LATEST ADDITIONS

There are components that stick in a reviewer's memory long after they have been crated up and entrusted to the tender mercies of UPS. When I reviewed the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/305dcs">Verona Master Clock</A> from English company dCS in March 2005, the sound it allowed the combination of a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/814">dCS Verdi</A> transport, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/454">Purcell</A&gt; upsampler, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/259">Elgar Plus</A> D/A processor to achieve from SACD was the best I had heard from my system&mdash;better, even, than I remember getting from the EMM Labs SACD transport and processor I had borrowed for a weekend a few months earlier. But at what price? The stack of four dCS components adds up to a cool $45k&mdash;"Yes, the complete dCS system is hip," I wrote in the conclusion to my review. "But $45k's worth of hip? That's a question <I>I</I> can't answer, I'm afraid, what with school fees and mortgages and taxes." The megabux dCS stack thus had to go back to the distributor at the end of the review period.

Getting a name check from the mainstream press can be a good thing. But as Wes Phillips wrote in his <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips">blog</A&gt; on February 5, "to paraphrase Mason Williams on winning an Emmy Award, 'It's like being kissed by a girl with bad breath&mdash;you appreciate the honor, but...'"

<B>MOZART: Violin Concertos 3&ndash;5</B><BR>
Violin Concertos 3&ndash;5, K.216, 218, 219<BR>
Andrew Manze, violin; The English Concert, Andrew Manze, dir.<BR>
Harmonia Mundi HMU 807835 (CD). 2006. Robina G. Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. DDD. TT: 75:45<BR>
Performance <B>*****</B><BR>
Sonics <B>*****</B>

Always remember, cookies are a sometimes food.

Okay. We just squeezed a full day's work into four tight and furious hours. The company granted us a half-day, so that we could all get a head-start on the holiday weekend. This, of course, is very nice. However, we started shipping the wonderful June issue just yesterday and had much work to accomplish this morning. In addition, for various reasons, we've had to accomplish that work without the help of an ad coordinator or production manager, and all while employing an entirely new pre-press system. Shipping days, as a rule, are intense. These have gone beyond intense.

Searchable lyric base of RT's recordings. Hours of mindless fun.

Okay, indigenous Columbians want to make Cola with real Coca? Why is everybody freaking out about this? It's <I>not</I> the same thing as cocaine. I used to live in Peru and we would drink herb tea made from coca leaves all the time. It's got about as much kick as caffeine&mdash;maybe even less, since I'd have no qualms about drinking a cup before bedtime.