From time to time I prove myself wrong about something. For years I have been a firm devotée of the "bits is bits" approach to digital audio. The thinking goes along the lines that any audio component that passes the ones and zeros along unmolested is going to sound just like any other audio component that does the same thing. Other differences elsewhere in the chain might make a difference, but if the bits are the bits, then that's all she wrote. Which means that you can use

My digital subscription to Gramophone includes the full text of their entire archive. Every issue of the magazine back to its beginnings way back in the Compton Mackenzie days, before the advent of microphones and long-play discs, back when to play a record was to position a voice box with a screw-on stylus onto the surface of a rapidly spinning disc, no doubt after having given the hand cranks enough turns to ensure that the spring-loaded motor would do its thing. The sound

I've generally tried to follow the dictats of the most influential decorating types, the grand panjandrums, the esteemed poo-bahs, in regards to furniture placement. Not that I really have all that much to worry about. My house is nice sized and all that, but in most situations there is really only one practical place to put a specific item. Headboards go against the wall, for example, and in all of my bedrooms there is only one or two walls that would work. However, sofas c

Welcome Back! I had a standard 5.1 surround-sound system in my media room, with its nice big 65" flat-screen TV, for some time. Powered by a Marantz AV receiver, the thing sounded just fine for TV and movies, but its performance for pure audio left a great deal to be desired. It was bad enough when streaming from a Bluesound Node through the Bryston BDA-3 that handles the digital-to-analog duties, but when trying to play records on my (very fine) turntable with its Grado Sona

As Fall 2025 semester approaches its end, I'm curious as to how much time I've spent teaching and writing over these past many years. So I ran some numbers, all rough estimates, but enlightening nonetheless. At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music I estimate that over 97 semesters I have spent about 19,000 hours teaching in classrooms. Between the Fromm Institute at USF and the University of California, Berkeley I have spent about 2950 hours teaching in classrooms. So m

Some audiophiles go all in on a single, hyper-sophisticated sound system. Listening becomes something of a ritual, prepared and planned and carried out in a dedicated room with precisely-positioned chairs and acoustic wall treatment. And that's just fine and dandy for those who want it, but that just isn't me. I love a good listening session, but I don't have to build a cathedral in my house to do it. That's because I prefer to have listening opportunities all over the house,

Deep down inside I'm convinced that I'm an utter fool about money. I'm also convinced that I'm actually quite a lot better about it than a lot of folks. Certainly better than most musicians. We're a bunch of nincompoops about money on the whole. That's partly because we don't make very much of it, but it's also for the wonderful and compelling reason that we have other fish to fry. We aren't in it for the money, after all. If we were, we wouldn't be in it. My suspicions as to

That's about the only phrase that applies to the latest issue of a major audiophile magazine. In this time of people worrying about money, of families doing without, of inflated grocery prices and all the rest, I almost can't stand to look at this particular magazine without a feeling of near-disgust creep over me. It has gone far beyond any notion of good sound or better sound or any kind of sound. It's all about conspicuous consumption at this point. They've been criticized

Today I remembered a cute cartoon from some years ago, of a stick-figure young woman going about a happy day on her own. She played with her dog, had her lunch, read books, went for walks and bicycle rides, and tended her garden. It made for a fine counter to those folks who just can't seem to understand how people can be happy living on their own, without a lot of social contact. Introverts, in other words. People who like to be on their own, people who actually become stres

Retirement is in the air, at least from my main teaching job. It’s not coming really soon, but it is definitely coming. I’ve been...

I started getting bit by the record-collecting bug when I was in what we used to call Junior High school, nowadays Middle School. I had...

Over the course of my lifetime as a low-key audiophile I have bought a fair amount of audio equipment. Most of it is well-made, reliable,...

Here I go again on the subject of a ridiculously overpriced audio component. In this case it's an integrated amplifier – meaning it...

Summer of 2015, shortly before me Summer of 2025, after 10 years of me I have been wondering why I let such a momentous 10th anniversary...

My fit of summertime audiophilia nervosa is officially over. I hope. Despite a fair amount of equipment change – well, OK, it was...

My niece once bought herself a Maserati Ghibli. My word, what a beautiful car ... long and low, faster than all get-out, tricked out with...

It is said that for every person there exists something that is the primary joy of life. Those somethings are highly varied, but each is...

My previous post discussed the final form of my downstairs 'big' sound system. I had every reason to think that I had it knocked....

I believe my fit of audiophilia nervosa has played itself out. I added a HiFi Rose RS130 streamer, not really because I felt any real...

It has been a long time since the once-reviled "mechanical music" began making its inroads on our profession. Early in the 20th century,...