Stuff I Didn't Know, Chapter Two-Gazillion-and-One
You can buy glass harmonicas?
Wes Phillips
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Moscode Rocks!
The Moscode 401HR driving the Joseph Audio RM25si loudspeakers were sounding mighty fine. I actually thought they had more moxy than most really expensive systems I heard at the Show, particularly with acoustic music, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station. The top end really sparkled in a most believable way.
Music Makes Pain More Bearable
Of course, <I>we've</I> suspected this for years, but when <I>we</I> say it, it's just anecdotal. When the <I>Journal of Advanced Nursing</I> says it, it's research.
Declare War on Anti-Science
Heck, it hit us first.
Audion Shines On
Over at the other end of the Nagra/Verity Audio/Silversmith/Sonic Euphoria room, there was a far more modest system set up: Ayre C-5xe universal player, Sonic Euphoria PLC ($1295), Audio Silver Night Mk.III monoblocks ($9300/pair, 18Wpc), and Verity Fidelity Encore loudspeakers ($11,994/pair), all connected by Silversmith's silver cables.
Placement Trumps Everything
Information travels by jungle telegram at these shows, so by Sunday, I'd heard that I <I>had</I> to hear Nagra's set-up about 50 times. As a result, when I walked into the Nagra/Verity Audio/Silversmith/Audion/Sonic Euphoria room, I was startled to see, not one, but <I>two</I> systems—and the pricier of the two was off in the room's corner with its back to a curved bank of windows, leaving the $35,000/pair Verity Sarastros firing into the room at a more acute angle than I'd ever attempt. It sounded good, though. In fact, it sounded fantastic!
Mobile Fidelity's Moving Coil
I walked into Music Direct's room and asked Bes Nievera, "What's new?"
Jazzed!
Just got back from the John Atkinson/Bob Reina/Allen Perkins jazz trio concert and it was great! Especially when you consider that these guys only play together once a year at the HE shows.
Ray Kimber For King of the Universe!
I always enjoy Ray Kimber's IsoMike demos more than almost any other HE Show demo. It's not the room full of pedigreed high-end gear, although he always has that. This time he demoed with four B&W 800d loudspeakers, two pairs of Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifiers, Genex Audio GX9000/DSD-BNC interface, and four channels of EMM Labs DAC8 MkIV DSD feeding EMM Labs Switchman (four channels worth, natch), not to mention a whole bunch of Kimber KableD-60, Kimber Select KS-3038, and Word Clock D-60 cables. Nor is it the meticulously recorded music that Ray has captured with his IsoMike process.
Our Gang
John Atkinson and I were musing yesterday about modern tribes, riffing off the concept writer Corey Doctorow proposed in <I>Eastern Standard Tribe</I>, that you choose your tribe these days based upon shared passions and shared goals. In that sense, the HE shows are a gathering of <I>our</I> tribe and the high point of all of them is meeting (and recognizing) fellow tribe members.