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FR Episode 26
In the history of hifi audio, there have been many more truly small companies than those that can be considered large for the industry. There are specific pros and cons to both, and in this episode of The Hifi Podcast, hosts Darren and Duncan discuss the topic at length. Small companies like Morrison Audio or Linkwitz Labs can offer products that require more knowledge and setup than products from, say Bowers & Wilkins or Magnepan. The resulting sound can be exquisite, and offer a unique characteristic or approach.
Conversely, a huge company like Sony can afford to lose money in the R&D of a ground-breaking product that contains a feature set that would be unheard-of from a smaller company.
Episode 27
In this week’s podcast, speaker expert and PS Audio design engineer Chris Brunhaver stops by once again to chat about his favorite topic: Photography.
Just kidding, of course. Chris’ insights about how speakers work, what companies make what materials for whom and his seemingly endless and encyclopedic knowledge of the speaker industry are once again in the spotlight as hosts Darren and Duncan pepper him with questions about all things speakers.
Episode 28
What would it be like if the deleterious effects of room boundaries and interaction were a thing of the past? In the future, will audiophiles have the same problems we do now, or will we be arguing about the best-sounding audio software for our brain implants?
Audiophiles tend to get bogged down in debate over our here-and-now problems like whether to bi-amp or what speaker cabinets are more inert than others. It can be a fun exercise to imagine the future possibilities with an audio buddy, and Darren and Duncan give it a go.
Episode 29
Noise, noise noise. It’s all noise. To the serious audiophile, reducing noise at every point of a stereo system is job #1. Compression artifacts keep us from touching MP3s with a ten foot pole. Digital streams must contain vanishing amounts of jitter. Conversion to analog requires careful filtering. Interconnects should reject RF and EMI, and hold their own in the vicinity of power cables. Power cables shield the system from the outside world. Mechanical isolation disconnects components from vibration noise. Power supply ripple is smoothed out.
This audiophile hobby is completely obsessed with noise, and for good reason. When the noise is removed, the music flows and the magic happens. It’s the recipe for success with audio, and in this episode of The Hifi Podcast, hosts Darren and Duncan go around the signal chain to discuss many different types of noise.
Episode 30
“You can’t handle the truth!” is a phrase that comes to mind on the topic of the revealing nature of a hifi system. Sometimes, we don’t want the actual reality of a crash cymbal in our listening rooms. Have you ever heard a crash cymbal from the “business end,” i.e. away from the drummer? In hifi audio, many paths lead to the same place, and many tweaks and changes can get you there in a unique way. There’s no reason a system must have all distortions completely neutralized, laying bare only the remaining distortions which can’t be controlled… unless that’s exactly what you want.
Hifi audio is supposed to be fun, after all. In this week’s episode of The Hifi Podcast, Darren and Duncan look at both sides of the coin when it comes to audio truth.
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