News

On June 2, Stereophile reported that HDGiants.com, formerly known as MusicGiants.com, had filed">http://www.stereophile.com/news/bust_and_booms_on_the_download_front/">… for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The future of the high-quality music and video download site that had most recently begun offering "Super HD" 24-bit surround-sound downloads was unclear.

The most comprehensive seminars ever devoted to high quality computer-based playback in the home will take place at the fabled headquarters of Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA the last weekend of June. Entitled Computer">http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Computer-Audiophile-Symposium… Audiophile Symposium: From Performance to Playback, the two "identical" seminars are scheduled for Saturday, June 27 from 3–7pm, and Sunday, June 28, from noon–4pm. Admission to each seminar is $279.00.

With good news to share about new downloads, let's dispense with the downer first. As reported">http://www.twice.com/article/CA6661607.html?nid=2402&">reported by Twice.com, HDGiants, aka MusicGiants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US Bankruptcy Court on May 18. Although the site, often praised by Stereophile as a leader in CD-quality and high-resolution music and video downloads, still appears to be operating, the layoff of its sales and marketing staff raises serious questions about its future.

After four years of virtual inactivity, new and updated Aragon and Acurus high-end amplifiers, preamplifiers, and processors are slated to return to the marketplace. The long-established brands, which have been the property of Klipsch since 2001, are now in the hands of two enthusiastic veteran Klipsch electronics engineers, Rick Santiago and Ted Moore of Indy">http://www.indyaudiolabs.com">Indy Audio Labs, LLC.

Despite the recent affirmation by Stereophile's Kalman Rubinson that the Super Audio Compact Disc remains "the best available all-around physical medium for music" (May 2009, p.47), audiophiles in the US continue to declare it a dead format. Regardless, independent record producers such as Jared Sacks, founder and managing director of Holland's Channel Classics Records, continue to champion and promote SACD.

Koetsu USA, the US distributor for the $15,000 Koetsu Coralstone Platinum Mono reviewed by Michael Fremer in our May 2009 issue, has announced that several of its products will be demonstrated during a special "Audio Round-Up," hosted by Audio Limits in Colorado Springs. This free, two-day event takes place on Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, and is open to the public.

Colorado high-end retailer ListenUp has three Music Matters events scheduled next week, one for each of their locations: Tuesday, May 5, in Colorado Springs—230 North Tejon Street, (719) 633-2600—Wednesday, May 6, in Denver—685 South Pearl Street, (303) 778-0780; Thursday, May 7, in Boulder—2034 Arapahoe Avenue, (303) 444-0479.

Two unusual download sites now offer high-resolution 24-bit files for audiophiles with a taste for adventure. The first, the UK's B&W">http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/sos">B&W Music Club, is a one-album-per-month subscription service that premieres complete, audiophile-quality albums in a wide variety of genres chosen and recorded by "curator" Peter Gabriel. The second, HifiTrack.comhttp://www.hifitrack.com/en/">HifiTrack.com;, is a Hong Kong-based site that offers Chinese and Asian traditional and pop music, Zen and meditation music, and Chinese-flavored Western pop, jazz, and classical.

"It's time to turn down the lights: NHT is going quiet."

It's a Vinyl World, After All: Michael Fremer's Guide to Record Cleaning, Storage, Handling, Collecting, & Manufacturing in the 21st Century

MF Productions mxangle3 (DVD). 2008. Michael Fremer, prod.; Joe Shelesky, Andre Kruger, Jeff Wilerth, dirs.; Joe Shelesky, editor. $30; available from Stereophile's secure">http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/home.php">secure e-commerce page.