For today's MUSINGS, let us take a few moments to think about our sense of hearing. Though the auditory system is not as complex as the visual architecture, the extensive interconnections and association areas they intersect with of course provides us with an altogether unique experience integrating emotions and memories. The "drug of choice" for us audiophiles is in the auditory domain. The
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MUSINGS: Meditations on the limitations of hearing & listening.
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MEASUREMENTS: A Look at Linux Audio (ALSA, PulseAudio)
What is that you ask? Well, it is the slowest computer in my house :-). It's a "vintage" HP Mini 110 from circa 2009. I decided recently to stick Linux on there just to see how well it ran... Here's the System Information:
As you see, I've got Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (updates current as of Sept 2015) loaded up on the old machine which has been sitting around unused for a few years. It's one of
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MEASUREMENTS: Windows 10 "Audio Stack" / DirectSound Upsampling
I know, I know... Windows audio mixer sucks... (From the perspective of perfectionist audiophiles.)
But having just done some measurements with Linux and PulseAudio with some of the upsampling algorithms, I wondered just how well the default Windows 10 audio mixer performed as an upsampler...
As a refresher, here are some plots of the digital filter measurements I showed with Linux last
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MEASUREMENTS: Apple Mac OS X ("Yosemite") Software Audio Upsampling
Well... You knew this was coming, right? After looking at Linux, then Windows, what about all the hub bub with Mac OS X? Depending on which forum one visits, there's often talk about Mac's being "better" as audiophile sources than PCs.
As readers here know by now, I think sound quality these days with a decent modern digital interface is primarily a function of the quality of one's DAC. So
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MEASUREMENTS: Digital Room Correction with AudioVero's Acourate...
A few months ago, I posted on the use of the free DRC software for audio room correction. I was already very impressed with what the technology is able to accomplish and wanted to explore this even further. In this spirit, I invested in a copy of (((Acourate))) from AudioVero. As I had mentioned previously, there are a number of other software/hardware packages to accomplish a similar task.
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MUSINGS: HTPC Rebuild - time for Intel Skylake and ready for 4K... (Part I)
For many of us, I suspect the image above would be familiar... The 'old' Windows Media Center (WMC) software. Alas, as of this year, with the release of Windows 10, the Media Center functionality has died (although arguably after a long period of being on life support since 2009). Not that I ever used the software much but I do recall the hey-day of when Microsoft was promoting the PC as the
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MUSINGS / BUILD: HTPC Rebuild... Skylake / 4K (Part II)
Okay, after laying out the foundation in Part I, let's rip open the boxes and get building the new HTPC!
Right... So I'm reusing the old Antec ATX tower case from 2003(!) for this build. It used to house an old Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU/board you see on the floor there. I put that computer together back in 2007 and it had been in constant use until 2 weeks ago so I really got my money's
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Merry Christmas! 2015 (NYC)
Season's Greetings everyone! As part of my travels, this past week, I spent some time at the "Big Apple"...
As expected, the crowds were enormous this time of year in Manhattan but what wonderful atmosphere to take in! The museums, the shows, the people, the food... Remarkably mild weather too.
I didn't have time to visit any specialty music stores. Just noticed a decent collection of
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MUSINGS: The Wisdom of Simplicity [RE: Hi-Res Audio]? And a Happy New Year!
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
--- Confucius
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
--- Albert Einstein (apocryphal?)
Only the simplest can accommodate the most complex.--- Juni Kimura, 47 Labs / Sakura Systems :-)
Let us ponder a few moments on the first "As We See It" column for 2016 in Stereophile. Humorously titled "To the
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MEASUREMENTS: ASUS Xonar Essence One DSD Upgrade (Part II: NJR MUSES 02 "Audio Opamp Rolling")
As you may recall, a few months back, I posted on the ASUS Xonar Essence One and the DSD Upgrade Kit. That post was only Part I because the kit not only included an upgraded firmware EEPROM to allow DSD64 playback, but there were a couple of New Japan Radio MUSES 02 opamps in there to use as well. New Japan Radio seems insistent on marketing this MUSES brand of opamps for audiophile applications
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MUSINGS: 1st Week 2016, CES 2016, and Christmas Toys!
