LATEST ADDITIONS

Accustomed as I am to the beauteous sound of mbl gear, nothing prepared me for the combination of mbl speakers and electronics, hghi-resolution files played back on a Macintosh G5 tower equipped with the latest Amarra music server software, and Wireworld cabling. Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" was gripping when downloaded from a 24/96 <I>Rumours</I> DVD-A. The depth was "this" short of unbelievable, the bass and clarity astounding, and the tonal envelope very well represented. Even FIM's 16/44 version of Bizet's "Habanera" from <I>Carmen</I> sounded hi-res due to the amazing depth of this system's images.

That the Sixth Annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is even taking place at the Denver Tech Center Marriott this year is something of a miracle. Just as preparations for the show were getting underway, its universally loved founder, Al Stiefel, died at the age of 66. Knowing how much the show meant to her husband, his co-show producer and greatest fan, Marjorie Baumert, vowed to preserve Al's legacy to the audiophile community. Thanks to Marjorie's dedication, perseverance, and love, and the able assistance of everyone from Marcie Miller and the Colorado Audio Society to several members of Marjorie's family, the show continues as a tribute to Al.

To congratulate myself for getting our <i>2010 Buyer’s Guide</i> out the door on time (pretty much), I zoomed out of here this past Tuesday night and headed straight to Other Music for some new records. I think the people who work there are starting to recognize me.

Lady Gaga wanted to create a headphone that would combine Dr. Dre's sense of sound with her own sense of style. The result is Heartbeats, which have a look inspired by the studded jackets Lady Gaga and her friends once wore.

<i>Lady Gaga surrounded, appropriately, by paparazzi. Ha, paparazzi! Get it?</i>

<I>Ben Webster and Associates</I> is one of the loveliest albums put out in the past couple years by Speakers Corner Records, the German-based audiophile reissue house. (Its LPs are distributed in the U.S. by Chad Kassem’s Acoustic Sounds.) Recorded in 1959 on the Verve label, it features Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Budd Johnson on tenor saxophones; Roy Eldridge, trumpet; Ray Brown, bass; Jimmy Jones, piano; Leslie Spann, guitar; Jo Jones, drums.

We all recognize that the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/374">Super Audio Compact Disc</A>, despite being an almost ideal format for high-resolution audio, has not replaced the "Red Book" CD. However, Sam Tellig's comments in the June and July issues of <I>Stereophile</I>, and Steve Guttenberg's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/whatever_happened_to_51-channel_mu… We See It</A>" in July, unleashed e-mails urging me to champion multichannel sound (don't I do this already?) and smite the unbelievers (not a chance).