Dudes! We're in Las Vegas. This town is bananas, all sex and smoke and blurry light, gambling and booze and deep fried foods.

Whenever I run into <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/092407leland/">my audiophile doppelganger</a>, Music Hall's Leland Leard, I'm sure to ask him about what's new in his playlist.

Imani Coppola's <i>The Black & White Album</i> was playing strong in the Music Hall suite. Imani sings:

Bellari's pretty little boxes remind me of my guitar effects pedals. And maybe that's why I find them so attractive.

Shanling seems to have erected a shrine to the holy iPod with its new STP-10 stereo vacuum tube amplifier ($900).

The Shanling STP-10, with the lights on. This hefty little toy is built like a tank, and made to make your iPod smile.

It was midday at the Venetian and show traffic was intense when I squeezed into the Hansen Audio suite. Despite noise from the outer hall and chatter in the back of the room, the several listeners seemed swept away by Natalie Merchant's voice. Her warm wishes were followed by Aaron Neville's "Goodnight," a blanket of voices with impressive clarity seeming to wrap around the entire room.