LATEST ADDITIONS

My reviews always begin in bizarre ways. Take <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/david_manley_tubes_logic_amp_audiophile_soun… Manley</A>...please! (Just kidding.) On the last day of Winter CES 1995, I found myself towing a tuckered-out JA to a few final rooms. (This was just after the January '95 David Manley/Dick Olsher tube-rolling brouhaha, footnote 1, regarding who should do what to whom, and with which particular tube.) So as we passed Manley's room, John Atkinson thought to stick his head in (the noose) and say hello.

It says something for the state of technology that, after a quarter of a century, there still is no authoritative explanation for why so many high-end audiophiles prefer tubes. Tubes not only refuse to die, they seem to be Coming back. The number of US and British firms making high-end tube equipment is growing steadily, and an increasing number of comparatively low-priced units are becoming available. There is a large market in renovated or used tube equipment&#151;I must confess to owning a converted McIntosh MR-71 tuner&#151;and there are even some indications that tube manufacturers are improving their reliability, although getting good tubes remains a problem.

Illustrator Jeff Wong is working on a portrait of <i>Stereophile</i> founder, J. Gordon Holt, to appear in our October issue. Since Jeff will need some reference material, John Atkinson and I have been having a whole lot of fun sorting through great, old <i>Stereophile</i> <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/old_treasures/">memorabilia</…;, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_finger_button/">trinkets<…;, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/jgh_and_jgh/">photos</a&gt;.

<i>You see, JA, if you play the ride cymbal with a chicken wing, you're bound to get a lot more air in the upper octave… Photo by <a href="http://www.jeffwong.com/">Jeff Wong</a>.</i>

If you're new to hi-fi, you might not be aware of the fiercely controversial and seemingly endless argument regarding the importance of blind listening in determining a component's worth. Essentially, there are those who believe that if differences in sound cannot be perceived while listening blindfolded, or under similarly exhausting, stressful, and inhumane conditions, then differences do not exist, and we're all just full of shit when we tell you that the $30,000 Musical Fidelity Titan sounds nothing at all like the $159 Sonic Impact Super T, that, in fact, they're basically the same amp, so you might as well buy the cheaper one.