Audiophile Insights

28 December 2016
“Digital” Switching Class D or Class T amplifiers premium
Although called digital amps by many people, most "digital" amps aren't digital at all.
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30 July 2011
A Straight Wire With Gain premium
Barb wire, hearing your wallet, all interlinks sound the same and the best amp is a straight wire with gain. Here are some musings on these subjects.
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Acoustic System International – Liveline Powercable premium
Changing the standard Yarbo connectors to IeGO 24k Gold cryo connectors
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26 January 2014
Apogee speaker Crossover – active or passive premium
A bi-amping experiment using Apogee Divas
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20 October 2009
Audible Differences Among CD Transports premium
There are quite large differences in sound among CD transports. Yes, even when you only use the digital output, still you can hear differences in the perceived speed, attack, and fluidity.
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29 April 2010
Audio Lingo premium
Audiolingo can be very confusing. People can mean different things when they talk about musicality and the same goes for many more audiophile words to describe how a component sounds.
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Audio Physic Caldera wiring possibilities premium
Caldera speaker wired with Transparent or Synergistic Research cables.
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Audio Technica AT-HS10 and Ortofon LH 2000 Turntable Headshells premium
Phono cartridges can make or break a turntable, but the headshell also has a not inconsiderable influence on the sound.
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20 October 2009
AWG to mm2 Conversion premium
For European people, AWG sizes can be very confusing, so here's a handy conversion table
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Balanced (XLR) and Unbalanced (cinch) connections premium
Just like the old analog versus digital matter or Mac versus PC, Balanced versus Unbalanced and/or XLR versus cinch connections is a discussion in which many people seem to have a definite point of view
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30 May 2008
Bals 73 Schuko Assembly Instructions premium
Useful hint for people who make their own powercables using the Bals type 73 schuko plug
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Bliss premium
Super-handy Music Library Tagging Program
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Cable Connections: use end sleeves or tinning? premium
Cable Connections: use end sleeves or tinning?
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2 January 2009
Cable Length premium
Best use a short lead? Or rather a minimum of 1,5 meters? Opinions divert.
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Cardas Golden Reference powercable – Changing the IEC connector premium
Changing the standard Yarbo connectors to IeGO 24k Gold cryo connectors
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CD Ripping premium
Sometimes I come across things in the wonderful world of audio that drive me nuts.
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5 June 2009
CD Transport + DAC or Integrated Player? premium
As always, both methods have their own advantages, but there is one unique clear advantage to taking the integrated player route.
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12 August 2008
Component Placement premium
Every piece of equipment can be placed on numerous kinds of underlay materials. All materials have their own acoustic properties.
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25 July 2010
Computer Audio – SSD versus HDD premium
This may be hard to believe but the type of drive also has an influence on the sound.
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26 October 2010
Computer Audio part 5 – Playback Applications premium
Mac compared to PC, two iTunes sound enhancements and a range of DA-converters and USB interfaces
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Computer Audio part 6 – Perspective premium
Genelec 8050 and Wadia 121 with a Computer Source in the secondary setup.
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Conductors inside Power Extension blocks premium
Much more important than given credit for!
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27 May 2023
Copper Variants Explained premium
Red copper, yellow copper, White copper, T1 copper... all just copper?
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2 April 2009
Detail versus Musicality premium
The upgrade-virus can easily take over control: where to draw the line?
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Digital Cables compared – AES/EBU, Coax,Toslink and ST Glass premium
Do digital cables really make a difference in sound? And if so, what are the differences?
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Digital Cables compared – USB and Ethernet premium
In order to assess a high-end digital cable, one needs to refer to a standard. But what defines the baseline? And how do USB and Ethernet cables compare to the traditional S/PDIF and AES/EBU cables?
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Doepke DFS2 Audio Grade Differential Switch premium
With solid, silver-plated connections up to 50 mm2 and 0 AWG Massive OFC internal conductors, large contact areas with pneumatic high contact pressure for the lowest possible impedance and a complete absence of undesired inductive parts, the Doepke DFS-2 offers uncompromised quality. At 600 euros, does it justify its cost? Read on to find out!
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2 July 2009
Double Blind Listening Tests premium
For a lot of sceptics double blind testing is the only valid method of comparing equipment, but is it?
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4 December 2009
Electrostatic and Magnetostatic Speakers premium
Electrostatic speakers and Magnetostatic speakers both are planar dipoles, and they both tend to be flat and large. But there's a lot more to know about the technical principles behind these speakers. Some interesting reading, I promise!
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FIM Gold powercable – Fitting a Schuko power connector premium
This cable is easier to terminate than Cardas Golden Reference, but it's still no standard job
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IEC Connector Standards premium
We all use connectors that adhere to this standard on a daily basis, but what do the type numbers stand for?
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25 August 2011
Influence of the Music File location premium
The physical medium on which your music files are stored has an influence on the sound when played back from it.
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24 August 2010
Kernel Streaming premium
What is Kernel Streaming and why do you need it?
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9 May 2012
Kernel Streaming for Winamp 5 premium
It is widely known that kernel streaming is the way to go in order to obtain the best sound.
