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Geekbrief.TV : Vinyl, Kloss and no FLAC

They really should know better, in fact I’m sure they do know better, but such is the grime of corporate sponsorship that such items get promoted. In the same show that features Henry Kloss‘ legendary Tivoli Model One, a radio that looks so nice that Paul Smith used to sell it; GeekBrief TV go and plug USB turntables. These things are like a bonfire of the vanities for vinyl and should not, never in any circumstances be brought into any proximity with your analogue software.

Back to Henry Kloss and the Tivoli and what makes them both special. Henry Kloss liked music, good quality music and getting the best from available technology. So he runs counter to today’s MP3 drive, where superb technology is driven in reverse in order to maximise profit and convenience, at the expense of the musicality and tone. In this older aim, our Henry co-collaborated with Ray Dolby to make Dolby B and tried to transform an audio format invented for dictation, the cassette tape, into something the ears can enjoy. He also designed the AR Legend Turntable, a high quality yet affordable device, that I used to proudly own and only sold on eBay only a few years back when I needed the space.

The Tivoli is Kloss’ swansong. Brought out of retirement to create it, Kloss re-evaluated and redefined what FM radio stood for. The end product is simply nice. The tuning dial is on a 5:1 ratio to make precise tuning simple but the real genius of this device is what it does to an FM stereo signal – it get rids of it. Well OK, what it does is double the fidelity by combining the stereo signals into one good quality mono one. The result is a joy. And it knocks the socks of the poor shoddy compromise (at least so far) that is DAB.

Back to Geekbrief, what I’d like to see the delectable Cali present is a bit more on the state of the art analogue tech and the contender for the audiophile crown with the digital upstart FLAC. Maybe next time they’re in San Jose the T-Shirted Diva and Co,  could buy a bag of fish and chips and pop round the corner into The Analog Room, to have a good listen to some musical biscuits. What I’d really, really like, what I really really want, would be a GeekBrief TV show comparing high-end TT with with top-end FLAC, & not seen a peep on FLAC in their archives….

More on FLAC and other such guff in later post. In the meantime I’ll close on another lament. According to Wikipedia (as reliable as Flynn), when Kloss died his lifetime collection of audio equipment ended up in a house-clearance sale…