LATEST ADDITIONS

The January 2000 issue of <I>Stereophile</I> is actually the last to be published in 1999, so, at the risk of adding to your millennial fatigue (footnote 1), it is appropriate to devote much of this month's magazine to navel-gazing. Robert Baird, Chip Stern, David Patrick Stearns, and Larry Birnbaum examine the state of recorded music, while in the first of two articles, Markus Sauer questions the beliefs that underpin the audiophile world. And this "As We See It" offers an overview of what used to be called "high fidelity."

Nothing like scarcity to create demand, right? Well, there's been a scarcity of Nuvistors out there for decades, and hardly any demand. Do you know about the Nuvistor, aka the 6CW4? It was a tiny triode tube smaller than your average phono cartridge. Enclosing its vacuum in metal rather than glass, the Nuvistor was designed as a long-lived, highly linear device with low heat, low microphony, and low noise---all of which it needed to have any hope of competing in the brave new solid-state world emerging when RCA introduced it in the 1960s.

Sony has finally released SACD hardware, and DVD-Audio is promised for sometime next year, but none of the first players have digital outputs. Is this a problem for you?

In a move that is sure to enrage users of blank digital media, Canada's <A HREF="http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/">Copyright Board</A> has finalized plans to add a levy of 5.2 Canadian cents on CD-Rs and CD-RWs, 23.3 cents on audio cassettes over 40 minutes in length, and 60.8 cents on MiniDiscs and recordable audio CDs. In a market in which blank CD-Rs used for computer backup typically cost less than C$1 each, this represents an increase of at least 5% per disc. Interestingly, DAT tapes are excluded from the tax, as they are not seen as a threat to the music business.

Do high-end cables make an audible difference? Or are they cosmetic enhancements, like fancy wheels on high-performance cars? The <A HREF="http//:www.nytimes.com/"><I>New York Times</I></A>, the nation's foremost newspaper, took up the issue in a December 23 piece in "Circuits," its weekly technology section.

In last week's Soapbox, reader Norman Tracy suggested that audiophiles not wait for DVD-Audio, but instead support the 24/96 DAD format, whose discs can be played on current DVD-Video players. Do you agree? Have you bought any DADs?

We've all heard of the entrepreneur who liked a product so much that he bought the company. Such bold steps are sometimes wildly successful. Case in point: Mark Levinson and his high-end startup, <A HREF="http://www.redrosemusic.com/">Red Rose Music</A>.