I find generally the trend is towards brightness. Called sparkle now! Audiofiles are aging and there top end hearing is going is that the reason or is it a tend to perpetuate the hobby and get people to buy again?
Regards
The Music at AXPONA 2022
I didn't take any notes or data sets--but....that said...
Did it seem to you like at least half of the rooms played obscure audiophile music? What's up with wind chimes, sound effects, electronic psychedelia, and so on, being so popular at the show? It seems to me there are TONs of well recorded offerings that could be played from many genres.
I like the avant garde, but at a show wouldn't it make more sense to stay on the highway of golden age jazz, folk, blues, rock, hip hop, classical?
What I struggled with is there are so many superbly produced and engineered recordings available, why veer into such a direction?
To be fair, there were many rooms with great musical selections. Yet, it's hard for me to imagine folks saying, "hey, what's this track involving a waterfall, chimes, and percussion? I need to hear it at home."
Disclaimer--I realize there is some subjectivity to this and I'm certain I've got some "weird" music in my collection. It just seems there's a big selection of music being played that alienates people. And that's saying something as many hifi enthusiasts have diverse tastes in music.