Two pressings of one album can sound nothing alike, and almost none of the difference is the thing collectors argue about. What the mastering decides, what the plant decides, what 180 gram and half...
Latency is a budget spent across six places, and the interface is only one of them. Where the milliseconds accumulate, why round trip is the only figure worth deciding with, what ten milliseconds f...
A grade describes the object, not the sound. What the Goldmine scale covers, what it leaves out, why a sight grade and a play grade are two different claims, and what comes off with a cleaning vers...
What +4 dBu and -10 dBV do to your gain staging, what balanced actually buys, where a ground loop comes from, and how to match the levels of two pairs of speakers.
Most of what gets heard as a preamp upgrade is the first time somebody's levels were right. Where the noise in a recording actually comes from, in order, which of those a purchase can change, and t...
Records are physical objects, and every physical object in your house is being slowly affected by the conditions around it: temperature, humidity, sunlight, pressure, the things it's touching. Reco...
Record cleaning is a topic the internet has made exhausting. Search any audio forum for cleaning advice and you'll find thousand-post threads debating enzyme cleaners versus alcohol solutions, the ...
Everything you've read about speaker placement assumes you have a dedicated listening room. A rectangular space with symmetrical walls, no windows on the speaker wall, a ceiling in the right range,...
The component most people discover by hearing nothing at all, or something thin and distant. What it does, whether you already have one, and when to buy better.
You already own a DAC. Here is what a better one actually changes, when it matters, and why the headphone and the amplifier come first.
Impedance and sensitivity tell you whether a headphone needs an amplifier, and for most of the headphones on this site the answer is no: here is how to read the two numbers, and which ones actually...
Who is doing the listening, what happens before anything gets recommended, why nothing here gets a score, and the limits of a measurement.
Two kinds of writing here
Learn explains how the gear works. The buying guides say what to buy, and name what is wrong with each pick. If you would rather settle it with your own ears, the listening room at 215 East Lewis Street in Livingston is free and by appointment.