Charles1dad, thanks for the support. Yes, that is me holding the microphone. This attendee sums the the event best. Check out his review of the Audio Exotics High End Show.
我是代我父的友人貼上以下文章：
I wish reviewers from the west would have come for the 2nd AE super show. The crew successfully set the international benchmark for public demonstration. I should say this is an attitude that simply does not exist elsewhere in the world. I have read so many positive reviews about the Vox Olympian speakers driven by a suite of Kondo flagship electronics in Munich 13/14. To be fair, I attended the Munich Show this year and had been to the room orchestrated by Kevin Scott of living voice. I spent 45 minutes there. The selected music for demonstrations was all well calculated. Tonality is beautiful and audiences were easily engaged by the music. To my picky ears, the system however lacks speed and transient resolution.
To be fair, the Cessaro performance in Munich 2014 driven by Trons cheaper line of electronics really sucked. There was no refinement. Resolution was vague. Details were rough. The speed might be there but sorry the roughness really hurt my brain. I had to leave after 15mins. I came back for the 2nd day, slightly better but the inferior quality of the electronics continued to prevail.
The AE guys are tremendously famous in the internet. Audiophiles from the west probably see them as a bunch of rich Chinese audiophiles who want to show off their expensive audio trophies. I felt the same beforehand until I attended the 2nd AE show. I was in awe. What I experienced last Sat in Hong Kong was simply Live music with a vanishingly low noise floor that allows the inner detail of music to bloom with genuine color. Those damn expensive ground filter boxes by Tripoint must be doing some serious works from behind. And one of the AE crews told me those SRA boards contributed no less than the ground/AC filters. Whoever you are, I cant verify your claim. I can only comment from a total experience point of view.
Dynamics are almost no different from live concerts. And I do mean it because I come from the music industry. The replay of Peter, Paul and Mary was astonishing because it was so freaking real as though the audiences were teleported in time to the venue where the concert was took place. The Spanish guitars duo was another show stoppers. That exhibition hall was at least over 120 square meters. Energy fills the entire room. Refinement and resolution of details are all there without highlighting themselves. I suspect some seats might probably have more bass volume than others. But that is natural. The only criticisms I can imagine would have come from those imaging freaks associated with conventional speakers. Those who sat in the first few rows may find imaging bigger than those at the back row. Try listen to Jacky Cheung live in the first few rows in the HK Coliseum, imaging is much bigger with excessive bass. I can see the Chinese audiences were truly engaged by the whole event. And the standard is much higher than western counterparts. I truly mean it is a few planets away than what I experienced in CES and Munich.
If guys like Srajan, Edward Baker or whoever thought the Vox Olympian driven by Kondo was spectacular in Munich, my honest words to them Sorry pals, you have never had any experiences of ultra fidelity yet. What they thought so great attained by the best in Munich is mid-end at best. And Ralph Krebs of Cessaro probably never knows what his speakers are really capable of if he keeps using Tron years after years for the Munich Show. The electronics by that skinny Robert guy and the white hair Yamada are way better than what was chosen for the Cessaro/TW acoustics room in Munich.
AE truly put forth a system that plays music as a wholesome experience. In comparison, the guys over Munich/CES shared a room purely to economize costs as the priority. Sound quality comes second without considering synergies. How do you explain Cessaro allowed cheap Tron electronics (mostly front end) to partner with the Lizst retail well over EUR120,000. To compare, the British chap is smarter. That was why he succeeded in winning compliments from audio journalists because he voices the big Vox with Kondo electronics. And that alone made him stand out as he had complete control on mating. And this room is indeed well ahead than those big German brands like Burmester and Avantgarde that sounds metallic and plastic respectively year after year. The standard of the Hi Fidelity industry is getting worst and worst with ever increasing price tag.
The whole execution of this show is one of a kind. It is unique and it is much higher class than anything out there. The boss seems like a man who excels in public speech. That probably deepened the color of the event. But I dont care who runs the boat from behind. It is the content that matters. I am not an AE customer and will unlikely be one anytime soon. But I have to say that the AE crew had achieved something genuinely splendid. I admire the spirit of challenging the status quo. I encourage journalists from the west to attend the 3rd AE show next year. There is so much more to learn and write from just one single company than the sum of many companies who simply wandered in the audio forest with inadequate planning. Audio designers who think you have done a great job in designing electronics should look for a manager who can put together a system that allows your designs to shine through. If not, it does more harm than good very much too often.
Audio Aristotle
