September 2013
In This Issue...
The World Of High Fidelity
Editorial By Noel Keywood

 

  People turn away from gratuitous complexity when it overwhelms them – and why not. Technology should make our lives easier and facilitate our everyday existence, not hinder it.

So I hope the increasing complexity of modern DACs like the amazing Teac UD-501 we review this month (see p10) isn't a step too far for buyers. If it is then they would be missing a good thing. But to date I've had a number of conversations with reviewers faced with this DAC and all have been unsure about how best to use it; Teac need to write clearer instructions. It took our advanced Rohde & Schwarz UPV audio analyser to show us just what the UD-501 could do when set up properly – then it flew. This is a great DAC, if a technically challenging one.

Almost more intimidating as a subject was coverage of the small Hendrix exhibit in Central London, a mile or two from our offices. I know from my long association with Abbey Road that the music business is not to be taken lightly; it harbours big egos. We had to be particularly careful to get our facts right in this apparently innocuous appreciation of Hendrix history (see p93). Sadly, the picture we most hoped to reproduce – an artist's impression of his flat as it may appear when restored – was withdrawn from publication by Handel House (and removed from their website) on the grounds that it may affect their application for funding. What a pity. It was an evocative view, very 1960s in decor and it gave a lovely flavour of what Hendrix's first home looked like.

Go to the Handel House website and you can see a small Black & White shot of him in this flat, however. Or visit the museum and stand in the room below, to see a few exhibits. It isn't much, but I think it's more than enough for Hendrix fans just to stand in No 23 Brook Street where one of Rock's greatest musicians lived. Download and read (just £6) girlfriend Kathy Etchingham's book ‘Through Gypsy Eyes' to learn just how fraught his life – and death – was. It's an astonishing story.

This issue has a broad selection of unusual features. The world of high fidelity will never be boring. I hope you enjoy it! 

 

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

 

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