2nd Edition
Bluesound Gen 2!
I missed yesterday's Bluesound press event which I was very much looking forward to (remnants of food poisoning made the trip to NYC daunting). If you remember back to when we were first introduced to Bluesound (see Intro), the company sits under the Lenbrook Industries Limited umbrella along with NAD and PSB whose knowledge and technology helped build the Bluesound line.
Ethernet Noise: Proof Of Concept
I received an email from Steve McNally of DJM Electronics wherein he asked if I'd be interested in giving one of their Ethernet EMI filters a listen. I said, "Yes". I'll be writing about the DJM Electronics GigaFOILv3 ($1,000) in the not too distant future.
USB Accessory Roundup: UpTone Audio USB REGEN, AudioQuest JitterBug, Schiit Wyrd
Let's begin with the easy part; if you've read my reviews of the UpTone Audio USB REGEN (review), AudioQuest JitterBug (review), and Schiit Wyrd (review), you'll have read that I heard a difference when each device was in and out of my systems. Generally, I would describe those differences as an improvement which is all well and good but inquiring minds want to know which device is best and what happens when you put them together.
The "Bits Are Bits" Fallacy and Noise In Mixed Signal Systems
"Bits are bits". We've all heard this too many times when talking about digital audio. Some people feel that's really all they need to know or say, "bits are bits". I admit, it does have a pleasant ring to it and if you silently repeat it over and over in your head it becomes mantra-like. Bits are bits. Unfortunately when talking about mixed signal systems, "bits are bits" holds the same relevance as "om".
Download of the Week: Washington Phillips
This is some of the most heavenly music I've ever heard. It sounds even more heavenly on vinyl (I've have the Mississippi Records LP for years). No matter - get this music in any form you can get your ears on and just listen. I promise you there are rewards awaiting in the listening.
Schiit Wyrd USB Power Isolator
Seeing as it's the job of an audio reviewer to listen and report, at least that's my job, I have to be, well, less Swiss (more American?) when it comes to writing about the stuff I listen to.
Neuroscience To The Rescue
Thanks to Stereophile's Facebook page for pointing me to this article in the LA Times, "Is streaming a threat to music? Not if musicians have anything to do with it" and of greatest interest this quote...
You're Surrounded & Chesky Records Special Deal For AudioStream Readers
From now until September 7, 2015, readers of this website will get a 25% discount on the new 24-bit high resolution You're Surrounded album and/or anything in Chesky's hi-res catalog on HDTracks.com.
1st Edition
Ars Technica And The Million Dollar Cock-up
If only the folks at Ars Technica and the James Randi Educational Foundation knew about Wikipedia.
linkDownload of the Week: Omar Souleyman
It has been a while since we heard from Syria's soulful singer Omar Souleyman who is joined on his new record Bahdeni Nami (Monkeytown Records) by saz player Khaled Youssef and Rizan Said on keyboards.
ABX Tests Prove Hi-Res Audio Is Legit!
This is really great news for anyone following the hi-res audio debate. The debate is simple; some people claim there is an audible difference between high resolution files and lower resolutions, and some people claim there isn't.
UpTone Audio USB REGEN
Unlike the AudioQuest JitterBug we looked at last week (see review) that plugs into your computer, the USB REGEN is designed to be placed at the other end of your USB cable, between it and your DAC.
AudioQuest JitterBug USB Data & Power Noise Filter
While some people still want to argue that "bits are bits" when it comes to digital data transmission, other people are looking at real-world solutions to real-world problems.
Download of the Week: Ducktails
Pop. Of course Ducktails' new record St. Catherine (Domino) isn't really pop in the sense that it'll be a streaming sensation, rather it's pop in the sense of song form.
You're Surrounded & Chesky Records Special Deal For AudioStream Readers
We've worked out a special deal for readers to celebrate the new Chesky You're Surrounded release.
Roon And The Genre Problem
I ran my own blog years ago which mainly consisted of album (as in LP) reviews. At some point I thought it would be a good idea to include genre tags for each review so I gave it a whirl. I think this lasted a few weeks, maybe longer, but I quickly realized my approach to the perfect genre identifier was to give every album its own genre.
LH Labs Geek Pulse Xfi & Linear Power Supply 4 (LPS4)
More than any other audio company, much-much-more, LH Labs has been exceedingly successful in utilizing crowdfunding for product development and sales.
The Hi-Fi Budget
I was planning on writing up a post where I offered what I thought would be a reasonable way to spread out one's overall hi-fi budget by category. Speakers get X%, amplification Y%, source Z% and so on. Essentially creating an order of importance. But the more I wrote, the more tangled up my logic got.
Source Audio Stream
