Reader Mike Agee asks: "I'd like to hear about great audio products that have managed to go under-reviewed in the audio press. I realize there are many reasons why this might happen, from manufacturer reluctance [to submit review samples] to bad timing in the marketplace, but we all know there are a real winners out there that never made a recommended list."
I've been musing much of late on what enables some hi-fi components to sound natural while others always seem to add an edge of artificiality to their sound. This dichotomy was examined in last month's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/109">As We See It</A>," where I asked a representative group of <I>Stereophile</I> writers to discuss the fact that many high-end components regarded as being neutral in their sonic character, with apparently little wrong in their measured performance, can actually sound quite unmusical. This would seem to suggest that the <I>nature</I> of what a component does wrong is of greater importance than the <I>level</I> of what it does wrong: 1% of one kind of distortion can be innocuous, even musically appropriate, whereas 0.01% of a different kind of distortion can be musical anathema.
Psst! Got a minute? I'd like to bend your ears a bit and tell you about a component that'll lift you from the doldrums of audio angst and transport you to the relaxing calm induced through the enjoyment of music. That's what it's done for me, and I'm so excited about it I can't wait to tell you.
"I'm a New York kid. The idea of me living in a private home and mowing a lawn is just ridiculous. I was born on the streets of New York, I've lived here all my life, I'm an apartment dweller, and I just identify with the city. Native New Yorkers are like a different breed, and that's just who I am."
Henry Fiol lit up the stage during a tribute to the late sonero, Hector Casanova, held at New York's <a href="http://www.lqny.com/lq/html/index.htm">LQ</a> on November 18, 2007.
Awarded Best Cover Art by <i>Latin New York</i> in 1976.
Of all Fiol's covert art, <i>Macho Mumba</i> stands out as my favorite, depicting a typical Cuban street scene.
An altogether beautiful album. I selected <i>Fe, Esperanza, y Caridad</i> as one of my 2008 "Records to Die For." Fiol's version of the classic Cheo Marquetti tune, "Oriente," brings me straight to tears.
The second of Fiol's solo efforts on Roberto Torres' SAR label, closing with the powerful classic, "Tiene Sabor."
Fiol's final work for the SAR label offers a lighter sound.