom, explosive dynamics and you-are-there imaging. The problem is, you pretty much can't have this at prices I can afford and, even more to the point, in a room that I can find in a "normal" house in Dublin.

So I spent the show thinking that what I'm looking for now is quite different to what I was looking for 15 or 20 or 25 years ago when I first started going to these things. Back then, I wanted "raw" performance and would put up with a certain amount of razor treble or uncontrolled bass if it gave me a bigger picture and let me hear more than I could hear on the systems I was stepping up from. These days, enjoyability is my first port of call, and if something in the sound pushes me away, I'm not interested. Of course, as you go up the price bracket the ear gets more demanding and actually the "hifi" stuff goes out the window and is replaced with "does this believably sound like real people playing real instruments in front of me". At shows, that latter test is virtually impossible to achieve. Conditions are never right, the music selections never allow me to answer that question anyway, the mood is never right, etc. etc. Interestingly enough, I've heard some of the show gear in Cloney's front room where it managed to convey this feeling, to make it easier to believe you weren't listening to a recording. However, it always seems to involve a certain amount of synergy, proper partnership if you like, it rarely happens even when "good" components are thrown together. I wondered at some of the combos at the show: is this amp REALLY the right choice with these speakers? is this system really showing off the source to good effect? that kind of thing. This is the problem with shows, you never really know the answer. On balance, I think it's a triumph if anything sounds genuinely good, and I heard some genuinely good sounds on Saturday. I certainly wouldn't cross any one component off on the basis of a show, but there are some combos I wouldn't necessarily seek out for further investigation!

Anyway, hopefully it's not coming across like it was unsuccessful, I actually really enjoyed it. In fact, I think Munich might have to feature in 2020.

[Kevin1]

Yes very worthwhile. Keeps the fire alive. Hope they do it next year!