As We See It

Conventional wisdom has it that you should listen to an audio component, preferably in your own system, before you decide to buy it. But who, these days, has the opportunity to do this consistently? Even an audition in the store isn't guaranteed; I have to drive two hours to get to the nearest dealer with decent customer service and a good inventory of interesting gear. And though he generally stocks a fairly wide range of components, like any dealer, he carries only a small sample of all the hi-fi gear that's currently, in principle, available.

Stereophile is devoted to getting the best sound from a home audio system. But as I have written">http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/533">written before, audiophiles don't have access to an absolute sound, only to what has been captured in the pits or grooves of their discs, which is itself the result of a creative process. The playing back and the making of recordings are therefore two sides of the same coin. This is why I get actively involved in recording projects and why I publish articles about those projects, the most recent of which appears on p.50. "Project">http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/804k622">Project K622" describes the making of a new recording of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (work number 622 in the Köchel catalog of Mozart's compositions, hence the article's title), which is being released both on hybrid SACD and on 180gm vinyl. (You can buy both from our secure "Recordings&quot">https://secure.stereophile.com/stereophile/recordings.shtml">Recordings…; page.)

I recently came across a 1998 report, "Explaining">http://www.conference-board.org/publications/describe.cfm?id=398">Expla… the Computer Productivity Paradox," by Kevin Stiroh and Robert H. McGuckin III, that discussed the apparent fact that the widespread use of computers has not resulted in any significant increase in worker productivity. This is indeed a paradox, as my experience in the magazine business has left me with the opposite impression. We all do more, with less, than at any earlier time.

There's this really awful joke:

Hilary Hahn must be a chameleon. At least, that's how it seemed at the 2004">http://www.stereophile.com/news/010704ces">2004 Consumer Electronics Show.

To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.—Sir Isaac Newton, 1687

Hanging above the expensive desk in my penthouse office atop Manhattan's prestigious Stereophile Tower is a photocopy of a New Yorker cartoon, in which a bewildered-looking guy complains, "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about."