Enjoy the
Music.com's Great Holiday Gift Guide 2021
We want you to support audiophile
companies this holiday season.
Article By Steven R. Rochlin
Welcome one and all to Enjoy the
Music.com's 16th annual Great Audiophile Gift recommendations! We all love gifts, yet getting that something special for an audiophile can be quite a challenge. This year
we're doing something extra special to benefit the industry. Usually, we have our recommendations, with links to Amazon where, yes, we received the typical (low) associate fee. Well, it was time to do
something... different.
---> Enjoy the
Music.com's Great Holiday Gift Guide 2021.
Rick Becker's Holiday Gift Guide 2021
The Elite 8
Eight special holiday gifts for audiophiles.
Article By Rick Becker
One of my biggest pleasures of the year is to look back at the products
I've reviewed or seen at shows and make suggestions for Holiday Gifts for your beloved audiophile. Unfortunately, some of these require special knowledge or data such as the size and value of fuses, so they
won't qualify as surprise gifts but I strongly believe they will be treasured
nonetheless.
--->
Rick Becker's Holiday Gift Guide 2021.
How To Do A Comparative Listening Test
Article By Cookie Marenco Of Blue Coast Records And Music
Setting
up a listening test to compare various types of files is not easy. You need a
base of equipment and a trusted set of files to start. Set aside several hours
and have a few people involved. We rarely do a test with fewer than three people.
Here we'll explore some of the basics steps to compare files. Keep in mind, the objective is to determine differences in
formats, cables, devices, conversion tools, etc. You don't need to like the
music. The question is "do you hear a difference". That difference
might be insignificant, but if it repeatedly appears, then there is a
difference.
--->
How To Do A Comparative Listening Test.
The Long View
When you audition a component, you're actually judging a complete system.
Article By David Schwartz,
Member Of Gotham Audio
I attended my first audio show in 1957, in the days of mono. As a teenager
interested in electronics, I discovered High Fidelity just about the time that
my disillusionment with ham radio set in. A friend invited me to hear his father's hi-fi system. All I can remember of that day was the sound of that
big five foot tall speaker system in the corner of his living room. Never had I
heard anything that sounded so real. I was hooked. Over the last sixty some odd years, I have been
involved in audio as a consumer, audiophile society president and small
retailer. Needless to say, much has changed since those early days.
---> The Long View: When you audition a component, you're actually judging a complete system.
Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2021 Show Report
Capital Audiofest is recognized as a fun, friendly, and family-oriented show where you often see families strolling from room to room listening to music and auditioning gear. You can also browse the multiple bins of vinyl LP records, CDs, and hi-fi accessories in the Atrium Marketplace. During CAF
there are wonderful live music events too!
--->
See our Capital Audiofest 2021 show coverage.
Chester Group's Show Calendar From 2022 To 2025
The Chester Group -- Industry Cooperation
This just in from the Chester Group: We are experiencing growing concerns that
Organizers do not appear to be working together in the best interest of the industry when choosing dates for their shows each year. Well before COVID-19 decimated our industry, and for various reasons, shows would overlap or in some cases conflict directly with each
other. Now in the organizers defense, this can be circumstantial; the availability of Venues that can or will accommodate such shows has diminished; the increase in such shows worldwide, the disruption due to COVID-19 and finally the seasons in each year that are
viable.
---> Chester Group's Show Calendar From 2022 To 2025.
Twitch Announces The Collective For Musicians
Whether you're a producer, singer/songwriter, or instrumental performer, Twitch lets you take the stage and share your craft with millions of viewers and get paid too. Twitch says they're "powering up creators at the forefront of a new paradigm in music. This
one's for the innovators. The musicians who seek out the frontier because it's the frontier. You are who you surround yourself with. Through workshops and hands-on support from our Music team,
you'll learn how musicians are building communities and earning money directly from their fans on Twitch." And while some online streaming music services are passive for the music creators, Twitch allows direct one-on-one fun with their fans in real
time.
---> Twitch Announces The Collective For Musicians.
audioXpress' December 2021 Issue
audioXpress' December 2021 issue features:
Editorial: A New Chapter In Audio Development
Dayton Audio DAX88 Eight-Source/Zone Amplifier
Directivity Measurement Of In-Wall Loudspeakers
Improved Loudspeaker Crossover
Thinking About DC Power Supplies (Part 1)
Cascodes, Folded Cascodes, And Current Mirrors (Part 3)
Simple Xtal-Based Motor Control For Turntables
Room Correction And Speaker Calibration Technologies
The Self-Calibrating Loudspeaker
The Arrival Of Spatial Room Correction Technology
Miking the Audience
Subminiature Tubes and Effectrode Pedals
And much more!
---> audioXpress' December 2021
Issue.
T.H.E. Show Adds Denver To Their Annual Events
This is from T.H.E. Show: We've got some huge and exciting updates for you all! Firstly, we are thrilled to announce that T.H.E. Show is officially expanding into Denver, CO! We'll be publishing details soon, but for now what we can tell you is this: we have dates for the Autumn of 2022 and this new show will be different to what we are doing in Long Beach. Our aim to be of maximum service to the audio and Hi-Fi communities means part of our role is to keep things exciting. Our new Denver show will definitely do
that....
