Week Fifteen Wherein It’s Gadget Show Time

Ever since I started the This Week column some three years ago here on Talk Audio, I have always found some way to get a few words on line pretty much every Monday, even when that has meant Bank Holidays and Spanish hotel Internet access. So apologies for this one being a tad late.
We’ve been having a chilled Easter which I was enjoying until my prize pet fish, a kind called a Mono (Monodactylus argenteus) perished. He was a very old fish and had originally been part of a semi-salty (brackish) tank with puffer fish in the living room.
He used to watch telly, too.
I was a bit sad but have cleaned the tank and gone and got some more puffer fish. Cute fat ones with eyes that follow you about.
I steamed a good few news stories last week and Lo & Behold! I managed to get to the bottom of nearly all of the Asteroid from Parrot. Certainly enough to realise there is nothing else quite like it around right now. Although that may all be different in the morning, as I am due to drive up the motorway to the NEC for the ‘˜Professional Day’ (read trade) of Gadget Show Live. The steam has leaked a little from what used to be a hot sell out, for there are actually some tickets left as I write, for the Wednesday and Thursday I think, as well as some seats in the theatre show with the TV presenters starring live.
And this device, the Parrot Asteroid, has raised a major Talk Audio point. For along with a Road Angel product and a knob-in-a-box (the PAC-1 from Pacific Accessory Corporation via Celsus) it has earned itself a State of the Art flag. I know my publisher is not sure about the use of the flag for this product, as in fact he too, is fully expert and has even been running one for six months. While he disagrees with me in feeling, he doesn’t in the findings, of course. And I think it is because we need a new flag. One that this device doesn’t rate but a Pioneer P99 (and maybe even P88) does, or a set of top end Audison Thesis speakers, or Morel Fat Ladies, or those Hybrid Audio speakers I tried that time. And it’s the ONLY other flag apart from Best Buy that the guys at Home Cinema Choice have ever used and that is REFERENCE. It’ll only be given to things of such astonishing sound quality that only a fellow audiophile could argue about it. And then it’d be personality of the sound/kit as Reference status is undeniable.
So what do you think? Best Buy, Recommended, then a possible Reference or State of The Art as final accolades. This does mean you could get both Reference AND State of The Art if the item was that good.
I have a camera to fret about, as bless her she is now getting a bit odd and creaky. A Canon PowerShot SX10ie, it was bought in ‘˜Vegas when the last one died as I was out there at the time and I think this’ll be the last season out of her and I better start taking a back-up grab shooter with! So, I had better get on with the meanderings.
But I’ll write up the Asteroid this week as well as bringing you the hottest news from Gadget Show Live.
Adam Rayner On Line Editor