Writing a regular column can be a funny thing; the repetition it requires brings up questions that grow increasingly urgent. Chief among them: What are we doing here, and what is this for? For all the handwringing about story-telling and prose style, what we’re up to in the equipment-review section of this magazine is writing about metal boxes filled with wire, capacitors, circuit boards, and other bits of hardware. Life is difficult and goes by in a flash, love and satisfaction are fleeting at best—so why should we care? Well, because some of these boxes manage to connect us to beauty and meaning in a way that can enhance and gradually change our lives. (And yes, both have to be in the mix: Beauty without meaning is anodyne and lacks whupass.)
I suppose that’s what differentiates me from listeners who prioritize measurements over “subjective” listening or at least require the measurements to justify their fun. It’s not that I’m not interested in sound; I just don’t have enough time left on this earth to spend worrying about it. For me, the box in question must enable me to switch off the worrying, quibbling mind and its constant fixation on what Krishnamurti called “material welfare.” If it cannot accomplish this—if it cannot mainline the music directly into my body—then I don’t understand its function. And if during musical self-forgetting I take pleasure in “colorations,” no children or animals have been harmed. You may like something entirely different, and of course that’s fine. About those who enjoy pissing on other people’s pastimes, Krishnamurti said, “The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.”
These questions make me think back on the many components that, over the years, have spent time in my home. I should to think back. Like some of you, I’ve been an audiophile for as long as I can remember, and most of that gear has passed through without leaving much of a memory. A few components were down-right awful. But some others managed to capture my attention and imagination in ways that proved memorable and, more importantly, distinctive.
