It's a sad fact that the 2018 CES may be the last of the many wonderful audio shows I've attended in Las Vegas. The best obituary I have seen for what used to me a major audio event was written by Bill Leebens in PS Audio's newsletter that can be found here:
http://www.psaudio.com/article/last-call/
I love his analogy to an old girlfriend. For me the death of CES Vegas is so much more. It's about the passing of an era as well as the passing of a venue. Despite some positive signs such as the resurrection of vinyl, the high end and all that it entails is a very different beast from what we have seen in its heyday. Is there a venue that will be its likely successor? RMAF? Munich? Newport? AXPONA? Other? Even so, will these be nothing more like a fleeting ticket to a big ride at Disneyland? You know you can pay to ride it, but you will never own it. For me, that's one of the stark differences of the modern high end era to the one I miss. There was actually a time you could aspire to own many of the products you heard at a high end show. Today, very very few of us will ever acquire the 6 figure products that flood the field almost monthly. And we know that! Hence, the sadness and wistful longing for high end days gone by. Now, the best that many of us can do is spend a grand or so for a ticket to "go on the ride" by attending audio shows. We still love to meet our fellow hobbyists, hear new music (always one of the high points of these events) and immerse ourselves in dreams of what might be, even though we are now more than ever, confronted with the reality that they will remain dreams. The good news is that technology that was unavailable at any price even a few short years ago has become more affordable and although it is not in the "uber" realm of high end, there is an abundance of wonderful products will never hold anyone back from enjoying very good music reproduction in their home. Still, I am going to miss CES as I knew it for 40 years. That's why the old girlfriend analogy of Bill Leebens really made me smile even though I had a tear in my eye.