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According to some, audiophile nirvana can be reached with only a few hundred dollars. But is "entry-level high-end" an oxymoron?
Think about it for a second: If you could buy a six-disc CD changer that sounded every bit as good and was built just as well as a similarly priced single-disc player, would you be interested?
It was inevitable that I'd encounter the California Audio Labs CL-15 in my search for a CD player priced less than stratospherically. CAL was one of the first companies to hit the market with a high-end CD player, and they've been building great-sounding digital gear ever since. What's more, the CL-15's predecessor was the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/696cal">Icon PowerBoss Mk.II HDCD</A>, a longtime personal favorite. I was particularly curious to see how the CAL would stack up against today's competition. I've been impressed with CAL products over the years—the original Sigma, the Delta, the DX-1 and 2, and, of course, the Icon. On the other hand, the competition—players like the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/634">Rega Planet</A>, Arcam's Alpha 8 and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/199arcam">Alpha 9</A>, and Ultech's UCD 100—has improved dramatically since I last heard the Icon.
"They're <I>cuuuute!</I>" Not a very professional reaction, but what can I say? When the Monster Cable folks pulled out their new Entech Number Crunchers during a recent visit to Santa Fe, I couldn't help myself. I was edging John Atkinson and Wes Phillips out of the way, using my long arms to reach over...gotta get one! There would be time later for the critical evaluation and cool, detached objectivity—first, I had to get one. The Entechs are the Beanie Babies of the audio world
If you think I burned out cartridge-wise at the end of my and JE's It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World cartridge survey at the beginning of the year (Vol.18 Nos.1 & 2), you're wrong. If you think I <I>ought</I> to burn out and give it a rest, you'll be disappointed. If you think analog doesn't matter anymore, you have my semi-sincere condolences. But if you think, as I do, that analog is enjoying a resurgence of epic proportions (twilight or no), and that LP playback has reached a new zenith of musical wonder, then hang on—here I go again!
I’ve been cramming to make a deadline all week, much of it spent out of town reporting, but here’s a quick preview of bloggings to come:
At CES 2007, Bill Gates announced that Microsoft was developing a <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver">…; Home Server</A>, saying, "As computers and digital media become more and more central to family life, we need better ways to organize, share, and protect digital content and information at home. Windows Home Server makes it easy for families to save, protect and access digital memories and experiences, so they can focus on using technology to organize their day-to-day lives, explore their interests, and share their memories with the people they care about."
As it has for the last 11 years, <A HREF="http://www.thecableco.com/">The Cable Company</A>, along with many of its vendors, is dedicating August to help some of "the poorest people in the most ravaged regions of the world."
You know how sometimes you can't tell how wonderful an audio component is until after you've <i>removed it</i> from your system?