Laura tells me she's heard through a mutual friend that I have a high-end music system and write for Stereophile. Her husband, Ted, loved the magazine.
These days, amplifier design often emphasizes efficiency. Class-D amps in particular have come a long way. Many are terrific, and they're undeniably practical. But there's still something uniquely satisfying about a design that prioritizes timeless expression over economy of electricity or space.
The Pathos InPoL Legacy, a class-A design, is unapologetically massive and so gloriously overbuilt that moving it requires a tactical plan and a chiropractor.
Robinson wasn't so much guarding his palate as preserving his contentment. A simple pleasure had settled into place, untroubled by ambition, and he knew to leave it alone.
I think about Robinson's four-cent stogie sometimes, usually when someone asks whether a $10,000 integrated amplifier really sounds five times better than a $2000 one. (Answer: No, it doesn't.) Or whether hearing a $12,000 DAC will ruin you for the $1000 unit you used to love. (My take: Very possibly.)
There, in his defiance of convenience, was a truth: Sound matters, enough to haul an electrostatic rig through Terminal 3, to trade portability for transcendence.