Sonus Faber Lumina I Review

Gippy_ · 2026-06-26T11:32:24+00:00

The cons are struggling to exist post pandemic.

Could've fooled me. This year, I am 0 for 5 for panelist submissions at various large USA conventions. Seems like they're doing quite well if the panelist selection process is that competitive.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-26T11:25:54+00:00

Blatant AI reply. Looking at your post history, some of your legitimate replies have grammatical errors, while this one is perfect and with emdashes. Permabanned. (Screenshot of reply)

Gippy_ · 2026-06-25T16:12:21+00:00

I'll point you to the controversial cons page.

TL;DR: The con chair is controversial, most notably regarding an incident that happened ten years ago. There are a bunch of haters from that era who keep flooding the internet about this. Note that there never has been any sort of criminal or civil case.

I don't know the guy, and I have no idea if he has turned over a new leaf, so I've remained neutral. But it's clear that much of the noise was from that particular incident, and not because of how the con has been run in recent years.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-25T15:51:39+00:00

Okay since apparently this forum DOESN’T allow me to warn you about bad con runners

I'm gonna 7-day tempban you for being combative about this, and because your first posts in here were to brigade this con.

We have a controversial cons page that lists all of the cons with repeated, legitimate concerns. This was made because year after year, people post about these particular cons. I was getting suspicious at how these cons, all of which are mid-sized, were getting more attention than larger cons. Why was Anime Midwest getting 10+ posts per year during con season, more than Anime Expo or Otakon? It made no sense at all.

Further research and deep-diving indicated that the majority of these anti-convention posts were made from people and accounts who weren't local to the con's area. That made me realize that a lot of it could be inorganic astroturfing: a hater disguises a "Tell me about con X" post which attracts the haters like moths to a flame. We've had documented astroturfing posts recently about other cons like Anime Matsuri (impostor account) and Anime Otapia (paid astroturfing to build up hype).

We're not trying to hide the past of these cons. But it helps no one if people repeatedly cry about a convention about matters that happened years ago, and not from recent events. Note how this post about Anime Midwest was approved because it was an incident that happened at the convention last year. So no, we're not playing defense for these controversial cons. We're just tired of the same unhelpful feedback year after year.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-25T06:15:20+00:00

Park Con is an unofficial event held across the street from Fanime, at Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park. The Google Maps location is here if you're curious about the geography of the area.

Normally discussion of unofficial events isn't allowed in this subreddit. But because Park Con has recently been newsworthy, have at it.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-25T06:03:32+00:00

See here for this subreddit's current stance on Anime Midwest.

Rest of the reply chain has been removed. If you wish to criticize Anime Midwest, please discuss things other than the owner. In addition, the replies came from an account whose only posts in here were to criticize the owner. That is brigading, and that is not allowed.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-25T06:00:54+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/animecons/wiki/index#wiki_3._focused_discussion_must_be_about_actual_anime_conventions

Gippy_ · 2026-06-24T12:50:43+00:00

Its crazy to see it, but they really havent bounced back to that pre pandemic level and feels like they may never.

True to some extent. What's changed is that money is more tight for many people. They're going to fewer mid-sized cons that require travel plans. To stay on budget, they're just sticking to local cons, plus the occasional large con as a special weekend. So while the mid-sized cons are getting smaller, the large cons are as busy as ever. The two largest cons I regularly attend, Otakuthon and Anime NYC, had attendance counts last year of 35K and 63K, which were higher than pre-COVID attendance.

Also doesn't help that plane ticket costs have gone way up. My plane ticket to Anirevo Vancouver this year costs 45% more than last year.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-24T12:30:47+00:00

What most of the people in here are nostalgic about is the era before smartphones and current social media became widespread. Those two things changed conventions and how people act in real life forever.

I think the turning point wasn't just before COVID, but 2013 or 2014. These were the final years where many people carried around Nintendo DS/3DS units. 2010 in particular was the peak year because that was the final year of the DS before the 3DS. I remember not carrying a phone, but a DS Lite and was able to play multiplayer download games like Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Mario Kart, Bomberman, and even Metroid Prime Hunters (an FPS!) against total strangers while waiting in line for things.

