LATEST ADDITIONS

One of the highlights of recent Consumer Electronics and Home Entertainment shows has been the demonstrations of sound quality put on by Australian amplifier manufacturer Halcro with Wilson Audio loudspeakers. At my first exposure to one of these demos&mdash;described in my April 2002 "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/557">As We See It</A>"&mdash;enormous dynamic range was coupled with a grain-free presentation and almost holographic stereo imaging to produce a breathtaking sweep of sound. Paul Bolin reviewed Halcro's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/683">dm58 monoblock</A> in October 2002, and that amplifier was subsequently voted this magazine's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index2.html">Amplification Component of 2002</A>" by our reviewers.

Back in April 2001, Jonathan Scull got his hands on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/401sony">Sony SCD-C333ES SACD/CD player</A>&mdash;a carousel model no less&mdash;and filed his report. "So I loaded up five discs for the evening&mdash;a process quite different from choosing and playing one disc at a time&mdash;and imagined the angle on the bumper shot I'd have to line up for <I>this</I> review!"

The entertainment industry is going the last mile in its war against file sharing. On Friday, October 8, the Motion Picture Association of America (<A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org">MPAA</A&gt;), the Recording Industry Association of America (<A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">RIAA</A&gt;), and the National Music Publishers Association (<A HREF="http://www.nmpa.org">NMPA</A&gt;) appealed to the US Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling earlier this year that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-trading networks can't be held liable for copyright infringement.

Anyone who has experimented with wireless local area networks for audio&mdash;feeding rear/side speakers in a multichannel system, for example&mdash;can attest that the technology is far from ready for prime time. Prone to noise, interference, and dropouts, wireless audio systems require a tremendous amount of refinement before they'll meet audiophile standards.

Forget about the music for a second, and let's concentrate on the art of reproduction. What is the best <I>sounding</I> disc you've heard so far this year?

The internal battle between the head and the heart, between the analytical and romantic sides of our nature, is a difficult one. I'm an engineer, so it seems as if my cold, calculating side should have the upper hand. This is true in a lot of cases; most of my actions and decisions are based on straightforward, logical analyses. However, things like a house full of castaway dogs, or a garage full of quixotic British cars and Italian motorcycles, suggest that my heart holds sway reasonably&mdash;perhaps distressingly&mdash;often.

To compartmentalize or not to compartmentalize, that is the question. Does one review an expensive CD player at the dawn of the 24-bit/96kHz digital age by pulling a "Clinton," standing defiantly before a jury of audio peers to deliver a speech on the state of the CD art, boxing in, roping off, and all but ignoring the new, supposedly unimpeachable medium?