How to listen /audition at audio shows?
I was at one a few weeks back (nary a mask anywhere) and was again reminded of the importance of being organised. With so much going on, you really need to know beforehand how best to use your time. For the first hour or so, I was having trouble distinguishing large sonic differences between the various rooms. Nothing initially seemed to stand out in an easily identifiable bad way this year and that certainly has not been my experience previously at shows! I can’t also remember seeing so many folks using their phones as cameras this year. It can seem a little obtrusive but if done with some discretion it will help with preserving memories afterwards. It’s also best not to be too shy or reticent. Often the designers are there in person and most will appreciate a few choice questions. Most will also accommodate requests for tracks. Allan Hendry of Monopulse even handed out a couple of sheets with his favourite 100 tracks to select from! The main problem is just how fast time flies when you’re having such fun! Here’s a detailed write up by Ian Ringstead in HiFi Pig https://hifipig.com/uk-audio-show-2021-show-report/#more-141151 |
Obviously a lot of people swallow the idea it is all but impossible to audition anything at a show. Yet they all go to shows. Which they consider a complete waste of time. Crazier still, other people compliment them on their sage advice. Go figure. To understand just how goofy this is think about something completely different and yet entirely the same: the test drive. Imagine someone says a test drive is a complete waste of time. They insist you cannot know how the car will handle without driving it up and down your home drive way. There is nothing you can learn about how a car handles on the unfamiliar roads around the dealership. Probably you must take the car on the same test track, drive the same speed, on the same day with the same weather I suppose as well. When in reality we all know perfectly well exactly what will happen. You know very well how a car feels, how comfortable, quiet, how good the handling, no matter what road you drive it on. If you have any experience at all you are perfectly capable of understanding when you are on gravel vs concrete vs blacktop and all the different conditions of wear and smoothness of each of these- and how to factor this into the sounds and vibrations and everything else you are feeling while driving. How is this in any way different than being familiar with the way different rooms affect the sound? Can you not hear the people in the room talking? The clues are everywhere. Honestly, I know people love to repeat what they hear without really thinking things through, because that is, you know, work. But do the work. Don’t be the guy who repeats mindlessly what a waste of time it is- while out the other side of his mouth telling you how important it is that you do it anyway. |
