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The specs given in the article are the -10dB points. Looking at the full specs, the -3dB down points (the usual standard for frequency response limits) show a response of 14Hz-44KHz. That's still a bit of overkill, but knowing that a driver doesn't roll off until significantly above or below where you can hear means that it's more likely to stay completely linear in the frequencies that are audible.

I bet these folks having problems aren't using the recommended cone points on the bottom of their MacBooks. The cone points reduce vibrations, which in turn, result in more pure electron flow and computations which have more fidelity and life. 1s and 0s take on new oneness and zeroness that was heretofore only available on the largest supercomputers. Oh, and the grey lines go away, too.

I can suggest another awesome upgrade, this $1700 power cable http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPREPC&variation=2.0, upgrade that normal power cable which powers your player and experience true video and audio nirvana, it really does work! Never mind the 500ft of unshielded romex inside your wall, its truley the last 6ft of power cord that does make the difference you will see and hear!

I'm not sure how well that thing moves electrons around, but when it comes to moving money out of your wallet it's practically a superconductor!

I can suggest another awesome upgrade, this $1700 power cable http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPREPC&variation=2.0, upgrade that normal power cable which powers your player and experience true video and audio nirvana, it really does work! Never mind the 500ft of unshielded romex inside your wall, its truley the last 6ft of power cord that does make the difference you will see and hear!

Seriously if I ever see one of these in real life that someone has bought I will bitchslap them.

pick up a copy of any british hi-fi magazine (what hi-fi, hi-fi choice), look at the reviews, and google. american hi-fi mags (stereophile, the $ensible $ound) also talk about vinyl, but not as much as the brits. music hall makes good-valued turntables. grado still makes cartridges. want to get stupid with money? you can buy separate transport, tonearm, and cartridge.

for a mail order source, audio advisor is reliable.

nb: i am not affiliated with any of the companies i've mentioned.

Oh yes, but really, the whole experiance is a waste if you don't connect your speakers with $2500 cable: http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.as p?sku=CARGRS3&loc=2

...every minute.

Clean your LP and perhaps your stylus. LP: At the cheapest, try water and mild dishwashing liquid. I'd never do that, but most probably have that around. On a level higher, get yourself a Discwasher LP cleaning kit--basically a big velvet-like brush that gets into the grooves along with some cleaning fluid. There are more specialized vinyl cleaners that do a better job of cleaning ingrained mold, dirt and grease from grooves, but obviously will come at a higher price. If you're really serious about your vinyl, perhaps if you have a significant collection of hard-to-find records, try a Record Doctor II. It'll set you back a good $200, but it'll clean your records with vacuum power. Suck the vinyl so the vinyl doesn't suck. Stylus: Your stylus may be both really dirty and badly damaged. Good cleaners include LAST, Discwasher and Stanton. If you need a replacement, spend $40 and get a nice Audio-Technica, Shure or Grado phono cartridge. If you at the very least clean the LP, I can almost guarantee less hiss and less clicks, along with a good chance of hearing more out of that recording than you had since it was brand new. There's a lot of cheap, used vinyl out there waiting to be found. PoisonousPhat, self-proclaimed vinyl freak.

Is it possible for end-users to easily disable an RFID?

I wonder if an anti-static gun would produce enough voltage to fry them (for the kids: these were used in the Vinyl Ablution Ritual that preceded placing the needle on the record in the old days).

Maybe waving them over a negative ion generator?

Do you have any exp using the m-audio audiophile usb or m-audio Sonica using the optial out with a dac such as Link DAC III 24/96

if you have i would like to know about the following:
-linux support
- can i control the volume though the spdif device - and then attach the DAC directly to a power amp
-best
-greg

You obviously don't visit the right audiophile websites. Try $2400 for speaker cable.

Besides, no audiophile in their right mind would be caught dead buying crap from Monster Cable. Sheesh! Not when there is stuff even more expensive out there. :)

However, in all seriousness. A lot of these audiophile components do have some basis in fact. The problem is that they take the fact and extend it with a more is better philosophy. The more being price, rather than actual substance.

Quality cables do make a difference. We know this is the case with ethernet cables, although you don't need to spend what Monster asks for ethernet cables. Now I did replace the cables on my CD player from the ones that came in the box to Monster Cables I paid $20 for and it honestly did make a noticeable difference in sound. Now I might have seen the same benefit from a $10 pair of cables, who knows. But moving to $900 cables very likely has diminishing returns.

On the otherhand the more expensive cables do have the benefit that they look cool. Some people are willing to spend a lot of money for something that looks cool but adds no real substance.

It's also not surprising that a mechanical device such as a CD transport may be susceptible to vibration. But again, do you need to spend $1,000 to properly isolate it? Maybe not setting the CD player on top of the speakers is enough?

Really I'm surprised you didn't mention the myth of the Green Marker.

You obviously don't visit the right audiophile websites. Try $2400 for speaker cable.

