In light of recent events, I think it may be helpful to turn to the one thing we can all agree upon. Music. As some of you know, Octave Records is going to be launching an amazing work in May: the entire Bach Cello Suites, recorded in the cavernous Mesa Arts center by our friend,…

When enjoying live recordings we get more than just a great capture of the music. We get a sense of the crowd, the stage, the air conditioning system, the floor bounce, the room acoustics. Live recordings are the polar opposite of the sterility of studio recordings where great pains are expended to neutralize studio acoustics,…

When I am auditioning a new product, circuit, or technology I do not want to be prejudiced because of its price. Price discrimination is real. For most of us, it’s difficult not to be swayed by our perception of an object’s value. If it’s “too cheap to be any good”, or “so expensive it damned…

When it comes to embracing change we’re typically afraid to take the plunge. But, why? The story we sometimes tell ourselves is that we’re afraid of the splash, but I wonder if that’s true. Could it be that we’re so afraid of upsetting the apples in the status quo cart that we lay blame on…

If you haven’t yet had a chance to check out PS Audio’s new website, please do. The new site replaces our nearly 10-year-old version that, while still useful, had outlived itself and was in desperate need of a rebuild. I hope you enjoy it. I wanted to make you aware of a fairly major change…

One of my readers wrote to me with an interesting observation. I will present it to you as I received it, in two parts: First, after upgrading his receiver he decided at the same time to lay down enough shekels to also upgrade his speaker cable—from a low-cost off-the-shelf Amazon special with gold connectors to…

I am so often asked to explain the difference between high current and high wattage that I am convinced these are confusing terms. Most audiophiles understand wattage and current are connected, but how many actually understand the idea they are forever entwined like thunder and lightning? Wattage is an expression of current and voltage. Think…

An MP3 is a lossy file. What that means is quite a lot of the music’s content has been removed in an effort to make the file smaller. Smaller file sizes mattered at a time when the information industry was moving faster than our ability to store and deliver content. We were willing to suffer…

To tweak is to improve something by making small, fine adjustments to it. In other words, we take something that we already like and make it slightly better. In our world of high-end audio tweaks abound: vibration dampers, cable lifters, tube rings, shorting plugs, green pens. I bristle when someone suggests a Power Plant AC…

It has been said that the simplest and most effective means of getting a perfect stereo recording is to plunk down a pair of stereo microphones and press the record button. The fact this is rarely done suggests there’s likely more to the story than simplistic views. In fact, the vast majority of recordings—especially the…

As the playwright George Bernard Shaw put it, “Youth is wasted on the young,” a perspective most often appreciated from the vantage point of experience. It’s a funny quote but one that hardly resonates with me in my doddering old age. As I look back over the decades I realize that when my youth’s vim…

My first live experience at the opera came years after I fell in love with the genre through enjoying the recorded medium of my home stereo system. Hours were spent with Maria Callas long after her death. Some of my favorite recordings were vinyl treasures I had amassed over the years, my favorite being Marie…

The three P20 Power Plants, two BHK monoblocks, 12 channels of 1,000 watt amplification, the Infinity IRSV and all the other peripherals to be found in Music Room Two form the basis of the PS Audio Reference System. Is it the best system in the world? Of course not. There’s likely no single system that…

As we get deeper into Octave Records I am reminded of an interview I did a few years ago with mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. Bernie is one of the most famous mastering engineers in the business. As  I relistened to the episode, recorded about this time of the year back in 2018, I was reminded…

One of the more overlooked aspects of the home listening room is lighting. Too often we take no pains at improving room lighting and take what’s there. I am as guilty as the next. In Music Room Two we went to a lot of trouble and expense to optimize the lighting options: soft wall sconces,…

Years ago, when Harry Weisfeld was running VPI and probably before son Matt was yet born, there was the Magic Brick. The Magic Brick isn’t all that complicated. Essentially a transformer without windings. Underneath the wood exterior are steel laminations like those in a transformer. The idea is to redirect and focus magnetic fields in…

A panacea is a solution that is all encompassing: a miracle vaccine, a pure point source speaker, world peace, eternal life. Often I am asked if perhaps a great pair of headphones is a panacea for the ills that challenge high-end two-channel systems like rooms and speakers. Heck, headphones solve the loudness problem and avoid…

There is no such thing as sound or color. These are just imaginary representations crafted by our brains as a way of hearing and seeing our world. There is no green to the grass, yellow to the sun, or blue to the ocean: No A flat, G sharp, or C major in music—just different wavelengths…

I know, you’re waking up to this blog post and getting all excited. Undressing! (Thank goodness it’s not me doing the disrobing). I am referring to the undressing of the grille cloth from in front of the speaker. How many times have you wondered about grilles on or off? Did the designer voice and measure…

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple set of rules and guidelines for audiophiles to follow? Do this and get that? I’ve tried my best, in the Audiophile’s Guide, to get as close as possible to that standard. Do this and get that works in the Guide because you’re part of a process…

Until 1976 the only speakers I had ever spent any time with were either dynamic or planar, and 90% of that listening was through dynamic speakers. The sound of dynamic speakers set the standard for reproduced music. The only hint I had of something different came in the form of a Heil Air Motion Transformer….

In one of my Ask Paul videos, I was asked about distortion in vinyl. My reply was, well, probably worth watching the video to see, but more importantly, in that video, I mentioned the fact that Stereophile reviewer, Michael Fremer, listened to vinyl captured digitally when he was out on the road. I had also…

One of the greatest joys we once had was offering our community the chance to tour our Boulder facilities. We got to meet our HiFi Family members in person. That meant a lot to us. It’s been well over a year since we’ve been able to accommodate tours and that’s been hard on our team…

I recently got this comment in response to a video I produced about interconnects and their differences. “Not with an interconnect. Not possible. They all sound the same. Exactly the same. Do a double-blind test under lab conditions, you’d only ever guess it right 50% of the time. You won’t do that of course. You’d…

Octave Record’s first release, pianist Don Grusin’s Out Of Thin Air, was a huge success and much loved by those who bought it on SACD or download. We’re nearly sold out of the final edition of the SACD. The recording is one I am very familiar with, having heard it any number of times on…

Never question the efficacy and importance of keeping yourself and others safe during the pandemic. However, if you’re questioning your own sanity after more than a year of lockdown, here’s a story you might relate to. Still dressed in my PJs and after spending all morning in my downstairs office answering emails, it somehow was…