[A postscript: This thing just up and died on us a few weeks after this post. We do NOT recommend this model, and probably not the brand. But next Winter we will probably get something similar – or try and fix this thing which should probably have all of 2 or 3 electronic components to it].

We used to use our refrigerator to burn in cables – as recommended by Grant over at Shunyata. But our new fridge is too big and immobile and recessed and it just ain’t gonna happen.

But luckily the temperature plunged below zero and it was durn cold down in listening room two – and we decided to get a nice $40-$70 powercord burning device to heat the room a little.

Holmes 1500W, Compact Oil Filled Radiator. Not sure is this is it at Amazon – but we have not had the problems the reviwers there seem to have had. Then again, maybe they needed to use… better power cords!

We set the setting to max current which is about 1500 watts which is what a REALLY big amp might draw during, say, oh I don’t know, just about everything would make one regret turning it up quite so loud.

Here we see how the heater is breaking in a Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha power cord.

It is attached using a device that a local friend / dealer, who sold it to us, calls a FBI. I forget what the initials stand for.

But, wait, we get two power cords, two power cords broken in for the price of… well, a heckuva lot in today’s energy market … the price of one.

Finally, we make sure we are using the Hubble hospital-grade outlet on one of the dedicated circuits to make sure the electrons are of audiphile quality. Seriously, do you want YOUR infant power cords seeing their first electrons through an ordinary household socket? I think not.

[Uh oh. Neli reminds me that this outlet is not one of the dedicated lines – and that our poor virginal powercords have now indeed been exposed to the harsh realities of the Cruel Hard Mains. *sigh*]

There you have it. It LOOKS like a $4000 extension cord – but it is really a $70 power cable break-in / burn-in device par-excellance. Well, we haven’t actually compared it to anything else – we’ll have to wait until it warms up outside.

Speaking of which, this is a Winter-only device. During the warmer months it wants to live in the garage.

It is not 100% quiet, however, as the thermocouple of the thermistat makes an audible ‘click’ when it goes on and off – which it does every 2 – 3 minutes because it is a very localized sensor, which is the main complaint on Amazon about this heater.

Burn-in baby, burn-in.

The dCS P8i Player.”

So says the cover of the Stereophile magazine that came today.

Now, when they said the Halcro was ‘The Best Amp Ever’, that ‘could’ have been true. At some instant during the review process, the Halcro ‘could’ have been the best amp ever built. It is at least in the realm of possiblity, whatever the probability of it being true is, it ‘could’ have been the best.

But his month’s cover is patently false. Unless someone can tell me how else to parse what they said, the only way it can possibly be true, is:

That the dCS player is not only better than its more expensive siblings and all the other players that curently exist in the universe (well, on planet Earth anyway), but also:

1) There is an asteroid headed our way and we have days, if not hours to live – so there will be no more engineering of better players in the future, because there IS no future.

2) That Bart Simpson, or some other savvy folk, have been found with an ironclad patent on SACD and they will sue for $100 Billion anyone who improves or develops any SACD player for whatever purpose

3) That same asteroid misses the Earth but causes a loud boom, so loud that not only is everyone everywhere now deaf, but all sucessive generations are also deaf.

4) HD-DVD and /or Blueray are found to sound so much better, and to be so much easier and less expensive to build players for that all high-end manufacturers and modders IMMEDIATELY cease development on SACD and swtich to the newer better formats

5) All Emm Labs and Audio Aero and other SACD player manufacturers and the owners of their players take every player and the player’s schematics outside and heap them in a very expensive pile and set it alight, swearing ‘Never More!’.

Hopefully we will be able to add more plausible speculations to the list over time… 😉

Well, I hope they know something I don’t and they did an exaustive survey and it is #4 above that permitted them to say such a thing.