I've heard some of the guys — John Atkinson, Wes Phillips, Art Dudley — talk about a certain feeling. It's a strange kind of, mildly irrational, but altogether real, bit of sadness topped off with a touch of guilt and/or regret that sneaks up on the audio reviewer when the time comes to return a piece of gear to its manufacturer.
Today, I felt it. I think now that this strange feeling must be just about opposite but equal to the feeling the audio reviewer catches when initially unpacking a certain piece of gear. The feeling is different, you see, for each component. At least, that's my theory. Upon slicing through the packing tape and cardboard of the Moscode 401HR, for example, I felt a greater excitement and rush of anxiety (the good sort of anxiety, that is) than with any other component I've known in my short experience with this stuff in my own home.
Leaving the Moscode with the ungrateful UPS office was not so very easy, considering, after all, it's just a 50–pound box of fuses and joints. A beautiful and powerful, glowing and magical 50–pound box of fuses and joints. In some ways, it seems unfair that I should have ever even had the experience with it. I'm just learning, just beginning, and the Moscode is an amp to live with, an amp to end with.
