For my first article, I would like to
clear the air right off the bat:
I herby freely admit, that I am not only an Vinyl stalker, but I am a
registered AUDIOPHILE! Okay, now that I’ve admitted it, I can go on…
Maybe I’ll start this by suggesting
to myself I should write a book. But I must ask myself, what would I be
qualified to write? An industry colleague of mine, Robert Harley, who is in
fact a published reviewer of high-end audio equipment wrote one; The Complete
Guide to High-End Audio. Now this is the book I would have aspired to write, but
then, it’s already written! But as I am not a “published” reviewer, how would
anyone know if I was truly qualified to write such a book? But then my prayers
were answered; God looked upon my poor mute existence and said BEHOLD I give
you the BLOG!
So perhaps I have found a way to
write the book "of sorts" which I've always wanted to, and perhaps, am best qualified to write; The
Idiots Guide to High End Audio! Finally, a book for me, and if I'm lucky, just maybe others
like me, fledging along trying to find the absolute best sound achievable for
our personal edification, on a budget! The sound which is as close to the original music, that is as little
degraded as possible, by the now virtually millions of degrades out there,
whether it’s been digitized, uploaded, downloaded, converted, under-converted,
transferred here/there, everywhere, burnt, put onto an aluminum disc, shot over
the air, compressed into an MP3 or filtered into an I-whatever, so that I can
enjoy what sounds like “the real thing”. That today ironically, with all of our
techno-wizardry, is more difficult than ever before! Is this progress?
I mean trust me, I love that I can
carry my whole music collection on a magic wand the size of my credit card, but
what I never realized is though I can hum along to the 4000 plus melodies
stored there within. They don’t seem to sound quite as awe inspiring as I
remember them when I played them on my vinyl spinner through my stereo. It’s
like the most passionate vocalist’s alive sound like they’re anemic, or have
the flu or something. And the bands who were just belting it out, and jamming
with all kinds of instrumentation when I saw them live, sound sort of like what
I remember my old portable radio did back in the days laying around on the blue
green beaches of the Florida Pan handle - flat, un-dynamic, and pitifully
uninvolving. “Boring”. It’s totally messed up! Why can’t I have it all,
convenience, and the Power, the Glory, and the Majesty of the music I’m really
into?
Well thank God for High-End Audio
enthusiasts like you, because I’m not the only one with this desire. In fact,
there must be a bunch of us, and enough to be heard, because there are some
really cool manufacturers who have developed some really great solutions, and
the progress these guys have made in the just the last 10 years is staggering. Now there’s
internet servers, vaults, DAC’s, and thank God, disc spinners which are even
better than ever!!!
So it is here in this form, that I will be sharing
with you not just a bunch of techno-babble, but the true-grit of what these
cool new technologies can really do for us. And most importantly, letting us be
able to really get into our beloved music from WHATEVER our source is – through
the stereo, with enough passion to still move our souls the way it was meant
to!
So the deal is this; Every time I get
my hands on a new piece of gear, I will be testing it out, and posting the
results here for you to read. I’ll let you know which stuff is really good, and
if we’ll be carrying it or not. We also have several audiophiles here, who will
be coming in to share their music with us in a listener’s club I’m restarting,
called “the audio club”. So I figure at least once a week we will be posting
equipment, system, or album reviews for your listening pleasure.
And for (The Audio Club), I’ll shoot
for at least once or twice a month to meet up, possibly on a Thursday evening,
just to hang out, spin discs on one of the high-end systems, and just enjoy the
music. Because it’s the MUSIC that the High-End Audio hobby is all about!
If you have an interest in joining
the Audio Club, shoot me an email at info@audiobyusII.com CHEERS!
