June 2011

In This Issue....
Computer audio, horn speakers, two show reports and much more!
Article By Steven R. Rochlin

  Wow it has been a busy month! AXPONA in Atlanta followed by the Munich High End show in Germany and in a few days as of this writing T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach! Of course in the middle of all this two, count them two complete audiophile Review Magazines and as many of you can easily guess... life here at Enjoy the Music.com has been very busy! Not that launching the Android app and Windows Phone 7 app were not work enough, as i personally built those apps. Am taking a break writing about my new system, which is really amazing and cost me under $3000 due to finding the Dunlavy Signature Series SC-IV speakers are a bargain $2000. Yet let us get to the topic at hand, which is computer audio and other reviews in this month's edition of the Review Magazine.

 Is the CD format dead? Yes. Sorry, i did not kill it, call it simple computer evolution. Saying CD is not dead is like saying dial-up Internet is alive and well. Ok, sure some people still use dial-up, but really what computer geek worth their salt would want to surf the web at 56kbs? Ok, CD is not dead for mainstream music, yet audiophiles deserve better than 16-bit/44.1kHz and this is why online digital music download sites like HDtracks and others are here to rescue us from mediocre CD-(cough)-quality music. So the real question becomes what software is best for your computer system and what DAC to choose? As a hint, my new system here does not need either, as it can read the digital files directly off the network attached storage (NAS) hard drive.

Ok, so you want to actually use a disc player and/or are forced to use the SACD format (and want video playback), fine, be that way. In this month's review magazine we have another review of the Oppo BDP 95 universal player and the Audiophileo-2 24-bit/192kHz USB transport. Add to that, Mr. Flood does a super-comparo of the JAS GP-120CD and Oppo DV-981HD versus a Mac Book and MHDT Labs DAC. Of course if you use a computer it is extremely important to carefully choose the software and how it handles the digital music file, but that is a topic all unto itself.

Of course there is more to life than computer audio and so we have a world premiere of Grant Fidelity's Swiss Army knife-like W-30GT Stereo integrated tube amplifier with DAC and phonostage, the Specimen Satellite and subwoofer system hornspeakers plus senior editor Dick Olsher has a world premiere of the outstanding Slagle autoformer-based volume control module. Fortunately Slagel offers this autoformer volume control already assembled and for a mere $350 it may be one of the biggest audiophile bargains of the season! Then we have a world premiere of the Synergistic Research PowerCell and Tesla SE T3 active power cord for those who are not happy with the power filtering and delivery system they currently use. Of course there are many other reviews, including some past reviews and articles for fun, yet the above are highlights into the June edition of the Enjoy the Music.com review Magazine.

Next month i hope to let you in on what my new 100% digital pre/power/digital EQ/processor/DAC and fully network aware with Apple iPod/Touch support plus finally goes to analog for bi-amplification unit is. This baby could set you back a whopping $500. So until next month...

As always, in the end what really matters is that you... 

Enjoy the Music,

Steven R. Rochlin