Since I started this blog, I've used the tagline "A 'more objective' take for Audiophiles" (later adding the word Rational). This was intentional because back in the early 2010s, the environment was quite different than today. At that time, computer audiophilia was primarily about playback of local music libraries on hard drives (collapse of NAND flash drive prices for SSD in mid-2012 soon

Sunset on summer 2026...Ahhh, fall is coming and can be felt in the air here in Vancouver. At this time of the year, I get the compulsion to make sure I finish discussing topics I had examined in the summer and wrap up loose ends.A couple of weeks back I discussed the Magic Beans Audio "True Target" app, an interesting program that I think can help improve sound quality for many audiophiles

As you know, while digital oversampling filters have been around for ages (4x oversampling available back in the '80s), audiophiles probably got more interested in digital filters thanks to Bob Stuart, and Meridian by 2009 talking about "apodizing" filters. DACs started allowing different filter options. And spin-offs like MQA took things too far utilizing poor designs through the 2010's (

In my previous post, I discussed target curves and gave examples of curves you might want to consider when implementing DSP correction in your sound room.While the use of full-range target curves is not uncommon, as discussed, there are those who advocate against doing so and would insist that only partial corrections in the bass frequencies up to the Modal+Transition Zones should be applied

Be it resolved that there is no such thing as achieving sonic perfection - technically at least based on objective ideals, but "perfect" can also be a subjective state of mind.In domestic homes, we're simply not going to be able to achieve near-perfect rooms. Likewise, no sound system will be absolutely transparent although the digital electronics side will get much closer to "perfect" than

Through my years as an audiophile, I've come across articles in magazines and online talking about hobbyist "aspirations". At audio shows, and seemingly each new issue of magazine we read, we're introduced to the latest and greatest piece or gear, the next "must have" item to consider in this never-ending path of upgrade to satisfy luxury consumeristic appetites.Given that it's "Summer Musings"

Hey guys and gals, it's July and thus time to enjoy some summer jams, BBQ, and family time ahead. And of course getting into the "Summer Musings" season here on the blog!Let's "shoot the breeze" and talk about a couple of things in this post related to discussions over the last while with room treatments and acoustics you might want to consider for your own space.First, as you can see in the

With the recent discussions about room acoustics and treatments, I thought it would be good to continue on this theme and move forward with the next logical step for my listening space. Let's talk about ceiling sound absorption as you can see installed in the picture above.For years, I've been thinking of doing this but really didn't want to put something up there that could damage the walls. I

After writing the articles looking at room acoustics over the last month, I thought this would be a good time to discuss another observation about the psychology and culture of the audiophile hobby and some of the claims that people make.As I noted last time, room treatments like the IKEA Mittzon absorption panels are far from the exciting products highlighted in magazines each month or even

Greetings audiophiles. Finally, I'm back home in Vancouver after my Asia trip. I love traveling but there always comes a time to look forward to "Home, sweet home." And music to listen to in my personal sound room of course!😌In this post, let's talk about perhaps one of the most boring things you could buy - a sound absorption panel. Made all the more pedestrian because this one comes from IKEA.

Last time, we talked about Seoul's Yongsan ETLand, so moving along in my Asia trip, let's check out another audiophile mall, this time in Southern China, in the city of Guangzhou. I've been in this city before (as per 2016 post) but not at this exact location, the Highsun/Haiyin (name used interchangeably) Plaza.It looks like in the last 10 years, this place has really become quite concentrated

I don't know about you guys, but I'm like one of those husbands/boyfriends/partners who sit outside surfing the web at women's clothing stores. So while "the girls" were out shopping and getting pedicures in Seoul, I decided to take a couple hours' detour to the Yongsan ETLand which is about a 10 minute walk away from the massive Yongsan subway station (take Exit 3).I suspect in the

Last time, we discussed small room acoustics and audiophile listening rooms. In that article, I used an idealized loudspeaker with flat frequency response from 40Hz up. As I'm still traveling, away from my gear, I figured for this article, let's look around published data in audio articles to examine room effects and consider what this means.One widely available and consistent source of objective

In the post "What are the most important audio components?" a few years ago, I said that we need to understand the various audiophile "domains": audio hardware, room acoustics, quality of your music, and of course personal mental engagement. Each of these have a part to play in the achievement of and personal judgment around sound quality.Of those domains, it's hard to speak about personal mental

Significant changes in the UI from the previous CTXMatrixBeta release.I want to remind 2-channel "immersive sound" lovers about the potential for using stereo crosstalk cancellation (XTC) / ambiophonics playback to enhance the 3D soundstage. You might have already heard of uBACCH in the audio magazines and on forums - why not try a similar effect for free (or through a small

It's taking a bit longer for my testing of the inexpensive I²S/IIS/I2S-HDMI DDC boxes due to some unexpected results which I'm chasing down currently; hopefully that gets resolved or understood soon.In the meantime, let me address something that folks might be curious about related to this topic of the I2S-HDMI interface... Does the HDMI cable make a difference to the sound quality?As with much

Hey everyone. I'm still waiting to finish the measurements and write-up of the USB DDC boxes discussed last time (a few things I need to double check on!). In the meantime, I thought I'd share some thoughts and pictures with you of a visit I made to a friend, Paul's, place. You'll see that he is much more of a "subjectivist" than I am.Above, we see his listening room which is capable of

This SMSL unit also does MQA decoding for those who want the feature. Unlike the Douk, this box only has an LED to indicate MQA decoding status but does not tell us the PCM or DSD samplerate.While I've tested some inexpensive devices (like the Topping D10s DAC) which have the ability to convert USB 2.0 input into S/PDIF output, I have not specifically looked into these Digital-to-Digital

It's an interesting experience I think to pop into local "brick and mortar" audiophile stores when traveling (like this, this, this over the years). This past week, I've been in San Francisco visiting family. We happened to stay within walking distance from what I think is the most well-stocked audiophile gear store in the city - Audio Vision San Francisco - located in the Nob Hill

For this post, let's discuss a few other audiophile items that have come my way in recent weeks.First, let's talk about something I haven't brought up for awhile now: sample rate conversion (SRC).A few weeks ago, Spoon (a.k.a. Steven Elkins of Illustrate) sent me an E-mail about his new src.hydrogenaudio.org page evaluating and ranking the qualities of various software sample rate converters