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Editor: Sorry but I could not disagree more with this column. While I do agree that all of this stuff is subjective, to merely state that this subjectivity abolishes all objectivity borders on the absurd. Hi-fi is merely the art of finding components that one "likes"? Why bother having reviews or magazines like Stereophile at all? In Lavorgna's opinion, it's all just a matter of taste anyways.

Hi-fi components are borne of science and technology, they are most definitely not works of art. A painting is an artist's interpretation of reality which often…

Oh, how the menacing have have mellowed. At 52, songwriter, playwright, fashionista, rehabbed junkie, and all-around scary-lookin' dude Nick Cave is submitting to mundane record-business drudgery. like a full day of interviews with Grinderman drummer Jim Sclavunos, in support of their new album, Grinderman 2.

An hour later than scheduled, as I'm being escorted into Cave's inner sanctum at the Soho House, in New York's still weirdly…

First, I tried the Meridian Sooloos system and loved it. But at that time the Sooloos didn't play nicely with sources other than ripped CDs. I then borrowed a Sonos WiFi Music System, which worked well enough for streaming…

Description: Music player with WiFi & Ethernet inputs, 4.3" color touchscreen. Outputs: stereo analog (RCA), digital coaxial (RCA), TosLink, headphone on 3.5mm stereo jack. Music formats supported: MP3, FLAC, WMA standard & Lossless (by internal conversion), WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, HD-AAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey's Audio (by internal conversion). Internet radio support for MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, WMA. USB & SD card ports for picture and music files. Maximum audio resolution: 24-bit/96kHz. Remote control included. System…

Manhattan System
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics DX-5, Oppo BDP-83SE universal players.
Desktop System: Meridian F80.
Preamplification: Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor & 861 Reference v4 digital surround controller, Parasound Halo P7 multichannel analog preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: McIntosh MC303 (three-channel), Bel Canto Design REF1000 Mk.II (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: B&W 802D.
Cables: HDMI: van den Hul Flat 180, AudioQuest Vodka. USB: AudioQuest Carbon. Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah/DBS balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest…

To measure Logitech's Squeezebox Touch, I used Stereophile's loaner Audio Precision SYS2722 system. (See www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue.) For some tests I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Jitter Analyzer. I used audio files fed to the Touch both over my WiFi network from my iTunes library and on a solid-state USB drive plugged into the Squeezebox. (For the latter condition, a version of the Squeezebox Server program runs on the Touch itself). The WiFi performance was a lot more robust than my old…

The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer utilizes two 8" woofers in a free-air enclosure. This technique attempts to mimic the dipole radiation pattern of the original Quad ESL. The SW-…

The only solid-state amplifier I've encountered that competes with the Conrad-Johnson Premier Five's middle range is the Electron Kinetics Eagle 2, which has better bass, but not as suavely musical a high end as the Five. (On the other hand, it's a bit less than one sixth the price.)

One of the best arrangements I came up with while working with the Fives involved using them to drive the upper-range electrostatic panels of the MartinLogan Monoliths, while biamping the low end with the Eagle 2 and a…