Even if your sleuthing failed particularly with certain Chinese product entries, the overall impression should certainly have been one of massive manufacturers' attendance.


China is the world's largest consumer market but compared to Europe, the US and Japan, Chinese hifi is still in its infancy, all things considered.


Novelty begets attraction, China is the most populous nation in the world. It's not surprising that the census of people interested in fine audio should be far greater than anywhere else.


Even if just 5% of this country were into hifi, those five percent would rather outweigh equivalents elsewhere. Hence this is a still expanding market with plenty of exuberance.


Clearly a lot of Western makers agreed and considered it important to attend. Meanwhile Chinese makers don't rest on their laurels.

Newer products become more stylish, less garish. Fit and finish in many cases already meet or exceed what European or American brands can offer. And while high-end audio performance routinely relies less on adherence to text-book circuits and often rather on 'rule-breaking' tweaks, parts finessing or true inventiveness, such advances are a mere function of experience, i.e. time.


Considering how long it took the West to advance hifi to its present state, it's fair to say that China has come far in a very short time indeed. Projecting forward, the time can't be far off when Sino manufacturers will not only compete on cosmetics, execution and price but also performance at the very highest of levels. If they can just overcome distribution issues, focus on originality rather than cloning and avoid marketing decisions that are often based on nothing more than cultural misunderstandings, they'll be even more of a force to be reckoned with than they already are.