On Saturday, February 10, collaborative improvisation band Attention Screen gave its debut at Manhattan's Merkin Hall at Kaufmann Center to a packed house. The event was recorded by John Atkinson for release in May as a <I>Stereophile</I> CD, possibly followed by a limited-edition DVD-A.

Is a high-end music server the audio equivalent of polishing a turd?

Is a high-end music server the audio equivalent of polishing a turd?

Is a high-end music server the audio equivalent of polishing a turd?

Is a high-end music server the audio equivalent of polishing a turd?

Is a high-end music server the audio equivalent of polishing a turd?

Naim's new "statement" CD player, the CD555 ($20,300 by itself, $28,150 with PS555 power supply), breaks no new technological ground. Rather, in typical Naim fashion, it attempts to optimize 16-bit/44.1kHz CD performance by paying fanatical attention to the devilish details. It doesn't play the DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, or SACD formats, nor does it have a digital output&mdash;and it doesn't create an illusion of higher resolution by upsampling the data.

Naim's new "statement" CD player, the CD555 ($20,300 by itself, $28,150 with PS555 power supply), breaks no new technological ground. Rather, in typical Naim fashion, it attempts to optimize 16-bit/44.1kHz CD performance by paying fanatical attention to the devilish details. It doesn't play the DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, or SACD formats, nor does it have a digital output&mdash;and it doesn't create an illusion of higher resolution by upsampling the data.