Last week's "Vote" results indicate that readers clearly favor better-sounding recordings. But would a poorly recorded work prevent you from buying it, regardless of the performance or artist?
"I can't make out the words."
I'd heard rumors about Peak Consult. John Marks was all a-burble, having reviewed the InCognito in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/932/index2.html">The Fifth Element</A>" in the September 2003 <I>Stereophile</I>, but I'd never actually <I>heard</I> anything designed by PC's Per Kristoffersen. Therefore, when US distributor Chris Sommovigo proposed that I audition the $25,000/pair Empress, I was intrigued. Well, who wouldn't be?
Back in March, I wrote a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/images/newsletter/305stph.html">reviewlet</A…; of Channel Islands Audio's VHP•1 headphone amplifier for the <I>Stereophile</I> eNewsletter. (What—you aren't receiving that free download yet? Well, log on to www.stereophile.com and opt in.) The VHP•1 has continued to enchant me—reason enough to examine it in greater detail, I reckoned. But the real reason I returned to the VHP•1 ($349) is that CIA's Dusty Vawter recently sent me his new VAC•1 ($159), a replacement power supply for the VHP•1's stock wall-wart supply. Could a new power supply <I>really</I> offer a substantial improvement in performance?
I recently spent a few days filling in for a local engineer, recording middle-school and high-school bands and choral ensembles. This was a requirement of the statewide music-educator adjudication process. (Don't laugh; recording high-school bands is how Telarc got its start.)
Like many specialty audio companies, <A HREF="http://www.nhthifi.com">NHT</A> has had its ups and downs. The Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer, founded by <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/232/">Ken Kantor</A> and Chris Byrne in 1986, was sold to Jensen International in the early 1990s, sold again to accesssories perveyor Recoton, and then acquired (and some would suggest saved) by Rockford Corporation towards the end of 2002.
In an era when music as instant entertainment enjoys increasing dominance over music as art, cellular phones have emerged as the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/101005upod/">latest purveyor of music on demand</A>. Issues of sound quality mean little when the goal is to accumulate more and more files at an ever-accelerating pace and have ever easier access to those files.
Want to improve your hearing? Have someone tickle your toes, or lightly stroke the palm of your hand. Sounds crazy, but it works, and things get even weirder.
So, I arrived at home (I mean, at Wes') one night, and decided to take <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/101705huckleberry/">John DeVore's advice</a> about popping a CD into the hi-fi as simple background noise. My plan was to listen to Smog's <i>A River Ain't Too Much to Love</i> while feeding the cats in the kitchen.
I was in bed for what felt like five minutes (it was actually five hours) when the little alarm clock let loose its hybrid buzz-chirp: 7am, time to wake up. I stumbled into the bathroom, my mind filled with thoughts of the previous night at Maxwell’s. The fluorescent white light above the cracked mirror blinked on and off for a couple of moments before steadying itself, reminding me of the camera bulbs that flashed while we were on stage. I heard myself think: “We’ll never play a bad show again. That’s all behind us now.”