Jonathan Scull tackles the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/515/">Pioneer DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player</A>, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of one of the first "universal" disc machines. Scull carefully compares the DV-AX10 to stand-alone SACD, DVD-A, and CD players to assess whether, in fact, you <I>can</I> have it all in one tidy package.

It's a brave group of souls who run today's audiophile music labels. Sane business minds would likely deem it foolhardy to start a new specialty label these days, but sometimes one's passion for music overrides the rational impulse to try something a little bit more secure (like perhaps an Internet company?).

Should performing arts be limited by health or environmental concerns? The Association of British Orchestras thinks not, according to a recent <A HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk">BBC News</A> item.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. This is especially true for music lovers who have begun to fear that record companies <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11261/">purposely corrupt</A> the data on audio CDs in an effort to restrict their use as a source for copies or MP3 files.

Branford Marsalis is unhappy with the music industry. Unlike many of his colleagues, he intends to do something about it.

Many audiophiles are incensed that the digital outputs on high-resolution disc players are limited to the 16bit/44.1kHz standard of the "Red Book" CD when playing DVD-Audio discs. To read some postings on audiophile newsgroups, you'd think it's a massive conspiracy to prevent people from adding their own processors to the playback chain. Putting as many boxes as possible in an audio system is a constitutionally guaranteed right, isn't it?

Although audiophiles may muster little enthusiasm for the home-theater-driven audio marketplace of the 21st century, its prerequisites have inspired manufacturers to cram as wide a range of flexible programming features into as highly resolved a set of performance packages as possible. Thus we're now witnessing a new generation of exceptionally musical electronics with high-end performance targeted at two-channel enthusiasts, but all primped and prepped for integration into an expanded audio-video rig.

Although audiophiles may muster little enthusiasm for the home-theater-driven audio marketplace of the 21st century, its prerequisites have inspired manufacturers to cram as wide a range of flexible programming features into as highly resolved a set of performance packages as possible. Thus we're now witnessing a new generation of exceptionally musical electronics with high-end performance targeted at two-channel enthusiasts, but all primped and prepped for integration into an expanded audio-video rig.

Although audiophiles may muster little enthusiasm for the home-theater-driven audio marketplace of the 21st century, its prerequisites have inspired manufacturers to cram as wide a range of flexible programming features into as highly resolved a set of performance packages as possible. Thus we're now witnessing a new generation of exceptionally musical electronics with high-end performance targeted at two-channel enthusiasts, but all primped and prepped for integration into an expanded audio-video rig.