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Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 20 February 2022

It’s easy to fall in love at an audio show.

It’s easy to fall out of love at an audio show.

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 19 February 2022

Depending on whom you ask, there is uncertainty in the audio show business. Some forecast gloom and doom, suggesting that the show model has run its course, and that the COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened its irrelevance. Others (extroverts, I’m sure) have been dying to corner press contacts in person for the first time in two years in the show’s hallways—or over coffee at the restaurant’s breakfast bar or over drinks after hours—exuberant to share in the spectacle of the hotel audio experience.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 19 February 2022

The speed with which my first round of coverage showed up online was because the manufacturers whose products it featured sent out detailed preshow press releases about what they’d be displaying at Florida Audio Expo 2022. Having that information ahead of time let me know that those products would be there and provided details that I didn’t have to waste time getting in the display rooms. Instead, I went straight for the rooms the products were in, photographed them, got out, wrote them all up, and then uploaded the completed coverage online. I am bringing this up as a less-than-subtle hint for those manufacturers still wondering about the best way to get covered in a show report quickly.

Details: Written by: Jason Davis; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 18 February 2022

The third annual Florida Audio Expo (FAE) kicked off on Friday, February 18, around the time that the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic began to decline nationally. After an underwhelming CES, the question on everyone’s mind was whether manufacturers, dealers, and showgoers would actually show up.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2022; Created: 18 February 2022

It’s fitting that Florida Audio Expo 2022 is the first hi-fi show I’ve attended since the COVID-19 pandemic began. That’s because the last show I attended prior to the pandemic shutting everything down was Florida Audio Expo 2020. It was held then at the same site of its inaugural year, 2019: the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore, located in Tampa, Florida. And it’s back there again this year. It’s a great place to hold a hi-fi show—if only to get so many of us out of the snow for a few days.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2022; Created: 07 January 2022

Here’s my second batch of new audio products I saw as one of the handful of press attendees at the 2022 CES in Las Vegas this week. Why so few? Because I found only three major audio companies at CES. In fact, although I expected to see lots of headphone and Bluetooth speaker brands, they bailed, too—the biggest one I saw was Raycon, best known for heavily advertised and relatively cheap true wireless earbuds.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2022; Created: 07 January 2022

Against all odds, the 2022 CES took place this week in Las Vegas, even though many major tech manufacturers had pulled out and most press outlets canceled their plans to attend. So why did I go? Partly out of sheer inertia—I haven’t missed a CES since I first visited the show in 1990. Partly out of convenience—I was driving back to Los Angeles after visiting my family in Texas, and Las Vegas wasn’t far out of the way. And partly out of curiosity—I can remember when CES didn’t take over all of Las Vegas, when you could get a good lunch buffet at the Sahara for $6, and when the press events actually focused on new products rather than creating spectacle for the TV cameras. I hoped that the 2022 show would recall those simpler times of my youth. Rosebud . . .

Details: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Category: Toronto Audiofest 2021; Created: 25 October 2021

On September 27, an unexpected email appeared in my inbox. “Hey, Toronto, your Audiofest is back!” the message proclaimed. “After a two-year absence, the Toronto Audiofest is happy to return October 22–24, 2021, as the ‘SafeMode’ Toronto Audiofest.” I registered immediately.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2021; Created: 26 September 2021

Here’s the second half of my coverage of the CanJam SoCal 2021 headphone show, which took place September 25 and 26 at the Irvine Marriott hotel in Irvine, California. I was surprised to see so much innovation at this show—not just new headphone and earphone models but also new technologies I’d never seen before. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been too surprised, because what else were audio product designers going to do when they were shut inside for months?

