Paul's Posts

We've all heard it. A voice, an instrument, some sort of sound so far back in the soundstage that it appears to be outside the walls of the room. A... Read more...

Unintended consequences

From as far back as I can remember, I had a penchant for pushing buttons. I can still vividly recall the look of anger on a dozen faces after I... Read more...

Take a moment

In today's polarized environment, where it seems like you're either for or against one thing or another, I think it might behoove us to step back just a smidge and... Read more...

Owning music

"I don't want to own music anymore". What an interesting turn of events in this era of streaming. When I started in this field, fifty years ago, our collection of... Read more...

Feeling threatened

In one of my videos, which you can watch here, I take folks on a tour of the new Octave studio's control room. Octave Studios and Octave Records are passion projects... Read more...

Power supply phasing

How important is the AC phase to your connected equipment? And while we're on the subject, what about the actual audio signal itself? Swap red and black on your speaker... Read more...

Beer budgets

One of my more controversial YouTube videos seems to be one where a customer reached out and asked the proverbial question: "If I have champagne tastes but only a budget... Read more...

Simple

You don't want to eat raw potatoes. We cook potatoes for a couple of reasons: to eliminate the toxin solanine that causes nausea and headaches and to break down the... Read more...

Megan Burtt

How cool is it when an Octave Artist makes it to the big time? Megan Burt recorded one of our more popular albums on Octave, Shelter. It's a wonderful album... Read more...

Ordinary people

A common question confuses me. What equipment would be best for ordinary people? I don't know what that means. Are we speaking about non-audiophiles? The uninitiated? Someone who doesn't like... Read more...

A rose in spring

One of our HiFi Family members, Roy, wrote a beautiful note to us this morning and I wanted to share his thoughts on his new purchase. Those thoughts of his... Read more...

Reading about living

"I finally get it!" Aren't those amazing words? A light shines brightly. The answer's right in front of you. I watched with great pleasure as a guest new to our... Read more...

How many are we?

Watching a TV show the other day, and the main character turned to the other and said, "Ask yourself this question." Ask yourself? Who exactly is doing the talking here?... Read more...

Effortless

We're happiest when we aren't aware of the effort required to get somewhere. Years ago, I was driving an old VW bus with its standard "adequate" engine. If I wanted... Read more...

The how

When we capture and convert audio waveforms, how we do it matters. For example, if we're making a recording onto the old standard of magnetic tape, we're going to lose... Read more...

Making sense of the impossible

Take a pair of Stellar M1200 power amplifiers, connect both to a 15 amp 120-volt line, and play your system as loud as you dare. It'll sound amazing and it... Read more...

Up and over

When we want more of a good thing, it's important to understand which "more" matters. Take upsampling and oversampling: buzzwords tossed around like spare change. Both processes offer more but... Read more...

Disruption

PS Audio was founded on the idea of disrupting the marketplace. In 1974, we launched a $59.95 phono stage that challenged the 20X more expensive competition. And we didn't stop... Read more...

Finding your way

The first step in planning any journey is to know where you're going. That piece of wisdom might seem obvious but you'd be surprised how many folks make decisions of... Read more...

The sound of jitter

I am often asked what jitter sounds like. Hmmmm. On the surface, it's a pretty reasonable question. After all, we can say that large amounts of distortion like IM sound... Read more...

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