Paul's Posts

We build systems to serve music—not the other way around. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to lose sight of. We obsess over gear, upgrades, and specs. We compare cables... Read more...

Disconnected

Some systems sound amazing, but never move you. They’re clear. Detailed. Impressive. But emotionally? They fall flat. HiFi. You like the sound at first, but you don’t feel the music.... Read more...

Listening with our brains

Oops. My apologies. This was supposed to be yesterday's Paul's Post, and I got them mixed up. Oh well, they still say the asme thing, just in a different order. ... Read more...

The shape of sound

What we perceive as bass, warmth, or body in a cable has less to do with how loud the lows are—and more to do with timing. That’s the final idea... Read more...

Hearing with our brains

What we hear from a cable isn’t just in the cable—it’s in our brain. That’s one of the most striking ideas from AudioQuest founder Bill Low, and it runs somewhat... Read more...

Different sides of truth

In my experience, no one brings more science to cable design than Galen Gareis of Iconoclast, and no one has contributed more to the art of cable voicing than Bill... Read more...

The Last Few Percent

Getting imaging right is easy compared to getting the music right. I’ve heard countless systems that can pin a violin dead-center or place a voice with precision, yet still fail... Read more...

Pure power isn't an option

Every piece of equipment in your system starts with the AC power coming out of the wall. That power runs the circuits, charges the capacitors, and ultimately defines the limits... Read more...

Connecting it altogether

The role of signal cables in a high-end system is one of the most debated topics in audio. Some people insist cables are just wire and that anything beyond basic... Read more...

Power to the speakers

A power amplifier doesn't just make things louder. It takes the delicate voltage signal from your preamp and converts it into current—real electrical muscle that can push and pull the... Read more...

Transparent windows

On the surface, a preamplifier seems straightforward. It selects which source you're listening to, adjusts the volume, and sends a line-level signal to the power amplifier. Simple, right? But like... Read more...

Turning wiggles into music

The signal coming out of a phono cartridge is tiny—measured in millivolts for a moving magnet and microvolts for a moving coil. That's hundreds or even thousands of times smaller... Read more...

Wiggles into music

If the turntable's job is to spin the record steadily, the cartridge's job is to turn the groove's tiny wiggles into music. And it's here, at the tip of a... Read more...

Spinning the truth

A turntable's job sounds simple: spin a record at exactly the right speed while a stylus traces the groove. Anyone who's set up a good turntable knows there's nothing simple... Read more...

Making the conversion

If the transport's job is to deliver data cleanly, the DAC's job is to turn that data into music. And it's here, in the digital-to-analog conversion process, that things get... Read more...

Transporting the music

When I talk about digital sources, most people think of the DAC first. It gets the glory. But before any digital-to-analog conversion happens, something has to retrieve the data and... Read more...

It starts at the source

Today marks the beginning of a new series. Over the next few weeks, I'd like to take a step back with you and revisit the full sweep of the two-channel... Read more...

Golden ears

The more you listen, the more you hear. I’ve learned to isolate aspects of sound—timbre, decay, dynamics—not just from technical training, but from focused listening. At first, it’s overwhelming. Everything... Read more...

Getting it right

If you get the midrange right, everything else falls into place. The human ear is most sensitive between 300Hz and 3kHz. That’s where vocals live, where instrumental tone develops, where... Read more...

Color of silence

A quiet system isn’t just silent. It’s colorful. When noise disappears, music expands. The silence between notes becomes meaningful, full of tension or relief. That’s when you start to hear... Read more...

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