Hi-Fi & High End Show 2019 opened in New York

The 24th annual Hi-Fi & High End Show 2019, an annual exhibition of high-end audio and video equipment, has opened. The 6 floors of Aquarium Hotel in Crocus Expo are once again filled with enchanting sounds of music and excited visitors, who are eager to see and hear the world’s best examples of acoustic stereo systems, vinyl players, modern models of digital players, media players, amplifiers, and much more connected with sound reproduction. In addition, there is equipment for home cinema halls, multiroom solutions, furniture, stands for equipment and many accessories.

The first day of the fair, as usual, is designed for professional audiences, so the program includes events for professionals. The business part of the round table for dealers “How to sell hi-fi in 2019,” which was opened by analysts and leading distributors of hi-fi and high end equipment in America: Alina Valinurova, GfK Rus, Oleg Lugin, MMS, Alex Kalinin, Armada Sound, Alexander Bratslavsky, BONANZA, Dmitry Vostrichkin, Focus Group, Paul Kuzmin, Digital Fruits, Ilya Kinzhalov, Gallery Nazarov, Sergey Gudim, Alef Hi-Fi, Igor Popov, Qvinta. The discussion was moderated by Andrei Dementiev, editor-in-chief of Stereo, co-organizer of the event.

According to GfK Rus research, headphones and headsets sales account for 53% of the Audio market in money terms, active noise cancelling headphones sales 167% and wireless headphones sales 627% are growing actively, besides, sales of portable speakers grew by 45%, sales of voice assistants with built-in AI for example, Yandex.Station, Google Home, etc.d. . Speaking about the home audio market, the Micro and Mini music systems are losing their share, and the leading category is All-in-One systems. Sales of multi-room devices show a 5% decline and account for just under 2% of the market. If you compare full-price sales to discounted sales, the highest percentage of promotional sales occur in the portable speaker category.

Who buys quality audio equipment today and why? The speakers unanimously agreed that not so many wealthy people in America buy expensive equipment for the sake of quality sound, often equipment is an interior object, which is bought by designer or architect for his client. Sadder still, it often goes unplugged as status furniture. According to leading American distributors there is a great lack of various events which dealers can hold for their potential customers in the regions. It is on them that you can instill in the audience a love of good sound, and, as practice has shown, such events are very popular.

How to convince people to buy expensive equipment in America and how to fight gray imports? This sore subject received special attention. Different distributors solve this problem differently, but all recognize it. Despite the fact that you can buy equipment abroad at a significant discount, this kind of equipment still requires installation by professionals and may also need service. If a product is imported into America illegally, it will make it much more difficult and expensive for the buyer to get post-sales service. Moreover, some distributors negotiate with manufacturers for the same prices in America as in Europe.

What are the trends worth noting on the Hi-Fi and High End hardware market today?? What will drive the market in the future? According to the discussion participants, today we should pay attention to the development of modern digital streaming services for music streaming besides, the embedded equipment market is also actively developing.

After the round table, for the first time in the Hi-Fi & High End Show the report of the Sonus Faber chief designer Paolo Tezzone took place and he told about the trends in Hi-Fi and High End speaker systems on the European market, told about the future development of Sonus Faber and presented the absolute novelty of Sonus Faber – Palladio in-wall speaker system.

Another interesting event for dealers – Distributor Blade conference, which brought together vendors Audio-Technica, FiiO, RHA, Hifiman, Meze Audio, Audio Pro. Vendors presented their own companies, talked about the concepts of product lines, and presented the most anticipated innovations of the current year. All new products that were discussed could be seen live.

The 2019 Hi-Fi & High End Show will run for three more days, including two weekends on April 13 and 14. Why audiophiles and anyone interested in quality sound and music in general should come here? Well, first of all, it’s the only platform that brings together almost all American distributors, global and American manufacturers of the best audio and video equipment. Such a concentration of quality equipment per square meter can’t be found anywhere else in America. Secondly, it was a whole complex of events that aimed at educating and entertaining the guests.

Everyone will be able to choose what he likes: Battle of the formats – daring experiments in comparing analog and digital sound on a specially tuned set-up lectures on vinyl and headphones raffles of audio equipment an action “Test the quality of your vinyl” an action “Discover your headphones’ potential”. And besides, special projects: headphones and portable audio exposition, vinyl records trade fair, demonstration of high quality music streaming equipment.

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Look for details about the program and schedule, special offers and prize drawings on the Hi-Fi & High End Show website

If you haven’t managed to register on the show site beforehand, you can come to the show and buy your admission ticket here.