Lived up to or beyond the hype for 2005.

My list contains the following gear that I was lucky enough to end up purchasing, after home auditions, that signficantly raised the quality of the sonics of my system: 1) Pass LabsX-350.5 2) Acoustic Arts DAC1-MK3 3) Stealth Varidig Sextet digital cable 4) Acoustic Zen Absolute IC's and speaker wire. Yes, it was a very good year in my home for upgrading towards sonic pleasures.

It's been a good year...

1. Rives Level 1 design

2. Realtraps Mondotraps--less bass was definitely more

3. Bow ZZ-8

Eastern Electric Minimax pre-power, plus a pair of the Anti-Cables (frighteningly good for the money).

Paul Speltz Anti-Cables, Exemplar 2900, Gallo Nucleus Reference 3's and Onix SP3 Integrated all have thrilled me in the past year.

Oh- almost forgot- Oritek Interconnects as well.

It's also been a good, albeit VERY expensive, year for me.

1. Von Schweikert VR-9s
2. Jena Labs Dreamdancer speaker cables & Fundamental One PCs
3. Walker Reference Hi-Def Links
4. Rowland Concerto integrated
5. Arcam DV-29 DVD/CD player
6. ASC panels
7. MAYBE the new DarTZeel preamp (likely January 2006, unfortunately)

Whew! My wallet is smoldering in my pocket!!!