The first week of 2016 was quite busy in terms of getting back to work and the news feed... Let's just shoot the breeze and talk about a few things this for this post...
1. It has been fun reading about CES 2016. I've been monitoring the articles on The Verge. Mainstream broad coverage is good to see the trends heading our way. Overall, it looks like the push towards 4K TV continues with HDR
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MEASUREMENTS: Stealth Releases of Good Remastering in Hi-Res Audio... (Alanis Morissette!)
The other day, a reader suggested that I check out the recent 2015 HDTracks remastered Alanis Morissette albums. I must admit that I'm not a big fan of Alanis (my sister was more into her albums), but back in the day, did enjoy the 2004 album So-Called Chaos. As I revisit the album again this past week, I was reminded of how poorly the original CD was mastered as witnessed below:
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MEASUREMENTS: MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) Observations and The Big Picture...
I. Preamble:
As expected, MQA articles are popping up at the usual audiophile sites. So far, what has been disseminated to the public about the technology remains rather nebulous beyond the basic core ideas. Probably the best technical descriptions come from John Atkinson's article back in Dec 2014. It focuses on the "encapsulation" process of reconstructing high-frequency content. Then
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MEASUREMENTS: Apple iPad Air 2 - Audio Output Quality
Although for the most part, I am a Windows and Android guy, I do have a little collection of Apple devices here at home. Despite taking a look at the MacBook's CoreAudio upsampling, measured the iPhone 6 when it came out, and explored various MacBook laptops over the years, I realized that I had missed out on one of the most important "line" of products from Apple - the iPad.
Last year, I
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MUSINGS: On High Fidelity & Audiophilia Hysterica (Herb Reichert, February 2016)
hys·te·ri·a
/həˈstirēə,həˈsterēə/
noun
noun: hysteria; plural noun: hysterias
exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people.
"the mass hysteria that characterizes the week before Christmas"
synonyms:frenzy, feverishness, hysterics, fit of madness, derangement, mania, delirium;
panic, alarm, distress
"his fictional account of an alien
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MEASUREMENTS / IMPRESSIONS: Meridian Explorer2 Analogue Output - 24/192 PCM vs. Decoded MQA.
Image from here.
Well folks, the new Meridian firmware has been released, allowing for MQA decoding. And thanks to a friend who has an Explorer2 with the recent update, he was able to record the analogue output of the DAC playing a standard 24/192 PCM track and the same song as a decoded MQA (24/44)! This is the obvious next step in evaluating MQA after my previous post listening
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MEASUREMENTS: Google Chromecast Audio - Part I: Analogue Output
So you've no doubt seen this device at the local electronics store like Best Buy. It's part of the second generation line of Chromecast devices, the Chromecast Audio released late 2015 (the other one being the HDMI video-enabled Chromecast itself). At a list price of US$35 (CAD$45), this is clearly the least expensive ways to stream audio off one's phone or other compatible network enabled
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MEASUREMENTS: Google Chromecast Audio - Part II: Digital Output
Chromecast Audio with optical TosLink adaptor & cable.
Alright, here's the follow-up to the Part I evaluation of the Chromecast Audio. Time now to have a look at the digital output using the mini-TosLink adaptor and standard TosLink digital optical out. Please refer to the previous post since I will be using the same settings and also the Plex Media Server system to run the tests today.
The
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MUSINGS: Cable Claims, Testimony ("Buyer's Guide") & Sponsored Content...
Cute CD BTW for the Simpsons lovers out there...
I must admit that I rarely pay attention to the folks at Hi-Fi+.
Other than occasionally skim over an issue at the magazine stand, I
find it generally lacking in details and looks too much like one big
glossy advertisement.
Shortly after writing the previous article on Chromecast Audio including jitter discussions, I noticed on Dr. AIX's
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HOWTO: Vinyl LP Cleaning with the 3M Bondo Locking Suction Cup Dent Pullers.
Time to clean some old Beatles - RIP George Martin...
Alright guys, I figured I'll post on something a bit less "heavy" and more fun for this week :-). (That's assuming one could consider LP cleaning as potentially fun rather than neurotic or obsessive...)
Although for the most part I listen to digital, I do still enjoy rummaging through the used vinyl at the local record shops. Great way
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