January 2020

Why I Love Our Loyal Readership
First and foremost, this entire site is for you! Let's work together....
Editorial By Steven R. Rochlin

  In a few months Enjoy the Music.com will officially be celebrating our 25th Anniversary (that's 25 consecutive years). For those who've read the About Us info, you'll notice below all the site facts n' stuff that not a single word has changed for decades. And so it began 25 years ago... and I quote, "Longtime classically-trained medal-earning musician and high fidelity audio enthusiast Steven R. Rochlin launched Enjoy the Music.com in 1995 as a way to easily answer the many questions he was receiving from others online. Since he grew tired of answering the same basic questions from various people during the very early days of the Internet, when at that time information was scarce, he felt having various common questions and answers on a website was the logical action."

Over the past few months there has personally been much soul-searching, with a deeper meaning to our site's fan mail we received each day. Then add in the discussions between you and I during the past year too. It could be at 5:30pm or 3:30am, as over the past decades many of you have become accustom to our 'late night chats' together. From newbies to well-seasoned music lovers, it is you who make me think, to stretch one's knowledge, and over the years continue to desire bringing you valuable information within our site. Without a doubt this is your site, and we're here to cater to your desires. If I may speak freely, we do our best to post some cool shit you'll probably love. And yes indeed as when I say "our site", this always includes you!

For no matter how much one tries to talk about this review, that show report, or whatever crazy idea like years ago when we offered a customized web browser with pre-loaded audiophile links during the early days because search engines sucked imho... to hauling 1200+ pounds (550+ kgs) of pro-TV studio stuff to live stream shows. While the Internet world has drastically changed since 1995, it is you that has remained the constant. It is our shared love of music, and in how to enjoy it to the fullest! That, my friends, is our hobby in a nutshell imho.

Like most people, the end of the year is a time to reflect on the past, while also planning for the future.

Music. That is a small five-letter word that encompasses ever so much within our lives. While we each have glorious high-fidelity audio systems, many of us strive / yearn for more.

But if you try some time, you find, you get what you need...

At this exact moment within my life, a song that is ever-so appropriate, it feels so... perfect! I'll play it again right now and listen instead of half-so while typing this editorial. How many times within your life have you heard just the right song, at just the right moment?

Gosh, it would be soooo perfect to just end this editorial right there. Kinda epic! Alas, like at 3:30am when we've chatted there's work to be done, words to type... and thankfully music to enjoy.

Time Marches On
With each passing year, like many industries, there are advancements. While many of us dreamed of Hi-Res Music streaming over the Internet in 1999, it is only in recent years that has become technologically viable on a mass scale. Like you, have read many recent articles by others about the move from physical media to streaming. Those of us who were musicians within recording studios many decades ago, we heard what could one day be possible within our home and on the go. You can add my vote to those who are not surprised that reel-to-reel playback is still here in 2020. Perhaps one day decades from now, like the Edison cylinder is today, MP3 will finally be dead and long gone.

Working Together To Benefit You
Over the years through today, Enjoy the Music.com continues to promote the high-end audio industry and our many partner magazines. From out-of-print vintage hi-fi publication to modern magazines showcasing the latest and greatest gear, we strive to promote the industry as a whole with those who have the courage and wisdom to realize that by working together we all benefit. Let us all support and give thanks to our partner publications including Australian Hi-Fi Magazine, Hi-Fi+, HIFICRITIC, HiFi Media, Hi-Fi World, NOVO High-End, STEREO Magazine, plus vintage publications Sound Practices and VALVE Magazine. We're also partners with websites Positive Feedback and Headphone.Guru... and looking to form more alliances to benefit you!

