Who or what got you started as an audiophile? Please explain how it happened.
Reader Arnel Enero asks readers to share the specific personal experience that brought them into the hobby of high-end audio.
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Texas Instruments Announces Ultimate Hi-Rez Audio Chip
You can't stop progress—especially at <A HREF="http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments</A>. The Dallas, TX–based technology giant has introduced a new two-channel digital audio amplifier chip with the world's best specifications.
The Straight Story
Loudspeaker designer and manufacturer Richard Vandersteen has heard enough: He is embarking on a crusade to right an egregious wrong he sees being perpetuated by the marketing scribes and salesfolk working in the consumer electronics business. Though he was miles away, at his company headquarters in Hanford, CA, his passion for spreading the audiophile word came through the telephone loud and clear.
Digital Outputs for DVD-Audio?
The <A HREF="http://www.eetimes.com/"><I>EE Times</I></A> is reporting that the DVD Forum is getting close to finalizing a specification that would allow audio signals to be available via digital outputs on DVD-Audio players. Audiophile frustration with the new DVD-A format has mounted in the months since its introduction, with lack of access to a high-resolution digital signal from players, which currently have analog-only outputs, and the possibility of watermarked discs.
Music City Records to Issue "Copy-protected" CD
More than a year after BMG Germany had to <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10671/">recall</A> a massive shipment of "copy-proof" CDs, an American record label is preparing to attempt a similar experiment. In April, Nashville independent label Music City Records will issue <I>Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves</I>, copy protection included.
Added to the Archives This Week
As Robert J. Reina writes, "I have a passion for great speaker designs at affordable prices, and with modern driver, crossover, and cabinet technologies making innovative strides, many serious high-end speaker designers are turning their attention to coming up with the next great budget speaker." At $649/pair, is the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/330/">PSB Image 4T loudspeaker</A> it? Reina divulges the results of his aural examination.
Cello Electronics on Comeback Trail, Says Former VP
Cello, one of high-end audio's most prestigious names, is being revived by one of its former executives. Jim McCullough, who served as the brand's last vice president of international business development, has formed a new company, Matthew James LLC, which will make and market Cello electronics.
Recording of March 2001: The Houston Kid
<B>RODNEY CROWELL: <I>The Houston Kid</I></B><BR>Sugar Hill SUG-CD-1065A (HDCD). 2001. Rodney Crowell, Peter Coleman, Steuart Smith, Jim Dineen, prods.; Hank Williams, eng. AAD? TT: 47:01<BR>Performance <B>*****</B><BR>Sonics <B>****</B>
Do you think the paranoia of the recording industry is justified?
As audiophiles, we generally deplore the restrictions that the music business is trying to impose on new formats and equipment, such as watermarking and restricting digital outputs. But does the recording industry have a leg to stand on with their suspicion that we all might be potential pirates?
IUMA Acquired and Re-Launched
The prognosis was looking dim for yet another Internet music business, but last week the <A HREF="http://www.iuma.com/">Internet Underground Music Archive</A> (IUMA), revealed that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Vitaminic, a European digital platform for the promotion and distribution of music over the Internet. IUMA had recently run out of cash and says that the acquisition will allow it to relaunch all suspended services within the week.