Added to the Archives This Week

In his review of the Wadia 830 CD player, Brian Damkroger states: "My take on the Wadia was that: a) it probably wasn't going to sound that much better than the best of the $1000-ish players I had around, and b) even if it did, the differences wouldn't matter enough to me to justify its cost. My audio path took a dramatic turn one weekend, however, when a pair of cable manufacturers stopped by to demo their new products." Read about his journey and the ultimate audio destination will be revealed.

Next up, Stereophile's senior editor, Jonathan Scull, gets his hands on the VTL Wotan MB-1250 monoblock power amplifier for a Follow-Up report. "A lot of electrons have flowed under the bridge since I brought you word of the mighty Vacuum Tube Logic Wotan MB-1250" (originally reviewed in Vol.19 No.10). Has much changed with J-10, the amp, or both? Read his report to find out.

Feeling a little left behind by the mid-fi MP3 craze? Stereophile's music editor, Robert Baird, writes about your audiophile qualms in his essay "The MP3 Whirlpool." RB writes: "[As] the MP3 whirlpool continues to swirl, one simple fact has made me feel as if I'm stuck at the starting line of the entire download controversy: The sound quality of MP3 has yet to improve above that of the average radio broadcast." But wait, there's more . . .

X