FORUMS
Aloha!
Working my way through the new issue, and some items are too small for their own thread, but did catch my eye, so here goes...top ten list.
1) That Tannoy Autograph Mini is cute. A pair would look good sitting next to my computer. Cool juxtaposition of old and new.
2) Are there any writers you just "don't get?" There's one who I can't seem to really get any cohesive feeling for. His stuff hits me more like selling words by the pound, using 1,000 words to say what he could have said in a paragraph.
Apologies, to Stereophile. You know I love ya, baby. My one peeve will not lead me to "cancel my subscription."
3) I'd like to hear the whole XLO story. I heard someone at CES mention a "debacle" and "good money after bad," but it seems there's a journalistic tale there to tell.
4) What the heck is "buttery" sound? What the heck is "velvety?"
Is buttery a word for "fat" sounding? Can you differentiate buttery from creamy? Is it a sound that softens up at higher room temperature?
Usually, I don't get worked up over audio words. Well, not since TAS used "choclately"... 
...
Food analogies are tough.
Could a system have creme fraiche-y sound? Cheesy? Brie-like?
Same with velvety. That sounds like it obscures underlying detail, or has a fine grain, or is opaque.
5) Eno the dog is cool.
6) Kal Rubinson's Denon series has been awesome. In another 2-4 years, technology may progress to the point where the machines will be smart enough for me to want them! Thanks, Kal. Really an enlightening couple of installments lately.
7) Alex Peychev is even cooler than the article implies. The APL Hi Fi 3910 is a work of art that sounds beautiful by way of being more accurate, more true to what I think the recoding was than any other digi-player I've heard.
He is 10/10.
If I were Bill Gates, I'd buy one for everyone here. Owning one of these babies is at the top of my "fantasy to do" list. Which, obviously, makes me a nerd. Even more nerdy is that I was going to make a Heather Locklear joke, but that just makes me a dated nerd. Maybe I should try to turn that "fantasy to do" list joke into Keria Knightley or Scarlette Johansson joke...
If you are in the market, his player is superlative.
8) Chord should be embarrassed.
9) Time to figure out exactly how the heck a two watt distortion factory can sound so magical.
I'm not disputing the fact that it may sound good, I wanna know why!
Note to JA: This would be a perfect follow-up article to pit against that Sonic Impact amp.
Time to unveil my own category in which I file this kind of gear: "Impressionistic."
In the world of hi fi art, it's not exactly representational, certainly not realism, emphatically not photo-realism, but seems to capture the mind and please the ear like an impressionistic painting; giving the listener an enjoyable experience while still looking/sounding enough like what it's giving its impression of that we can still tell that we're listening to water Lillies (how's that for a Monet/Hi Fi tie in, eh? Monet, Water Lilly?)
10) Devore Fideltiy speakers are the bomb. I agree with the designer that this review may be an example of where measurement becomes too difficult to accurately accomplish in the review context, and may mis-represent what is actually happening.
A neat example of another place where measurement does not tell enough of the story.
I've heard those speakers and they are in the "to die for" range.
I've heard them a couple times, actually, and I could not find a flaw to mention, other than I can't afford 'em. 
Also, the March Stereophile offers us a reference quality system. Picture the APL Hi Fi player being fed into a Moon Amp, driving the DeVore speakers; with the Cardas power cords in the chain, to boot!
Cheers, y'all!
