Paul's Posts

The same digital recording can sound dramatically different depending on who handles the mastering. A HiFi Family member wrote to me recently about a cheap promotional compilation CD that somehow... Read more...

The mighty CD

Sample rate is not a measure of how good a recording sounds. This one catches people off guard, but I have heard it so many times in our listening room... Read more...

Streams

A stream is only as good as the weakest link between the server and your DAC. I remember the first time I played a downloaded high-resolution file back to back... Read more...

Geometry

The geometry of a cable matters more than most folks realize, and less than cable manufacturers want you to believe. Stan and I spent a good chunk of the early... Read more...

Shape matters

Every loudspeaker driver is a compromise between physics and the art of what sounds right. I have been staring at speaker cones and films for over fifty years, and I... Read more...

Solar Power and Your Audio System

The electricity feeding your audio system matters every bit as much as the components themselves. I know you're probably getting tired of this old broken record speech, but I can't... Read more...

Disappearing act

The highest compliment you can pay a loudspeaker is to say you can't locate it. That the music simply exists in the room, with no audible connection to the boxes... Read more...

Power!

In early 1997 I had a puzzle that wouldn't leave me alone. My stereo sounded different depending on when I listened. Late at night, everything opened up — wider stage,... Read more...

Woof!

There's a moment in certain recordings — a pipe organ hitting a low pedal note, a kick drum on a well-recorded track, the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra — when... Read more...

Flat

Here's a number worth sitting with: ±3dB. In the world of amplifiers, that spec would be a scandal — a laughingstock. You'd return the thing (or you should). In the... Read more...

The piano

It was 1978. A small jazz club in San Luis Obispo, California. A pianist — I genuinely wish I could remember his name — playing solo. Just a Steinway grand... Read more...

The Beast

Class A is the amplifier topology everyone respects and almost nobody gets to have because it's expensive, can be hot, and, well, most amps don't offer it. So why do... Read more...

Concert halls and living rooms

Terri and I go to live concerts as often as we can—primarily for the music—though there's a side benefit. Live music recalibrates my ears. It reminds me what I'm actually... Read more...

Back in the day

Back in the early days of PS Audio, we were all vinyl freaks. Every last one of us. Records were not just the reference — they were the religion. The... Read more...

GIGO

"Garbage in, garbage out" gets repeated so often in audio circles it's become furniture. And it's true — I'm not here to argue otherwise. But there's a more important truth... Read more...

Details matter

There's a trap in high-end audio, and I've watched smart, experienced listeners fall into it repeatedly. They chase detail at the expense of realism. A system optimized purely for resolution... Read more...

Perfection

I remember the first time clearly. Mastering engineer and one of the founders of DSD, Gus Skinas, sat me down and played me two recordings: one in PCM and the... Read more...

Mono?

Stereo is so deeply embedded in how we think about audio that questioning it feels almost heretical. But that doesn't stop my brain from considering alternative paths. Spend an evening... Read more...

Raising hackles

If you want to generate controversy at an audio gathering, just say you have no doubt that power cords make a sonic difference. Most audiophiles will nod knowingly. A few... Read more...

Gear or recording?

We spend a lot of time obsessing over gear—and rightfully so. But how many of us have sat in front of six-figure rigs in treated rooms and felt absolutely nothing,... Read more...

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