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German aesthetes are fond of saying "Das Auge isst mit": "The eye feasts too." In audio terms, your ears do the listening, but your eyes want their share of pleasure. I thought of that expression after I opened the T+A Symphonia's double factory box.

Not many hi-fi dealerships can say they've survived half a century of history. Natural Sound, which is based in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 20 miles west of Boston, is one that can. Founded by Jim Lackey in 1975, Natural Sound turns 50 years old this November.

If you go to Tokyo, there's a good chance you'll develop a new appreciation for shopping malls. The Japanese know malls. They know just what to do with them. Inside a Tokyo mall, you can peruse the usual handbags and shoes in their unending variety. But you can also stare at Fuji apples as large as a baby's head swaddled in tissue paper, flip through the world's most exquisite stationery, stock up on fabric from the 1920s, and taste things that will haunt you well into retirement.

There are faster ways to start an online fight, but not many. Say "$10,000 DAC" and watch audio-forum commenters descend like pigeons on a dropped hot dog, flapping and furious. They'll tell you the designers are crooks, the buyers are dupes, and anyone not DIY-ing with AliExpress kits is a poseur. Building high-end hi-fi equipment costs serious coin, but you wouldn't know it from the Anger, Smugness, and Rigidity found on certain objectivist audio forums

Zack Lober: So We Could Live
Lober, bass; Jasper Blom, tenor saxophone; Suzan Veneman, trumpet; Sun-Mi Hong, drums
ZenneZ ZR2025015 (CD). 2025. Ben Van Gelder, prod.; Alessandro Mazzieri, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½

At the beginning of last month's As We See It, I wrote that I've lately been focused on "analog things." I proceeded to write about refurbishing and modding my old McIntosh tuner. That's "analog thing" #1. So, what other analog things have I been focused on? Here's #2...

Michel Petrucciani Trio: Jazz Club Montmartre - CPH 1988; Fred Hersch Trio: The Surrounding Green; Francesco Cafiso: From Then Till When; John Zorn/Dave Lombardo: Memories, Dreams, and Reflections; Joe Farnsworth: The Big Room; David Murray: Birdly Serenade