The Elite London: where tech and luxury collide

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Last week we went to The Elite London show with long-time client Sennheiser to showcase some of the brand’s latest high-end products. The host venue was the VIP terminal at London’s Biggin Hill airport, setting the bar for the calibre of stands and exhibitions at this luxury trade show. The Elite London doesn't describe itself simply as an event, but rather a ‘world of experiences that selectively combines the very best of private jets, turboprop aircraft and helicopters with the very best luxury brands, supercars, powerboats and yachts – all in one location’. All very exciting! The stands around us included dedicated caviar exhibitions, butler services and crystal Christmas decoration (in between the classic cars and helicopter and jet shows, of course) – quite the collection. We were there to bring a tech side to the luxury, of course. The Sennheiser stand included a ‘sound experience room’, where visitors had the rare opportunity to listen to the Sennheiser HE1, successor to the legendary ORPHEUS. Built on a block of Carrera marble and packed with state-of-the-art technology, these headphones are priced at an eye-watering £54,000. Attendees also had the chance to discover AMBEO, Sennheiser’s new immersive audio technology. It’s about time VR audio became an equal partner to VR video, and AMBEO achieves just that. Until recent years, calling a piece of technology ‘luxurious’ rarely happened. For instance, there has been an ongoing argument as to whether Apple products should be categorised as luxuries, technologies or mainstream commodities. Why can’t it be all of the above? Many high-end products wouldn’t exist without the technology behind them, and brands like Sennheiser continue to demonstrate that tech and luxury can go hand-in-hand.