Roger Russell writes: Oxygen-free copper (OFC) or Oxygen-free high thermal conductivity (OFHC) copper generally refer to a group of wrought high conductivity copper alloys that have been electrolytically refined to reduce the level of oxygen to .001% or below. Perhaps, it should be more accurately called oxygen reduced copper. C11000 is the most common copper. […]
Month: April 2020
Found 116 results
https://azavclub.com/
Does blind testing only remove visual bias from the process of assessing the sound of a product or does it introduce a series of confounding variables into the process that might not be well understood and can easily skew the results? I fall on the side of it just removing bias, but then I’m comfortable […]
Paul McGowan …… I have always wanted to offer complete systems: speakers, cables, amps, preamps, room tuning etc. One set systems designed to work together perfectly, available at multiple price points to fit every budget. But we’ve never even seriously considered it. I was chatting this idea up to a friend of mine recently who […]
The real reason HiFi in the new millennium sucks: Record producers, sound engineers and many many musicians don’t care about how their music sounds on recorded medium. I came to this conclusion last night while listening to a 1950’s recording of the Oscar Peterson Trio. It was stunning – the performance, the sound and the […]
Recording Revolution write: What if the way we think about mixing is all wrong? What if our collective obsession with plugins, post processing, and “doing stuff” to audio might actually be working against our goal of delivering a butt kicking mix that has punch, power, and musicality? What if actually doing less in the mix […]
Steve Guttenberg writes: While Cowon’s Plenue series of portable high-res music players may not be as well known as Astell & Kern’s or FiiO’s, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the two previous Plenue models I’ve tested on this blog. This new Plenue D is smaller and more affordable than its siblings, and first impressions of its […]
Long-time Stereophile readers May be dismayed by what appears to be our unfettered satisfaction with some of the recent crop of new components. Aren’t we, after all, dedicated to the pursuit of perfection? Do we really feel that some products are all that close to it? The answer to both questions is “Yes.” Certain components […]
Paul McGowan writes: There’s a quiet conspiracy afoot and something you should be aware of. The conspiracy is one of “don’t ask don’t tell” from DAC manufacturers. PS Audio is just as guilty as the rest. The issue is one I bring up consistently when I speak to audio groups and I am always surprised […]
Paul McGowan writes: Computer audio can be hard to understand. I know this because I get so many questions from our customers. The (seemingly) most misunderstood terms are lossy and lossless, compressed and uncompressed. For starters, how many of us get an uncomfortable feeling when we hear our music’s been compressed? It’s like hearing your food was […]
If you listen carefully at around 3.09 minutes into the fourth track and single, ‘Summer Moved On’, from the 2000 release ‘Minor Earth Major Sky’ by A-ha; singer Morten Harket sustains a brilliant single vocal note, when he sings and emphasises the word ‘ask’, as repeated here, “…and there’s just one thing… left to ask” […]
A massive resource for established and new recording engineers who want to experiment and push the boundaries… This selection is just a small fraction of what’s available (click Producers on the menu). We have hundreds of top recording engineer and record producer video features that we are editing to extract the important bits: The recording […]
As much as I enjoy my Thorens one day I would like to buy a new one, now I’d hate to shell out £xxx and it not be as good, so the question is:- What is the best sound for pound T/T plus cartridge out there in your opinion(s). MORE
Steve Guttenberg writes: Don’t be scared off by the old bugaboo about record wear, says the Audiophiliac. I still own and enjoy LPs I bought decades ago, and even ones I’ve played hundreds of times still sound perfectly fine. I’ll go further back, to original pressings of 50-plus-year-old Beatles and Rolling Stones LPs that have […]
Paul McGowan writes: As designers, we want nothing but the best in our creations—the finest capacitors, connectors, power supplies, and wiring. Yet there’s an obvious problem with that. Not every product can be cost-no-object. Otherwise, few among us could afford to buy equipment for our music systems. And thus the art of intelligent compromise comes […]
Tim, our warehouse manager, walked into my office loaded with an opened box. “Check this out,” he demanded. Inside were multiple Nipper collection pieces: three 1913 style delivery truck Nipper banks, Nipper serving trays, a Nipper parts bag, etc. There was also a note from the sender, Richard Wiecker, who had just received his BHK […]
Paul McGowan writes: Some of the best bookshelf speakers on the market tell you not to place them on bookshelves! Absurd! Why is that and are there any truly good 2-0way bookshelf speakers to be had? Find out the whys and wherefores from PS Audio CEO Paul McGowan. Watch Now
Said one forum member: I’ve seen this before and the only point the article makes is that because we can’t scientifically measure something, the writer pours scorn on the hearing of those who choose to follow certain paths. He speaks for no-one but himself and those who choose not to hear or for that matter, […]
Hello all, I have a bad case of upgrade fever…I have just recently rebuilt my 2ch system with Vandersteen 3Asigs, ARC LS25 pre and ARC VTM100MKII. All Cardas Gold reference cables. Next piece to go for is CD player. Currently using my Rega Planet 2000. I welcome your thoughts, I am impressed with the […]
Paul McGowan writes: It isn’t clear that we even want our loudspeakers to be flat and perfect. There’s reasonable evidence that we don’t. My former partner in Genesis Loudspeakers, Arnie Nudell, was famous amongst insiders for what became known as the “Nudell Dip” a carefully crafted reduction of volume in the critical 500Hz to 2kHz […]
Paul McGowan ….. With all these crazy packets running around our network, like web page traffic, email and music files, how do the attached devices (like our DAC or our computer) know which of these packets are intended for them? And how do we connect everyone together? There are three elements we need to lightly […]
Paul McGowan: I was on the phone with our marketing company Creativello in Seattle and trying to explain what it’s like to be an Audiophile: what moves us, what motivates us, what really floats our boats. When I got to the part of turning the lights off and imagining you are in the room with […]
Paul McGowan ….. One of our readers made an interesting observation. He writes: “selecting a record, cleaning that record, clamping the record, starting the motor, cleaning the stylus, cueing up the cartridge and sitting down to listen prepared me to listen in a way that a few mouse clicks or screen taps doesn’t. I’d made […]