The Absolute Sound Review of Sony SCD-XA777ES ???

Will, would you please say something stupid just once? You're giving me an inferiority complex. I am reminded of one of Joe Pesci's courtroom lines in My Cousin Vinny - "yeah, what that guy said."

Jim, I am always curious about the associated equipment used by a reviewer, but most of the time I have no experience with much of the equipment listed - so it doesnt really inform. I have found over the years that I trust the ears, sensibilties and points of view of a few reviewers, e.g., Greene, Colloms, Cordesman, and I trust them to describe the sound of the component they are reviewing, as opposed to the sound of the system including the component under review. They know what they are doing. When Greene or Cordesman say something about a component, they are really talking about the component - not its interaction with something else. They routinely evaluate components in combination with multiple amps, sources, etc.

A more serious omission in most reviews is any information about the reviewer's listening room (Greene and some of the other TAS reviewers have described theirs). For example, "Sam Tellig" recommends all sorts of inexpensive components that other people find barely listenable. John Marks's description of "Sam's" listening room in an AA thread explains a lot of stuff.

Paul

Clueless: I don't think our audio world is quite ready to hear that the King has no clothes.

The hi-end is an incestuous marriage of art and commerce - or the search for "beauty" and the search for money - where, invariably, the considerations of art take a back seat to an individual's greed. At the apex of these organizations are individuals whose identity structure (who they tell themselves they are and project to other people) must include an image of the guru, making unassailed, Platonic pronouncements from on high, as if they were Zeus. Of course, to keep this illusion going the acolytes must be willing - need it somehow - to accept the "guru's" projection. Its a symbiotic dynamic.

Oh my God, I just realized that I've said something "Bad".

Quick, everyone, stone the Witch!!!!

Oh well...

Hey, Whatjd,

I hope you didn't hear my remarks as a personal put-down. I, too, miss the equipment list and wonder why Miss WhatsHerFace can't find three column inches to include it now that TAS is fat and sassy again.

I'm inclined to believe that it all comes down to (1) whether the reviewer has any ears and (2) how similar his taste is to my own. Over the years I have learned that my own ears/taste are so different from Cordesman's that his reviews are pretty much worthless to me. Harley I do better with. And HP's (all genuflect before the celestial throne!), too, once one learns to read beyond his incredible pomposity.

Bishopwill, not a concern. I find value in all of the posts to this thread.

I found it a poor choice to have associated gear listings with other reviews, but not with the review that was both their cover photo...and a bit of a tabloid title "Multi-Channel Magic" or something like that.

Anyway, I enjoy this site a great deal, and the forum threads are always a good way to increase the social skills of communications and the ability to not always agree..but remain open to other thoughts.