A Long Time…

Some of you know that I’m been dealing with some serious challenges over these past 24 plus months. A flooded house, separation from my wife and family, some challenging health issues, and other struggles forced me to set this blog, my new book, and other audio related responsibilities to the side…temporarily. I apologize for the absence and hope to do better over the next several months. Life is full of unexpected turns and I’ve certainly had my share recently. But I’ll try to write more often and focus on getting the new book finished, printed and distributed soon.

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Apple Lossless Audio is Death Knell for MQA

Apple Music issued a press release on May 17, 2021 announcing that the “next generation of sound” would arrive for subscribers in June — without any additional cost. Apple Music subscribers can listen to any track, anywhere, in CD fidelity for only $9.95 month. What Apple Music defines as the “next generation” of sound includes support for Spatial Audio in the form of Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio.

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MQA Really Is A Fraud!

A number of readers have forwarded links to the video below. In fact, I was in the middle of viewing it when I received a couple of emails. It was produced by a UK-based commentator under the name GoldenSound and it is absolutely spot on in its analysis and conclusion regarding the MQA format. I highly recommend you find 38″ and watch this video.

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Analog Tape: Doing It Right the First Time!

In October of 2019, I wrote an article on probably the single most important link in the long chain of production steps required to bring a classic analog master tape into our digital music world. The importance of maximizing the fidelity of the tape playback using a state-of-the-art reproducer and associated electronics cannot be overstated.

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The Continuing Myth of Hi-Res: Streaming Upgrades

The news this week included the announcement by Spotify is upgrading the fidelity of their music streams to “CD-quality.” I watched a video by John Darko, read the press release about Spotify Hi-Fi and another article on CEPro by Robert Archer, and was so thoroughly disgusted at the inaccuracies included in a piece titled “High-resolution audio: everything you need to know” written by Verity Burns and Becky Roberts on WhatHiFi that I had to post a lengthy comment pointing out a few of the issues…

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MQA: Sonic Degradation and Huge Losses

I haven’t written about MQA for a while. But a couple of recent articles and some information from a reader make an update timely. I’ve ceased reading or posting comments on FB groups dedicated to MQA or with threads about the process because discussing the science behind it in the hopes of convincing audiophiles that it has no merit is about as successful as convincing a flat Earther (one of my former tenants believes the Earth is flat, so I have some experience in this area) that they live on a sphere.

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Happy New Year!

It has been a couple of months since my last post. I regret not writing sooner but I have been consumed with responsibilities at the university, studying like crazy for my oral exam and check ride (Private Pilot – Glider Certificate), and dealing with the successful outcome of my recent Kickstarter campaign. If you were not already aware, 375 backers pledged $16,271 to help bring A User Guide to Streaming, Downloads, and Personal Audio to life. I’ve been writing almost everyday and am confident that I can complete the project by the summer 2021 deadline. If you are interested in backing the project, I’m offering a 30% discount coupon (SDPA_NYS_2021) until March 1, 2021. Simply enter the code during check out.

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Real Time Fact Checking

In the United States, we’re in the final stretch before the election on November 4. I’ve watched the debates, read plenty of online information, viewed plenty of interviews of both candidates, and walked my mail-in ballot to an official drop box by the local library. And lest you think I would dare to enter the political fray in my blog, no, this is not a political post. I just wish there were a real time fact checker…MORE

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An Intro To Streaming Hi-Fi Audio

One of the three primary areas of focus in my upcoming user guide is streaming high-fidelity audio. In today’s blog post, I’d like to delve into the basics of this exciting and relatively new way to listen to music and explore a couple of approaches to hardware and software. I guess the best place to start is by defining a few terms. Streaming audio is delivered via a network…

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