Jason Victor Serinus

It would only be fair to expect that in the new historic box set, Decca Sound 55 Great Vocal Recitals, there would be a fair number of clunkers amongst the gold. But that is anything but the case. For just a bit more than $2 per CD, you will end up with so many superb performances, recorded by singers in their prime, that unless you already possess almost everything in the box—I do—or you require English translations for most of its contents, purchase is a no-brainer.

Last January, in Las Vegas, a record 170,000 people attended the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. Most of them neither saw nor heard a trace of high-end audio gear. Not only was all mention of what CES calls "high performance audio" absent from the show's official Attendee Guide, but the hallways of the Venetian Tower, which in past CESes were filled with high-end manufacturers, dealers, and distributors, were anything but crowded.

Standing by the hotel check-in counter, next to T.H.E. Show's registration table, Marine was in overdrive to ensure everything was going smoothly…

At one point, an attendee approached me in the hallway and said, "Is it just me, or are a lot of these rooms bright?"

I've included the long view of this room to demonstrate the lengths to which Ocean Way Audio's Allen Sides, in partnership with Viola Labs, went to achieve reference quality sound at T.H.E. Show…

On the first night of the show, a standing-room-only assemblage of friends, associates, and supporters gathered in a huge, tented outdoor pavilion to bid adieu to Richard Lawrence Beers (July 26, 1949–January 26, 2016), co-founder of The Home Entertainment Show.

Was it really possible that so many excellent sounding rooms, both large and small, could be located on a single floor?