An hour after High End 2015 opened in Munich on Friday May 15, the stairways to the second floor were packed. Multiply this mob scene by 7, and you have an idea of how many consumers and dealers were eager to fill the corridors, halls, and rooms at the show.

Ready, set go. It may not look crowded at 9am on the first morning of High End 2015 in Munich, but we who were dashing in an hour early for the Devialet press conference soon found Atrium 4.1 (shown) filled with people. Attendees included, in addition to consumers, dealers from multiple continents, some of whom are now skipping January's CES in Las Vegas because they find the trip to Munich more productive and far more enjoyable. Also present were manufacturers and reps who prefer to make the rounds rather than display. All in all, it's fair to say that, for many in the industry, High 2015 is as much a trade show as it is a consumer showcase.

How do you measure success? Some show promoters count the number of lanyards they've given out and call those "attendance figures." According to Liz Miller, AXPONA/Audio Con Content and Marketing Director, “We sold 5137 tickets, an 18% increase over 2014."

As I was leaving the room shared by Daedalus Audio, ModWright Instruments, and WyWires, a couple sat down and said to Lou Hinkley, Dan Wright, and Alex Sventitsky, "This is one of the rooms we had to come back to hear again."

I can understand why...