Should we be thankful that CD liner notes don't contain sentences such as, "Thanks go to the 'physiological studies in monkeys [that] suggest that roughness may be represented in the primary auditory cortex by oscillatory neuronal ensemble responses phase-locked to the amplitude-modulated temporal envelope of complex sounds.'"
Stereophile will begin its coverage of HE 2006 starting Thursday. Stay tuned for reports from all four days of the show.
Paper or plastic? When it comes to audio disc packaging, do you prefer paper/cardboard-type cases (Digipak) or the traditional plastic cases (jewel box)?
VPI Industries' TNT turntable and JMW Memorial tonearm have evolved through several iterations over the last two decades. Some changes have been large, such as the deletion of the three-pulley subchassis and the introduction of the SDS motor controller. Others have been invisible—a change in bearing or spindle material, for example, or the way the bearing attaches to the plinth. And, as longtime <I>Stereophile</I> readers know, I've been upgrading and evolving along with VPI, most recently reporting on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/498">TNT V-HR turntable</A> (<I>Stereophile</I>, December 2001).
On Monday, May 22, federal judge Naomi Reice Buchwald granted final approval to the settlement of the class action suit brought against Sony BMG for embedding intrusive and crippling digital rights management (DRM) software into its CDs. Not only did the software load secretly onto users' computers, it opened them to malware invasions, in addition to reportedly sending Sony information about consumers' computers.
It was announced this week that Hans Fantel, a founding editor of <I>Stereo Review</I> and long-time consumer electronics columnist at <I>The New York Times</I>, died in early May from injuries sustained in a automobile accident.
Yes, it's the same Canon—the Japanese photography, photocopier, and laser-printer giant whose logo for so many years adorned the rear wings of Williams Formula 1 racing cars. Canon's venture into the unknown waters of audio was instigated by the head of the UK-based research center, Hiro Negishi. I have been seeing Negishi-san, one of the world's leading minds in optical technology, at Audio Engineering Society conventions since the early '80s, so I was only half-surprised to see Canon launch first one loudspeaker, then a full range (footnote 1).
It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to <I>Stereophile</I> do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/689mirage">glowing report</A> on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of conditions. I did get to hear them briefly at LA's later that same summer, but the hustle and bustle of a <I>Stereophile</I> Writers' Conference party isn't the optimum place for value judgments.
Going from being an audio hobbyist to a professional reviewer is like passing kidney stones in an emergency room staffed with <I>Playboy</I> bunnies: Not only can you <I>not</I> have what you want, but you don't even want it anymore. In fact, you begin to consciously associate desire with a blinding pain in your crotch.
Martin Wattenberg, an artist "whose work centers on the theme of mapping information," has posted a website that "draws musical patterns in the shape of transparent arches." Kind of interesting, but it reminds me of Robert Persig's comment that data without generalizations is just gossip. Wattenberg's maps show the repetitive nature of musical composition without informing us of anything. I look forward to his taking his technique to a deeper level.