June, 2018



Bridge II update

PS Audio’s Network Bridge II is your gateway to network audio. With the Bridge, you can connect to your entire library on a NAS or a computer, stream Tidal, play MQA files, Spotify, use Roon Music Management software, Vtuner and a host of other network programs to bring high-quality music into your home.

The bridge takes all stored or streamed music and processes it through the Digital Lens to remove jitter and improve fidelity such that few sources owners of our DirectStream DACS have will be any better.

And now, the Bridge just got a whole lot better with the latest upgrade.

Firmware version 3.6.2 is now live and ready for Bridge owners to enjoy. If you have a Bridge, simply power cycle the DirectStream DAC and follow these instructions to update the Bridge firmware online, then enjoy.

Oh, and if I hadn’t mentioned it, the upgrade, as all our upgrades, is free. Enjoy!



Recognize this guy?

If you’re like me you’re still in love with the Beatles and one of the best and most entertaining videos I’ve seen in a long, long time is this one featuring Paul McCartney.

Late night host James Cordon gets McCartney in a car and the two head out into McCartney’s former stomping grounds, Liverpool, spending time exploring the city of Paul’s youth, visiting his childhood home where he wrote music with John Lennon, performing songs in a local pub and of course driving around singing a few of Paul’s biggest hits.

And, that’s my favorite part. This is definitely worth viewing and enjoying if you too like the Beatles and their music.

Watch Paul McCartney relive his youth



This technology could fundamentally change our relationship to electricity

A research and development lab out of North Carolina’s research triangle has begun commercializing a technology it says can measure and manage electricity with a level of accuracy and precision far beyond any existing technology, using a cutting-edge application of real-time computing.

Why should we care? Well, for one thing, the potential for changing electricity’s efficiency is huge. It could theoretically double the energy efficiency of the electricity system, getting twice the energy services out of the same amount of generation.

That would radically hasten both electrification and decarbonization, proving a weapon against climate change at least as potent as renewable energy itself.

Read the article


Copper Magazine

“One thing that audiophiles regularly fail to grasp adequately is how a sound wave propagates away from a loudspeaker – or from anything else for that matter. So the question arises, how exactly does sound spread out – disperse from – your loudspeakers?  Let’s take a peek at the science involved. ”

Dispersion is the theme of Richard Murrison’s Quibbles and Bits column and if you ever wondered how this works, he explains in simple and easy to understand detail, all about dispersion. It’s worth a read.

Copper is cost-free, ad-free, and committed to great articles without an attitude.

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Have a spare instrument?

Music is the essence of everything we do. Without music, our stereo systems aren’t really of much value, but with music, our lives are richer, our moods are elevated, our souls are nourished. But, not everyone is able to afford musical instruments, music lessons, and all the training it takes to get really good.

My son, Sean McGowan, aims to do what he can to fix that, and I hope perhaps you can find it in your heart to help him help others.

He’s set up a donation site hoping to acquire the following:

  • Musical instruments
  • Financial donations
  • Audio equipment (for live stage performances or studio recordings)
  • Music classroom supplies (music stands, staff paper, music/choir folders, etc.)
  • General classroom supplies (paper, pencils, erasers, chalk)
  • Unrelated, but valuable equipment (that could be sold to support the projects)

This is great and generous work and I do hope you can find a few bucks to send his way, an instrument, supplies, whatever you can. Thanks.

Help musicians



The real story

Newsletter reader Grant Lenahan knows that I have a fascination with the RCA mascot dog, Nipper. I collect Nippers and would someday love to figure out a way to get a large sculpture of this iconic image and put it atop our new building so Nipper is looking down upon all who enter PS Audio.

But, while I knew about the original painting that Nipper’s image was taken from I did not know its history.

Grant writes:

“Just wondering if you know the history of Nipper?  I learned it many years ago when I was doing some work for NBC in New York. We were doing some research on digital TV distribution and spent significant time in the RCA building at Rockefeller Center. In the basement is the original RCA Victor Mural “his master’s voice” in which Nipper’s head is cocked listening.  The catch is that he is sitting on his master’s casket. His master has died, but nipper hears his voice.”

And now you know the rest of the story.

Thanks, Grant!