What makes a phono cartridge worth $3500 or $4000? Pride of ownership? Snob appeal? Sound? Tracking ability? Exotic materials? Styling? Labor cost for skilled artisans? Special ether? Cool wooden box? All of the above?
<I>What is truth? What is reality? What is music?</I>
As audio enters its second digital decade, it gives me great pleasure to proclaim a great audio truth: to groove is divine, to error-correct ain't so benign.
On May 4, <A HREF="http://www.fortunaclassical.com">Fortuna Classical Music</A> announced release of their Maestro music server, "the first and only music player for the classical music enthusiast." Maestro's launch coincides with a major two-page centerfold spread in the June issue of <I>Gramophone</I> magazine's North American edition, followed by a single-page <I>Gramophone</I> advertisement in July that will include a promo CD.
Two scientists are racing for the good of all mankind—both of them working side by side, so determined, locked in heated battle for the cure that is the prize. It's so dangerous, but they're driven—theirs is to win, if it kills them. They're just human, with wives and children.
I've heard some of the guys — John Atkinson, Wes Phillips, Art Dudley — talk about a certain feeling. It's a strange kind of, mildly irrational, but altogether real, bit of sadness topped off with a touch of guilt and/or regret that sneaks up on the audio reviewer when the time comes to return a piece of gear to its manufacturer.
Walking along the spring streets of this crowded city, a place where you’re literally always in everyone else's business whether you like it or not, I'm often struck by the amount of serious, pounding through the songlists iPod listening that’s going on. People are eyeballing their little screens as much as they're listening.
Has the time-bomb become a time-capsule?
<I>The Guardian</I> has an extra edition on adapting books into films. It's all pretty good, so read it all.
Bagheera practices her regal hauteur—and that girl can work it.