During <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/a_visit_to_mikeys_and_the_gla… visit to Michael Fremer's house</a>, alongside all the LPs and cables and enormous amplifiers, I found myself thinking: <i>If only others could experience this, here, like this, they'd understand what all the fuss is about...</i>
At Salon Son & Image, I had my ears opened to <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/the_nordost_difference/">the differences cables can make</a> when Nordost's Bruno de Lorimier demonstrated several of the company's interconnects, from the popular Blue Heaven ($230/1m pair) to the hallowed Valhalla ($5000/1m pair). I wrote:
Remember <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/my_bat-lightning_heart/">that crush I had</a> on Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan?
I was very impressed by the hi-fi dealers I encountered while at the <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/">2009 Salon Son & Image</a> show in Montreal. Representatives from <a href="http://www.filtronique.com/en/default.asp">Son-Or-Filtronique</a>, <a href="http://www.audiobasics.com/">Audio Basics</a>, and <a href="http://www.cdfaudio.com/">Coup de Foudre</a> seemed intelligent, enthusiastic, friendly, energetic, and cool: All qualities the high-end audio industry could use more of.
So, just when I start getting used to <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/my_new_rega_p3-24/">my white P3-24</a>, Rega goes and introduces three new high-gloss finishes: Orange, Blue, and Pink. Can you believe it? I feel kinda ripped-off. Had I known, I might've gone with Orange. I might've gone with Blue. I might've gone with Orange <i>and</i> blue. (Let's go Mets.) Hell, I'm in touch with my feminine side and secure in my masculinity; I might've gone with pink.
After <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/1207bo">Fred Kaplan reviewed</A> Boulder Amplifiers' 810 line preamplifier and 860 power amplifier for the December 2007 <I>Stereophile</I>, John Atkinson requested that I listen to the 860 in my own system for a while. Never having reviewed <I>any</I> Boulder kit, I was curious.
It's been a while since I auditioned a Meridian CD player in my system. I had enthusiastically reviewed the English company's groundbreaking <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/285meridian">Pro-MCD player</A> in early 1986, and over the years had kept up with the progress they were making in digital playback, either through my own reviews or by performing the measurements to accompany reviews by other <I>Stereophile</I> writers. The 508-24 player, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/590">reviewed by Wes Phillips</A> in May 1998, was one of the finest digital products of the 1990s, I thought. But when Meridian began promoting surround sound and DVD-Audio at the turn of the century, their goals became somewhat incompatible with my own. Yes, I can appreciate what surround playback can do, but my own musical life is still solidly rooted in Two-Channel Land.
I stayed up late last on April 2—late for me, anyway: 11pm. I watched the last episode of <I>ER</I> in real time. (Hang in there, peeps, there will be an audio point after the jump.)
In our <A HREF="http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=64883">for…;, reader Ethan Winer brings up the concept of "listening blind when assessing audio quality." Do you perform blind listening tests when evaluating audio equipment?
A couple months back, a question from a dealer set me back in my chair: "Are you guys <I>really</I> going to put out <I>Stereophile</I> on a monthly basis?" I was surprised—when he put the question, we were just starting production work on the issue you hold in your hands, the twelfth to hit the stands since we started publishing monthly. Beginning with Vol.10 No.5 in August 1987, a <I>Stereophile</I> has gone in the mail every month, pretty much on time despite having gone through the trauma of changing printers last December on one issue's notice.