LATEST ADDITIONS

Though the January 2010 issue of Stereophile will be hitting newsstands before the holidays, this is nominally the last issue of 2009. But already in October, on my return flight from Denver to New York following this year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, it struck me that 2009 had not been a good year for the world of high-end audio. Yes, the worldwide recession has bit deep into the economic health of audio manufacturers and retailers, but in the past 12 months too many of those who have helped make our hobby great, and have helped promote our shared passion for listening to music with as high a quality as possible, have breathed their last.

Distribution and format chaos may reign, but the music prevails. What is your pick for <I>new</I> album of 2009 (no reissues please)?

<i>Where did I hide that Replacements record, dammit?</i>

A few things:

The face was different, but the look was familiar. It should have been. The $2395 Aria Mk.III is a close cousin to the Aria II that I'd hung around with for about two years. Same sense of style, same heart of tubes. CAL Audio apparently made it what it is today, from the ground up. They even designed its transport and transport-drive circuitry in-house (footnote 1). In a high-end world which has gone increasingly to separate digital processors, CAL has been, up till now, a conspicuous holdout. They've only recently introduced their first outboard converter, and have in the past argued in favor of the all-in-one player. Something about reduced jitter from all the timing circuits being under one roof.

I wonder if <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/not_not_fun/">Karen</a&gt;, over at <a href="http://www.othermusic.com/index.cgi">Other Music</a>, has gotten around to listening to Sex Worker’s <i><a href="http://www.notnotfun.com/now.html">The Labor of Love</a></i>. I’d like to tell her about it. I probably wouldn’t tell her like this:

Have you read <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_way_we_listen_now/">that<…;, yet? Okay, now read this: “<a href="http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/116282-reconsidering-the-revival-o… the Revival of Cassette Tape Culture</a>,” by PopMatters’ Calum Marsh.