There's a whorish aspect to reviewing that some readers and industry critics never tire of mentioning, as if they've stumbled onto some great revelation: that we writers seem to flit from new product to new product, sometimes gushing like cracked fire hydrants over one amplifier one month, only to gush over another amp the following month.

There's a whorish aspect to reviewing that some readers and industry critics never tire of mentioning, as if they've stumbled onto some great revelation: that we writers seem to flit from new product to new product, sometimes gushing like cracked fire hydrants over one amplifier one month, only to gush over another amp the following month.

I must share with you an e-mail from reader Gene Radice (mediphor@ptd.net), in response to my September "Fine Tunes," on avoiding slap-echo. "Your columns are so refreshing to read," it began.

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)