High-end audio

June 19, 2016 by Paul McGowan

My friend Rick sent me an article in Digital Trends Magazine detailing how Korean giant Samsung is preparing an all out assault on high-end audio. They've amassed a star studded team of engineers to do battle:

When you think of Samsung, lots of things come to mind: televisions, phones, appliances… but one thing that probably doesn’t spring to mind is high-end audio, a category Samsung wishes to become number one in. …the team is helmed by a fiery Canadian with a passion for X/Y graphs and sound wave diffraction… poached from one of the biggest names in audio, Harman (owner of Harman/Kardon, Infinity, and JBL). Along with him came 10 of Harman’s best, while other staffers jumped ship from the likes of Bang & Olufsen, Gibson, and Beats by Dre, among others.

Seriously? I nearly spilled my cup of coffee this morning. This announcement would have passed me by with a yawn were it not for the words high-end audio. I am sure this is a fine team of measurementists who will likely make some good products aimed at what I would call the consumer audio industry. But saying they are targeting the high-end audio field is a little akin to suggesting a new product from McDonalds is designed to overtake the culinary arts. It's easy to bandy terms like high-end audio when what we mean is the upper reaches of consumer audio. Not that it matters much, and maybe I am being overly protective of our niche, but I certainly don't feel comfortable soiling the term by which we refer to our art by the likes of these guys. Just sayin'.