It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

It's a reviewer's privilege to be able to switch back and forth between tube and solid-state gear (or combinations thereof) as the mood or the assignment moves him. Still, I find I'm inevitably drawn back to the Epicurean delights of triode tube gear. When done right, there's an alluring musicality to it, like the breath of life. However, in any tube <I>vs</I> solid-state contest, the relative tradeoffs between tone and resolution&mdash;sweetness and articulation, euphony and frequency extension&mdash;must be taken into consideration.

Following on the heels of its <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10863/">announcement last week</A> of the first commercially available DVD-Audio disc (<I>Swingin' for the Fences</I>, by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band), <A HREF="http://www.silverlinerecords.com">Silverline Records</A> says that Aaron Neville will become the first major artist to release an album in the format. Silverline expects that, on October 24, Neville's solo album <I>Devotion</I> will be released on DVD-A. The disc will also include audio tracks compatible with standard DVD players.

Mastering engineer Denny Purcell let out a long sigh. "Does anyone in this room really believe that any of this is going to do any good?" he asked. Of the eight or nine people&mdash;each with decades of experience in the music and/or audio industries&mdash;hanging out at Georgetown Masters Studios in Nashville for SDMI's Phase II listening tests, no one said "Yes." The consensus: The watermarking issue will probably be dead and forgotten within a year.

The most common complaint about record companies: CD prices are too high. In fact, many blame Napster's runaway success on the insistence of "greedy labels" on pricing discs at $15 or higher. Apparently BMG Direct, a division of <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com/">BMG Entertainment</A>, has put two and two together and found it equals $9.99.