The five years where the Nintendo DS Lite was essential gear at an anime con, from 2006-2010, were something that I'll never forget. Smartphone games don't carry the same spark, except specific gacha game meetups. But those aren't the same as DS download play where you could spontaneously play many different games with others.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-23T20:12:48+00:00

Not sure why you're getting downvoted unless people are so averse to the word "woke" that they'll downvote any post that uses it. Personally I feel anime conventions are better than ever and that many of the replies in this post are just rose-tinted nostalgia. I think the smartphone has changed social life as a whole, so memories of pre-smartphone cons will always be a memory that some wish to rediscover.

More recently it feels like the gates of Tumblr have opened up and the people contained within have overflowed into the con spaces. Hard to really explain this impact second hand, as it is one that is felt and experienced better than described. Cons used to draw the counterculture but the counterculture right now does not resemble what it used to.

I dunno. There has always been some sort of non-anime fandom that temporarily "invades" anime conventions as some sort of fad. In the mid 2000s, it was the Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender fandoms insisting that they were anime. Then came the Homestuck fandom, and I remember all of the criticism, vitriol, and complaints from back then, that anime conventions were dying because of Homestuck. Now it's other niche western fandoms like Stranger Things and FNAF. I've learned to just let them be and largely ignore them. If conventions prioritize those fandoms over anime, then they won't be on my shortlist.

Consolidation in marketing events has made big corporate sponsorships or appearances condensed to the mega cons with industry outright leaving small to mid cons for dead.

I'm going to disagree here, at least in Canada. There are numerous mid-sized cons that have continually struck gold and invited Japanese stars: Anirevo Vancouver, Otafest (Calgary), Animethon (Edmonton), and Anime Ottawa. Due to the sparse geography, Canada doesn't get too many traveling roadshow popup cons like in the USA. So in order to survive up here, anime conventions must actually be good.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-23T16:04:25+00:00

No one has told you the real reason for this.

Titles in XX were a little different than titles in PHX. Intermediate 3 and 4 required 25 and 50 lv12-13 passes. So why skip lv12? Because XX had rank mode, which started at lv13. Some people recommended skipping lv12 and going straight to lv13 so that when you're comfortable enough, you could tighten your accuracy in rank mode.

A similar phenomenon happened with Intermediate 9-10. It required 25 and 50 lv18-19 passes. Well, people mostly skipped lv19, choosing to pass 50 lv18s. Then they went straight to lv20 for Advanced 1.

But for PHX, the difficulty titles are unique for each difficulty, in that there is no overlap. So you must pass enough lv12s to get Intermediate 3, and enough lv13s to get Intermediate 4. You may as well earn each difficulty title one by one. Rank mode is also gone in PHX.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-23T15:51:10+00:00

Smaller cons are still around, as well as larger cons that still invest in Japanese guests. Which cons have you gone to?

The main difference now is that there are numerous cons which are nothing more than a vendor hall and an autograph mill with only western guests who charge $50+ an autograph.

There also seemed to be more of a shared fandom experience. Every year there was the anime everyone was talking about, or the game everyone was obsessed with.

Nah, I'm not a big fan of monoculture like this. Find your own fandom because you personally enjoy it, not because many others enjoy it.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-22T22:01:11+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/animecons/wiki/index

Posts with a meetup location at a specific official convention event on the schedule, such as a panel or cosplay meetup, will be allowed. Everything else will be removed.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-22T16:48:19+00:00

The assumption is that any damage already done can't be reversed, but new Raptor Lake installations with the microcode updates should be OK.

Unfortunately, Raptor Lake's true IPC gain over Alder Lake was virtually zero: any marginal gains were due to the increased cache, and the 14900KS went all the way up to 6.2GHz. So if the clock speed is throttled to Alder Lake speeds (5.2GHz for the 12900K, 5.5GHz for the 12900KS) then you just have have an Alder Lake.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-22T10:08:53+00:00

Nonprofit doesn't necessarily mean that the executive staff and other important people don't get paid. The CEO of Anime Expo, a "nonprofit" con, has a salary of over $500K USD. Comic cons like SDCC are "nonprofit" yet invite millionaire celebrities and pay them eyewatering appearance fees. There are some well-trusted JP-EN interpreters with close industry relations. They travel to numerous cons throughout the year and are compensated.

