LATEST ADDITIONS

Sure, it’s warm here at a time when the northeast is still chilly. Added to that, you can willingly drown yourself in music. Over five days and nights, somewhere north of 2200 bands, solos and everything in between take their shots. And of course it’s always good see friends and colleagues in what is left of both the music and publishing businesses.

This coming Thursday is a big day for audiophiles, with Stereo Exchange and Sound By Singer promoting events in New York and Apex Audio on in Denver...

I've known a lot of folks with impressive LP and CD collections who were perfectly content with the sound of the crappiest of hi-fis. This diverse group has included recording engineers, musicians, and owners of record stores. Loving music isn't the same thing as caring about the sound of music, and maybe, in some alternate universe, those folks would-have-been, could-have-been audiophiles. But in this universe, they didn't, and I'm not sure why.

The title of the Daft Punk song on the Pono Player’s screen says it all: "Give Life Back to Music." John Atkinson’s review of this little gem reveals that it is the least-expensive means of enjoying music in true high-resolution. And with reviews of a 300B SET amplifier, an affordable, big-bottomed, tower speaker, two inexpensive powered speakers that punch above their weight, and, of course, the latest edition of "Recommended Components," and you will see why we think the April 2015 issue is a keeper!

Crescendo Fine Audio (6760 West 38th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033) will be hosting a digital music seminar 4:00–8:00pm on Saturday, March 14, featuring products by Dynaudio and Plinius Audio. Dynaudio representative Mick Tillman will be on hand to explain the digital technology implemented into the Dynaudio Focus XD (pictured above at the 2015 CES with Dynaudio founder Wilfried Ehrenholz) and Xeo loudspeaker ranges. These will be demonstrated with a variety of sources, showing off the speakers’ wireless and hard-wired functionality and capabilities.

Before I moved to the boat, I lived in a big old firehouse with a shiny brass pole and a red door. The fire engines were gone but it was still a boy-toy pilgrimage site. The first thing one noticed on entering was a red 356 Porsche coupe. Behind it was a black '32 Ford hot rod with a flat-head V8 and triple Strombergs. Behind that was a 1939 Lincoln convertible from some Godfather movie. On the second floor . . .

It seems that the rising popularity of downloading of music files is going to affect not only the distribution of high-resolution recordings but also the availability of multichannel recordings. Once freed from the technical, marketing, and distribution constraints of physical media, large hi-rez and/or multichannel files can more easily be made available. The established providers of music downloads, such as Acoustic Sounds, HDtracks, and iTrax in the US, are being joined by: sites that specialize in particular genres of music, such as the Classical Shop (UK); other sites, that focus on particular formats, such as Native DSD Music (Netherlands) and the Promates Music Store (DXD files, Denmark); and music producers, such as Blue Coast Music and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO.org), that offer their work directly to listeners.