John Atkinson

Someone once said that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Well, this month, we will see not one but <I>two</I> better mousetraps, in the form of Sony's and Philips' Super Audio CD and the DVD Forum's DVD-Audio. Both are intended to replace the humble CD, now in its seventeenth year; both offer higher-resolution digital audio; and both offer multiple channels. To accompany SACD, Sony's $5000 SCD-1 two-channel player is now on sale (and will be <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/180">reviewed</A&gt; in the November <I>Stereophile</I>), while Panasonic has announced October sale dates for two DVD-A players, the $1000 Panasonic DVD-A7 and the $1200 <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/300">Technics DVD-A10</A>.

"Do you have another DVD player?" asked Classic Records' Michael Hobson. As is usual in important demonstrations, Murphy's Law had struck with a vengeance. The prototype Muse DVD player Kevin Halverson had worked on most of the previous night was refusing to play the DVD Mike had placed in its tray.

As you can read in this month's "Industry Update" (pp.35 & 37), the two conglomerates who hitherto seemed driven to offer the world <I>two</I> competing standards for the forthcoming Digital Video Disc came to their senses. Instead of consumers being offered Toshiba/Warner/Matsushita's SD <I>and</I> Sony/Philips's MCD, there will be just one high-density 4.75" disc to take both video and audio data storage into the 21st century.

"Bugger!" A Pennsylvania state trooper had stepped out from behind the overpass on the Turnpike and was aiming his radar gun straight at me. I reflexively jammed on the anchors, which was a) pointless and b) downright dangerous, considering I was in the middle of a phalanx of cars and trucks all cruising 5-10mph over the speed limit. But what can you do?

The integration of computers into high-end audio is contentious. A <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showvote.cgi?340">reader poll last spring</A> on our website indicated that a significant proportion of audiophiles&mdash;a quarter&mdash;is dead set against the idea, yet both Microsoft, with Windows Media Player 9, and Apple, with iTunes, seem convinced that the future of domestic music reproduction involves computers. To support that idea, both Apple- and Windows-based computers (the latter with Intel's about-to-be-launched HD Audio technology) are promoting hi-rez audio playback.

One of the highlights of recent Consumer Electronics and Home Entertainment shows has been the demonstrations of sound quality put on by Australian amplifier manufacturer Halcro with Wilson Audio loudspeakers. At my first exposure to one of these demos&mdash;described in my April 2002 "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/557">As We See It</A>"&mdash;enormous dynamic range was coupled with a grain-free presentation and almost holographic stereo imaging to produce a breathtaking sweep of sound. Paul Bolin reviewed Halcro's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/683">dm58 monoblock</A> in October 2002, and that amplifier was subsequently voted this magazine's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index2.html">Amplification Component of 2002</A>" by our reviewers.

Simaudio has been doing well in the middle of the high-end market, providing products such as their Moon i-5 integrated amplifier (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/620">reviewed by Chip Stern</A> in July 2002), which offers a glimpse of high-quality sound at an affordable price. That's not to say that the Canadian manufacturer neglects the cost-no-object market: the two-box, $5700, Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player impressed the heck out of Brian Damkroger when <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/343">he reviewed it</A> for <I>Stereophile</I> in April 2001 (with a Follow-Up in April 2003). So when Simaudio's Lionel Goodfield offered me their Moon Equinox player ($2000) for inclusion in my irregular series of CD-player reviews (footnote 1), I didn't need to be asked twice.