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Before anything, I received an e-mail from a New York City friend, asking: "Can you smell that where you are?"

Apparently, in New York City, a gas line broke. Or was it thermal inversion? Something was causing a gas-like odor to drop over the city like a lid over a pot. In the New York City area, strange odors come and go, often never to be identified.

I'm alone in my hotel room, now, at 12:34am (EST), thinking about the length of this day, thinking of how this morning seems so far away, wanting to go to sleep, wanting to be forgotten as easily as a New…

Our Product of the Year trophies. It is an absolute pleasure to create and present these awards.

"I'll follow you."

I walk down the busy Venetian corridor with Sonic Flare's Josh Ray. I'm shoved, gently but thoroughly, from behind. I notice a bright green and yellow top. I notice black leather pants. I notice lots of tube blingware. And a:

"Watch out! Coming through!"

"I was just pushed by EveAnna Manley," I say.

"That's going in the blog," Josh responds.

During a lull in the award presentations, John Atkinson and I were visited by Bent Holter, technical director of Norway's Hegel Music Systems. The company, founded in 1990, has just gained US distribution through VMAX Services. I caught up with Bent after the awards.

Here you see Bent offering his 120Wpc entry-level H1 integrated amplifier ($2595). I appreciate the simple, clean design. I also appreciate Bent's excellent smile.

I had the pleasure of becoming familiar with Hegel's CDP2A ($2595). Like the H1 integrated amplifier, it offers a clean, simple design, and features a nicely curved front panel of milled aluminum.

All of Hegel's products employ their patented "Sound Engine Technology." What's that? "It's a dynamic real-time cancelling of error in the system." Bent Holter happily and patiently explained to me (with diagrams and all!) that the "Sound Engine Technology" utilizes a "threshold detector," which identifies, calculates, and eliminates error in the playback chain.

I…

It begins quietly.

"We're not introducing anything new," says Jeff Joseph, "but I wanted to bring people together. For me, a show is about having fun, getting back in touch with friends..." He pauses. Enjoy The Music's Steve Rochlin walks into the room.

"Like Steve," he finishes.

Steve Rochlin takes a seat beside me.

"We see each other, what, twice a year?" Jeff asks him.

Before us, a round table is covered by meats and cheeses, vegetables, crackers, dips, and wines. I wonder how much of it will be left at the end of the night.