LATEST ADDITIONS

Following the Sony/Philips jump from the starting line with Wednesday's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10445/">SACD announcements</A>, the DVD-Audio camp quickly came up to speed at the HI-FI '99 press luncheon with their plans for players and discs to appear this fall. First up at the podium was Jordan Rost from the Warner Music Group. Contrasts with the SACD position were established from the start when Rost made it obvious that, unlike SACD, DVD-Audio seeks to embrace not only high-end audio, but also various forms of video, and even Internet interactivity. Rost even went so far as to say that DVD-Audio discs could "play on CD players if a hybrid disc is feasible and desired," thus possibly deflating Sony's insistence that backward-compatibility is what sets SACD apart.

It's been five years since David Wilson's X-1/Grand SLAMM speaker system invaded our audio consciousness with its 500W power capacity and very high (95dB/W) sensitivity (footnote 1). Capable of an earsplitting 123dB at 1m, with a bandwidth to match, this was one speaker system that refused to be ignored. The X-1 has since evolved to $70,000/pair Mk.II form. It now provides some flexibility of tonal balance for different room acoustics, and is distinguished by greater subtlety in its differentiation of timbre. Beneath the X-1 in Wilson's range comes the WATT/Puppy ensemble, now in its 5.1 iteration (footnote 2). The WATT/Puppy has survived for over 10 years, and sets a benchmark for the Wilson line at its $17,270 system price.

<I>Who knows not Circe,<BR>The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup<BR>Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,<BR>And downward fell into a groveling swine?</I><BR>&mdash;John Milton, <I>Comus</I>

Reader Louis McFarlane asks a question that may touch a nerve or two among audiophiles.

Strange but true: <I>Stereophile</I> editor John Atkinson once sold a tweak amplifier after being startled by not being able to identify it in a blind listening test. "Convinced by these results of the validity of the <I>Consumer Reports</I> philosophy, I consequently sold my exotic and expensive Lecson power amplifier, with which I had been very happy, and bought a much cheaper Quad 405---the biggest mistake of my audiophile career!" says JA of the experience.

In an Internet world, the audiophile's quest for sound quality via high-resolution formats like DVD-Audio or SACD might be the last gasps of a dying generation. New media and technology companies like <A HREF="http://www.liquidaudio.com/">Liquid Audio</A>, <A HREF="http://www.diamondmultimedia.com/">Diamond Multimedia</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.real.com">RealNetworks</A&gt; are betting that the new generations of music lovers care more about how music is distributed, stored, and manipulated than about how it ultimately sounds. Les Garland, one of the founders of MTV and VH-1, has stated that "Technology fueled the growth of the market for music during the time when we pioneered music on cable. The Internet is having a similar effect, tenfold, driving artists and consumers to embrace digital media."

Our <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10430/">report</A&gt; two weeks ago on Grateful Dead Productions and its dispute with MP3 sites was tainted by some bits of misinformation. Dave Rosenberg, webmaster at <A HREF="http://www.otherones.net/">OtherOnes.net</A&gt;, has pointed out that his site did not receive a cease and desist order, but <I>was</I> asked to remove any Grateful Dead logo. Rosenberg was appreciative of the publicity the issue has received. "Thank you for publishing and making known the problems Deadabase is currently facing from Grateful Dead Productions," he wrote.