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What would a high-end audio store party be without some live music? The musicians playing jazz at the Coup de Foudre party were keyboard artist Marie Claire Durand and bass player Martin Hezlop. They're also Graeme Humfrey's recording clients.

AudioStream.com's Michael Lavorgna explains all the intricacies of computer audio.

VTL's Luke Manley was one of the many industry luminaries at the Coup de Foudre party.Through the control-room window of Graeme Humfrey's studio can be seen part of Graeme's large collection of classic pro-audio gear.

Working alongside Steve Silberman of AudioQuest, Wavelength Audio’s Gordon Rankin offered a series of talks on computer audio for Mac users, while Jim Hillegass, the founder and CEO of JRiver Inc., offered corresponding seminars for users of Windows-based computers. My schedule allowed me to hear only a brief portion of Gordon Rankin’s Saturday seminar—and, regrettably, none of Jim Hillegass’s talks—yet even so, I learned things I’d never come close to knowing before. (An exemplary gem: When it comes to RFI rejection, Apple’s laptop computers are considerably better made than the company’s desktop models.)

In years past, the Montreal record shop Aux 33 Tours operated a generously sized retail booth at SSI, and I invariably helped them to lighten their vinyl load. I was disappointed that they weren't selling records at this year's show—until I noticed their display in the Hilton's hallway: All day Friday and Saturday, they offered a free shuttle service for people who wished to visit their store. (Sadly, the time was too short for me to take that ride.)

I think after every audio show I've attended there was some product that I realized too late I should have checked out—typically, when somebody later said to me "Did you hear the XXXX speakers? I thought they were great!"

After CES 2012, there was one product—actually, a line of products—that I had fully intended to seek out, but somehow this intention did not translate into action. It was on the plane returning home that I realized that I missed seeing the new wireless speakers from Dynaudio. I made a note to myself to make sure that one of the first rooms I'll visit at SSI 2012 would be Dynaudio's.

After having been at the show for some time, I received an email from John Marks, fellow Stereophile scribe, urging me—and Art Dudley, who got the same email—to try to listen to the Bricasti DAC that John Atkinson reviewed in February, which he said was adding five minimum-phase filters, as well as offering an optional asynchronous USB input. As it happened, I read the email just as I was walking by the Bricasti room, and I took this to be a sign that I should follow JM's recommendation.