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Is this the end of HEA?

http://www.cepro.com/article/is_this_the_end_of_high_performance_audio_at_ces

This last year has made my ears perk up. Honestly I didn't even know the article above had been written until now. What I did know was listeners have been in touch with me about the future of HEA and their future as advanced listeners. It's been nice to see folks getting in touch with me and even nicer that they are doing so because they wish to settle into their final system sound. To say things in their words "it's been an expensive ride" and most of these folks aren't sure they've gotten a fair shake always from the hobby. Many feel they have bank rolled a part of a hobby that hasn't always delivered the goods. Basically instead of telling listeners that this is a variable hobby the "experts" pushed a very expensive game of component Plug & Play onto the discrete audio generation. I remember those days of guilt buying where a dollar amount was used as a representative for quality, when it meant no such thing. I knew first hand this was not the case as designers scrambled to make up-sell products that sounded less musical than the original products that put their name in audio fame. I also could see the HEA decline happening but still was giving the benefit of the doubt to those saying HEA was just fine and growing. Mom and pop stores for the most part have vanished in the US with the exception of a few creative thinkers. New expensive products are being adored but I don't see many actually buying them. Now I've got my eye on T.H.E. Show (Richard's show) and wondering if it's happening or not. Richard and I have talked many times about what will happen to HEA in the US if T.H.E. Show and CES cease doing their thing in Vegas. I wonder what Richard RIP is thinking now sitting in the clouds.

I am very excited to see the next few years come about even though I know some are still buying into the old paradigm that the HEA is the cutting edge with only a volume control to adjust and a fork lift included with every purchase. Going to the CES web, I have my answer for Vegas. Going to T.H.E. Show website I'm still in question. If these two are no more, in terms of HEA, who's next?

Michael Green

128x128michaelgreenaudio
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio OP
1,019 posts
 

Here’s an important post

"For most of my audiophile journey, the manufacturers and reviewers held the power, promising me euphoria, as I hung on their every word, and gazed at every ad. They were able to keep me in a state of constant yearning and ever-hopeful purchasing."

____________________________________________

The HEA revolving door was a plan to keep people buying, and we did. We kept buying till we got to the point where we became the masters of our own sound. From that point on our systems sounded better than reviewed systems and trade show setups.

Lets be honest HEA trade show setups sound pretty bad. There haven’t been many good sounding shows since the mid 1990’s. The HEA selling machine started to loose clients around that same time. I don’t see this as a bad thing but good thing, we matured as listeners. Reviewers and reviews are here to get us started. From that point forward your sound is up to you. The more advanced we get as listeners the more we move away from the starting gate and get onto the exploring of music.

Every week I have people coming to me because they are in the middle of their soundstage and want to take it further. They want or have moved beyond the sales pitch and have gotten serious about the hobby of Tuning in their music. How many of them read this forum? Probably a few, but mostly these are guys and gals who have entered a deeper exploration stage that goes past brands and on to a "Method of Listening" (Method of Tuning).

MG


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
glupson1,648 posts12-29-2018 11:23pmIn order to talk about HEA (High End Audio), we may need to establish some definition of it. It is inconvenient, if not impossible, so we conveniently do not mention it.

CES is Consumer Electronics Show. It is not, and was never meant to be, High End Audio Show.

>>>>Huh? Then how come I participated in a system at CES that was valued at $300,000 and won best of show? And what was that Cable Cooker doing in the room? And all those isolation stands? And how come I participated in the John Curl/Bob Crump Room when they were at the peak of High End Audio with their Blowtorch preamp and Bar B Q amp? I was with Mapleshade and Gallo, too. And with Golden Sound, with BWS preamp, five isolation systems, Ultra Tweeters, 8 ft tall Golden Sound speaker’s, Tweaks included Brilliant Pebbles, water bowls and photos in the freezers. Those systems are the very definition of High End Audio. Hel-loo!
jetter
3,035 posts
 
Geoff, are you making another "appeal to authority" by referring to all that high end gear to make your point????  Master, you have taught us well, we are ready to snatch the pebble from your hand, and leave the temple.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
No, jitter. It’s actually an Appeal to Reality. Knock, knock, Hel-loo!

Seasons greetings! 🎄
mitch2
4,027 posts
 
Here is the even more "important" part of the post below by @electroslacker
"One day I felt a switch from others telling me what would make me happy, to the power returning to me to use personal discernment in choosing what made me happy."
I too remember that day and yes, it was a good day.

Regarding the end of HEA....I would add, "as you knew it." Just because things change, such as the way we purchase stuff, attendance at trade shows, the demise of B&M stores, and the desire for endless tweaking and cable changes, doesn’t mean people don’t appreciate and enjoy good-sounding music in their homes. High end sound is becoming possible with simpler, less elaborate systems using efficient Class D amplification, DACs with high quality volume controls, streaming sources with no physical media, powered speakers (Kii Three), and generally less boxes and cables.
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