MUSINGS: Miscellanies on audio encoding (Dolby Atmos & Meridian MQA Concerns)
Hey everyone. It really gets dark in January in Vancouver; just the kind of weather to cozy up in bed with a nice book or maybe some spirits in front of the hi-fi system :-). So, I thought I'd offer up...
View Article'Last' Words on PONO - Mastering Analysis & General Comments
(A friend thought the new Broadway musical hilarious.) At some point in a relationship, we reach the end of the honeymoon... That's of course not describing my personal relationship with the Pono idea...
View ArticleMUSINGS: What Is The Value of High Resolution Audio (HRA)?
enough? I promised not to talk about Pono anymore, so I won't to a significant degree :-). This article is one about high-resolution audio in general. It has been interesting seeing the audiophile...
View ArticleMUSINGS: The ongoing Vinyl vs. Digital debate...
The always assertive Batman. But assertiveness isn't necessarily correct... (Just a shortish post this week... I've covered much of this in the past.) As I mentioned in the comments section of the...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Bob Dylan's "Shadows In The Night" - when 24-bit HRA isn't!...
A reader gave me a tip about the new Shadows In The Night album from Bob Dylan. The allegation is that this album in fact is NOT true 24-bits as claimed! To start, here's a video to show what the...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Ethernet Cables and Audio...
Remember folks, this is what an "ethernet frame" looks like. It's data. There is no "music" in there until decoded and prepared for the DAC! Notice the CRC bytes for error detection. (The numbers...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: The Intercontinental Internet Audio Streaming Test...
Time to go intercontinental. :-) [Scene from the old movie War Games.] After the ethernet cable results last week and the absence of any difference, there was discussion about an extreme internet...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Audio Quality, The Various Formats, and Diminishing Returns - In...
Let me be the first to say that graphs and charts where audio formats are plotted out in terms of unidimensional sound quality ratings are ridiculously oversimplified and can be very misleading!...
View Article2015-02-27: HiFi Centre Grand Reopening...
About a year ago, I reported on the B&W Nautilus demo at the HiFi Centre here in Vancouver. That was at their old location... As of late February, they're now in the new place near Vancouver...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Audiophiles "Us vs. Them" (Objectivists vs. Subjectivists) Attitudes...
Since I'm stuck at LAX on my way home from a wonderful Spring Break with the wife and kids down in Texas as well as a Caribbean cruise, I thought I'd polish my response to Hal Espen's comment in the...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Gone 4K / UHD - A "Look" At Ultra-High-Definition...
This week, I thought I'd take a break from just the audio stuff and discuss a new "toy" I got 5 weeks ago. That's right, as the title suggests, a 4K / UHD screen; it's a computer monitor to be exact: A...
View ArticleANALYSIS: DSD-to-PCM Conversion 2015 - Windows & Mac OS X
Impulse Response: One of the talking points from back in the day as a selling point for DSD... Yup! DSD can better reproduce a 0.000003 second "click". Source: Merging Technologies I. Preamble It is...
View ArticleANALYSIS: DSD-to-PCM 2015 - foobar SACD Plug-In, AuI ConverteR, noise &...
Noise characteristics of PCM vs. DSD - image found here. In my post last week looking at the various DSD-to-PCM converters, Solderdude Frans made a good suggestion... Let's have a look at the newer...
View ArticlePERSPECTIVE: Poll - Upgraded USB and Sound?
I enjoy visiting the Steve Hoffman Forums for perspective. I think it's probably one of the most balanced places to hang out at. Of course, as in any audio forum, there will be a number of heated...
View ArticleINTERNET BLIND TEST: Linear vs. Minimum Phase Upsampling Filters
I. Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, audiophiles of all ages; you have probably seen pictures like the ones above many times in the magazines, posted online, etc. You know that many DACs these days...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Corning USB 3 Optical Cable, Ground Loops, and Noise.
Folks, remember, the "Linear Phase vs. Minimum Phase Digital Filter Test" is still running as I post this! Please give it a try and report back in the survey. I want data and hopefully an opportunity...
View ArticleVancouver Audio Show 2015: Pictorial & Comments...
Remember folks! Get me your "Digital Filters Test" results :-). Thanks to everyone who has already responded with the survey submission so far... Great work. Final results could be very interesting;...
View ArticleGreetings from Toronto...
I've been busy over the last week in Toronto - work plus a little sightseeing and visiting with family and friends. With my hotel nearby, I managed to scoot over to Bay Bloor Radio at the intersection...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Computer USB port noise, USB hubs and the 8kHz PHY Microframe...
Block diagram of the USB 'PHYsical' chipset. UTMI stands for USB 2.0 Transceiver Macrocell Interface, a standard bus interface for the USB chipsets out there... One could see the "glass half full"...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: The Effect of Speaker Grills...
"Clothed" or "Naked"... What's the difference? A quick measurement for this week... I was curious the other day as I was doing some room measurements what effect speaker grills make. My Paradigm...
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