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I was cruising at 36,000 feet, totally relaxed, listening to Richard Thompson. Looking down at my lap, I caught sight of a little box with a glowing green light. Switching off this light was like turning on the noise&mdash;the 767 was roaring like a locomotive and the ambient sound hit me like a fist. Thompson's crisp Celtic chordings turned mushy, undetailed, and dull. I felt weary. <I>Whoa, I wouldn't do that again if I were you, laddie!</I> I fumbled for the switch and reactivated the NoiseGuard circuitry on my Sennheiser HDC 451 noise-canceling headsets. Thompson's guitar rang out clearly, the airplane quieted to sound like an S-class Benz, and I relaxed into a calm reverie with only one worry clouding my contentment. But I patted my pocket: yup, still two cognacs left. Everything would be all right.

Barque & Consonance's Opera Consonance M15 mates a 15" woofer with a unique multicell horn tweeter. Sensitivity is 98dB (!) and frequency range is rate at 30Hz&ndash;20kHz. The tweeter handles everything above 500Hz. Price would be around $10,000/pair USD, not including distribution costs.

I was listening to Barque & Consonance's Opera Audio Consonance M-15 loudspeakers when Lino Faragi introduced himself. "I'm that crazy European guy who opened up a hi-fi shop in China&mdash;the first non-Asian to do high-end here," he said, handing me a card for Sound & Vision in Shanghai. "We do things a little differently. Come see us."

The Classic Radio JR-455 from the other side. Kids, this is how they used to make 'em back when radios were built like cathedrals.

Classic Radio's JR-455 was giving me goosebumps. Tube warmth and precise analog tuning pulled in some of the most satisfying sound of the show. I didn't get the list price on this baby, but I did get a look at its naughty bits.

Ming Da's MC66E headphone amp really juiced my lizard. It boasts a 15Hz&ndash;50kHz frequency response and put out 42Wpc (92dB), using two 6N6 and one 12AX7 tubes. Not available in the US, it sells for 1760RMB, or about $210 USD.

Here's a better look at the tubes from the Original CD-A6T&mdash;they're miniature 6C7B, a military tube.