News

Want to start an argument on one of the audio newsgroups? Just mention ABX. Doesn't matter if you're for it, against it, or just curious about what it is---you'll start a fire that might take weeks to burn out. But before audio newsgroups even existed, J. Gordon Holt was probing the usefulness of the ABX Comparator in an "As We See It" column from 1982, "The Truth Should Out." His thoughts might surprise you.

Our second Archive addition this week is less controversial, but perhaps more important to the music-loving audiophile. In "What Makes a Good Recording?," J. Gordon Holt lays out a "checklist of 16 specifics to consider when evaluating your own or somebody else's live-recording efforts." He also discusses that most elusive of audiophile goals: "Does the recording convey the feel of a live musical experience, or doesn't it? If it doesn't, can it be high fidelity?"