Are you happy to travel overseas to listen to products of interest to you ?

[KyoichiOda]

The Internet now encompasses specialist audio interest so we can readily get details of overseas products, even without locally accessible dealers.
I live in Japan and am interested also in products of the US, Europe and China so sometimes visit audio shows and manufacturers overseas to listen to them.
Some trips are only for listening, others mostly for another purpose: conferences, meetings, etc.
I don't meet many other audiophiles who have travelled for auditions.
If products you are interested in have no dealers in your country, are you happy to travel overseas to listen to them?
Subject to Covid-19 restrictions, it is usually possible to visit another place to listen to new products; Google flight, Skyscanner, Agoda, and 'Booking.com' would help you to plan.
Suppose for example, the price of a product you are interested in exceeds 10K USD -
a cost of around 1K USD for intercontinental travel fades to less importance.
Unless of course for the sad case of: "My wife does not agree" ...

 

[Mike Lavigne]

there is likely a situation where international travel can be rationalized to make a proper buying decision. i think it depends on a number of factors.

yes; at higher price points the travel expenses involved to make a better decision make more sense. if you are in Japan, you already have many great choices. and Seoul, HK and Singapore, all hot beds of hifi culture, are close at hand. so it's pretty easy to find almost anything you can think of.

personally; i would only travel to hear a 'very large' speaker system. in that case, it's many times not realistic to get it to your home. and speakers dominate the sound of any system. hearing speakers in a room a similar size as mine (with somewhat similar electronics) would be useful enough for a buying decision. even if i got those speakers to my system, it would take months or years to optimize them. might as well hear them where they are.

anything else, i would need to hear it in my system unless it was an upgrade of gear i already owned. tt's and cartridges maybe the exception as they are not really system dependant.

just my 2 cents. YMMV.

 

[bryans]

I haven't traveled overseas to listen to gear but wouldn't rule it out.

 

[Nemal1]

I love traveling to Singapore, on Coleman Street is the Adelphi, which is basically a shopping mall full of some of the highest of high end products plus record stores full of Japanese imports, vinyl, SACD’s etc.

We were hoping to fly there tomorrow for a week, then 2 weeks in the phillipines, but difficult to obtain tourist visas and potential quarantine has forced us to cancel for the time being. we were planning this since March this year…….ho hum!

 

[KyoichiOda]

Unfortunately nobody is sure that the Covid situation will cease as we can cross border without any restriction.

However, after Covid, I recommend to visit one of the three biggest audio show:
AXPONA, HIGH END Munich and Guangzhou AV Fair.
You will find the products which are mainly known in the region.

I am interested in Cherry Amp and Merrill Audio, not easy to listen except in US.
There are nice products in China, Aurum Cantus, ShengYa, Line Magnetic and so on.
I have not been to HIGH END Munich, but found some nice brands, Audio Alto, Ideon Audio etc. in Audio Video Show Warsaw, the second biggest one in Europe.

You can listen "Big Name" brands anywhere in the world, but they are not the all.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Yes; I traveled to a town in the West part of Denmark to audition speakers at Gryphon Audio Designs. I ordered the speakers even though at that time there was no dealer network in the United States.