RMAF 2018

Long sections of moving sidewalks like the ones which link-up the insanely large and sprawling complex of buildings and tunnels that make up Denver International airport always put me in mind of one of my favourite all-time science-fiction novels: The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov.

The book is an amazing glimpse into the somewhat far future when man has abandoned the Earth’s surface to robot labourers in charge of agriculture and humans have become so used to living in massive underground cities that going outside has become antithetical behaviour to them. Sound familiar to those who know any audiophiles? Hmmm?

In Caves the cities have few personal vehicles for travel and are instead linked with an ever faster, massive and complex series of interconnected moving sidewalks that citizens “jump” to or from as they want to change their direction of travel or increase or decrease their speeds – much like on or off ramps on present-day highways.

The reason I bring all this up is that I always get the feeling I’m “jumping” like the characters in the book when I’m getting on or off the almost infinite moving sidewalks at the Denver airport, it also puts me in mind of metaphorically jumping off to reach the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest since it is unlike any other show I habitually travel to in North America.

This year will see me visiting RMAF for the first time as the managing editor of AudioStream and I can’t wait to report on all that the bleeding-edge of high fidelity has to offer. I’ll be focusing on streaming-audio and computer-audio technology for the most part, but will also be writing about whatever really tickles my fancy, so I hope you’ll all follow along as I’ll be posting from the show and in the days following RMAF as well.

It’s a great show for me for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that there are many manufacturers, distributors and bricks and mortar establishment owners that only make Denver their destination to show in North America, so it’s a chance to catch up with some of my most favourite hi-fi designers, engineers and people in the industry. I can’t wait to connect with everyone there.