My wife and I spent Christmas watching movies, something we almost never do. One of the films we watched (right before taking in the Kill Bill saga) was Ratatouille from the Pixar folks.

There is a wonderful character in the movie voiced by Peter O'Toole named Anton Ego, a notoriously harsh food critic.

At the end of the film his final review the restaurant run by rats offers one side of how to look at critics and criticism-

So, what did you guys get for Christmas? Any great hi-fi/music presents?

I got the vinyl reissue of Nirvana's Nevermind. It sounds awesome.

As the 00's come to an end, I was thinking what a *wonderful decade* it was for high-end audio. Many things happened - including a few big surprises. In this piece (the first in a two-part series) I cover the "big four" surprises. The next post will cover the Other Things this decade.

Surprise, surprise.

Power cords / Power filtration devices.

I'm considering purchasing the M-Audio USB Transit to connect my laptop music bits to my California Audio Labs Alpha DAC (the 24/96 Upgraded Version) via the CALs TOS Link Optical In.

As a Computer Dweeb, I know that just because I can connect two things together with a wire, doesn't mean they talk the same language. The M-Audio Transit's Optical Out is S/PDIF but I don't know what the CAL Alpha's Optical In is expecting.

Can anyone help ?? Thanks.

Let me first begin by saying I don't know a thing about high end audio equipment. My father, as it would turn out, did.

About a year ago he got diagnosed with ALS. For those of you that don't know what that is, it sucks. A lot. This past week he was moved to his death bed, and as he struggles with his disease, I've been charged with the task of clearing out our old entertainment room that my dad put together in order to sell the equipment for much-needed cash.

I'm guessing I'm not alone when I say that in the current economic climate, I'll take my good omens wherever I can get them

Hi, I'm having a hard time choosing between these two SACD players. Has anyone heard them together?

Assuming I'm using a neutral sounding amp and speakers, what are the different sound characteristics of the C5xeMP and the X-05 in terms of soundstaging, timbre, immediacy, imaging, resolution, depth of bass, tonal color, timing etc? Which one would give a greater sense of musical realism?

Reason I'm asking is the 2 products are sold by different dealers where I live which means I have no way of auditioning them head-to-head using the same amp and speakers.

The Keith Howard Stereophile article from Jan 2004 hinted that there may be more (upcoming) Red Book CDs, engineered by Faulkner, that use his "Law-of-Averages" technique.

Does anyone know which Red Book CDs use this technique?

Here is an incomplete disography of Tony Faulkner-engineered recordings. There are no details on recording specifics. Do other more-complete disographies exist?