Sounds as Good as Sights: A Nice Walk in Rembrandtplein

Audiophiles have a hell of an expensive hobby. We all can appreciate good sound quality but the upper echelon of sound providers cater to an especially niche audience. That’s because it takes a trained ear and a thick wallet to even attempt to dip your toe in this deep pool.

As we took a walk about the town a week ago, we found ourselves near Rembrandtplein Square, one of the busiest locations in all of Amsterdam. It’s lit up at night with styled street lights and bustling with locals and tourists alike. We made our way around the corner and up a few blocks and nearly passed a sleek speaker store that drew us in like a bug to bright light.

Concerto Audio is a collective that has the style and feel of gaining access to Hugh Hefner’s personal listening studio in the Playboy Mansion. Walking from room to room gives customers a unique experience; kind of like owning a penthouse above Studio 54. Scores of vinyl records fill nuanced rooms like an audiophiles grotto. As long as you can appreciate the music playing, you’re pretty much compelled to sit down and enjoy the tunes. These speakers are of a quality I’ve never experienced before for a home audio setup. Even more, the record players were incredibly classy. They would command the room as the centerpiece of anyone’s room who would be lucky enough to bring one of these home.

The main focus on the ground floor are Linn products. Linn is a high-end English audio brand which specializes in turntables. If you have the chance to see some of these, I implore you to try them out. We next made our way upstairs after a recommendation from the owner. He mentioned a room full of headphones, which sounded intriguing.

The room is just that, a small room filled with high-end headphones, three chairs and the owner’s desk. We initially felt a little awkward walking right in knowing damn well we weren’t buying anything, but the owner, Stefan Gürtler was welcoming and made us feel comfortable with asking questions and even offered to let us try out some of his equipment. He explained that he owned the headphone section of the store, named Headphone Auditions. Along the wall were some in-ear pieces that caught my eye.

Stefan brought out some more peripherals to make the demo even better. After it was all said and done, Victoria and I were holding €4.000 ($4,453.40) music players and €300 ($334) adapters. Attached was InEar ProMission X wired headphones, designed specially for Stefan’s shop, which will set you back just €2500 ($2783.81) for the crispest, cleanest sound I’ve ever heard. First, I played Victory Lap and Last Time That I Checc’d by the late great Nipsey Hussle followed by Enter Sandman by Metallica. To try to put into words what a fan like myself felt after hearing these tracks would be missing the mark. Let’s just say if I only had €2000 to my name, I’d probably offer my dog or wife to make up the rest. I’m kidding of course, but you get the picture.

Stefan was a great host and applied zero pressure in getting us to buy. I asked him about some lower-end headphones he had and he also let me unbox his only pair of gaming headphones. If I have €350 to spend on gaming gear, I’ll definitely be returning. After taking a few photos and checking out a €60.000 ($66,819) amplifier, we were out of there before we tripped and broke something.

If you’re ever shopping for audio products in Amsterdam, you MUST stop by and see Concerto Audio. They are welcoming and accepting of all of their clients and offer free listening sessions as long as they have the time. While you’re visiting, you can head just a block down the road and see the largest record store in Amsterdam, also called Concerto (not sure if there’s a relation.)

Are you an audiophile? Interested in checking the hobby out? Leaves us a shout on social media and get the convo started!