MUSINGS: Meditations on the limitations of hearing & listening.
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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMUSINGS: 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...
View ArticleMUSINGS / 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...
View ArticleMerry 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...
View ArticleMUSINGS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: ASUS Xonar Essence One DSD Upgrade (Part II: NJR MUSES 02...
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...
View ArticleMUSINGS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Stealth Releases of Good Remastering in Hi-Res Audio... (Alanis...
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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) Observations and The Big...
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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMUSINGS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS / IMPRESSIONS: Meridian Explorer2 Analogue Output - 24/192 PCM...
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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: 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...
View ArticleMUSINGS: 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...
View ArticleHOWTO: 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...
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