LATEST ADDITIONS

At the February 1991 Audio Engineering Society Convention in Paris, Audio Precision's Dr. Richard Cabot (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/850">my interview</A> in January 1991, Vol.14 No.1) proposed a new technique for measuring noise modulation in D/A converters (footnote 1). The method, based on psychoacoustic principles, attempts to predict the audible performance of D/A converters. Now that <I>Stereophile</I> has added digital-domain signal generation and analysis to our Audio Precision System One, we can employ Dr. Cabot's technique and see if there are any correlations with subjective performance.

One of the highlights of any Consumer Electronics Show, I have found, is Nordost Corporation's demonstration of their cables. Using a relatively modest system and non-audiophile source material, they run through a simple, straightforward sequence, climbing up through their product line, culminating with their new, just-introduced model. At each step, the system sounds distinctly better&mdash;clearer, cleaner, with more body and tonal purity&mdash;than with the previous model. There's no hype, artifice, or magic, just a clear demonstration of the progress that Nordost is making as they refine their designs.

My wife and I have this ongoing riff: We try to make each other laugh by sharing examples of words we've looked at too quickly and misread&mdash;mistaking <I>offered</I> for <I>overfed</I>, <I>bagel</I> for <I>kegel</I>, that sort of thing. All very subtle and dry and Garrison Keillor. You can hear the belly laughs from there, can't you?

"Size does matter," John Atkinson discovers, as he fits the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/accessoryreviews/504shure">Shure E3c in-ear headphones</A> into his ears. Once fitted, JA hooks the mini "cans" up to his iPod and PowerBook to discover how much audiophile sound a little set of ear buds can produce.

Reader Jason Safire contends that audiophiles can find great bargains by buying B-stock equipment. He wonders how many of you do so.

Saturday is always the crunch day at the Home Entertainment Show. There are more people in the halls, more bodies in the rooms, and more noise everywhere&mdash;and it's wonderful. People here really speak our language: audiogeek spoken here.

<I>The screen door slams<BR>Mary's dress waves</I>&mdash;Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road" (footnote 1)