Paul's Posts

Yesterday's post got me remembering there’s a myth out there that somehow bits from a CD or SACD are purer than bits from a stream. That if it came from... Read more...

From vinyl to polycarbonate

I still remember the first time I held a CD in my hands. It was 1983, and the promise was huge—no more surface noise, no stylus to wear out grooves,... Read more...

Doh!

As long as I am reminiscing about Quad electrostatics, I still remember my first experience with a subwoofer and another electrostat I owned. The sub was an M&K, one of... Read more...

Best of both worlds

The first time I heard a pair of Quad electrostatics, everything I thought I knew about loudspeakers went out the window. They didn’t sound like speakers at all. No boxiness,... Read more...

Toe in and out

Ask a room full of audiophiles how much toe-in to use, and you’ll get a dozen different answers. Some people like their speakers pointed right at them. Others prefer them... Read more...

It's not what you think

Ask most people why they need a subwoofer and you’ll hear the same answer: to get deeper bass. But that’s not really why subwoofers matter—at least not in a properly... Read more...

Disappearing act

It’s the moment we all chase. You cue up the music, settle into your chair, and suddenly… the speakers are gone. Not turned off, not quiet—just gone. What’s left is... Read more...

The magical key

In the golden age of the 1970s, the stereo receiver was the gateway. Walk into any department store and you’d see them lined up behind glass: Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui. Gleaming... Read more...

Getting into the weeds

In yesterday's post, we discussed the differences in transistor types: BJTs and FETs. Today I thought we'd dig a little deeper. On paper, a JFET is just another transistor, but... Read more...

Choosing the right sauce

To most people, a transistor is just a black plastic thing with three legs. To an engineer working on a high-end audio system's architecture, it can mean the difference between... Read more...

Phase

It’s amazing how good we are at locating sound. Without even thinking about it, we can close our eyes and tell where someone’s talking from across a room. We know... Read more...

Taking the leap

There’s something comforting about a system you know, and it’s easy to say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And that’s not bad advice—there’s real value in living with... Read more...

Working together

We’ve all been tempted by numbers. Lower noise, higher damping factor, vanishingly low distortion. It’s easy to assume that if each piece of gear performs well on its own, the... Read more...

Headroom

You swap in a new DAC or preamp and it immediately sounds better. Clearer, more dynamic. Then you realize: it’s louder. And louder almost always sounds better. That’s where gain... Read more...

Direct connect

You’ve probably heard the term “direct-coupled” in descriptions of preamps or amps—especially ours at PS Audio, which are almost all directly coupled, input to output. So what does “direct-coupled” actually... Read more...

The floor

Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about the back wall, the front wall, the ceiling. But one of the most underrated parts of the listening space is... Read more...

Reflections

We all know how direct sound works—speaker fires, you hear it. But the real challenge in any room comes from reflected sound. Especially the first bounce off the side wall.... Read more...

Mona Lisa

Want a better stereo image? Put something visual in the middle of the front wall between the speakers. It can be a painting. A piece of art. A diffuser. Even... Read more...

Height

Sometimes you’re listening to a track you know like the back of your hand. The vocal is supposed to lock dead center, right between the speakers. But instead, it’s kind... Read more...

Sweet spot

You’re in the sweet spot. The vocalist is dead center. Then you lean to the left, and suddenly the singer jumps into the left speaker. Or you sit down with... Read more...

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