From the desk of Paul McGowan

Paul's Posts

Notes on music, gear, and the long pursuit of better sound. New most mornings.

Paul's Posts

More from Paul

  1. Uncovering the obviousThe strange thing about improvement is that it often reveals what was there all along. When a system reaches a certain level, changes stop sounding like... Uncovering the obvious
  2. When logic gets in the waySome of the most important lessons I’ve learned came from being wrong. And I am right about that. :) As a designer, I’ve always trusted logic.... When logic gets in the way
  3. SpiralsProgress in audio design rarely moves in a straight line. Early in my career, I believed that if we just took enough careful steps forward—measure, listen,... Spirals
  4. Is bigger better?There was a time when bigger meant better in audio. I still remember the console stereo my dad bought in the ‘50s. Walnut veneer, glowing dials... Is bigger better?
  5. TexturesTexture in sound is the difference between hearing music and feeling it. I remember listening to a string quartet through an early prototype of the PMG... Textures
  6. What if?New technologies always seem to scare us. I remember when computers first came into the workplace. There was fear in the air—real fear. People warned that... What if?
  7. The color of soundWe hear music in color, even though it comes to us in waves, not hues. From the early days of describing sound, musicians and engineers have... The color of sound
  8. There is no absolute soundWith apologies to our friends at the magazine.... The idea of a perfect sound is comforting—but it’s fiction. I’ve spent the last fifty years chasing the... There is no absolute sound
  9. We won't get fooled againOne of the most common traps we audiophiles fall into is confusing clarity with brightness. When you first swap in a new cable, DAC, or pair... We won't get fooled again
  10. Closing the loopMost companies just make gear.  We also make music. One of the things I’m proudest of at PS Audio is that we’ve closed the loop. Most... Closing the loop
  11. Links in the chainThe most important part of high-end audio isn’t gear. It isn't music. It’s people. Every one of us who calls ourselves an audiophile got here somehow.... Links in the chain
  12. A final nerding outHere's our last in this nerding out blathering about timing. If timing doesn’t matter across the internet or your home network, why does it make such... A final nerding out
  13. Timing heresyAs admitted audiophiles, we’re trained to obsess over timing. We spend real money on reclockers, atomic clocks, femto clocks—clocks so precise they’d make NASA jealous. Some... Timing heresy