Paul's Posts

Have you ever tried a simple experiment with streaming? Use a streaming service like Qobuz and listen to your favorite reference track. Now, if you're a Roon or Audirvana user,... Read more...

Surprise!

A great system doesn’t stop surprising you. The first time you hear a high-end system dialed in, it can be either overwhelming or hopefully jaw dropping. Detail, imaging, dynamics—it’s a... Read more...

Bad myths

Digital sound isn’t lifeless. Bad digital is. There’s a long-standing myth in audio that digital equals cold, sterile, and flat. That it strips the life out of music and leaves... Read more...

The elephant in the...

Every room adds its voice to the system. Even perfect ones. No matter how transparent your gear is, or how carefully you set it up, you're not listening to just... Read more...

Harder than it looks

Getting great sound takes time. And skill. And work. You can connect a system and start listening in an afternoon. But that first impression is rarely the final result. High-end... Read more...

Links in the chain

No component lives in isolation—the whole system matters. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn in high-end audio. When something doesn’t sound right, it’s tempting to blame the... Read more...

The last stop

We've been waxing on about streaming for the past few days covering the idea the controller, the iPad or phone you use to discover all about artists and select the... Read more...

The unsung hero

In a streaming audio setup your fancy, schmancy remote is the interface you control and interact with to choose your music. Once your controller picks the music, it’s the renderer... Read more...

Roon? A fancy remote

Most of us are streaming these days, so I thought we’d spend the next few days exploring how it really works. For something so common, streaming remains surprisingly misunderstood—even among... Read more...

A nice bottom end

I’ve never been shy about my love for bass—and our new Foundry F12 subwoofer is a dream come true. We’re launching the F12 near the end of January, and I... Read more...

Starting from scratch

Few people ever get the chance to build a high-end audio system from the ground up. Most systems evolve piece by piece. A new amplifier here, better speakers there, a... Read more...

Imagine that

When I started this journey over 50 years ago, the audiophile gold standard wasn’t imaging—it was tonal balance. Back then, we didn’t talk much about soundstage depth or disappearing speakers.... Read more...

The magic act

When I tell newbies to the Listening Lab that what they are looking at is about to disappear, I get a raised eyebrow: the towering loudspeakers, the stack of gear,... Read more...

Decay

Most people hear ‘decay’ and think of a trip to the dentist—but in audio, it's not your teeth that suffer when things go wrong. We spend a lot of time... Read more...

Big and small

Every system has dynamics, but it's only the rare few that handle peaks as well as they handle quiet passages. At a basic level, dynamics describe the difference between the... Read more...

Is it right?

A wide soundstage is not necessarily a precise one—but it certainly is enticing. It’s common to hear people describe a system with “huge soundstage” as if that’s the gold standard.... Read more...

Sharing

Yesterday we spoke of honing one's listening skills, something many of us take for granted (because we've been doing it for so long). Today, let's focus on communicating that which... Read more...

The art of listening

Truly discerning what a system is doing takes time, practice, and intention. The first time someone sits down in front of a high-end system, the reaction is often visceral—they are... Read more...

Better at night

Your system sounds better at night. No, you're not imagining it. And no, it's not just because of that glass of Pinot or Merlot. What you’re probably hearing is cleaner... Read more...

What's Watt?

A 50-watt amp might sound great—until the music asks for 51. Watts don’t tell you how good an amp sounds. But they do tell you what kind of speaker you... Read more...

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