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Earlier this year, Kalman Rubinson spent some time with the Rotel">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/608/">Rotel RB 1080 power amplifier. "What could be easier to review than a power amplifier? No features or functions aside from inputs, outputs, and a power switch," remarks KR. But as Rubinson finds, it's the details that count.

Things are looking up for high-resolution audio, with price drops for DVD-Audio discs announced by one major record label in a move to attract a larger audience.

Michael Fremer heard that the Alesis">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/605/">Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 Hard Disk/CD-R Recorder "can sound better than all but the absolute top-drawer analog," and, of course, had to investigate. Mikey 'splains why audiophiles should take note of a machine generally used as a mastering tool by the recording industry.

If you've ever hunted for a song title or a performer's name on the Internet, you've probably used CDDBhttp://www.cddb.com">CDDB;, the Compact Disc Database.

SACD partisans Sony and Philips continue to release new disc players that also decode DVD-Video, but not DVD-Audio. And arch-DVD-A supporter Meridian, as well as companies such as McIntosh, are releasing DVD-A and DVD-V players that don't do SACD. But there are exceptions, notably Pioneerhttp://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer;, who debuted the first widely available "universal" player, the DV-AX10">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/515/">DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player, last year.

It's still too early in the game to guess what a profitable music download business might look like, but it's clear that it won't involve highly restricted access—or high prices.

Using personal computers to listen to music may be heresy in some audiophile circles, but the practice is definitely on the rise. Recognition of the fact has led at least one maker of computer motherboards to introduce a model with a vacuum-tube audio circuit.