February 2016

A Look At This Month's Issue
Music streaming, CES, videos, Press Center...
Editorial By Tom Lyle

  Even if you are happy with your present music server, or still using your computer as a music server, it's a good bet you'll enjoy reading my review of Aurender's N100H caching music streamer and the X725, their matching DAC/integrated amplifier in this month's issue of Enjoy the Music.com. Heck, even if you don't use a music server, don't ever plan on using one, and are perfectly happy spending the rest of your days listening to your CDs through a CD player or through a transport and DAC, you'll probably like reading about the Aurender music server just to get a handle on an example of the present state of digital playback, which is moving ahead at a logarithmic pace. This is the not a peek into the future of the digital audiophile, it is the present.

Even though there are still plenty of CDs currently being sold, it seems as if the writing is on the wall that CDs days are numbered. The general public seems to be migrating toward streaming services at an inconceivable rate. Yes, there are still CDs being sold and plenty of CDs in our collections, but the method of how young people listen to music on a daily basis is not changing, it has changed.  My 16 year-old daughter has never bought a CD in her entire life. But despite being practically obsessed with music she listens constantly through her mobile device. When she is at home she simply connects her device or her laptop to the stereo system. Audiophiles and other who crave better sound quality than crappy sounding MP3s can listen to TIDAL and other streaming services that broadcast at a minimum "CD quality" audio. Selling albums as FLAC files from sites such as Bandcamp.com is not just for fledgling bands anymore – many record companies have set up pages on this website and other websites to sell to the public not just lossy compressed files, but FLAC files that do not compromise the sound quality of the music. This is the food us audiophiles feed our music servers, as our CD transports collect dust and the CDs we already own are used to reference the information in their booklets.

Despite the sonic advances digital has gained, and the word "gained" is an understatement, vinyl playback still keeps a tight hold on many audiophiles.  I still spend a good chunk of my time listening to digital, and I'm certainly not complaining.  When I'm up and about of course there is no other choice, and that's when I'm especially thankful that digital has come very so far. Plus, even when enjoying my serious listening sessions I've discovered that there are many selections that sound much better when played back digitally. But when at home sitting and listening, and doing nothing else but listening, vinyl is my playback method of choice the majority of the time. Many feel the same as I do, and the recent 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas featured much evidence of audiophile's and other music lover's not only continued but growing interest in all that is analog.

Not only those who attended will get to see and hear what went down at the 2016 CES thanks to Enjoy the Music.com's extensive coverage including many hours of on-demand video! One will surely be able to enjoy content on a host of brands and types of components, as well the people responsible for bringing them to CES. A high-end audio's official Press Center, there are more than over 60 pages of news and information of over 100 products that were featured at CES 2016. With so many new products being shown, as well as the inside information that can be gleaned from viewing these on-demand videos featuring many CES VIPs, one will likely feel as if they may have enjoyed the CES as much or more than those who actually attended!

Personally, I'm in awe Enjoy the Music.com's creative director's Steven R. Rochlin's implementation of high-end audio's official Press Center that may appear during every major North American audiophile show. We're not kidding when we say "Enjoy the Music.com is the Internet's leading information site for high fidelity audio news, equipment reviews, digital music downloads, and show reports". One look at the February 2016 issue of Enjoy the Music.com's Review Magazine will make this fact quite clear. In the end, what matters most is that you Enjoy The Music!