October 2016

You're Gettin' Lucky
Rounding out what's goin' on in this issue... and our last one.
Editorial By Tom Lyle

  I consider myself a very lucky guy and audiophile that writes for Enjoy the Music.com, which puts me in the envious position of auditioning tons of high-end equipment. But it's not all fun and games, there are quite a few tasks associated with writing for a high-end magazine and being its Senior Editor that take up much my time – time in which I'd rather be listening to music. But it's totally worth it! One thing that sometimes troubles me is why I'm envious of the other reviewers that write for the same magazine. Within this issue I write about the time I spent with the Pass Laboratories HPA-1 headphone amplifier, and last month I had the pleasure of reviewing two Luxman components, the C-700u control amplifier and the D-07u SACD / CD player DAC. With the opportunity to have these fine components in my system, one would think that I would be as happy as any audiophile could be... yet am still a tad bit envious. Sure it makes no sense as I must sound like a spoiled child. Yet looking at what others are writing about within this month's issue of Enjoy the Music.com might my feelings be justifiable.

Dave Hanson reviews the gorgeous Questyle's Golden Reference System, which includes the CAS192D Golden DAC, the CMA800R Golden Amplifier, and the CMA800P Golden Preamp. Then we have Rick Becker who gets invited to a dealer to spend the day listening to the new four tower $266,000(!) YG Acoustics XV loudspeaker system. Not only does he get a chance to listen to these speakers, he gets to spin a pile of his own selections that he brought from home. Ron Nagle reviews the vacuum tube powered Raven Audio Reflection Mk 2 integrated amplifier. As with the Questyle gear, this is an impressive looking component, but in a totally different way, since the Questyle is solid-state, and the Raven Audio amp Ron reviews is a vacuum-tube amp, and looks the part. Rick Becker reports on two great system tweaks, the Codia Acoustic Design Stage 3000 BAB Audio Rack, along with the AmCam Audio Isolator Footers, which impresses him enough to purchase the entire lot. So, perhaps what I'm suffering from is not envy, but a case of the much more common audiophile nervosa. So please forgive me. While reading about all this great gear, it's understandable. I'm only human.

In last month's issue we finalized our this month's issue is coverage of the Capital Audio Fest, where Kemper Holt does one of the best one-man report I've ever read. Instead of simply mentioning the highlights of the show, he goes room by room with photos and descriptions that is bound to make one feel as if they were at the show with him. If you were lucky enough to attend CAF 2016, you can find the room you've visited and compare your reactions with Kenneth. For your convenience there is a list of the rooms one can click on to take you directly to that page. So I would like to take time out right now to personally thank Kemper for an amazing job. Well done!

The Hong Kong show report covered by Cheung Roger is a sight to behold. Talk about envy! The Hong Kong Audio Visual Expo/Show is held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (in Wan Chai, Hong Kong) and spans three floors totaling 80,000 square feet of display area. Cheung Roger does an amazing job covering this show, and of course, he provides lots of great photos! Make sure you stand by for our report on the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) and the show-in-a-show CanJam Denver 2016, which covers headphones and their associated gear starting October 7th when the show opens. There will be plenty of rooms covered, and am sure oodles of high quality photos by Steven R. Rochlin.

I nominated two products for Enjoy the Music.com's Blue Note Awards for 2016, both of which were very affordable products, the Q Acoustics Project 40 speakers, and Audioengine's HD6 Premium Powered Speakers with onboard DAC and Bluetooth. Apparently Roger Skoff is also a fan of affordable high-end, and it is a pleasure to read this month's Viewpoint where he praises the trend of affordable high-end components, and claims that "more real more real sonic progress seems to be happening at the lower and middle price points than at the very top". So make sure to read about "an audio trend that's great for almost everybody!"

We've also subtly cleaned up this site's top navigation and made it easy for you to  us on Facebook, just click the Like image (if it is not already checked) and you're all set. So it seems that this month there's something for every audiophile to enjoy, and that we're true to our words: That in the end, what matters most is that you...

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