Recording of January 2006: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Recording of January 2006: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

WAGNER: <I>Tristan und Isolde</I><BR>
Pl&#225;cido Domingo, Tristan; Nina Stemme, Isolde; Mihoko Fujimura, Brang&#228;ne; Ren&#233; Pape, Marke; Olaf B&#228;r, Kurwenal; Jared Holt, Melot; Ian Bostridge, Shepherd; Matthew Rose, Steersman; Rolando Villaz&#243;n, A Young Sailor; Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Antonio Pappano<BR>
EMI 5 58006 2 (3 CDs, 1 DVD). 2005. David Groves, prod.; Jonathan Allen, John Dunkerly, Roland Heap, engs. DDD. TT: 3:46:29<BR>
Performance *****<BR>
Sonics ****&#189;

John Atkinson on subjective testing

John Atkinson, in several posts on the topic of subjective testing in another post, has presented arguments so void of logic that I must respond. In this comparison of medical, wine, and other blind testing to audio, he wrote, "[The item] being tested is the direct effect of the stimulus. With audio, you must test the stimulus indirectly, through its effect on music." He then goes on to talk about test signals and other issues that can only lead to a reasonable response of,

How to Level Match Players for Comparison?

Hi, All,

I recently bought a new SACD/CD player (Marantz SA-11S1) and I would like to do some listening comparisons between this player and my Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC.

The Marantz' output level is about 1 dB higher than the Tri-Vista's (levels viewed on my scope using the CBS test CD).

I am interested in the best way to attenuate the level of the Marantz.

Waking Up Drunk-Like

Waking Up Drunk-Like

Sleep inertia is a wonderful phrase, one I'm sure to add to my personal lexicon. "We found the cognitive skills of [some] test subjects were worse upon awakening than after extended sleep deprivation," researcher Kenneth Wright said. That's because in some of us, the cortical areas responsible for problem-solving take longer to wake up than other parts of the brain&mdash;as much as 12 hours, in my case.

Volvo's Jigsaw Puzzle Hardtop Convertible

Volvo's Jigsaw Puzzle Hardtop Convertible

One of my most pleasant memories from living in Santa Fe was cruising the back road to Albuquerque to visit Brian Damkroger for the first time in John Atkinson's classic Mercedes ragtop. Naturally, it started to rain and we had to pull off the road and wrestle his roof back onto the car. <I>All this Mercedes mechanical sophistication and we still have to do this by hand?</I> I thought.

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