LATEST ADDITIONS

<B>Prelude</B> <BR> I fell in love with the original Link DAC, as was obvious from <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/234/">my review</A> in the January 1999 <I>Stereophile</I>. I said that "the Link redefines entry into high-quality digital sound," as it provided excellent sound and 24-bit/96kHz conversion for the remarkably low price of $349. It is as firmly ensconced in Class C of "Recommended Components" as it is in my weekend system, where it tames the digital signals from my DMX receiver and my trusty old Pioneer PD-7100 CD player.

You've decided to add a new piece of equipment to your system. Now begins the process of figuring out which make and model you want. How do you test products to make sure you get the right stuff?

An improved digital-audio compression standard has been adopted by the <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com/">Bertelsmann Music Group</A> (BMG) and the <A HREF="http://www.umusic.com/">Universal Music Group</A> for commercial music downloads. "Advanced Audio Coding" (AAC) is said to offer higher audio quality while occupying 30% less bandwidth and storage space than the popular MP3 format, according to an announcement from San Francisco&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com/">Dolby Laboratories</A>.

E<I>ditor's Note: This is Part Two of a six-part series from reader Herv&#233; Del&#233;traz of Switzerland, who is chronicling the development of his DIY (do-it-yourself) audio amplifier. (Part One is <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10825/">here</A&gt;.)</I>

Dynaudio US's president, Al Filippelli, tells Wes Phillips that "Dynaudio speakers are a lot like the Danes who make them. They don't look all that fancy, but they tell the truth and they get the job done. To a lot of audiophiles, that's boring. But there are a lot of people who have been looking for those qualities in a loudspeaker, and for them, boring can be cause for excitement." Phillips takes an in-depth look at the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/262/">Dynaudio Contour 3.3 loudspeaker</A> to determine if "boring" can make <I>him</I> happy.

Bright April Sunday sunshine beams through the bay window of my listening room. The light catches four loudspeakers on stands, two stacks of electronic equipment, a small video monitor, black cables strung behind furniture, and a pile of freshly opened DVDs. I sit in the center in a large, overstuffed chair covered in blue velvet, listening to an array of six loudspeakers and a TV monitor playing The Haunting's DTS soundtrack. The floor rumbles as the sounds of creaking timbers come up from below.

Bonnie and I decided to avoid the crowds last weekend, and instead settled in at home to watch the recent remake of <I>Great Expectations</I>, with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. It seemed like a pretty good movie, but before long I found my thoughts drifting to the review I had in progress: my audition and analysis of the Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R. True, <I>Great Expectations</I> is a little slow, and a few explosions or car chases might have better held my attention, but if ever there was an audio product to which the phrase "great expectations" applied, it's the Magnepan 3.6/R.