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A "CD processor," is how I distinctly heard Cary Audio's Dennis Had describe it. The venue was <I>Stereophile</I>'s High End Hi-Fi Show in New York last April. Nothing really unusual in today's digital marketplace, I thought to myself, though a bit out of character for a company dedicated to vacuum-tube technology. But wait a minute. Dennis had described it as an <I>analog</I> CD processor. Analog!? Well, yes, the unit processes the analog signal from a CD player.

David Chesky, whose company has been making superior recordings for nearly 20 years now, isn't from the engineering side of the business. He's talent&mdash;a pianist who sometimes performs on his label, a composer of classical and jazz selections integral to its catalog, and an arranger as well.

<I>What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.</I>&mdash;Gustav Mahler

<i>If it’s not the Avian flu, it’s the maple syrup.</i><br>
&#151Nina Myers, Esquire magazine<br>
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But it’s not the cats that are killing me. It’s the commute.

On our way home last night, at your request, we found shelter from the relentless rain near a bit of dancing fire. White candles melted into soft wings and waves and fingertips, beckoning us closer. We sat at the fun table beneath so many beaded chandeliers, and ordered the best drinks in all of Manhattan&#151pineapple coconut mojitos and razzle dazzles&#151which were far too strong, but perfect, nontheless. The older woman in the strange hat offered us one of her piggyback dates&#151stuffed with almonds and wrapped in bacon, sprinkled with Cabrales bleu cheese&#151but we, of course, declined, and decided instead to order some of our own.

Wes sends his "Hola!" from Barcelona: