I have been thinking (uh-oh) about the ever so vague terms "hifi" and "high-end". Very well aware that the border between those is floating and to a degree an individual opinion, I wonder where the border between those two goes. Has it got to do with the price tag only? Is it just a term that describes the top of the heap hifi? Does high-end comprise of the top built, top priced, top sounding gear for other reasons than the mentioned.

I am aware there may be many opinions, but I'd like to know what people think about it.

Hi all -seeking advice - have an el cheapo ($99)hybrid valve amp powering my computer system - listening last night, suddenly the sound went all crackly and then no sound -all 4 of the preamp valves went cold -any ideas

I'm looking for thoughts on a couple of problems I'm having with a music server.

I bought a used Olive Musica (like the Symphony, but with larger hard drive) several months ago to store and playback my flac files.

I finally got around to hooking it up the other night. As noted many times, my system is nothing fancy: PSB B25s, an Oppo universal player, a 't amp' with the 2024 chip.

I'm really, really happy with the sound of the system when listening to cds.

Welcome back Queen Mother.

seriously though, missed you while you were out,man!

I just heard a very interesting thing about Arizona on the radio.
It kind of goes like this.
In Arizona the Republican candidates are fighting to see who can look the toughest nut on the right wing block.
Meanwhile Hispanics are the fastest growing section of the community.
Whilst 80% of those described as "old" are white, only 40% of children are white.
As a Hispanic Republican activist commented, if the GOP wants to alienate a family oriented, religious, socialist hating section of people, it will certainly not help their election hopes.

I recently purchased a fiber Optic cable to hook my PC up to my Receiver. However, the sound quality is noticeably worse. The music often sounds flat, faint, distant, unbalanced and lacking the richness that I get from my cd player, which is also hooked up to my receiver.
My sound card is Realtek HD and my receiver is a Denon, but before the days of HDMI (if that even makes a noticeable difference). Most of my digital music is in wav format. I've attempted to fiddle with the equalizer, bass and treble on my receiver, but the improvement is only marginal. Any suggestions?

John Marks has put up some very nice recordings on Youtube under Cremonaguy (no space) that are excellent. Check them out. I really enjoyed them. John, you did a great job syncing the cam corder and the 2496 recorder.