Video tour of the SME factory

Micheal Fremer just posted a great pair of videos he made while touring the SME factory in England. These are not the first videos that people have posted from within those walls, SME seem to have a healthy open-door attitude to displaying their wares, so to speak, but Mikey's are lengthy, detailed and to my eyes, fascinating. Thank you Mr. Fremer.

The A'gon alternatives shrink...

It was a brave effort but one alternative to Audiogon that I liked has closed its doors. Soundoffers is no more.....but it is for sale......tempted?  

What's in the review system now

The DAC Maraschinos are doing main duty now powering my Von Schweikert VR5 Anni IIs (those having been upgraded last year and still surprising me). It's quite a sight to see these little boxes powering the rig.

Also ongoing is a comparison of some decent phono cables between the SME V and Whest phono stage: a Purist Audio Design Corvus and latest addition, the Furutech Silver Arrows, which are all going head to hear with my Harmonic Tech reference cable. More on that in due course.

Sonically, I've been enjoying the Blue Note MusicMatters vinyl reissue series on 33rpm and yes, I even got to compare the new edition of the Burrell Midnight Blue with my own original. The sonics are generally what people say - very good, perhaps better than some of the much-lauded 45rpm releases but more as I go on that little area of audiophile delight. I never thought I'd be in the market for $35 LPs but it's amazing how one can rationalize.