Articles

Stereophile has again posted a link to J. Gordon Holt’s comprehensive audio glossary containing over 300 terms used by audio reviewers (and audiophiles) to described the sounds they hear. I wish I could say all audio reviewers hewed to the glossary, but I have a suspicion that they don’t, leaving audiophiles reading reviews a...
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I recently had the pleasure of spending the day at the 50,000 square foot Wilson Audio facility in Provo, Utah, about an hour south of Salt Lake City. The modern building is located in a quiet neighborhood not far from the center of town, set back from the road and partially hidden by large...
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I wrote at length about the William Ralston Listening Library and Archive at the University of the South in my review of the VPI Scout turntable. If you have not yet read my review, I encourage you to do so. For those in a hurry, the Ralston facility is comprised of a state of...
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Twenty years ago I owned Thiel speakers. Being a typical obsessive-compulsive audiophile, I thought I heard something wrong with one of the speakers. Thiel’s manufacturing’s facility is located in Lexington, Kentucky, about 200 miles from my home in Nashville, so I called them and asked if I could bring my speakers up to have...
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Jonathan Valin articulates that there are three types of audiophiles: 1) those who are interested in the absolute sound, 2) those who are interested in fidelity to the master tapes, and 3) those who are interested in what sounds best to them, regardless of its fidelity to the absolute sound or the master tapes....
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Other than Kimber, Magnepan was the only manufacturer at T.H.E. Show offering music demonstrations with more than two speakers. Kimber was streaming native four-channel DSD ISO-Mike recordings from a Sonoma workstation, through an EMM Labs converter and multi-channel preamp, and monstrous Pass Labs amplifiers, to a quad of Sony SS-AR1 loudspeakers in a huge...
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Chen Fifely has posted an interesting analysis at Audioholics of a demo conducted by Audioquest purporting to show the superiority of Audioquest cables on even an inexpensive system. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum regarding the efficacy of audiophile cables, it is worth a read. By the way, his conclusion: “Although this...
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Shown below are the waveform and frequency response graphs for the CD version of Hotel California by the Eagles.  Note that the peak level is -2.84dB. For comparison sake, I have “normalized” the gain of the CD version, increasing the overall gain by 2.84dB so that the peak level is 0.00dB, just like that...
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Welcome to the Ultra High-End Audio and Home Theater Review Originally founded as a discussion forum, the Ultra High End Audio and Home Theater Review is among the best sources on the web for product announcements, industry news, product reviews, manufacturer interviews, commentary and other information relating to all aspects of high performance audio...
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Over the past three years, classical-music record producer John Marks has served as an advisor to the William Ralston Listening Library, the new state-of-the-art music-listening complex in duPont Library. Marks is a senior contributing editor and columnist for Stereophile magazine, audio editor of Listen magazine, and a contributor to Early Music America. Sewanee magazine...
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In a recent issue of Hi-Fi+, its editor, Alan Sircom, had this to say on the subject: Beneath the calm surface of the audio world, there are dark stirrings. The backlash is beginning. It’s starting slow, and starting at the very top of the top-end of hi-fi, but there are people in high-end audio...
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Well, it’s not exactly a power cord upgrade; it’s a service line upgrade.  That’s the cable from the transformer to the meter drop down on your roof or the side of your house.  It’s a three conductor cable: two insulated 120 volt hots and an uninsulated neutral.  Each conductor is 0 gauge (also known...
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Speaker placement is critical to getting the best performance from your loudspeakers, regardless of cost. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I will instead point you to John Atkinson’s excellent article Getting the Best from Your Loudspeakers. I used his suggestions as the starting point for setting up the Living Sounds Audio LSA.5 monitor speakers...
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I downloaded the Eric Clapton song I Looked Away from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs from HDTracks which is supposed to be 96/24. I ran it trough the spectrum analyzer in iZotope RX and here is what I found: That gentle curve up and then down from 20kHz to 48kHz looks...
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There are two reasons 192/24 might provide higher quality audio. First, at twice the sampling rate, there are twice as many samples resulting in a smoother reconstructed wave form. Second, high frequency response is extended from 48kHz to 96kHz. I thought it would be interesting to look at the same audio file at both...
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I founded the Ultra High-End Forum in early 2009, and for the past two and a half years have been immersed in the world of ultra high-end audio and home theater. Having attended ten audio trade shows, including CES, CEDIA, AXPONA, T.H.E. Show, RMAF, and AKFest, most multiple times, I have heard virtually all...
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I asked myself: “If I were interested in a new two-channel audio system, where would I go to buy one in my home town of Nashville, Tennessee (also known as Music City USA because of its deep roots in the country music business)?” You never know when a friend is going to ask your...
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  Rarely do I find myself in agreement with Steve Guttenberg, but he speaks the truth in his latest installment of The Audiophiliac wherein he praises the Etymotic ER-4 in-ear earphones. I have had ER-4S for over a decade. I am on my second pair. I originally purchased them to listen to music when...
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I stumbled across a treasure-trove of information on turntables and vinyl on at The MasterDisk Record, a blog by Scott Hull, a respected mastering engineer and owner of MasterDisk Studio in NYC. Grab a a cup of coffee and have an enjoyable read. Week 1: Introduction: the Basics of Cutting Records Week 2: An...
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Simeon Louis Sandiford has posted an excellent overview of the role of the recording engineer and the importance of both venue and equipment selection in achieving well-balanced and real-life recordings at Ultra Audio. Well worth the read. You can access it here.
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