After reading the review of the $6,000 McIntosh music server in the January 2008 Stereophile and the reviews of the $6,500 Arcam music server, the $12,000 Sooloos music server and the $6,000 to $7,800 Qsonix music server in the December 2007 Absolute Sound I can't help but wonder who are all these people willing to shell out big bucks for, well for lack of a better word, nothing.

I am running Mac OS X & iTunes 7.5. I occasionally stream files (all 44.1 kHz sampling rate) or Red Book CDs from iTunes via AirTunes to AirPort Express w/ mini Toslink output to external DAC w/in A/V receiver. My DAC is not HDCD capable, nor do I have any DTS encoded CDs to check bit for bit transparency of the transmission.

In 2005, JA published that iTunes via AirTunes utilizes Apple Lossless (ALAC) for the 802.11b/g transmission between iTunes & AirPort Express, that the transmission is bit for bit transparent to the source file (assuming 44.1 kHz) or Red Book CD.

I have posted 3 pics in the manufactures showcase area of one of my new lines that will be available the middle of February thru my website www.cccustomhomeaudio.com and thru select distributors that have chose to carry the line. This is the first time anyone has seen these so please give me feedback.
The photos are of the raw prototype and does not have the hardware or the custom billet speaker rings mounted. There is also another 2 days of tooling to be done to straighten everything up properly.

So I wrote an article about the history of hi-fi, check it out at:

http://www.hifi2.com/?p=11

I hope you all are having a wonderful new year.

Drove to Audio Connection in NJ. A fantastic shop! John, the owner, was full of anecdotes, and we spent 2 hours, just listening to beautiful music. Stravinsky, Cream, Radiohead, Brahms, Handel, Mozart... so good. I went there to audition Harbeth Super HL5, but John seemed to steer me away. He said they're well-built, but they're great for near-field monitoring, but somewhat lacking in the bass. (But I STILL wanted to listen to them!)