Gadgetory

what we're trying to do with the headphone IAM is last year at the show newport there were headphone companies here but they were all spread out so you really didn't know where they were and a lot of people got missed and when Richard beers who owns the show approached me and said he wanted to do a dedicated headphone show we had a little bit of real estate to deal with but the idea was to get the best of the best and not only that the best of the best but the people that I know are just wonderful people the community of personal audio had five org my friends at odyssey my friends at alo you know these guys really represent the bleeding edge because they truly love what they do they're doing the kinds of outreach that I've been writing about editorially these guys just got written up in men's home journal Playboy magazine called The Odyssey lcd3 the best headphone they have ever auditioned I think they called it the Ferrari of headphones is that right yeah and so to get all the best of the best and the people that would show attendees that this is a community ha be driven thing and what the high-end audio has lost is that aspect of it you know hobby became the small niche which became elitist and it's separated itself completely from pop culture and the amazing thing about headphones is every company in this room can relate to just about everybody on the street because all they have to do is say you got an iphone you got nandroid you got an ipod whatever you've got they can enhance that experience because we have millions of users out in the world currently using earbuds beats by dre or whatever it is they're using and they have no idea that you can get better and that you don't have to spend an arm and a leg and honestly the part that excites me most about this and writing reviews of high flight components for yours as you can imagine you know I've heard my fair share stuff right now I only want to review personal audio stuff because it's exciting and because I know that for the first time we can reach we can infiltrate pop culture and we can show the populace that they don't have to settle for convenience anymore and so the idea here is just to give a good smattering to people of what the other levels are you know they don't have to set up for the earbud they don't have to settle just for an iphone you know they could put an iDevice DAC on at a headphone amp sleep devices so it's communal driven this is a high-end audio show it always has been so you know you can but you can hear you can find a hundred-thousand-dollar turntable or you can find a two-thousand-dollar or 200 but that's been the focus of this show is strictly high-end to channel this year they have a theater but it's really about the high-end audio world these vendors get to have those people come in and hear what they've been hearing in room but they get to hear it here like you put on a pair of odyssey LCD threes and in my opinion you have to spend at least 20 grand in stereo equipment to get the type of realism you know the sense of air and space around you I mean when I put on my LCD 3s and I have a stellar stereo it used to be I'd be listening in my reference system and go oh this is great now when I hear something in my reference system I go I got to hear these on my Odysseys and that's so that reaction that I now get from it that's what these vendors get to show to people they get to excite people that way you know we've got alo has their new statements to do six again you know I've mentioned the Odyssey LCD 3 sentence right over here is introducing a outstanding I device DAC and headphone amp it's got fully balanced outputs it's really cutting edge so what the attendees get to see is brand-new stuff and it's all big boy toys so we get to play with toys and the thing that's different too I want to state about a personal audio event is if you walk into a high-end audio room odds are you're not going to be playing what you want they're going to have a set you know playlist and they've been playing the same music for years an impersonal audio I can't tell you as a music journalist and an audio journalist I've learned about more new music from member head Phi I've also learned more about personality off remembers on head Phi this community is community driven so they also newcomers get to get a piece of that they get to feel what what that's about and that's what the high end is lost in my opinion is that communal vibe so that's really what they get out of it that's what that's what I hope they'll get out of it that's really what I hope they get out of it my favorite part of the show is right here and because right here is where the innovation is happening right here is where the youth are and right here is actually whether people believe it or not the people coming here and getting excited about enhancing the experience of whether it's an ipod or an iPhone or a laptop those people may or may not grow into you know high-end stereo now they may stay with headphones and that's awesome but the truth is high-end audio doesn't recognize that the people here this community they're educated because they educate themselves they support each other and it's very unlike some of the politicking that's been going on in high-end audio for years so that's also something i want to expose what i like to call the old guard to to see that the community purse the personal audio community has built what high-end audio had in the 80s except for its modern now and it's today and my biggest wish for the show is just that people walk away having heard something new and that they're just excited that they go home and tell a friend that they go home and tell a cousin if they go home and tell a friend of a friend as long as the message keeps spreading that's our goal and that's really what I want to have happen here I want to you know more seeds more seeds anybody watching this an audio head if this is your first time visiting the site stick with it because Brian does an outstanding job I mean everything down from his sonic commentary to his commentary on the products if the way he explained it to a layman and the pictures everything about the blog is pro so trust me again if you're seeing this for the first time and it's your first time on audio head stay there so I'll say peace happy and music can save lives