July 2015

Show Wrap-Ups, Hi-Res Audio And Our Celebration
Plus Enjoy the Music.com's 20th anniversary celebration.
Article By Steven R. Rochlin

  There is no doubt high-end audio in on the move! Onward and upward as there have been more new product launches, further expansion into portable audio and many ground-breaking new products. For those naysayers who shout upon high that high-end audio is dying, well, they must not be paying attention. Even ye ol’ vinyl LP spinner and record storage solutions are finding new ways into more places including crowd-funding. Lastly, next month Enjoy the Music.com will be celebrating our 20th year anniversary.

AXPONA in Chicago, HIGH END in Munich and of course T.H.E. Show Newport are but a few of the many shows Enjoy the Music.com plans to report on during 2015. The Capitol Audiofest, California Audio Show and of course Rocky Mountain Audio Fest will be joining another show or two we’ll cover this year. We also visited many excellent high-end audio systems in Kuala Lumpur (KL) earlier this year. Worldwide, there are more events to attend than I can ever recall in my many decades within this glorious industry. Asia, which is why I mentioned KL, is a hotbed for our industry as their economy is heating up. In addition, more women are finding their way into our male-dominated industry.

There are so many new products being released that, as much as I try, it is impossible to keep up with it all! Every magazine, both print and online, could get an exclusive each month during an entire year and that would barely scratch the surface of all the promising products making their way into the marketplace. As always, the sound quality delivered by the very best equipment is improving and attractively-priced gear is getting better with each passing day too. You can buy a great sounding system for under a few thousand dollars, which might have cost you multiples more only a decades ago to achieve the same results. Vinyl replay and storage are also making their appearance on crowdfunding! Vinyl is cool again. Wait, did vinyl ever become uncool? I think not, as vinyl is to cool as 007 is to an action-packed movie.

Hi-Res Audio is making great strides forward in many ways. Sure we have more music becoming available from both new and legendary musical artists. The DEG, RIAA and Grammy folks are also making sensational strides forward in ensuring the quality of the mixing, mastering and delivery are top notch. The complexity of META data and said recording’s provenance are also some of the keys in unlocking the magic we so love about music discovery. Online streaming music services are also delivering higher quality music as we demand lossless sound quality. And it gets better! The music industry has just announced a new logo, so when you’re shopping for music you know if the digital audio recording is Hi-Res MUSIC or standard definition. These are great times to be a music lover!

Our August edition will highlight Enjoy the Music.com’s 20th anniversary. We have some exciting plans to bring you during our 20th anniversary. Not just for the month of August mind you, yet for each and every issue we release until at least the end of 2015. If you are a manufacturer or distributor we will also provide a free way for you to celebrate with us, so be sure to join our industry eNewsletter. Of course we also have a free eNewsletter for our readers, so don’t miss out and be part of the fun by joining us. As always, in the end what really matters is that you...

Enjoy the Music,

Steven R. Rochlin