Paul's Posts

The most important thing I can tell a new audiophile is this: the gear matters less than where you start. Almost everyone gets this backward. They want to know which... Read more...

Turn it up

Most people turn it up when the music and the system click. That instinct is understandable but backward. High volume flatters almost anything, but only to a point. Once you... Read more...

At the end of the day

A couple of days ago I wrote about the takeover of our local bank by a conglomerate and how that made us feel. And it occurred to me that's the... Read more...

Giving a hoot

A well-set-up stereo playing a great recording can do something remarkable: make the speakers disappear. The room fills with music from a stage that seems to float between and behind... Read more...

The soul of the machine

You can always tell when a business has lost its way. Terri and I banked at the same local outfit for many years. The people there seemed to care. I... Read more...

Two better than one?

Two boxes almost always beat one. The exception is when someone designs the one box like it was really two. The trouble with most all-in-one streamer/DACs is proximity. The streaming... Read more...

The eyes have it

I was driving down the road on a pleasant Saturday afternoon when someone pulled out of a driveway ahead of me. I slowed to let them in. New BMW. And... Read more...

Scratchy sound

A record can be factory fresh and still crackle like a campfire. That's rarely your fault. New vinyl arrives with surface noise baked in — clicks, hiss, rumble that has... Read more...

Million dollar babies

Million-dollar loudspeakers are becoming more commonplace. The same could be said for a few thousand-dollar ones that make people happy for decades. The question isn't whether ultra-expensive gear is better.... Read more...

The nicest compliment

The best compliment a loudspeaker can receive has nothing to do with the speaker. It's when someone in the listening chair asks where the music is coming from. Not as... Read more...

Standing out

There are hundreds of high-end audio companies. Hundreds of loudspeaker manufacturers. Good engineers everywhere. Good parts. Good measurements. Good intentions. So what are we actually all about? Magic. That's the... Read more...

Wallpaper

There are two ways to have music in a room. One is wallpaper. The other is a performance. Wallpaper is what most of the world runs on. Music while you... Read more...

Getting out of the way

Every audiophile playback platform has one job — to hand your DAC the file that came out of the studio and stay out of the way. Oops. Almost none of... Read more...

It isn't one or the other

We Are All Analog Digital versus analog is the wrong debate. The right debate is well-done versus done the accepted way. Digital audio, in the hands of engaged engineers who... Read more...

Airplanes and audio

Somebody on a plane asked me what I do for a living. I told them I have a company that makes stereo equipment. "Oh, like Best Buy stuff?" Sigh. For... Read more...

Out of balance

We are not even in our listening abilities. For example, at low listening levels, we are dramatically less sensitive to bass than to midrange. As the volume goes up, that... Read more...

Cones

The material a woofer cone is made from matters less than most of us think — and it matters differently than most speaker specs let on. The cone's job is... Read more...

Vintage

What would happen if we auditioned vintage PS Audio electronics from a few decades back, then swapped in the current gear? Would what we consider musical magic still be there?... Read more...

A "bit" of a story

Both coax and I2S carry the same bits from a streamer to a DAC. What makes them sound different is what happens to the clock along the way. A standard... Read more...

Why new matters

In yesterday's post, I mentioned finally seeing something that had always been there and discussed the idea of becoming more aware. My friend, John Nieuwenburg, added the name of the... Read more...

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