The Audiophiliac- Page 86

HD DVD: Just another brick in the wall of defunct formats

They're all born with the best of intentions, but only the strong survive.

Formats come and go. Some are barely noticed, and some die a slow, painful death. So now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD was comparatively brief--unless you're on the losing side, stuck with a slowpoke player and a collection of HD DVD discs. I've already heard from some angry HD DVD supporters. War is tough.

If you're over 35, you probably remember the Betamax vs. VHS wars, which raged from 1975 to … Read more

iPod swapping? A great way to find new music

When I was a kid I was always going to my friends' houses to check out the latest additions to their record collections. We'd sit around playing new records, getting high, eating crappy food, and generally having a great time. As we got older that happened less and less, but we started to trade mix cassettes, and more recently mix CDs. Mixes are hit or miss in terms of finding good new music, but now that everybody has an iPod, it may be the best ever way to tap into my friends' music collections. I figured that if I … Read more

What's the difference? CD 'mastering' vs. 'remastering'

If you read CD or LP credits you've probably seen "Mastered by Greg Calbi" a bunch of times, but don't have a clue exactly what Calbi and other mastering engineers do. I don't blame you--it's a mystery to most music lovers. When I heard that Calbi was going to cut some LP masters I made arrangements to drop by Sterling Sound and watch the master masterer at work. He's mastered thousands of records--everybody from Bob Dylan to Talking Heads to The Roots, to the High School Musical soundtrack, and one of my favorite … Read more

Shock and awe: A $6 million home theater

If your typical high-end home theater with rows of plush seats, velvet wallpaper, and popcorn machines offers Cadillac levels of performance and luxury, then Jeremy Kipnis' $6 million ultimate home theater is more like a fire-breathing Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, the fastest production Ferrari ever built.

This home theater is all about aggressively advancing the state of the art of picture and sound presentation. Yes, it's comfortable and beautiful, but its prime directive is a quest for the very best. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is overlooked. Kipnis won't settle for second best. … Read more

The real 'High Fidelity': The little record store that could

UPDATE: I just heard the sad news that Future Legend will be closing its doors later this month. I have personally bought more than 200 CDs over the years from that little shop, but now I'll have to go elsewhere for my weekly fix. If you're in NYC drop by and pick up bargains, starting today, 2/6/08, Future Legend will begin selling all merchandise at 50% off the sticker price.

I want to tell you about my favorite record store, Future Legend. I drop in every week to see what's new, and talk about music … Read more

Music poll: How do you get your music? CD? iTunes? Napster?

Do you buy CDs, LPs, MP3s, iTunes, or 8 track cartridges?

If so, do you buy them from Amazon or other online retailer, brick and mortar chain store, or local "record" shop?

Do you regularly buy used CDs or LPs? And rarely buy new CDs or LPs?

Do you subscribe to a subscription service, if so, which one? Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc?

If you really like a tune you heard from a subscription service do you buy it? Do you buy individual tracks or complete albums?

Or do you get your tunes from a P2P like Morpheus or … Read more

The light fantastic: Incandescent glass sculptures

OK, I admit Dylan Kehde Roelofs works of art have absolutely nothing to do with audio, but they remind me of vacuum tubes. They're incandescent light bulb sculptures, but it turns out Roelofs is contemplating a move to also do audio related pieces, "I'm a bit of an audiophile myself - wait 'till you see the homemade triodes (tubes) I've been working on. Might make a nice amp someday, or just a horrible, distorted Theremin."

His current works that combine glass blowing, electrical and lighting design are incredibly beautiful. They're produced in limited editions … Read more

Audio Shopper's Guide: What do you want--sound or style?

Samsung's brand spanking new HT-BD2 home theater in a box put me through some changes. It's the world's first Blu-ray HTIB, so sure, it's got picture quality to die for, and even boasts state of the art Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio surround 7.1 channel processing. The HT-BD2 also looks pretty hot, the Blu-ray player/A/V receiver's curvaceous, high gloss style is drop-dead gorgeous, and the super-model thin tower speakers and chunky subwoofer are likewise designed for eye appeal.

But just that, the HT-BD2's sonic splendors are in short supply, or … Read more

Keeping it real: What's up with the continuing allure of physical media?

I've always thought it was strange that so many people who bought VHS tapes rarely watched them. And then a lot of them bought them again on DVD! They needed to own Sex in the City, The Godfather, or the Star Wars trilogy, but never even broke the seal. Maybe they buy them as keepsakes, to remind them how much they loved the film or TV show, but don't actually need to see it. Or they watch it once and that's all they need. Big multi-disc box sets can be daunting, I bet half the ones sold … Read more

Sirius Satellite Radio: Still sounds awful after all these years

Don't get me wrong, I love Sirius' programming, but I hate the sound. It's grungy, harsh, with no actual high frequencies and muddy bass. The music's dynamics are squashed flat as Kansas so it sounds like a low bit MP3. Digital smigital, Sirius sounds awful, way worse than FM radio.

Ah, but the on-air talent, well, it's better than anything on commercial AM or FM, by a long shot. The fire-breathing Liberal political talk channel, "Sirius Left," crushes its ever lamer terrestrial radio counterpart, Air America, and you conservatives can feast on the Sirius … Read more