There's been a long, and I think unfortunate trend in the upper reaches of high-end audio over the last fifteen years or so. It is the moving of high end audio from an endeavor based on making gear whose principle raison d'être is to sound really good and to honor the music we listen to,... Read More »
I've been interested in high-end audio since the mid 1970s, maybe even before that, certainly before anyone used the term High End Audio. This was mostly due to my love for music, and happening to have a few school friends and acquaintances who parents had really good systems. It wasn't until I was in college... Read More »
I have to confess. Since moving away from CDs and other physical digital media (at least from a playback standpoint) I actually listen to music digitally more than I ever imagined I would. Looking back over the last year or so, I probably have more actual listening time using my budget digital server system than... Read More »
The past few years I've been pretty soured on the whole Audio Show routine. Too much excessively high priced equipment being demonstrated to appeal to a smaller and smaller market of ultra rich clients, left me feeling I'd be more welcome in a yacht club membership committee meeting than most of the rooms exhibiting at... Read More »
Over the past several years, one of the big topics in field of high end or perfectionist audio has been how to get new people, and especially younger people, to participate. That means not just getting a new generation to both appreciate better sound and gear, but more importantly, getting them to actually buy better... Read More »
When talking about the controversial topic of audio cables, there are three specific areas that keep getting discussed: Do cables actually sound different? If they do sound different, are any actually better, or are they just different? Is whatever difference they may or may not create worth the price? My answer to Point 1 was... Read More »
Yes, I've used the same Linn LP12 turntable since 1984. It was a big deal for me, buying it back then, for a few reasons: At $1370, including the Ittok arm and Valhalla power supply, it was fairly expensive at the time. It certainly was a lot of money for me, being just four years... Read More »
I realize that for many years I've opened my various show reports with a little rant of sorts, carrying on about things that bother me about the high end audio industry, or about trade shows like CES. I was thinking about what to open with this time, when a brief conservation with an industry friend... Read More »