Our magazine partnership opportunity has been available for many years, and we're proud to have, in total, 11 magazines that have joined us in promoting our audio hobby. We look forward to having new magazines, both print and online, joining us during 2020. Our longstanding readership supports a wide variety of magazines, and you know which ones are seeking to move our industry forward by joining our efforts and those who want to go it alone to benefit only themselves. There have also been magazine acquisitions as well, with new owners of legendary publications. Recently, The Absolute Sound has brought great guy Lee Scoggins aboard to modernize their publication. The one constant in life is change. Am incredibly overjoyed at the progress high-end audio is making, and with Hi-Res Music now a reality it should be a seamless transition from lossy formats to true lossless high-fidelity.

Keeping A Focus On...
So what is Enjoy the Music.com's plans for 2020? First and foremost it is in bringing you more content you love. It could be manufacturer articles that educate, or focusing on new technology that moves our high-end audio industry forward, to.... Many of us early web magazines remember the days of dial-up Internet, yet even with that slow connection we grasped at the future right there in front of us. We endured much criticism, some of it earned, most of it due to (perhaps) the competition.

As an example, our recent 2019 partnership with STEREO Magazine from Germany has brought forth another sensational source of info. STEREO Magazine is free to download too! Am 100% sure that more audiophile magazines will be appearing online, including some going from print and web to free web-only model. As an added benefit, for those who truly care about the Earth's health, going web-only mean no more wasted paper products and deforestation. It also means you can read your fave publication via home computer, though odds are it will be on your tablet or cell phone. High-end audio publications have come a long way since digest-sized print magazines ruled our industry.

Thank You
Am overjoyed in all that Enjoy the Music.com has accomplished over the past 25 years (all 8000+ web pages!). None of this would be possible without your guidance and that of music lovers all around the globe. Please allow me to say that again, with more feeling this time:

None of this would be possible without your guidance and that of music lovers all around the globe.

We're keeping a focus on what you desire and hope to further expand on that during 2020 and beyond. Want to personally thank you for your e-mails, suggestions, and the many discussions with you over the past 25 years. You're our guiding light... and we're listening. High-end audio is pure luxury we all enjoy. And yes, the rumors are true as the Florida Audio Expo 2020 is my last official show report after attending ~200 events. Enjoy the Music.com has so many incredible photojournalists that it provides me time to focus on bringing you special events and additional content. It also lets you meet many of the reviewers on staff that you love to read. During 2020 Enjoy the Music.com will have more reviewers / writers / photojournalists at shows than we ever had. Frankly, having more great guys from our site at events worldwide should have been done many years ago, yet it is my problem of trying to micro-manage that stood in the way. Thus it is time for Yours Truly to hang back and let them enjoy shows, meet their fans, manufacturers / distributors, all the while giving you great details within their show reports.

Special Event
Those attending the Florida Audio Expo 2020 have a chance to attend a very special Friday night mechanical timepiece gathering in partnership with the world's leading luxury retailer (more on that soon!). Sure it may not be strictly audiophile, yet many of our high-end audio friends sure do love their timepieces. Consider this a heads up to keep your Friday night available, as an official press release is only a handful of days away.

Perhaps in the future it could be an event in Germany with a leading exotic car manufacturer. We want to bring you more events by thinking outside our 'audiophile box' of exclusivity. I know many of you have other hobbies and loves, and we want to expand the reach of our hobby to other like-minded joys in life. Our print ads within audiophile magazines over the years has brought more readers to our site, sure, yet we're seeking to greatly expand by reaching like-minded hobbyists in other endeavors.

Who knows, one day there might be a Formula 1 team sponsored by... or it could a football organization (that's European football, not American hand-egg).... Without a doubt it is time high-end audio reaches a wider audience! We're right now living in the most modern monetarily loose environment this side of the roaring 1920's. It is up to our industry to reach out to a broader audience, and we look forward to you joining us in helping make this a reality.

Each day billions of people enjoy music. It's time to branch out while global growth is peaking. If not you, then who? If not now, then when? What are you doing to broaden the reach of high-end audio to music lovers worldwide? We are very grateful to those who have joined our efforts over the past 25 years, as Enjoy the Music.com looks forward to the next 25.

As always, in the end what really matters is that you...

Enjoy the Music,

Steven R. Rochlin