HiWire

Klipsch X7i. Porcelain like a toilet bowl.

It's a pretty bold claim. Hearing is believing, right?

I noticed that Acoustic Energy finally released a floorstander model in their Reference Series. My pair of 12-year-old Aegis Two speakers (made in Malaysia) sound pretty good for super-cheap $200 speakers – it makes me wonder what they've done since then. Online reviews of the Reference 1 and the rarer Reference 2 seem pretty positive... has anybody heard them?

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult – Death Threat

Bryan Ferry – Boys and Girls The Cardigans – Long Gone Before Daylight

Why re-invent the Grado? I kid, of course.

Moloko – Catalogue

The Cars – Heartbeat City

Livingston Taylor – Ink

Chick Corea – Return to Forever (SHM-CD)

Enjoy! I'm curious to hear if there are big differences between the Oppo's Red Book and DSD playback. I've been slowly, but steadily collecting HDCDs and SACDs for the last few years, so I'm hoping for some kind of sonic revelation when the 105 arrives. I'm really happy with the sound from my Arcam FMJ CD36, but it will be interesting to hear if a player 1/3 the price can match it with hi-rez recordings and newer technology. Worst case scenario – it will still be a great video player. Also, I wonder if hi-fi manufacturers have been able to extract 99.9% of what is possible from Red Book – i.e., is it close to becoming a dead end, marketing hyperbole aside. It seems that almost all the high-end CD players are upsampling designs, including mine. I was looking at the dCS and Wadia players for a kick last week and I wonder if SACD and hi-res digital files will be the final frontier. The new Wadia, Simaudio, and Meridian players are Red Book only, while Esoteric, dCS, EMM Labs, Luxman, Accuphase, etc. are still selling SACD players.

Zero History by William Gibson:

Very nice. I'm looking forward to listening impressions from the new modules.

Need for Speed: Underground – Various Artists

Thanks for the impressions, Larry. What we all need to know is: how does the M100 sound with the VAMP? It is completely logical that someone will run out and buy an iPhone 4S to complete the look.

I just started reading Modding the Music Hall CD25.2 CD Player from AudioXPress... sounds like a fun project.

Hilarious. And congrats on the new CD player, Steve. Do you intend to modify it further? I run a stock Arcam FMJ CD36 and I'm leery of the hyperbolic claims modders make.

Review from Sound + Vision Magazine: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/review-v-moda-crossfade-m-100-headphone

My brother really liked the B&W P5 when he tried them – he's not an audiophile at all. He liked the sound, the style, and the comfort. The only thing that kept him from buying the P5 was Tyll's review on Inner Fidelity and the lack of isolation – he's mostly listening to them on the subway and at his desk at work. The Sennheiser Amperior didn't sound like his cup of tea. I heard the Shures briefly and I also found them lacking.

It looks like Engadget has the scoop (Head-Fi hype aside) on these cans: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/11/v-moda-m-100-audiophile-headphones-hands-on-interview-val-kolton/ I wonder how they'll compare to my brother's new Beyerdynamic DT 1350's.

There's a sale on Pinnacle S-FIT MON 450 bookshelf speakers at Dell.ca today: http://accessories.d...s1&sku=A4335773 At $150, they are $200 off list price. They are passive, so you'll need amplification and speaker cables. I can't find any published reviews of these specific speakers, but the Dell reviews are positive.

Thanks – I'll give it a try as soon as I get longer cables. Also, Looser101 and I discovered that the power amps pick up a hum from the AC jack due to the unshielded 47 Labs wire. The hum seems to disappear when the preamp is turned on, though. We'll experiment in the future with a longer run of 47 Labs cable (routing it away from the other components and power cables) and also with properly shielded interconnects. I'm going to get some wood blocks to get those power amps off the carpet, as well. They never seemed to get warm with the loads we were running through them. We listened to a variety of music: Alison Krauss & Union Station: Live Massive Attack: Mezzanine Alice in Chains: Dirt Jane Monheit: Taking a Chance on Love Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms Santana: Abraxas Roxy Music: Avalon Eagles: Hotel California Rebecca Pidgeon: The Raven Imelda May: Love Tattoo Chromeo: Fancy Footwork The New York Voices: Sing Sing Sing

Looser101 came over today to help me set up my speaker system. It's a random bunch of silver boxes strung together by copper wire and hooked up to budget speakers (translation: Arcam CD36 -> Arcam C31 -> Arcam P1 x 2 -> Acoustic Energy Aegis Two; interconnects: 47 Labs Stratos, speaker cable: Kimber Cable 4TC, power conditioning: PS Audio Duet): It sounds really good. Also, it turns out I'm going to need some longer cables. And a nice rack.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/oppo-announces-two-new-blu-ray-player-models/ (The Absolute Sound — they'll probably ask you to register on their new site)

Now I want a DSHA-1... at least to review. I'd also like to compare it to the Apex Hi-Fi Arête.