LATEST ADDITIONS

I love attending <I>Stereophile</I>'s Home Entertainment shows. I get to check out the latest gear, hobnob with manufacturers and writer colleagues, hear some live music, and play a little jazz with John Atkinson, Zan Stewart, and Immedia's Allen Perkins. Unfortunately, work commitments at my day job meant I couldn't attend HE2003, in San Francisco, so I directed my team of <I>Stereophile</I> scouts to find me some hot new budget speakers. Robert Deutsch was quickest to respond, the week following the show: "Bob, you've got to check out these new speakers from Usher Audio in Taiwan! They have a number of models within your budget." One phone call later, and a $1000/pair of Compass X-719 bookshelf speakers was on its way to me.

The CD-303/200 is a stout, handsome unit with a thick front panel of black-anodized aluminum (silver is also available) and a beefy, epoxy-coated aluminum chassis. Even the remote control&mdash;a heavy aluminum unit with multi-function, backlit buttons&mdash;screams "Quality!" Curiously, however, the remote is clad in chrome plate, rather than brushed aluminum or anodized black to match the player. The coup de grace is the CD-303/200's transport mechanism, a Philips CDM12, which is good enough as is; Cary addition of a thick, machined drawer warmed this metallurgist's heart.

Without having intended to, I seem to have collected several "statement" products. I've already reported on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/781">Weiss Medea</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/204theta">Theta Digital Generation VIII</A> digital-to-analog converters. I saw and expressed interest in the Nagra DAC at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, when prototypes of it were shown along with a forthcoming multichannel version, the Nagra Digital Audio Processor (DAP). The two units are based on the same chassis and interface, the DAP including additional modules and processing.

Apple's OS X and Microsoft's Windows Media 9 Series both support 96/24 PCM audio. What do you think is the potential for high-rez digital to suceed as a computer-based format?

Live music from popular recording artists is on tap for attendees at the Home Entertainment Show coming to NYC May 20&mdash;23, 2004 at the Hilton New York Hotel. And best of all&mdash;all performances are FREE to all Show attendees!

As we <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/010904ces/">discovered earlier</A> this year, Microsoft is trying to make friends with audiophiles. Need more proof? The software behemoth recently announced broad support for what it has termed the "Universal Audio Architecture" (UAA) initiative, which, the company claims, "will help to ensure an improved audio experience and improved audio device driver support for users of Windows."

In a ground-breaking article from May 1990, Robert Harley uncovers the real digital story with "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/reference/590jitter">CD: Jitter, Errors & Magic</A>." Confusion about CD tweaks leads RH "to conduct a scientific examination of several CD 'sonic cure-all' devices and treatments. I wanted to find an objective, measurable phenomenon that explains the undeniable musical differences heard by many listeners where, at least according to established digital audio theory, no differences should exist."