LATEST ADDITIONS

Ultimate Ears, the headphone company that specializes in in-ear monitors such as the UE-5c, is developing a new model slated to join the super.fi family of products. During the prototyping period, the design crew referred to the new model as "XXX" (triple X).

The audio diaspora is split on the subject of bass. Some audiophiles—surely the majority—consider the reproduction of low frequencies purely in terms of the weight and drama it adds to sounds with significant bass content. Others—the generalists—take a much wider view of the significance of extended bass response, noting that an audio system's ubiquitous high-pass filters are unusual in Nature and suggesting that this is one of the factors that separate, at the fundamental level, live sound from its poorer reproduced cousin. When John Atkinson wrote on this subject more than 10 years ago (Stereophile, November 1995, "As We See It"), he quoted a memorable line by Kal Rubinson that encapsulates this latter view: "Something in Nature abhors a capacitor."

As it did for so many other designers and manufacturers of specialty audio gear, the current occupation of Basis owner/designer A.J. Conti began as a hobby and personal quest. A longtime audiophile and home-based dealer of brands like Krell and Quicksilver, Conti decided to build his own "killer" turntable using a fluid-damped suspension.

Drenched in sweat thanks to the charming weather here in New York—Oh wait, I forgot, I promised only to bitch about one season which would be winter so let me say I love summer and begin again.