Why would a sharp mind offer a $15,000 integrated <I>digital</I> amplifier to a reviewer who has been characterized in the audio press as the "self-proclaimed Analog Messiah" and a "hyper-Luddite"? That's the first question a self-centered reviewer asks himself. Yours might be: "A $15,000 integrated amplifier from...<I>Sharp</I>?"

Why would a sharp mind offer a $15,000 integrated <I>digital</I> amplifier to a reviewer who has been characterized in the audio press as the "self-proclaimed Analog Messiah" and a "hyper-Luddite"? That's the first question a self-centered reviewer asks himself. Yours might be: "A $15,000 integrated amplifier from...<I>Sharp</I>?"

Why would a sharp mind offer a $15,000 integrated <I>digital</I> amplifier to a reviewer who has been characterized in the audio press as the "self-proclaimed Analog Messiah" and a "hyper-Luddite"? That's the first question a self-centered reviewer asks himself. Yours might be: "A $15,000 integrated amplifier from...<I>Sharp</I>?"

Judging from the e-mails we get, some folks wonder why <I>Stereophile</I>'s website continues to cover the advance of such lo-fi formats as MP3 as well as the problems encountered by companies like Napster as they tangle with the music business. But consider this: a new study reports that the market for digital music players will grow to $6.4 billion in 2005&mdash;more than 34 times 1999 shipments&mdash;which is also nearly 80% of the $8 billion reported for sales of <I>all</I> audio products, including portables, from last year (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10677/">previous article</A>).

DVD-Audio has been "almost here" for so many months that it seemed almost anticlimactic when the first players finally emerged on dealer shelves this week. Late in May of this year, <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A&gt; announced (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10757/">previous story</A>) that they would be releasing two players, one under the Panasonic banner and the other under the company's Technics brand, in July. It looks as if they've finally made good on their promise.

DVD-Audio will soon bring high-resolution multichannel sound to music lovers, but they may be dismayed by the format's several varieties and the semi-compatible hardware that will be needed to play them. That was the impression left by a lecture the last week of June at <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com/">Dolby Laboratories</A>' Presentation Studio in San Francisco.

The bad news for the music industry: Teenagers bought less music last year, according to a recently released survey commissioned by the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America</A>. The good news: Middle-aged folks bought more, according to the same survey.

With new high-end audio formats hitting the shelves and MP3 and Napster dominating the online music news, developments in the world of radio have taken a back seat lately. But two announcements this week offer a peek at where the broadcast business might be headed.

It may come as a surprise to relative newcomers to the field of audio, but some loudspeaker manufacturers are manufacturers in only a limited sense. They buy drivers, off-the-shelf or custom-built, from companies like VIFA, SEAS, Focal, etc.; cabinets from a woodworking shop; and crossovers from an electronics subcontractor. While the system design will have taken place in-house, actual manufacturing is restricted to assembling the components, perhaps tweaking the crossover, and final QC. Even some highly successful loudspeaker manufacturers use this approach, which can work well as long as the suppliers do their jobs properly.