Audio product information is available in many forms, from glossy brochures or ads to dealers' informed sales pitches. Where does a manufacturer's website fit into the picture?
<I>The Monsters are Due on Maple Street:</I> In the 1960 <I>Twilight Zone</I> episode with this title, inexplicable power outages and celestial lights cause the citizens of an idyllic American town to accuse one other of being aliens. Fear feeds suspicion, hysteria turns to mayhem, and soon lynch mobs roam the streets and former friends are burning down each other's homes.
<A HREF="http://www.ti.com">Texas Instruments</A> has released a new chip that advances the performance of high-resolution digital audio while limiting consumers' ability to enjoy it.
For quite a while now, Pioneer and Marantz have stuck their necks out with the few universal SACD/DVD-A/DVD/CD players available. Not any longer, as <A HREF="http://www.onkyousa.com">Onkyo</A>, Teac and Yamaha join the club with new machines, aimed at consumers hedging their bets as to who will win the high-rez format wars.
Everybody's favorite writer (according to the latest <I>Stereophile</I> poll), Sam Tellig, reviews the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/673/">Conrad-Johnson MV60</A> power amplifier and explains "hanging beef." "For $2795, I loved the Conrad-Johnson MV60," says Tellig.
Following <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11396/">Apple Computer's lead</A> in bringing high-resolution audio to the computing environment, <A HREF="http://www.soundblaster.com">Creative Technology</A> announced last week several audio products intended to facilitate DVD-Audio playback via personal computer. The company is also offering suggestions for making a PC quiet enough for use in a dedictated listening system.
It's been apparent for years that many of <I>Stereophile</I>'s readers have a favorite section or writer. What is yours and why?
The combination of accessible world music and transparent sound featured on <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/"><I>Let Your Voice Be Heard</I></A>, the CD released in 2001 by male-voice choir Cantus, made it an audiophile favorite. <I>Stereophile</I> editor John Atkinson returned to Minnesota earlier this year to record Cantus for a second time. This time, however, the program was very different: an ambitious sequence of choral works illustrating a musical and poetic progression from grief and sorrow to consolation and joy, following the tragic events of September 2001.
Hard as it is to believe, next year will be the 40th anniversary of <I>Stereophile</I>'s famed "Recommended Components" feature. J. Gordon Holt first set the list to paper when the Beatles were first breaking big in the US, and its April and October appearances have stood as biannual audiophile institutions ever since.
It is shaping up as one of the big battles of the 21st century: content owners (who are not necessarily the artists who create content) versus the consumer electronics industry. On the one hand you have Hollywood with its record companies and the RIAA, and on the other, the manufacturers of products and technologies that facilitate the manipulation and use of digital content.