Autumn comes to the Cherry Valley Feed & Seed. The 50-lb sacks of sawgrass and lime give way to mulch and sand for local drives, and the swing sets and folding chairs and posthole diggers and bug zappers and flagpoles have been brought inside until next spring, which is scheduled for mid-June.
Audiophiles once took it as given that LPs sounded better than CDs—end of discussion. Things are no longer so cut-and-dried. In my seven years as a contributing editor to <I>Stereophile</I>, I've seen an enormous improvement in the quality of digital software and playback-delivery systems. The early-1980s recording and remastering anomalies that made listening to early digital recordings so fatiguing are largely things of the past, though advocates of massive compression, jacked-up gain, and compensatory EQ ("Sounds-better-on-cheap-radios," they dully chant) continue to sully the waters of natural resolution.
So, how are the format wars going? DVD-A or SACD or both? Have you bought into one or both of the high-rez audio formats
John Atkinson gets his mitts on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1103psb">PSB Platinum T8 loudspeaker</A> and remarks that "talented loudspeaker engineers do not stand still, and neither do the resources and technology available to them." Does PSB's new flagship design live up to JA's expectations? All is revealed.
One of the visual highlights of the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show and HE 2003 in San Francisco was the <A HREF="http://www.penaudio.fi">Penaudio</A> speakers, sporting a unique sliced-wood veneer wrapped around diminutive two-way designs. While the speakers were easy on the eyes, it wasn't so easy to find a pair to audition in the US.
Back in the 1990s, I lusted mightily for the large ESP speakers with their tall, slim shapes and their angled driver panels. A large-room demo of the Concert Grands with Sonic Frontiers electronics still reverberates in my memory. Unfortunately, just as I evolved to the point where I could consider buying a pair of Concert Grands, the company folded its tents. Recently, I heard a rumor that ESP might be returning, and an email exchange with founder and designer Sean McCaughan has confirmed the good news.
The <I>2004 Stereophile Buyer's Guide</I> hits the newsstands this week. Within its 228 jumbo-sized and color-coded pages you'll find listings of every audio component currently available in the US (other than boomboxes and other portable players), along with their specifications and prices. It also includes what we feel is the most complete listing of audio manufacturer websites on the planet.
John Gourlay, <I>Stereophile</I>'s publisher since 1998, left the company at the beginning of November. John had been a valued collaborator and the moving force behind the launch of the <I>2004 Stereophile Buyer's Guide</I> (see related story). We all wish him well in his future career.
<B>ALBERT LEE: <I>Heartbreak Hill</I></B><BR>
Sugar Hill SUG-CD-3977A (CD). 2003. Albert Lee, Steve Fishell, prods.; Dave Sinko, Larry Getz, engs. AAD? TT: 43:51<BR>
Performance <B>****½</B><BR>Sonics <B>****</B>
"Imagine a lake," reads the <A HREF="http://www.nonoise.org">website</A> of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse (NPC) , "filled with semi-tractor-trailer trucks, magically skimming across the water.