Paul's Posts

David, one of our HiFi Family members, had a question about digital cables. It was one I hear all the time. Given that my unit is said to be galvanically... Read more...

Worms

There are a couple of things we do not want to open: Pandora's Box and cans of worms. Why? Because unexpected and (maybe) unwanted artifacts are said to come crawling... Read more...

Listening to sine waves

Imagine sitting in your favorite listening chair, a glass of wine in hand, as you fire up your high-end audio system. You press play and a single tone emerges from the... Read more...

Mix and match

There's a certain beauty into just outfitting your entire system with the manufacturer's offerings. It's what I do and I love it. Yet, there's also the powerful alternative of mixing and matching.... Read more...

Fantasy system

I wonder what each of us would dream about if we could wave that proverbial magic wand around and have any system we'd want. Would it be an all encompassing... Read more...

Bag of tricks

The term "bag of tricks" finds its origins in an ancient fable by Aesop, "The Fox and the Cat". In this tale, a boastful fox claims to possess a whole bag... Read more...

The missing element

With all the emphasis on equipment and music it's sometimes easy to ignore one of the most critical aspects of our high-end audio systems. The chair. One of the first... Read more...

Buried treasure

When something jumps out at us—hearing a difference from another room or a slap in the face improvement—we tend to place far more importance on it then if we have... Read more...

First impressions

Over my many years I have noticed a few differentiating traits in people. One of them is our trust level in first impressions. When we hear something for the first... Read more...

The collector

Most of us have built our systems over a period of time. We've collected, refined, ousted, included, and settled on this amplifier, that loudspeaker, those cables. Our systems are rarely... Read more...

Pliable standards

Years ago I visited a famous audio reviewer's home. I was there to make sure our new piece of kit he was about to review was properly setup. I was... Read more...

From nothing to everything

Some believe high-end audio is all marketing hype, arguing that any well measuring off-the-shelf commercial system can easily compete with an expensive high-end setup. This perspective, while common, is something... Read more...

Chickens and loudspeakers

In our world of high-end audio there's a debate as old as time: what's more important, the source or the loudspeaker? This question is akin to the classic conundrum of the... Read more...

VU Meters

I have always been curious about our passion for VU meters on the front panel of power amplifiers. Companies like McIntosh have made their mark on our industry by making... Read more...

The shield

Back in the days where swords and knives were the weapons of choice, a shield was an awfully effective way of staying alive. It protected you from getting skewered by... Read more...

When is it right?

On a couple of recent Octave Records recordings I have been experimenting a bit with the drum kit. On a typical session where there are drums, my preferred microphone setup... Read more...

Predatory plumbing

A bit of a warning. Today's post is long, it's a rant, and it's not about audio. It's about predators. Feel free to skip it. For the past several months... Read more...

Careful what you wish for

In the "glory days" of HiFi, between the 1980s and 90s, HiFi manufacturers were in a fierce competition to produce audio equipment with the lowest possible THD, a measure of performance... Read more...

Resonating

Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when a system is driven at its natural frequency, causing it to oscillate with greater amplitude. Some examples might include the ringing of a bell, hitting... Read more...

Enhancement

When we say a new piece of audio kit enhances the performance of the system do we mean it in the literal sense of the word? "An increase or improvement... Read more...

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