Welcome to our announcement of the Best Product 2019-2020 awards, selected by the Expert Imaging and Sound Association. EISA originated in 1982, when five European photography magazines got together to agree on one make and model of camera as their choice for Best Product for that year. Since then, EISA’s reach has expanded far beyond photography -- it is now an international group of more than 60 print and online publications that variously cover photography, hi-fi, home theater, mobile electronics, and car audio, and that each year presents awards in all of those categories. In 2018, SoundStage! Hi-Fi became the third North American publication to be invited to join EISA, alongside Stereophile and Sound & Vision. (At the end of this article is a link to a YouTube video we produced in which Paul Miller, president of EISA, talks about the organization.)
The selection process for EISA’s Best Product 2019-2020 awards began May 21-24, 2019, at the EISA Global Press Convention, in Antwerp, Belgium, with editors from all member publications attending. Shortly after the Convention, each publication submitted its nominees for the relevant EISA Expert Group: Hi-Fi, Home Theatre Audio, Home Theater Display and Video, In-Car Electronics, Mobile Devices, and Photography. (SoundStage! Hi-Fi is, of course, part of the Hi-Fi group.) After the nominations had been received and tallied, a smaller group of editors gathered June 25-28 in Lake Bohinj, Slovenia, for final meetings in which they voted to select the winners of the awards announced here.
The presentation of the actual award trophies will take place September 6, at the EISA Gala Ceremony in Berlin, Germany. Editors from all member publications will attend, as well as representatives of the manufacturers of the winning products.
Through hyperlinks and menu options on this site you’ll find the complete lists of awards and descriptions of all winning products in the Expert Groups most pertinent to our readers: Hi-Fi and Home Theatre Audio. We’ve also included links to EISA’s website, www.eisa.eu, for lists of the awards presented for the other Expert Groups. You’ll see that EISA is truly a worldwide organization -- this year’s Best Products come from all around the globe.
With the official announcement of the Best Product 2019-2020 awards, we already look forward to EISA’s Best Product awards for 2020-2021. The selection of those products will begin next year at the annual EISA Global Press Convention, once again in Antwerp, Belgium -- though next year in April, not May. The awards will be announced, as usual, on August 15. And you can count on SoundStage! Hi-Fi to once again be part of the EISA selection process that determines which products are, finally, the Best Products of 2020-2021.
EISA 2019-2020 Best Products:
- Hi-Fi (this site)
- Home Theatre Audio (this site)
- Home Theatre Display & Video (eisa.eu)
- In-Car Electronics (eisa.eu)
- Mobile Devices (eisa.eu)
- Photography (eisa.eu)
. . . Doug Schneider
das@soundstagenetwork.com
