Robert Baird

What a great show HE 2007 turned out to be. Large crowds and much good feeling all around. If two channel audio is truly dying then I didn't see it. Lots of good sounding rooms, much impressive, well-priced gear, a successful RAVE awards and a hotel with a key location all made for a very successful show.

Most Encouraging Note from the HE 2007 Show: The Stereophile CDs, new and old, jazz and classical, sold like hotcakes. Congrats to JA for all his fine engineering, A&R and major domo work on them. So does this mean that the shiny, rainbow disc ain't dead yet? At least among audiophiles?

Best Laugh of the HE 2007 Show: Sam Tellig recounting in the Stereophile editors shootout panel how he paid his daughter a dime to flip his LPs when she was a kid. She got a quarter if she pulled the record off the turntable, put it back in its sleeve and got another record out and put it on. Stereophile writer Art Dudley chipped in, thanking Sam for giving his daughter, who was in the back of the room, too many ideas. I was standing just behind Art's daughter who immediately got a big grin on her face. Classic.