RMAF 2009

Thanks to a first-time alliance between RMAF and Head-Fi.org, the Denver Marriott Tech Center's large Event Center was ringed with exhibits and displays from headphone component manufacturers and Head-Fi community members. Strategically positioned at the show's entrance, for example, was JH Audio's custom in-ear monitor booth, which proclaimed, "We call it the JH|13 Pro—You'll Call it Aural Sex." Thank God they didn't come right and say, "We give you know what."

Way at the other end of the room, and looking none the hornier for the distance, were the member exhibits. These mixed a few DIY devices with a goodly number of complete headphone listening set-ups that members had carted to the show.

Local headphone enthusiast Sherwood Tyler Beebout of Castle Rock, CO, who had brought his complete headphone rig along for attendees to enjoy, explained that headphones "are very intimate, and more practical than a huge speaker set-up. There are compromises, but in some ways, you can hear more than with loudspeakers. Besides, when you're on the road, you can't carry large loudspeakers with you." Tyler opined that up to 900 people had circulated through the room on the first day, "which is great for a room tucked away in a far corner of the hotel."