Paul McGowan: We’re comfortable suggesting sound is subjective when it comes to our differences in perception, but then uncomfortable when we speak of it in absolute terms. In other words, we believe the source of sound to be absolute. The perception of sound a matter of personal choice. The dictionary describes subjective as a central philosophical […]
AUDIO: Ask us
A dialogue between audiophile enthusiasts
Found 571 results
This IMPORTANT forum thread starts as follows: Hi, My name is Ann from the PlugSafe safety campaign. I know there have often been discussions here about mains plugs and fuses; I would like to clarify a few issues. Mains plugs supplied in the UK for domestic use MUST comply with BS1363-1 and MUST be approved […]
The thread starts ….. Hey, I was just in a nearby charity shop, and they had the aforementioned amp selling for £15. It’s pretty old-looking – I’d say early 80s vintage. It had a phono stage, switched/unswitched speakers outs, and all the controls on the front had little blue “bits” sticking out of them. The […]
Hi Howard. I know you resigned the STAX agency some years back. Can you offer some advice though? I am thinking of importing STAX for my own use? In my direct personal experience the following comments apply equally to new STAX equipment or used equipment: All STAX items have serial numbers. This means that any […]
Dear Colin, An audiophile friend made the following argument to me: “Stop looking for a new CD player. With a very good to excellent high-end interconnect you will not only improve the performance of the CD, but other downstream components.” I had to disagree with my friend claiming a $400 or $500 IC is not […]
Is this to keep us buying from them? Why not upgrade good designs? MORE
Q: I know vintage gear isn’t your business of course but, hey, I trust your expertise and so I wonder if you can help with a component issue please? I’m doing a Sansui restoration and the main caps are Nichicon & Elna. There are many differing capacitor ranges, do you have any specific recommendations? […]
I’m contemplating installing a separate mains spur for my hifi. I’ve avoided doing it because it’ll be quite a hassle due to the layout of my house. I’ve been thinking of adding a spur to my Consumer Unit of 10mm2 mains cable to an unswitched single socket. For me, this will be a fairly expensive […]
Dear Colin, I’ve ordered a pair of 4-Pin DIN plugs to construct an interconnect for a Quad 33/303 system. Do both the channels need to be individually shielded, or is crosstalk not an issue here, and one could use something like this with just an overall shield? http://www.van-damme.com/14.html Failing that, can you recommend a really […]
Anybody doing this? I have an NAD CD player with a USB port, so I thought “why not?”. I’ve gotten real frustrated with wi-fi streaming and I like the relative simplicity of usb. My NAD’s USB port is limited to 320Kbps mp3 or WMA, so that’s a definite down-side, but honestly, I struggle to hear […]
I’m thinking of getting a little T-Amp as a spare amp / for 3rd system use (I have a pair of Klipsch Heresys doing nothing at present – I could set them up in the ‘record shop’, I’ve also got a pair of JR149s, but I doubt a chip amp would drive them). Anyone got […]
Dear Colin, power supply question. How often do we have to turn off our equipment such as power amp, pre amp. cd player , power conditioner ……? Can we leave them on for days while listening on and off or do we have to turn them off after every session of listening? As a general […]
Dear Colin, step up transformer noise. I purchased an amp from Europe that needs 240v [ I am on north American voltage].. I bought a step up/step down transformer to equalize the voltage. it works, but the transformer produces noise through the speakers, even when the amp is turned off. the transformer I bought was […]
The thread starts: Picked up a used koetsu rosewood signature last week for £600. It was advertised as in excellent condition and had been given a clean bill of health from a dealer. The cart arrived and the bodywork and cantilever are in excellent condition but the diamond is very worn, and it sounds poor. […]
I am still in the planning stage of replacing some NAIM gear with Teddy and have decided not to replace my XPS2 with a Teddy XPS as I feel that my eventual position will be transport/DAC or Streaming. To convert the CDX2 into a transport would be great sonically I am sure but bad financially […]
There have been quite a few questions lately regarding the safety (or otherwise) of driving 4 ohm speakers from amplifiers only rated to drive 8 ohm loads. Rather than just add to the mass of unsubstantiated conflicting opinions (e.g. “amplifier XXX is built like a tank, so it must be able to drive 4 ohm […]
Hi all. It seems like Spendors and Harbeths share a lot of qualities, while the Spendors seem to be less expensive. Are any Spendor models comparable to C7ES3s? I really like what I’ve read about the Harbeths, but they aren’t available in my area while Spendors are. Any other similar speakers to consider? Please click […]
Seems to be a trend in termination plating toward Rhodium and I’m wondering why. Anyone give opinions on the sonic character of this plating? Take a look HERE
Hi Guys, Roger Sanders of Sanders Sound Systems Ltd sells purpose made coaxial design speaker cables for Electrostatic speakers. They are made to be low inductance, low capacitance, and moderate impedance cables. As I cannot afford his $600 per pair asking price, does anyone know of any other cables (as cheap as possible) that fulfill […]
Hello Colin. From reading your very cogent and helpful answers to those questions here I appreciate that you take the design of power supplies very seriously. I’m writing here out of ignorance of the design process and indeed materials used but I wonder if it’s coming to the point where the next set of advances […]
I bought a Raspberry Pi and a Hifiberry DAC because i loved the idea of a fully fledged component the size of a cigarette packet. I expected a long and painful configuration would be the premium i paid over £50, but my iPhone recognises it with the generic Open Elec O/S. I can now use […]
https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?65728-Can-a-CD-player-s-sound-degrade
Dear Colin, If audiophile grade feet, power cords, and fuses can really improve sound quality, why don’t high end designers/manufacturers just incorporate these audiophile grade components at the time of build? Why sell an under-optimized item that can be easily improved upon by the owner or a modder? I guess you don’t do that at […]
Hi Colin. To what extent – if any – does marketing influence your designs? It has ….. for a few things. I’ve not really taken much notice of marketing and to be honest, if an audio business is run by money grabbing twits like those I’ve met in the past then … no thanks. I […]