Besides, no audiophile in their right mind would be caught dead buying crap from Monster Cable. Sheesh! Not when there is stuff even more expensive out there. :)

However, in all seriousness. A lot of these audiophile components do have some basis in fact. The problem is that they take the fact and extend it with a more is better philosophy. The more being price, rather than actual substance.

Quality cables do make a difference. We know this is the case with ethernet cables, although you don't need to spend what Monster asks for ethernet cables. Now I did replace the cables on my CD player from the ones that came in the box to Monster Cables I paid $20 for and it honestly did make a noticeable difference in sound. Now I might have seen the same benefit from a $10 pair of cables, who knows. But moving to $900 cables very likely has diminishing returns.

On the otherhand the more expensive cables do have the benefit that they look cool. Some people are willing to spend a lot of money for something that looks cool but adds no real substance.

It's also not surprising that a mechanical device such as a CD transport may be susceptible to vibration. But again, do you need to spend $1,000 to properly isolate it? Maybe not setting the CD player on top of the speakers is enough?

Really I'm surprised you didn't mention the myth of the Green Marker.

1. The 'consumer' market. This tends to be cheapish to middle-priced and is often (distressingly) designed to look like an SUV. You'll probably be able to find something in this which sounds 'adequate'. The correlation between price and performance is moderately strong, though with a fairly high variance. Typically where you'll find the most 'features' (various playback modes, DSP effects, et cetera).
2. The 'audiophile' market. Expensive stuff with minimal controls (often nothing more than just a power buton!) and stylish design . Really tweaked marketing - both the buyers and the sellers use lots of completely unquantifiable terms. With all the sales-driven pseudoscience the correspondence between price and performace is fairly loose.
3. The studio or 'pro audio' market. Designed for people whose job is to understand what's going on and to know what the numbers mean. If you want a flat frequency response, this is the place to look. No bullshit with gold interconnects - if you want good connections, use balanced cables. You also get the advantage that mixing boards are prefered over recivers (and you can get a good one for less than a comparable preamp). Definitely the tightest correspondence between price and performance. The biggest downside I have experienced using these in a home setting is that nothing's typically engineered around a 5.1 configuration. But it is what they used to master most of the things you're listening to.

61" Sony XBR300 TV

Lexcion DC-1 Preamp (rumor has it George Lucas had one of these things :) )

Parasound HCA-1206 power amp

Toshiba 5109 DVD player (has progressive out)

Sony DSS

Some damn SVHS VCR that I have yet to use

Citation 7000 series speakers

Now... all of that stuff retails for something on the wrong side of $30,000, but you'd be a fool to think I'd actually spend that much money on it. I picked up the power amp, preamp, and speakers all used, at an average of about 1/3 of retail pricing.

So... my whole hearted recommendation is spend some time looking at the used market! Also, stay away from the Good Guys, Circuit City, etc. These stores carry CRAP. Find a local high end dealer and talk to them. Usually their prices are movable and you can do some wheeling and dealing. Also, checkout auidoadvisor.com. They currently have what appears to be the deal of the century at the moment... A complete KEF (excellent speaker brand) 5.1 speaker system for $900.

Here's a short list of good brands to look for:

Electronics (receivers, preamps, amps, etc.)

NAD

Parasound

Some Denon/Yamaha

Anthem

Sherwood Newcastle (make sure it's NEWCASTLE!)

B&K

Adcom

Speakers:

B&W

Paradigm

PSB

KEF

NHT

Aerial

Energy

Boston Accoustics

Brands to stay away from:

Sony (some of the ES Stuff is okay)

BOSE (don't by it, no matter what)

sub $500 recievers from ANYONE (these things are just piles of junk)

Kenwood

Sherwood (non newcastle stuff)

Yamaha speakers

Cerwin Vega

JVC (their SVHS VCRs are the best, however)

Awia

Also, here are a few good links to used audio sites:

audioshopper.com
audiogon.com
jmsound.com
jeffsoundvalues.com

Hope that helps, and for what it's worth, I've spent a good amount of time these past few years learning about all of this crap and if you use the guide above you should get a perfectly good system. I've left out super high end brands, thinking most people not be interested, but if you are just ask.

An AudioRequest would be cool, though a PC preconfigured to do the same thing would be even cooler.

The ArcadePC MAME Cabinet is pretty sweet. So is the Arcade2000 cabinet.

Everybody loves BRAINS. And MORE BRAINS!!

For the audiophile in your life, perhaps you should consider an $80 steel brick or a $20 green pen.

Oh, I would also like someone to find me a missile silo home, but it has to be within ten miles of San Francisco (the Presidio or the Marin Headlands would be acceptable locations.)

An AudioRequest would be cool, though a PC preconfigured to do the same thing would be even cooler.

The ArcadePC MAME Cabinet is pretty sweet. So is the Arcade2000 cabinet.

Everybody loves BRAINS. And MORE BRAINS!!

For the audiophile in your life, perhaps you should consider an $80 steel brick or a $20 green pen.

Oh, I would also like someone to find me a missile silo home, but it has to be within ten miles of San Francisco (the Presidio or the Marin Headlands would be acceptable locations.)