Spectral Audio President Richard Fryer (above) brought the new SDR-4000SV Studio Reference CD Processor ($20,000) to Innovative Audio Video Showrooms in Manhattan May 13 and 14, as part of the New York City dealer's "Meet the Innovators" series. Fryer debuted Spectral's limited-edition digital player and playback system in one of Innovative's renovated listening rooms, its dark lights, cool temps and flowing white wine aiding the already sumptuous atmosphere.

No prosaic formal classification can begin to describe the universal embrace of life and death that is Schubert's final, posthumously published String Quintet in C major, D.956, which melds characteristically Viennese gemütlichkeit with far darker forebodings. . . Those who love Schubert's final quintet await every announcement of another recording or live performance that will hopefully take them closer to the essence of Schubert's genius. Which is, in some ways, what Quatuor Ebène and cellist Gautier Capuçon's new recording of the work for Erato does.

Whoa! Am I reading this correctly? Has Universal Music Group, parent company of classical/jazz labels Deutsche Grammophon, Decca Records, Decca Classics, Mercury Classics, and distributed label ECM, really "deepened [its] commitment to jazz and classical music [and the] company's unwavering commitment to building upon its rich history in both genres" by announcing, on May 19, that it has lumped those US labels together with jazz label Verve under the new Verve Label Group? Note as well that it has also appointed Danny Bennett, the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning music, film, and TV producer who manages the career of his father, Tony Bennett, as the Verve Label Group's President & CEO.

The inaugural Canlanta is being held this Saturday, May 21, 10am–6pm, in Atlanta, Georgia at the Marriott Century City. Twenty vendors will have the latest in latest in DACs, amplifiers, and headphones on display. Exhibitors will include Noble, Questyle, Oppo, Sennheiser, Kimber Kable, Empire Ears, Violectric, Meze, and Cavalli. National retailers include HeadphoneAudiophile and Sight+Sound Gallery, and Tyll Hertsens, editor-in-chief of Stereophile's sister site InnerFidelity.com, will deliver the keynote speech.