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24 December 2010
Lossless Audio (FLAC) premium
Lossless computer audio file formats such as FLAC are technically lossless indeed. But do they sound the same as a WAV?
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18 November 2012
Music Server Placement and the influence of Network Cable and Switches premium
Even a music server turns out to be sensitive to its placement
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24 August 2010
Optimizing iTunes for Windows premium
This popular program for Mac and Windows needs some tweaks in order to make it sound good on Windows
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24 August 2011
Optimizing Winamp 5 for Windows XP premium
Winamp 5 has a few settings you should know about that have a large influence on the sound
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14 April 2021
Phono Cartridge Stylus Shapes premium
Want to know all there is to know about phono cartridge stylus shapes? Look no further as this article has all the essential information all in one place. It dives into the similarities, differences and overlap, explains the aspect of Contact Area and the differences between Bonded and Nude diamonds, between a Round Shank and a Square Shank, and covers stylus longevity.
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Power Extension Blocks – Serial or Star-wired? premium
Most normal (serial) power distribution blocks have two or three internal brass strips that connect the inlet to all the outlets in a single run. What's the advantage of wiring every socket of the block independently?
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Power Line Conditioning – parallel or serial filters or regeneration premium
Filtering: yes or no? This is a much debated topic and everyone seems to have an opinion. So do I, of course!
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Recording LP’s: digital or analog? premium
When recording LP's, what sounds better? Digitized or recorded analog?
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10 April 2011
Room Acoustics – last barrier of most important factor? premium
Despite all I've learned about audio, I haven't yet been able to fully tackle this last barrier. In this article I'd like to share what I have learned so far.
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4 August 2008
Running-In premium
Some people are not convinced that this phenomenon even exists and maintain that it is a psychological effect
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9 July 2010
SACD and DSD premium
SACD promised even more perfect sound forever. It was hoped that it would replace CD and revitalize the music market. Alas it did not, but the DSD format is still around. Here are my thoughts on the subject.
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Schuko Connector Standards premium
Worldwide applications of powerconnectors and more info about the Schuko connector.
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5 June 2009
Separate Transport + DAC versus Integrated CD Player premium
Does a separate transport and DAC sound better than an integrated player?
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24 May 2008
Shelf materials and their acoustic properties premium
Every piece of equipment can be placed on numerous kinds of shelf materials. All materials have their own acoustic properties.
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31 March 2011
Signal Paths – The shorter the better? premium
Are shorter signal paths better by definition?
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25 November 2013
Speaker Cable Connectors premium
These connectors make more difference to the sound than you'd think
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25 January 2014
Speaker Cables – bi-wire or single wire? And what about bi-amping? premium
Opinions differ and even manufacturers can't agree on which is the best method
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4 August 2008
Speaker Placement premium
Apart from the obvious moving around of the speakers, there are various other variables to hooking up and installation of loudspeakers.
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16 August 2008
System Synergy premium
It's rare that a given component performs 100% in a given setup rightaway
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8 January 2022
System Synergy Q&A premium
This section is created specifically to allow comments that do not pertain to any single component that I reviewed, or that otherwise don’t fit in a particular category, such as questions relating to overall system synergy. Feel free to ask me anything and, time permitting, I will respond below. Related Posts
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21 December 2018
The Difference Between Instrumental and Speaker Cables (Guest Review) premium
Don't commit the tragic mistake of interchanging your instrument and speaker cables. It's a complete waste of energy and you end up spending more for replacements.
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18 May 2009
The hidden setup menu of the Meridian 508.24 CD player premium
This apparently simple player secretly has some fine tuning abilities hidden in its configuration menu.
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20 February 2011
The Influence of a cable’s Sleeve premium
A cable's sleeve has a huge influence on its sound. What's more: adding another layer around an already insulated cable still has a large effect!
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The influence of power cables and phase orientation on the sound premium
Power cables can have a significant influence on the perceived sound of your system. But did you know that the phase and position in the extensionblock also matters?
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24 August 2010
Treble premium
Open, airy, rolled-off, dark, edgy etc, there is a lot to say about the high frequencies, but this is easily misinterpreted
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4 September 2012
Upgrading Magnepan Crossovers premium
Those diminutive external boxes turn out to have an enormous impact on the sound!
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21 June 2008
Upsampling explained using dCS Delius + Purcell premium
Upsampling explained by means of two reference dCS components: Delius DAC and Purcell upsampler.
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18 September 2011
USB Audio – Synchronous / Asynchronous premium
There are a couple of methods for sending audiodata over an usb cable. Here's an explanation of the principles behind them and the advantages of one over another.
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6 August 2008
Warming Up premium
Warming up is related to, but different from running in. Warming up happens each time a component has been disconnected from the mains power.
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26 December 2011
WAV and Tagging premium
WAV or AIFF files may appear to have tags when they are accessed through applications such as iTunes and Winamp, but in fact the data may only reside in these apps' database, because they don't actually write tags to these files themselves.
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4 February 2012
Why do high end speakers demand high end equipment? premium
Sometimes, the feeling emerges that manufacturers, in their quest for perfection, go a little too far in the matters of detail retrieval and accuracy, thereby necessitating you buy the best in amplification, cables and source components.
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