Interesting that this comes up. I was thinking of my experience in the high-end audio biz in a previous lifetime. My current preoccupation regarding audio is finding sonic gems in equipment that I once turned up my nose at (hint: mid-70s-mid-80s Hitachi receivers and separates are true sleepers). And, while I somewhat lament the MP3-led owering of the bar, I have to say the rush to home theatre had already done sufficient damage in the marketplace. And iPods, which of late seem to be regarded as the Devil's spawn from several quarters, aren't any worse than than most of the portables they ended up replacing (and, depending on how you encode your tunes, potentially better). But, yes, the standard earbuds leave something to be desired.
Audiogon was the last site I checked regulatrly (yes, they're largely a sales forum, but they also have other forums as well), and I liked them.
I had a nice Luxman tube preamp for a number of years (CL-34, for the record), but it was rather touchy to maintain, and I gave it up for SS gear. I can only stand gilding the lily but so much without getting in the way of the music, which is what it's all about.
- Barrett
