Boris
I can't stop smiling. Boris arrived today.
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Smile
Boris is new to me, but <i>Smile</i> is the Japanese trio's 14th full-length album. The album boasts a metallic silver gatefold jacket and is limited to just 1000 copies.
Orange
<i>Smile</i> opens to this nightmarish orange scene of rocket ships and industrial revolution. Or something.
Love
And there's <i>more</i>. You remove the inner sleeves from the outer jacket to find not only are they sturdy and colorful, but they are accompanied by a large, full-color poster!
My Bat-Lightning Heart
Alright, who's been hiding Natasha Khan from me? Friends, don't you know me by now? Is it not <i>obvious</i> that I would absolutely adore this woman?
Oracle Delphi turntable
The Oracle Delphi Mk.II ($1250) is both a turntable and work of art. It is a visually stunning product, retaining a level of styling that, in my view, has never been equalled by any other audio component. It also adds enough sonic improvements to the original Delphi that it ranks close to the VPI HW-19, and is superior, in naturalness of sound quality, to the SOTA Star Sapphire.
Subjective Fact or Objective Fantasy?
Blame the Puritans! say I. The high end has always had an ostinato accompaniment of grumbles from those who appear to feel that it is immoral to want to listen to music with as high a quality as possible. In a recent letter, for example, <I>Fanfare</I> and <I>Stereo Review</I> contributor and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/reference/101">author Howard Ferstler</A> states that "the audio world has more products of bogus quality and shills promoting them than any other industry, bar none," and trots out the old saw that audiophiles "end up spending an excessive amount of money on equipment or tweaking techniques of surprisingly dubious quality."
Paperclip Transmission
“Good news!” Stephen exclaimed, the second I walked into his office. I saw my Usher S-520s plopped lovingly in my cubicle. “Check your email,” he instructed.
An email from JA read:
I couldn't find anything wrong, Ariel. I measured both speakers and also listened to them…they match very closely—as well as the individual responses of the tweeter and woofer of the sample that didn't have the biwiring jumpers connected.*Could that have been the problem?
Could this have been the problem…
Could this have been the problem?
COULD THIS HAVE BEEN THE PROBLEM?!
Have you used an after-market component-modification shop to improve standard high-end gear? If you have, have you been satisfied or not? Why?
Sometimes stock is simply not good enough. Reader "EG" would like to know how many readers have used an after-market component-modification service to improve standard high-end gear. If you have, have you been satisfied or not? Why?
Very, Very, Very, Very
A couple of weeks back, a staff writer from <a href="http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/08-15-turntables">the Observer Reporter</a> contacted me.