Stereophile Jan-13

To say that a digital source “sounds like analog” has always struck me as coming up short. The notion that one format sounds like another is not really sensible or even ideal. While I love listening to LPs, there are some physical attributes of vinyl that, ideally, you don’t want to reproduce. You know what I’m talking about because, every chance they get, LP haters remind us about pops, ticks, skips, surface noise, inner-groove distortion, etc. So when we say that a digital source sounds like analog, what we’re really saying is that it doesn’t sound like digital. What does it mean to sound not digital? I remember my early experiences with CDs, and of being nearly uncontrollably excited at their tremendous prospects: 60+ minutes of music, none of vinyl’s…

50 Years! Editor: Congratulations, and thank you for a fascinating ride the last 50 years! Too many good things to mention, but being an “audiophile” has been better because of Stereophile. —Carlos E. Bauza Guayama, Puerto Rico bauzace50@yahoo.com Less than complete Editor: Just a note to point out that the listing of former writers and reviewers “who have moved on to other ventures” appearing in the “As We See It” column by John Atkinson in Vol.35 No.11 is not complete, since there are at least two omissions. If you could see fit to review the list, it would go a long way toward maintaining the high level of professionalism that Stereophile has consistently displayed under your leadership. —Arnis Balgalvis arnisbalgalvis@gmail.com My apologies, Arnie, and to Chip Stern, Muse Kastanovich, and…

UK: TOWCESTER, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Paul Messenger The name of the Chester Group’s National Audio Show, held each September at Whittlebury Hall, in Northamptonshire, is somewhat vainglorious, given its modest size compared to the massive High End Show in Munich each May, or Bristol’s Sound & Vision event in February. In fact, this year’s National show appeared to be a little smaller than the 2011 edition. Still, it took me a full day to visit most of the rooms (inadvertently if inevitably missing a few due to the hotel’s peculiar layout) and found a number of interesting items and people along the way. The National is very much a show for smaller brands with modest profiles; larger operations with wide distribution and global footprints were relatively scarce. Among them, however, DRM Holdings,…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA • Sunday, January 27, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Definition Audio Video (2934 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica). There will be a presentation on the latest in digital server technology, and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio will discuss his loudspeakers. A raffle is planned and lunch will be served. Guests, visitors, and new members are invited, and parking is free.…

Peachtree Keen Remember Seth Brundle, the scientist portrayed by Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg’s remake (1986) of The Fly? Brundle had a closetful of identical suits, shirts, ties, shoes, so that he never had to choose what to wear. This way, he could spare his mental energy for important tasks, like turning himself into an insect. It turns out that President Obama takes the same tack as Brundlefly. Of course, he’s not a mad scientist, or even a mad politician. But he’s got important matters to resolve, like which country to invade next. As he told Michael Lewis in the October 2012 issue of Vanity Fair,1 he likes to pare down decisions. The key is to make routines simple. This is exactly what I tell my wife, Marina. I no…

Analogplanet.com covered new products exhibited at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver last October (see www.analogplanet.com/category/rmaf-2012; Stereophile’s full coverage can be found at www.stereophile.com/category/rmaf-2012); here I’ll comment on the show generally, and specifically on two seminars. RMAF’s growth over the past few years has been phenomenal. This year’s attendance appeared to be substantial—according to Show organizer Marjorie Baumert, approximately 431 companies were represented by 150 exhibitors, and there were about 3600 attendee-days—and while many manufacturers weren’t represented, there was a good mix of major brands and upstarts. Certainly attendees could not have been disappointed by what they saw and heard—unless, like me, they thought too few rooms were demonstrating with turntables, and in too many, the only source component was a computer. Still, the number of new analog…