Thiel’s New SCS4T Loudspeaker
On Friday, John Atkinson and I visited the lovely home of WIRC">http://www.wircmedia.com/">WIRC Media’s Micah Sheveloff, press representative for Thiel and Bryston.
Things and Things
Having re-read my entry concerning the Attention Screen concert, I realize that it may sound as though I didn't like the performance. This, however, is not the case. I liked it very much. I enjoyed it. I even had a good time.
Things Are So Bad
And earlier in the">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/safe_sex_of_the_highest_order… night, I listened to an old Yazoo title: St. Louis Blues (1929-1935): The Depression, which has some amazing, moving cuts from Henry Townsend, Charley Jordan, Georgia Boyd, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Hi Henry Brown. Such pure, raw sounds are timeless, and are perhaps especially meaningful today.
Things Come Together
Also, I made one other change when I removed the Ayre gear from my system: I switched from the Ayre–supplied and –spec'd Cardas cables to Furutech Evolutions. Incidentally, it was right around this same time that I read Jay">http://www.bluebirdmusic.com/Build_Your_System.htm">Jay Rein's essay on system synergy.
Thinking About John Fahey and America
The guitarist John Fahey was born on February 28, 1939, and died just days before what would have been his 62nd birthday, on February 22, 2001. Like so many other beautiful things that continue to have enormous impact on my life, Fahey’s music was introduced to me by Michellehttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/clouds_taste_metallic/">Miche…;. The album was 1997’s City of Refuge. We were in our second year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, in the second year of our relationship. Michelle had claimed the album from our campus radio station and brought it back to our dorm room and played it for me.
Thinking About Quality
I’ve been reading Matthew Crawford’s Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, which argues that an intimacy with manual trades may revitalize a connection to the material world lost to those who spend their lives in offices or cubicles, staring at computer screens for eight to twelve hours a day, unable to quantify exactly what it is that they do. I’m digging it. It aligns, in many ways, with a philosophy John Atkinson has shared with me: Do doingfully.
Thinksound ts02 in-ear headphones
Thinksound ts02 in Black Chocolate finish.
I haven’t had much luck with in-ear headphones.
Kelli’s Etymotic ER-6i earphones ($99) offered a well-balanced sound, with satisfying bass and natural highs, but I found them extremely uncomfortable and I had a difficult time getting them to fit properly in my ear canals. I liked Shure’s SE210 ($149.99) and SE115 ($139.99), but they felt large and heavy in my ears, and friends often balked at their prices. Don’t get me started about the V-MODA Remix Metal in-ears ($99.99); their highs were so pronounced and glaring and bass so completely absent, I wanted to run away from my music—never a good sign. (But I’ll take the blame here: I should’ve known what to expect from an earphone with the word “Metal” in its name. I have since steered clear of models designed to look like bullets, arrows, and jet engines or whose product literature uses the words “crisp,” “sharp,” or “edgy.”)
Thinksound: Clear Sound with a Clearer Conscience
Thinksound believes in “clear sound with a clearer conscience.” To that extent, the company makes all of their products from wood and employs intelligent and responsible packaging design, utilizing recycled, bleach-free materials, with the now-familiar orange, green, and brown color scheme—if Whole Foods made headphones, they’d probably look like these.
Thinksound’s ms01 in-ear monitor
The first model in Thinksound's Monitor Series: the ms01, shown here in Chocolate Gunmetal finish.
During my recent trip to Seattle for Definitive Audio’s Music Matters 7 event, I decided to compare Thinksound’s ts02 ($79.99) to their ms01 ($99.99), the first model in the company’s new Monitor Series. Third Annual Emofest
A look inside the impressive Emotiva ERC-2 CD player.
Audiophiles have been buzzing about Emotiva for a few years now. The attraction is no mystery: Emotiva’s products are solidly built and modestly priced, and the company takes pride in its strong relationships with customers. Yet, other than in the usual show report, Emotiva’s products have been absent from Stereophile’s pages.
But that will soon change: