LATEST ADDITIONS

As fascinating as the design of high-end hardware can be, it goes without question that without musical software (or <I>firm</I>ware, as our more computer-minded readers would have it) of an appropriately high standard, the whole business would be pointless. <I>Stereophile</I>'s interviews have therefore often featured engineers and producers whose recorded work reveals sound quality to be a major concern. I interviewed Performance Recordings' James Boyk back in Vol.9 No.6; J. Gordon Holt spoke in Vol.10 No.3 with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1282awsi">Doug Sax</A> and Lincoln Mayorga, of Sheffield Lab, and with Keith Johnson of Reference Recordings, about their history-making Moscow sessions; JGH also discussed Brad Miller's and Lou Dorren's Colossus digital project in Vol.10 No.1 and <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/asweseeit/the_colossus_of_audio">Vol.11 No.4</A>; while last month Dick Olsher interviewed Peter McGrath, responsible for some superb-sounding recordings for Harmonia Mundi USA as well as for his own Audiofon label.

Let’s put the main point up front. The new duet album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, <I>Jasmine</I> (on ECM), is a gorgeous piece of work: all standards, mainly ballads, nothing fancy (not overtly anyway), but such poignance and quiet passion; it’s a glimpse into the intimacy of the act of making art.

High-end audio is an international pursuit, with components and products sourced from all over the world. Setting aside the manufacturers' headquarters addresses, how many of the products in your system are actually manufactured outside of your home country?

<B><I>Sonic Booms</I></B><BR>
Steam Locomotives, Jet Fighter Aircraft, Military Exercise (with live ammunition), WWII Aircraft, Comic Relief I &amp; II, West Mountain Inn, Diesel Train, Steam Train with Rain &amp; Thunder<BR>
Bainbridge BCD6276 (CD only). Produced &amp; mixed by Brad S. Miller. DDD. TT: 58:00

I’m late in coming to the drummer-composer John Hollenbeck. (These things happen: so many records, so little time…) It wasn’t until a few months ago that I stumbled upon <I>Eternal Interlude</I> (on the Sunnyside label), the latest CD by his 20-piece Large Ensemble, which, had I heard it earlier, would have made it on <A HREF= http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/best_jazz_of_the_year_and_the_de… >my 2009 Best 10 list</A>. (Ditto, just to set the record straight, for <A HREF= http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/darcy_james_argues_secret_societ… ><I>Infernal Machines</I></A> by Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, that other wondrous big band that escaped my attention.)

As someone who wrestled endlessly with the nine-pin serial ports and the RS-232 protocol with which early PCs came fitted (footnote 1), I welcomed the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface when I first encountered it a decade ago, on the original Apple iMac. Plug it in. Don't worry. Be happy. The computer peripherals work as they should, which was often not the case with RS-232. It was a given, therefore, that the then-new USB port would be seen as a natural means of exporting audio data from a PC (footnote 2), but the first generation of USB-connected audio devices offered disappointing performance.

An audio/video receiver in <I>Stereophile</I>? Heresy!