Added to the Archives This Week

Chip Stern provides us with a mini-review of the Sony SCD-777ES . Find out why this SACD player prompted him to exclaim: "At $2500, the SCD-777ES is not merely a Class A component, it's a steal."

Next we have John Atkinson's "As We See It" from April 2001, "Music Before Numbers?" Just how important are those specs when reviewing a product? Reader letters included.

Digging back into the archives a few years, J. Gordon Holt's "As We See It" from January 1985 confronts head-on those pesky charges of Snob Appeal. Responding to mail claiming that Stereophile only appealed to "snobbish" folk, Holt said "far from being chastened by these letters, I am proud to declare that they are right on target."

Finally, we have John Marks' first article in a new series in Stereophile, "The Fifth Element #1." For his inaugural time out, Marks tracks down the latest hot female chanteuse and also explains his intentions with his new music-based column.

X