Jana Dagdagan

The 2016 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest has come and gone, and here I find myself, back in the quiet comfort of Brooklyn.

Back with a glass of red wine in my hand, a table full of hot Indian takeout, and a dreamy Chet Baker serenading me through my modest system: a Technics SL 1200 Mk. II turntable with an Audio Technica AT440MLa cartridge (on a Technics headshell), a Fisher 800-C stereo receiver, and a pair of Rogers LS3/5a monitors sitting atop Skylan Speaker Stands.

What more is there to life?

. . . Or so I had thought, prior to attending Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2016, my first-ever major audio show (footnote 1).

One week later, and it's still all I can think about. My heart is raw from persistent waves of adrenaline. My mind, desperate to hold on to every detail, continuously runs and re-runs through every moment I can even slightly remember. I find myself staring at the floor maps, trying to recreate each room, each component, each sound, each individually nuanced experience. Have I finally gone insane? Or have I just officially been inducted into the audiophile community? Through all this, my body remains but a mere heap of skin and bones; a stale shell defeated by over stimulation and over exertion—as it should be.

Emotions aside—I had the most unique show experience possible. As a recent (now almost 8 months) addition to the Stereophile team, no one knows who I am. (Or if they do, they don't know what I look like.) I was rarely seen with JA, Herb, and Jason during the day, which made me virtually invisible. I was like a disguised food critic . . . except that the table wait was sometimes annoyingly long, and the food was sometimes provided without utensils. There were times when I'd walk into a room and be completely ignored, only to soon after receive special treatment, upon the exhibitor's learning of my affiliation with Stereophile. As oddly inconvenient as this was, it was rather amusing. In no other circumstance would I have been able to see the show through the perspective of both a writer and an attendee.

All in all, it was a complete contrast from what I had been expecting. In the weeks leading up to the show, conversations lingered over construction this, construction that, fewer rooms, fewer exhibitors, and did you hear CanJam is to be in a tent? While this was all true, it did not detract from my experience at all.

I have only a single complaint: exhibitors who pack up before the show's end. Let me rephrase that as a question: Exhibitors, why do you pay so much money and time only to not utilize your space to its fullest by leaving before the show is over? There are passionate hobbyists, serious buyers, and determined show reporters eagerly hoping to experience your exhibit—and for whatever reason, their only availability just might be at 3pm on a Sunday, an hour before the show's close.

Let me rephrase that as a polite request. To all exhibitors who pack up early: please do us both a favor and stay around a couple more hours. I know it's a hassle, and it was keeping you from Denver's exotic nightlife, but you're wasting your resources, self-sabotaging your products, and cutting yourself off from potential fans, buyers, and press folk. Please. Pretty please.

Aside from this single gripe, I consider myself lucky for RMAF 2016 being my first show. I couldn't have asked for a more gratifying way to broaden my audiophile horizons. Shows like these aren't just about hearing the latest, greatest components, or searching for the best sounding system—and they aren't (only) for arguing over cables or MQA either! They're also about meeting all the people who keep this wonderful industry going from the ground up, and about sharing in a mutual love for good music and good sound.

Thank you to everyone who made RMAF 2016 so unforgettable.

Life will never be the same.

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Footnote 1: As I've mentioned in previous writings, the only other audio show I've attended was the New York Audio Show in 2015. Thus, I am choosing to place it in a different category because it was a show of much smaller scale, and because I was not reporting on it for Stereophile.