Paul McGowan writes: Our upcoming new product called the NuWave Phone Converter, or NPC, is really two products in one box: an analog phono preamp and an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). Recently on the PS Community Forums there’s been a lot of talk about which ADC is the best to go with – and […]
Paul McGowan
Found 626 results
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan And continuing our thought from a recent post, only this time in reverse, isn’t it obvious that just because something has all the right stuff it doesn’t necessarily qualify as great itself? And doesn’t this observation help explain one of the age old mysteries in audio about how something can […]
Paul McGowan writes: The easiest way to picture how a bipole loudspeaker is configured is to imagine two full range Monopole speaker boxes back-to-back. Sound comes out of both the front and the back of the combined boxes in this configuration and, if you connect them in-phase (red to red and black to black) you […]
PAUL McGOWAN: ’ll continue with the story of the invention of an electronically scalable room but today wanted to tell you about something I’ve been listening to that has me running around the PS offices grabbing whomever I can to come and listen. One of my readers wrote: “For a real sense of a massive […]
A am utterly fascinated with cable break-in. For many people, the idea of a piece of wire breaking in or changing its audible character over time is questionable at best and for others bordering on the preposterous. And yet, cable break-in is as real as the sun rising each morning. Recently we have been assembling […]
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan One of the most common questions I cannot answer is about matching power amps to Power Plants. It seems such an obvious question and you’d think the answer would be straight forward. But, you’d be incorrect. The problem with matching power amps to Power Plants happens because we don’t have […]
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan Things happen whether we accept them or not, like the old question about trees making noise when they fall. What would happen if we framed the age-old question of measurements vs. subjectivity differently? Instead of stating what we cannot do—if you can’t measure it it doesn’t exist—why not ask—what can […]
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan My friend, Keith Howard, wrote me a wonderfully insightful note that I will share with you. END
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan There are a lot of parameters audio design engineers must consider when crafting a new amplification circuit. Chief among them is the dynamic ability of a circuit to properly reproduce transients. Transient response in an audio system refers to how quickly and accurately the system responds to changes in the […]
PS AUDIO / Paul McGowan In a recent post, we discussed some types of distortion that are not typically part of a manufacturer’s specifications. One of those terms, slew rate, generated a bunch of questions and requests for me to explain what it is. I will do my best in as simple of terms as […]
Paul McGowan The notion of using one amplifier perfectly matched to the tweeter and another to the woofer made such elegant sense. Tubes for the top end, solid state grunt for the bottom. Brilliant. That was at a time when the choices in amplifiers were limited. Big, powerful solid state amps sounded pretty poor reproducing […]
Which is the better interconnect for home audio systems? Balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA? Paul voices his opinion and explains the differences between the two and their reason for existence. Have a question you’d like Paul to answer for you? Go to https://www.psaudio.com/ask-paul/ and post it. Watch Now Paul McGowan
PAUL McGOWAN / PS AUDIO Zero calories? Went to cook some scrambled eggs this morning and first sprayed the pan with one of those spray oils. Always conscious of my weight I checked the calorie content: zero. Zero? Really? It is, after all, oil and oil is NOT zero calories. Turns out the agency that […]
Paul McGowan / PS AUDIO I have probably spent a total of 5 minutes on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Tick Tock, and whatever new connection program out there has zero interest for me. It feels like a potential blackhole vortex waiting to suck me in and chew up my time without any obvious benefit. The […]
Paul McGowan / PS AUDIO Let me share an interesting experience. At Octave Records, we have built a state-of-the-art mix room with the best equipment we know to exist: FR30 loudspeakers, BHK monoblocks, BHK pre, DSMK2, Audioquest Dragon cables, a pair of custom 21″ subs. Fed from Octave masters, it sounds amazing. And in Music […]
Paul McGowan / PS AUDIO For the nearly 50 years I’ve been involved with High-End Audio, it’s been better because of the shared experiences of others. Most all of what I’ve learned over the years has been through the help and suggestions of others. Even the times I have used my experience and knowledge to […]
PAUL McGOWAN / PS AUDIO: The shape of my ears is different than those of yours. Yet, you and I hear the same things. How is that possible? I think of this in the same way I might imagine different microphones. Mine is a ribbon microphone, and perhaps yours is a condenser. Each has a […]
Paul McGowan / PS AUDIO: I promised in yesterday’s post, The Art of HiFi, that I would continue part of the story of this recording’s creation. Couple of things first: I apologize for the slow website yesterday. Between the release of Copper Magazine and my post, the site bogged down to an interminable crawl that is […]
Ever notice how time flies when you’re having fun? Or engaged? Or smitten? If I am required to listen to not-so-great music I find myself checking the minutes left on the track. Put on a piece that not only sounds great but the music is clicking with my mood and time seems not to exist. […]
PS AUDIO / PAUL McGOWAN How many times has it felt like technology has it out for you? Butt dialing someone right after their call, closing the page too soon and losing it, pressing delete, and then….. Half the time I walk into Music Room 3 to play the system it doesn’t work: the DAC’s […]
PAUL McGOWAN / PS AUDIO I was poking around in the sales area of PS Audio recently and found myself fondling the knobs and switches on one of our older preamplifiers from 40 years ago, the PS Audio 5.0. This older preamplifier hailed from a time when preamps and power amps had no displays. In […]
In any endeavor, it’s important to be clear about what you hope to achieve and then worry about how you will get there. Here’s a good example from two recent recording sessions at Octave Records. Both sessions used the Steinway piano in Octave’s tracking room. The first was a solo classical music piece while the second was a group pop track. Does […]
50 years ago in the dark ages of my past, I was determined to learn how circuits worked and what made amplifiers tick. Working full time as a disc jockey for the US Army in Germany at that time I had no practical means of attending school. Enter Herr Rudy Stroebel, chief engineer of the […]
PAUL MCGOWAN … For those with a clear understanding, this is a good post to skip. For those still unclear about what it means when we speak of high and low impedances, this might be right up your alley. The simplest way to think about impedance is to consider it an opposer. The higher the impedance […]