LATEST ADDITIONS

If you are to believe all the promotions for the Compact Disc, simply buying a player will transport you instantly to sonic nirvana. No background noise! No distortion! Flat frequency response from 20 Hz to 20kHz, pIus or minus zilch! The most perfect sound that modern hightech can provide! But if CD sound is so perfect, what are so many people screaming bloody murder about? It seems that half the golden ears who hear it are smitten with hate at first hearing. The other half finds it the best thing since tax shelters.

Any difference that is at all audible must be treated as though it is huge!" John Atkinson declaimed, as Tom Norton and I rolled on the floor laughing. It was a slow day around the <I>Stereophile</I> offices, and the startlingly huge differences that our colleague was describing did strike us as rather piddling&#151;so John began stentorophonically reciting rules from a mythical <I>Guidebook for Audio Reviewers</I> to gales of laughter all around.

<i>Cold Fact</i>, the recently unearthed 1960's psychedelic folk album from obscure Detroit songwriter, Sixto Rodriguez, has been pretty much everywhere these days. Last week, in fact, I walked by John Atkinson's office to hear him blasting the outstanding opening track, "Sugar Man."

The vinyl is packed with a bonus 45, excellent liner notes, and a very cool poster. My only problem is I can't decide whether to hang the poster on my wall or keep it tucked nicely with the vinyl.

The poster shows that Light In The Attic will be releasing a second Rodriguez album in the near future. I'll be sure to pre-order that one, too.

The thing is heavy as all hell. It must be filled with lead shot or sand or the lives of many, many men.

Unlike that of the less-expensive Rega turntables, the Sota Sapphire's substantial dust cover works on heavy-duty hinges and holds itself in place. I don't know what this is good for, but it's cool. The Rega dust cover, on the other hand, is hinge-less and does not stay open half-way.