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Nothing like getting a new issue of Stereophile and sitting back with some great audio. Couple of things caught my eye: the letter from an angry young audiophile who is not renewing his subscription. This is one angry person and all I have to say is go your own way you won't be missed.

We've received some great responses to that letter. We'll publish them in our July issue.

(I'll create a May issue forum soon.)

Yeah, I finally got an issue in the mail. Back on track.

That guy was such an over the top moron that I am inclined to believe that he was simply a troll. That letter could not be real...

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Nothing like getting a new issue of Stereophile and sitting back with some great audio. Couple of things caught my eye: the letter from an angry young audiophile who is not renewing his subscription. This is one angry person and all I have to say is go your own way you won't be missed. Also nice to read the review of the Sony ES 5400 SACD which I own. I sure hope it' not the end of their SACD players it would be ironic since Sony is one of inventors of the format.

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Nothing like getting a new issue of Stereophile and sitting back with some great audio. Couple of things caught my eye: the letter from an angry young audiophile who is not renewing his subscription. ...

I really hope that the response from Stereophile and us readers to the letter writer will not be a knee-jerk reaction, but rather a more gracious one. Younger folks have read the letter and could be nodding their heads in agreement. The emotion and tone of the letter overshadow the substantive issues raised, and those concerns deserve a substantive reply.

The May issue does seem to have some good stuff from what I've read so far. I was particularly interested to see the report on the Bel Canto USB Link 24/96. I'm considering getting one. Like a lot of DAC's, mine only handles 16/44.1 through its USB input. I still have a few questions though.

As to the younger letter writer (I like to think of myself as young), I don't think he helped his cause with all the references to body parts and functions. I guess he and I do share a distaste for classical music, but my recent purchase of the previously reviewed Willie Nile's Streets of New York, and the review in this current issue of his House of a Thousand Guitars illustrates that classical music is not all you can find in Stereophile. Even a Kanye West track was mentioned in a couple of recent speaker reviews.

His tirade on tube and vinyl equipment raised a question in my mind. With his obvious disdain for for older technology, I wonder if he has ever had a chance to actually listened to any of the nicer tube or vinyl systems of today? I know I was surprised at the quality of sound when I recently heard a friends system playing vinyl.

Anyway, I'll address the issue of getting a Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 VS. getting a different DAC with a hi-rez USB input, down the road. I think there might be some interesting new products on the USB/DAC front coming soon.

Love to read it but my issue never arrives till the last week of the month..

I'm 33 and haven't gotten as angry at the world yet.

Maybe he's had a harder life than I.

While the generalization that young people hate classical music scares the BeJeezus out of me, his assertion that Stereophile only uses fuddy-duddy music is off base. For instance, JA's been dropping the needle, I mean laser, on lots of cool stuff like Kanye West and Cornelius. Fleet Foxes and Mogwai have gotten lots of ink too.

In fact, I think the magazine's reviewers are doing a better job of late in including thier diverse music tastes in thier equipment reviews than used to be the case. I feel equipment reviews are great places to hear about music that really moves a listener and should be used as such.

Its a fact that the median age of the Stereophile editors and reviewers is a bit higher than 33. But I like to hear about what these "old" guys listen to. It's broadened my taste in music. I do sometimes wish that the tracks reviewers cite in thier equipment reviews reflected a bit more passion for the music than a disection of the midbass and soundstage etc. I think you can write about both at the same time.

I recognized that angry guy's name.

He wrote to Wine Spectator and said they were doing a shitty job of convincing his peers that there was more to wine than what comes in the box, so he cancelled that subcription, too. "All that bullshit about old wines being good, and how he knew that new, fresh wine was superior..."

I also once saw him cancel a subscription to Rod and Stream because it didn't cover his favorite "water sports."

"Total false promise of content," I think he said.