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CanJam SoCal 2021; Created: 26 September 2021

Audio shows are understandably but sadly rare in the COVID-19 era, but happily, the relatively small (and manageable) CanJam SoCal headphone show was able to take place, at the Irvine Marriott in Irvine, California, just south of Los Angeles. All show attendees were required to be vaccinated (on the honor system) and wear masks, and we could take some comfort in the fact that California currently has the lowest rate of COVID-19 transmission in the US. Most exhibitors were careful to clean the headphones and earphones with sterile wipes after every use, and hand sanitizer was readily available.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 09 February 2020

I’m not the kind of audiophile who tweaks my system endlessly -- I usually set up my components and speakers well and pretty much forget them unless something really intriguing comes along. Still, I like regularly looking at audiophile accessories, power products, and stands, if for no other reason than to see what’s out there and what could pique my interest. At Florida Audio Expo 2020 I found several things worth writing about, which I’ve detailed below. All prices are in US dollars.

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 09 February 2020

Is there any product genre that has more diverse offerings than loudspeakers? Florida Audio Expo 2020 saw a dizzying array of models of all configurations, sizes, and shapes -- and at all price points. And as you’ll see in the first entry in this installment of our coverage, you can even get them in all stages of manufacture. (All prices are in US dollars.)

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 09 February 2020

There were a few new products at FAE 2020, and some that weren’t brand new but that were playing at a show for the first time. Trends? Integration is still a thing. We saw lots of products that combine functions that are typically handled by standalone components in separates-based systems. What has always occurred to me is that some functions should be combined -- for convenience, yes, but perhaps also for performance. As a prime example . . .

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 08 February 2020

I know the spiel about sound at shows. I’ve written about it, edited commentary on it from our writers, and read about it in other publications over many years. Blah blah blah. OK, so perhaps the one qualification I’ll make in my assessment is that these systems won’t sound like what I heard at FAE 2020 if these mega-systems were set up in your carefully constructed custom listening room. But then you already knew that.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 08 February 2020

The vinyl revival is real and big, so turntable sales are brisk -- but at every hi-fi show, it’s uncertain how many new turntables and related products you’ll see, and in what price ranges. I don’t know why that is -- it just happens that way. At the Florida Audio Expo 2020, however, I wasn’t expecting the diversity of vinyl-related products, as you’ll see in the coverage below. Call it a pleasant surprise. All prices are in US dollars.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 08 February 2020

Based on my Florida Audio Expo 2019 experience, I originally thought we’d end up with two features on loudspeakers. After finishing walking the floors, I think we’ll get three or more features. There are far more products being shown at FAE 2020 than there were at FAE 2019, which is why I’m glad I’m not the only one here covering it. Below are more new and/or interesting loudspeakers I found, with all prices in US dollars.

Details: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 07 February 2020

There were new models of electronics at this year’s edition of the Florida Audio Expo, at all different price points and with vastly different form factors and functions. Here is a selection of the most interesting pieces that I saw. All prices are in US dollars.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2020; Created: 07 February 2020

Florida’s fabulous wintertime weather was the excuse most of us used last year to justify visiting the first-ever Florida Audio Expo. No one knew what the show would be like, but we all had an inkling that the weather would be much nicer in Tampa in February than where we were coming from. So if the show didn’t pan out, which is a real possibility for any new show, it would still be a nice weekend away. Little did we know that the first Florida Audio Expo would turn out as well as it did.

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Tokyo International Audio Show 2019; Created: 25 November 2019

Vivid Audio has a new loudspeaker coming -- the S12. It’s part of the Kaya range, and it’s the brand’s smallest and most affordable loudspeaker yet. I covered the S12 when Vivid presented it at the recent Audio Video Show in Warsaw, Poland, and it was shown again at the Tokyo International Audio Show (TIAS).

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Tokyo International Audio Show 2019; Created: 24 November 2019

In my report on speakers, I mentioned that new hi-fi electronics are much easier to find at TIAS than speakers are. That’s why, for this Tokyo International Audio Show (TIAS) 2019 coverage, I wound up with one article on speakers and, with this final installment, three on electronics. Below you’ll find more electronic components that I found at TIAS 2019, with all but one from Japan-based brands. All the prices are in Japanese yen (¥). Right now, one US dollar is equivalent to 108.62 yen.