---> T.H.E. Show Adds Denver To Their Annual Events.
Is It Fair To Fix It?
Roger Skoff writes about getting the most enjoyment out of your system.
Article
By Roger Skoff
It
used to be that "Mid-Fi" audio gear could instantly be spotted by its
abundance of "features" (knobs, dials, lights, controls, and
functions, for whatever purpose) and that the cheaper it was, the more of such
toys and goodies it was likely to have. "Serious" (high-end) audio gear
tended to be exactly the opposite – the more you paid for it, the less it was
likely to do. The best of high-end audio electronics often had no
"bells and whistles" at all and, though usually offers very high
performance, tended to be simple to the point of austerity. Tone controls were,
of course, out of the question. So was any form of Fletcher-Munson
"loudness" compensation, or, for phono use, such mid-fi commonplaces as
"scratch" or "rumble" filtration.
---> Is It Fair To Fix It?
World
Premiere Review!
Synergistic Research Ethernet Switch UEF, Foundation Ethernet Cable, Active Ground Block SE, And Purple
Fuses Review
Speed dating into the world of streaming and
beyond....
Review By Rick Becker
Andy
Wiederspahn at Synergistic Research knows I'm Old School but offered to send me
one of their new Ethernet Switch UEF and Foundation Ethernet cables. He knows I'm
a fanboy of Synergistic, but also a fairboy when it comes to reviewing. I
assured him I could lean on my good audio buddy, Tom Lathrop, to help me out
with breaking it all in and providing an evening of critical listening. This
wasn't going to be a long critical review spanning dozens of musical genres from
various music providers. Nope, it was going to be the reviewing equivalent of
speed dating. Tom was educated as an electrical engineer, so he was
skeptical that an Ethernet switch could make a huge difference. But he is also
an audiophile with a dedicated room and a pretty good system.
--->
Synergistic Research Ethernet Switch UEF, Foundation Ethernet Cable, Active Ground Block SE, And Purple Fuses Review.
World Premiere Review!
High Fidelity Cables MC-1 Pro Double Helix Plus Signature Power Conditioner
Review
The importance of good power for your components should not be underestimated.
Review By Rick Becker
First of all, it's not what you think. It's not a box that
conditions your power and has outlets to plug all your gear into. Homeland
Security would undoubtedly open your suitcase and take a close look at it if you
tried to board a plane. It's a plug-in conditioner that looks like a tactical
weapon James Bond might keep handy for blowing up cars or helicopters. I found
it works best when plugged into a power strip or into the duplex outlet that
your power strip is also plugged into. Rick Schultz was interested in having me review some of his
other products after the rave review
of his NPS-1260 3D contact enhancer — a spectacular tweak that
improved the transparency, resolution, and dynamics of my system. While NPS is
related to High Fidelity's other products, their major innovation is their
Magnetic Conduction technology that drives the flow of current to the center of
a cable, thereby reducing or eliminating the skin effect typical cables have on
the music signal.
--->
High Fidelity Cables MC-1 Pro Double Helix Plus Signature Power Conditioner Review.
Audeze LCD-5 Flagship Headphones Review
As good as it gets!
Review By
Peter Pialis
I have been a big fan of
Audeze's headphones throughout the years. Since their initial release of the venerable LCD-2 over a decade ago, Audeze has become a world leader in planar magnetic technology and has produced some of the very best headphones on the planet. Well, never to let the grass grow under their feet, the engineers at Audeze have certainly been quite busy this past year with three significant new releases: LCD-R (ribbon-based headphones, and CRBN Electrostatic (their first foray into electro-static headphones), the
LCD-5's round out this amazing trifecta of great new products. The original LCD-2's wowed the world of personal audio with truly some of the best performing headphones ever released a decade ago. Their relaxed and natural tone was a stark contrast to the many brighter sounding headphones previously released like the AKG K701,
Beyerdynamic T1 and Sennheiser HD800.
--->
Audeze LCD-5 flagship headphones review.
Topping D30Pro DAC & A30Pro Headphone Amplifier Review
The desktop DAC/headphone amplifier category is getting very crowded and competitive.
Review By W. Jennings
Let's
have a conversation about Topping. A quick Google search reveals a lot of strong
opinions about the brand; most of them are quite positive but there's a lot more
to the story. Topping have proven to be a formidable brand in the desktop
audio category and products like the Topping D30Pro DAC and A30Pro
Headphone Amplifier are selling faster than they can produce them. The brand has made some great products of late and seems to
specialize in building DACs and amplifiers with ridiculously low noise levels.
The measurements of recent models have been so impressive that most analyzers
cannot directly measure the THD+N without using a secondary amplifier and
dividing the results by the amplification factor of that secondary.
--->
Topping D30Pro DAC & A30Pro Headphone Amplifier review.
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