Gain

Gain


  • Is Class-D Technology About As Good As Itโ€™ll Ever Get?

    Bruno Putzeys calls class-D a โ€œsolved problem,โ€ but responses from Peachtree, Orchard Audio, and Bel Canto suggest otherwiseโ€”pointing to GaN FETs, digital input topologies, and implementation refinements as the next frontier for sonic gains.

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  • The ABCs of Audio: Exploring the Hi-Fi Lexicon

    This comprehensive Hi-Fi lexicon turns audio jargon into accessible knowledge with clarity and charm. ELI5 and ELI15 breakdowns make complex terms easy to grasp. The final scenario with John smartly reinforces the concepts in action. A thoughtful, user-friendly guide for anyone building an audio system from the ground up.

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  • Steven Stoneโ€™s Super Budget Components: Aiyima, Topping, xDuuo

    In this follow-up on budget headphone amps, Steven Stone evaluates three sub-$500 Chinese modelsโ€”including the Aiyima SMSL E600, Topping EH-5, and xDuuo X-20โ€”highlighting performance, upgrade potential, and the high early failure rates heโ€™s experienced.

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  • “No, I have the best system in the world!”: The Musical Match Between Totem and McIntosh

    In this profile, Alain Gascon shares his audiophile journeyโ€”from teenage catalog dreams to a vinyl-focused system built around Totem Winds and McIntosh gearโ€”emphasizing musicโ€™s emotional power over technical obsession.

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  • How to Correctly Integrate Subwoofers Into a Stereo System, Part 2

    Building on Part 1, this detailed follow-up compares three subwoofer integration strategiesโ€”evaluating bass smoothness, articulation, and timing.

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  • Echoes of Apollo: The Music of Ancient Greece

    In this sweeping exploration, the article reveals how ancient Greek musicโ€”revered by thinkers like Plato and embodied in the lyre and aulosโ€”shaped education, theater, philosophy, and even divine worship.

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  • Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners Review

    When Craft Records released a high-end reissue of Thelonious Monkโ€™s Brilliant Corners, author Robert Baird contrasted its audiophile fidelity with the flood of inferior, budget public domain pressingsโ€”highlighting a clash between accessibility and sonic integrity.

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  • Hifitrends Awards: The Best Affordable Music Streamers And Dacs Of 2023

    Hifitrends crowns the Wiim Pro Plus streamer ($219), SMSL DO300 DAC ($549), and iFi Hip Dac 3 ($199) as 2023โ€™s best affordable audio gearโ€”delivering top-tier performance without breaking the bank.

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  • How a Vinylphile Found His Groove, Part 1

    Mike Harkins dives deep into the tactile and sonic quirks of vinyl playback, exposing factory flaws, groove grime, and pressing imperfections that plague even โ€œaudiophileโ€ editionsโ€”yet still finds joy in the ritual and magic of spinning LPs.

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  • How Do You Listen to Music?

    Reflecting on how we hear music, this Copper Magazine piece explores selective listeningโ€”from favoring lyrics or solos to feeling sound with the whole bodyโ€”and highlights Evelyn Glennieโ€™s deaf-but-deep approach to truly experiencing music.

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  • Iron Maiden – Senjutsu

    Iron Maidenโ€™s Senjutsu earns an 8/10 from a loyal fan who praises Bruce Dickinsonโ€™s vocals and the fresh sound of โ€œThe Writing on the Wall,โ€ but criticizes the albumโ€™s dragging length, flat production, and familiar formulas.

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  • “No, I have the best system in the world!” An Update to #3: How Fate Brought Me To My Dream System

    Two years after downsizing seemed inevitable, Tom Gibbs finds himself retired, mortgage-free, and surrounded by two dream audio roomsโ€”one digital, one analogโ€”where Maggies, KLH Fives, and top-tier gear turn every listen into an event.

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  • Where did my music go? Signal loss, Pt 2

    Paul Bowes dives deep into the invisible threats to audio purityโ€”EMI, phase distortion, and vibrationโ€”offering hands-on tweaks, from copper shielding to Tranquility PODs, to extract maximum musical fidelity from your hi-fi system.

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  • MoFiโ€™s 40th Anniversary Edition of Michael Jacksonโ€™s Thriller REVIEWED

    MoFiโ€™s 40th anniversary One-Step reissue of Michael Jacksonโ€™s Thriller stuns with unmatched clarity, staging, and vocal presenceโ€”so revelatory it feels like a remix, yet itโ€™s the original master unveiled as never before.

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  • T.H.E. Show 2022

    At T.H.E. Show 2022, Katli Audioโ€™s system delivered such an emotionally invigorating performance it left all others in the dust, earning top honors over high-caliber contenders from Alma Music and High-End by Oz.

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