Late-Night Thoughts on Hi-Fi
and onhifi.com
I'm one of the luckiest guys on
earth. I love music. And I love hi-fi -- both for the musical pleasures it brings and the
nuts'n'bolts that bring them. And I love to write, which is essentially an intimate
conversation between "the writer and the reader on opposite ends of a pencil,"
to use Jay R. Gould's felicitous phrase. To borrow another bon mot, I have the privilege
of making a living by listening to hi-fi with the intent to commit prose.
So understand that I'm not complaining about my lot in life
-- I'm one of those lucky people who get to do what they love. But sometimes my attention
wanders and I get bogged down in the details, forgetting the big picture, which is that I do
love what I do. Sometimes I forget that those regular deadlines are not "my job"
but rather the dues I pay in order to make a living doing something that other people do
in order to relieve the cares and trials of the jobs they have to do.
Lately, though, I've managed to let the trees obscure this
fabulous forest I'm in.
I moved house recently, which means I now have a new sound
room to explore, tame, and exploit. I've been living amid boxes, and my music collection
is so disorganized that even when I can find my favorite discs, by the time I get around
to wanting to hear them I’ve forgotten where I last saw them.
I lost a longtime friend, and have wallowed in the fact
that I miss him rather than thinking myself fortunate at having had his companionship for
so long.
And I've let those deadlines seem like dreadlines --
obstacles to be subdued rather than opportunities to continue this long-term conversation
I've been allowed to have with the endlessly fascinating, eternally energizing audiophiles
I have been privileged enough to encounter over the years.
In other words, I lost my mojo. But I'd like to think I've
managed to get it back.
Probably the most significant elements in that have been
the e-mails and comments I receive from www.onhifi.com's readers. I get audio questions
and reminders that I'm not always as clear as I could be -- there’s nothing so
humbling as having written a product review that I think says it all and then hearing
someone ask, "But what did you really think of it?" But the letters that
really juice my lizard are the ones that pick up on the oddball things I've said:
cultural, musical, or literary references and asides; jokes; puns; even strange fancies
that cross my mind.
That's the great thing about the Internet -- the virtually
instantaneous communication allows for rapid give and take. It’s also part of the
tree/forest problem I mentioned earlier. Onhifi.com is an Internet critter, but sometimes
I'm stuck back in the old print-publication paradigm, in which conversations between
writer and reader take months instead of mere hours. I'd like to change that, and take
fuller advantage of the connectedness of the Internet.
So starting on April 15th -- tax day here in the States,
the day when we US residents pay up our bar tabs -- www.onhifi.com’s splash page will
reflect the instantaneous conversation that the Internet makes possible. When you enter
this site, you'll see a farrago of the thoughts, URLs, and fancies that are going through
my head at the moment. Some of them will be hi-fi related, such as a list of the discs I'm
listening to most at the moment. We'll still post in-depth reviews every two weeks, but
there will also be a Top Ten list, complete with one-line blurbs describing the latest
things to strike my fancy. We'll also post URLs that link to a variety of articles,
parodies, news stories, tools, and just plain weirdness.
In one sense, the whole Web is my water cooler -- you know,
the place in every office where there's a bulletin board containing all the cartoons,
bizarre headlines, and jokes that folks want to share. I know you guys are into
this stuff, because so many of you send them to me in the first place -- and I send
the best of them on to my close friends. Which, I hasten to point out, is how I think of
my readers. So now I'll be sharing them as a regular feature called "Wes's Weird
World" (www -- heh-heh-heh). We'll also post a "Letter of the Month" on the
first of each month. I trust you guys to deliver the goods -- after all, you always have.
And there'll probably be other stuff I find interesting. We'll play it by ear.
As for hi-fi its own self? Well, now we're talking. I've
hit a mother lode of really cool stuff that reminds me of just how magical reproduced
music can be. This month, you'll read about the awe-inspiring (oops, I gave it away --
only you've probably already read that page) Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. In the
pipeline are the Aerial 20T speakers, Penaudio's spiffy little (and I mean little)
Charisma + Chara speaker combo, the iPod mini (speaking of little) player, a new, improved
Linn Klimax Twin amplifier, and a whole boatload of other goodies that really deliver the
magic. I'm excited. I think you will be, too.
And, as always, there's the music. Who says there isn't any
good music coming out these days? This month, I take a look at a wonderful little oddity, The
Classic Ocarina. Next time I'll consider new works by classical composer Jennifer
Higdon, who is most definitely the real thing. And ECM is about to release a new batch of :rarum
releases, which has the potential to be goosebump-inducing for months.
Stay tuned -- we're in for a bunch of changes that will
make www.onhifi.com fresher, more energetic, stranger, and more interesting. Just like you
and me -- after all, we're in this together. And that’s what makes it so wonderful.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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