A mastering engineer's job is both to act as the final quality control before a recording goes out for manufacturing and, just as important, to apply to that recording the requisite technical finishing touches. Over the course of his career to date, mastering engineer Robert C. Ludwig has racked up more than 7500 album credits.

Playing the blues gets old fast. Since this most fundamental American popular music, stopped being the African-American party music of choice, and became a traditional music, celebrated as the precursor of rock'n'roll, blues players face a stark choice: change, or be content with playing small clubs and bars.

Trumpeter-composer Dave Douglas seems to release an album every few months (it helps that he has his own label, Greenleaf Music), and his latest, Brazen Heart, ranks among his best in several years.

Maryland retailer JS Audio (4919 St. Elmo Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814) is having an open house this coming Saturday (October 17, 2–9pm). Special guests will be John Quick, Director of Sales North America for dCS, who will be introducing the new Rossini DAC and disc player; Dave Gordon, National Sales Manager for Audio Research; Michael Taylor, VP Sales North America for Nordost; and Michael Latvis, Chief Engineer for Harmonic Resolution Systems...

Long-time Stereophile readers May be dismayed by what appears to be our unfettered satisfaction with some of the recent crop of new components. Aren't we, after all, dedicated to the pursuit of perfection? Do we really feel that some products are all that close to it? The answer to both questions is "Yes."

Exciting news greeted the posse of press who headed to the Marriott Denver Tech Center's Atrium Saturday October 3 for a press conference entitled "MQA and Mytek Present: From Studio to Home." Both Bob Stuart of MQA, Ltd. (above right) and Michal Jurewicz of Mytek Digital (above center) were present, as well as Pål Bråtelund, Strategic Partnership Manager for Tidal (above left), and, for MQA partner AudioQuest, AQ VP Steve Silberman.

Burning Amp is back. Perhaps the world's largest DIY festival—only the European Triode Festival begins to rival it in size—the mostly annual festival returns to the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, October 17, after a year's break to regroup and scout out a new venue. Now ensconced in a far more comfy 16+ room office venue in the South Bay—Interana Headquarters at 305 Walnut Street in Redwood City—Burning Amp promises at least 15 DIY systems plus an exciting group of presentations.

As the Stereophile Contributing Editor who has attended more Rocky Mountain Audio Fests than anyone except John Atkinson and Michael Fremer—that's me in the center—I've been entrusted with writing the show wrap. (John, it should be noted, deeply regrets that the magazine's production schedule made his attendance impossible.) But this time around, rather than simply relying on my own impressions, I posed questions to and gathered impressions from both my fellow bloggers, Sasha Matson (left above) and Herb Reichert (right above), and no fewer than 25 exhibitors.

Wilson seems to not only have a lot of dealers—Shadi’s Santa Monica-based Audio Salon is one—but also possesses a most intelligent marketing strategy that leads it to honor requests for loaner loudspeakers when it feels the products they’ll be paired with at shows are up to snuff. In this case, were they ever! Alongside the Wilson Sabrina loudspeakers ($15,900/pair) in the Audio Salon room were singing components of very different price points. . .