LATEST ADDITIONS

<A HREF="http://www.lehmannaudio.de">Lehmann audio</A> has carved out a small niche for itself in the analog market with the Black Cube phono preamp (first noted by Michael Fremer in the October 1998 issue of <I>Stereophile</I>). The company now hopes to reach a wider audience in the US and Canada for the Black Cube and the rest of its products with a new distribution arrangement between itself and <A HREF="http://www.lehmannaudio.de/hudsonaudioimports/">Hudson Audio Imports</A>.

<A HREF="http://www.sunncomm.com">SunnComm</A&gt; and others have been trying for years to find ways to prevent consumers from copying music discs. While their success in preventing digital copies <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11754/index.html">has been mixed</A>, lurking in the background was a problem many felt could never be solved.

During the first week of February, major record labels quietly launched small-scale test marketing of a new hybrid disc that combines a standard CD on one side with a DVD on the other.

<I>To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.</I>&mdash;Sir Isaac Newton, 1687

The Compact Disc clearly hasn't read the script. At a time when, in the autumn of its commercial life, the format is supposed to be stepping aside to allow younger blood to succeed it, CD has instead in recent years enjoyed something of a revival in audiophile opinion. While SACD and DVD-Audio, rather strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage, are doing more plain fretting than anything, the best in CD sound quality has improved sufficiently for some to question whether we need the new media at all.

Reader Franklyn Ayensu is wondering, dollar for dollar, do <I>Stereophile</I> readers think today's digital sources sound better than today's analog front ends or the other way around?

FM fans alert: Tuner specialist Magnum Dynalab has introduced its "Triode Series," led by the $3995 MD-106T triode tube tuner. The MD-106T is said to combine great signal
sensitivity and selectivity in channel reception with "exceptional build quality and musical realism." One design feature that's something of a throwback to tube electronics of the 1950s and early '60s is a glowing "Magic Eye" tube indicator for fast, precise tuning. The MD-106T also features "a precisely aligned tunable five-stage RF front end, and a double-thick, gold-plated circuit board to minimize vibration," according to a company announcement. <I>Stereophile</I>'s Larry Greenhill is about to embark on a review of the MD-106&mdash;stay tuned!