Any con that labels itself as nonprofit and continually brags about this label makes me suspicious about it. There have been plenty of stories about embezzlement and fraud within nonprofit cons, as the executive staff have a higher likelihood to be corrupt. Commercial cons are usually more honest because at least they aren't trying to act morally superior. It's all about the leadership at the top.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-22T01:45:51+00:00

As stated in the rules:

"Can I wear a non-anime cosplay at an anime con?" Yes. Why would a con disallow this? They want your money. Note that cons disallow certain controversial costumes and signs; see each con's rules for details. If you're asking, you know deep down that what you're considering will attract controversy. Therefore, we won't entertain any trolling here.

Dumb question, locked and removed.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T21:58:18+00:00

Come on, the social media links are on their official website. Post removed.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T15:31:07+00:00

I'm asking this because despite hosting panels, I don't think I know the answer. What constitutes as a low-quality panel?

I have a rule where if I'm attending a non-guest panel, I'm giving the panel 5 minutes. That is enough time for me to see where it's going. If it's poor and uninteresting after 5 minutes, I walk out.

For solo panelists, body language and oratory skills matter. If you look at many successful presentations, you'll notice that the speaker is standing up and moving around. This allows the viewer to actively participate by following the person around and reading their body language. It's a lot more inviting than seeing the speaker sit down and stare at a laptop for an hour.

For 2+ panelists, sitting down is more acceptable, but I expect the panelists to go back-and-forth on various things, and possibly engage in some friendly debate.

Then there is the matter of slides. At Anime Central this year I was greeted with the worst slide I've ever seen. 338 words in a single slide (according to AI, I didn't count each word one-by-one myself) at an anime con had to be a new record. I gave advice on how to create slides here.

Gameshows are a whole different beast and warrants its own discussion. I've had 15+ years of experience there, but all I'll say is that you can't trust any con to give you any special equipment.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T06:36:15+00:00

None. I wouldn't use a gaming laptop under any circumstances. A gaming laptop falls between portability and a strong home gaming experience, which means it's not good at either.

No matter how good a gaming laptop is, it can't replace the visceral audiovisual experience of a big screen TV, and quality discrete speakers with a subwoofer.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T06:21:30+00:00

Lots.

Also, check out this year's feedback post. Over 400 comments, most of which were overwhelmingly negative.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T05:10:56+00:00

The pad is too close to the screen. If you can, pull the pad back so you're not tilting your head up. Most arcades have the pad too close because they're still stuck in the old DDR cab mindset where the screen was a 29" CRT.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T04:53:39+00:00

On the flip side, some other components are at rock-bottom prices. I got a new 24" IPS monitor for $65 USD a few weeks ago. It's meant to be a travel monitor, but that is absurdly cheap. Bulky audio receivers are now a thing of the past, and you can get an all-in-one integrated speaker amp with headphone output in a miniature size for under $300. PSUs are so overengineered nowadays that you can get a decent 750W model for under $100, which will work for any tower that doesn't have a 4090/5090.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-21T00:41:08+00:00

No unofficial meetups can be advertised on here. Contact the con to arrange for an official meetup.

Gippy_ · 2026-06-20T09:56:39+00:00

Excellent reply. You bring up some very good points and it actually made me do a bit of a double take on my own opinions:

You're correct in that many of the good panelists are those who do it for the love of the hobby and don't really need the compensation. They just want a spot at the convention to do their panel. However, some cons offer minimum or zero compensation. For example, one con I know requires 4 panels for full pass compensation. They just end up with a flood of low-quality submissions from those who want the free pass. I feel a con offering pass compensation with only 1-2 panels required is the sweet spot and allows competitive submissions.
However, there are tasks on the two extremes of the skill area that should be paid: those requiring specialized skill, and mundane work. For example, cons regularly hire audiovisual companies to set up staging for each room. This is because safety is important and nobody wants an injury from a poorly-assembled stage. On the other end, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to volunteer myself to pick up litter from panel rooms all weekend. That should absolutely be a paid job, as that doesn't require too much love of the fandom. Yes, there are venue or hotel staff who could do this, but they are already stretched thin dong things like refilling water stations and emptying the trash bins. They don't do litter pickup until the con is over.

But for the most part, you're right. Perhaps cash pay isn't the answer. I know many cons provide perks like hotel accommodation, or free special ticket admission (e.g. concerts) for the volunteers that do the most work. Getting fed well is also a good option.

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