The hi-fi industry will have to wait until next summer to get its customary high-end show fix. High End Munich 2021 has just been cancelled following – you guessed it – the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November, the organisers of Europe's biggest annual hi-fi show announced its plans to hold the event this year – not in its usual May timeslot but four months later – following its cancellation in 2020.
In an official statement, Stefan Dreischärf, managing director of the event's organisers, HIGH END SOCIETY Service GmbH, said: “We have prepared for the event extremely well and were confident that the HIGH END... would be able to take place this autumn despite the changing conditions. That said, we have to adopt a far-sighted approach to maintain the trust of our exhibitors. Given the slow development on a global scale, we believe that the current situation is too uncertain. The risk of having to cancel the event at short notice is simply too high.”
The rescheduled dates, which you should now put a big thick line through in your diary, were the 9th–12th September. The organisers are now planning the show's return to MOC Event Center in Munich for the 19th–22nd May 2022.
Indeed, the hi-fi industry's 2021 calendar is, unsurprisingly, looking pretty bare. The February-held Bristol Hi-Fi Show was another 2021 victim of the pandemic's continued backlash, while January's CES was an online-only affair. Only time will tell whether IFA will go ahead as an in-person event in September as planned.
We do have some good news to proffer those aching for some hi-fi community action, mind you. For the next 30 days, you can watch all the sessions from the weekend's What Hi-Fi? Virtual Show, where we discuss how we test, what our favourite kit is, and answer reader's questions.
