AIX Records – Hand Made Albums
It’s coming up on a year since my last post. I regret not allocating more time to keep this avenue
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TECH TALK
Power Cord Snake Oil…Again!
The June 14th 2025 email from The Absolute Sound featured a brief promo piece for a $34,000/ 6 foot power cord! The headline reads “2025 AC Power Cord of the Year: Crystal Cable 20th Anniversary Infinity.” OK, more of the same nonsense from a publication that lost its credibility a long time but it was the opening sentence that prompts me to write once again about the BS that gets peddled as truth in high end audio. Jonathan Valin, the author of the single paragraph extolling the virtues of the “best power cord (he has) auditioned this year” begins his piece with a statement so utterly ridiculous that I actually laughed out loud.
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One Mic vs. Multimic Recording
I opened up an email today from Sound Liaison promoting their preferred recording technique – “one mic recording.” The opening
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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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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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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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Cable Controversies: A Recent Review and Promotion
I continue to be bombarded — and angered — with bogus cable reviews, audiophile FB group posts and comments about
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Researching HD-Audio: The Truth
It’s finished. The HD-Audio Challenge II, my sabbatical research project from last fall, has run its course. It’s time to
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