Paul's Posts

Not everything that counts can be measured. And not everything that’s measured counts. That’s one of those cliches we audiophiles like to pull out when a piece of gear sounds magical—even... Read more...

First!

You never forget your first car, your first apartment, or your first stereo that made music feel real. That’s because “firsts” are the spark that starts the fire. For me,... Read more...

The clap

Nobody claps at a recording. We only clap when it feels live. That’s because what moves us isn’t just the sound—it’s the presence. The sense that someone is there, playing just... Read more...

Being moved

You don’t have to see wind to feel it, and you don’t need to hear a subwoofer to know it’s missing. That lowest octave—from 20Hz to 40Hz—is mostly felt, not... Read more...

Chasing the illusion

A photograph can be sharp and still feel lifeless, and a painting can be blurry and still move you to tears. That’s the strange truth we live with every day. A... Read more...

Words can get in the way

Language is a funny thing. It helps us get close to truth—but it rarely brings us all the way. We say a preamp is “direct coupled from input to output,”... Read more...

Looks can be deceiving

You can’t judge a book by its cover, and you sure can’t judge a house by how clean the living room is. Surface impressions might be tidy and impressive, but... Read more...

It Starts with the Engine

A car only goes as far as its engine takes it. No matter how sleek the design or how skilled the driver, if the engine’s weak or temperamental, the ride’s... Read more...

Who needs a preamp?

You don’t often find a tire shop recommending shoes. And that's human nature—if a company doesn’t make a certain product, they’re probably not going to champion its importance. Which brings... Read more...

Power IS the signal

It took me a long time to fully appreciate that the power we feed our systems is the signal. Think about it. Every sound that comes out of a loudspeaker... Read more...

Winning an argument

It’s hard to win an argument with a spec sheet. Digital trounces vinyl. Lower noise, wider dynamic range, flatter frequency response. In theory—and in measurement—digital wins every time. And yet,... Read more...

How lossless works

Octave Radio streams as MP3. That often raises eyebrows, especially from those who know how seriously we take sound quality at Octave Records. After all, we record at some of... Read more...

Wait…Octave Radio is compressed?

When I talk about Octave Records, I usually bring up how we record at some of the highest bit depths and sample rates in the world. We don’t compress the... Read more...

The elephant in the room

Yesterday, we talked about the preamplifier as the system's gatekeeper—and how, perhaps surprisingly, it's the power supply that makes or breaks the whole design. At its core, a preamp is... Read more...

The gatekeeper

While we’re on the subject of preamplifiers, let’s take a moment to consider the new PMG Signature Preamplifier—a revolution in preamp design. We’ve been building preamps for a long time.... Read more...

Being misled

While we're on the subject of words and how they impact our thought processes and opinions on high-end audio, another instance occurred to me. In our new PMG Signature 512... Read more...

The language trap

In yesterday’s post, I talked about cables and the common myth that they can “add” sonic flavors—like brightness, warmth, or thickness. The only reason that the additive myth even has... Read more...

The cable myth

Cables don’t add. They only take away. That’s the big myth we audiophiles often wrestle with—this idea that a cable has a sonic personality, a character it imparts onto the... Read more...

Sometimes…

…you just have to skirt the rules and step up to the plate (and I'll get to the meat of that comment in a moment), but what inspired this post... Read more...

Making sense

Some things in high-end audio don’t make sense—until they do. Or don't. Take burn-in. You’ve heard the arguments. Some folks insist it’s snake oil, others swear by it. Even after... Read more...

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