Archimago's Musings
Do HDMI cables make a difference for IIS/I2S/I²S-HDMI audiophile DACs?
Visit to a "more subjective" leaning friend. And something like Synergistic Research "Transducers" to try.
Inexpensive USB2.0 Digital-to-Digital Converters (DDC) Pt.1: Douk Audio U2 PRO (Upgrade Version) and SMSL PO100 PRO - initial look, about I²S-HDMI. In praise of unofficial Atmos mixes!
Images from San Francisco: Audio Vision SF, B&O Flagship Store, Amoeba Music. Question of greater importance: music or gear?
More Audio Potpourri: What's the best sample rate converter? The other father of MP3 (James D. Johnston "JJ"). Are measurements important? And TAS' "objective" confusion.
Audiophile Potpourri: December 2025 web traffic among audio sites, price of cables poll, and flashback 2014 while looking ahead.
miniDSP UMIK-2 USB Microphone: analog gain & optimizing self-noise. Plus audiophile gear pictures from "No Other Choice".
miniDSP UMIK-2 measurement microphone (also ambient noise floor, measurements of my system using Dirac Live with Paradigm + SVS subs)
More Bass: The SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer (sealed, 12", 550W, DSP, Bluetooth)
Happy New Year! And a thank you to the Lyrion Music Server folks for renewing the life of my Squeezebox Radio. ☺️
On the Danny Richie / GR-Research's UberBUSS hypocritical video against Amir / Audio Science Review.
Douk Audio VU3 Pro Analog VU Meter - more bling! (Make sure to try some harder music at audio shows! 😉)
On AI/ChatGPT analysis to convince consumers about audio snake oil? GR-Research UberBUSS anyone?!
Fosi Audio LC30 Analog VU Meter (Black Version) - bling!
MUSINGS: On various characters in the audiophile hobby, debates, opinions and the Hearing Test.
Rotel RSS-900 Speaker Switch.
Sony SS-CS5(M1) and Sony SS-CS5M2 bookshelf speakers - measurements, comparisons, and review.
As if higher prices correlate to fidelity: Stereophile's Defense of Luxury Audio & the false Binding Statement of High-End Audio.
The Luxury of Sound and Time: Audiophile products, the Rolex and Timex Analogy.
Stereo Crosstalk Cancellation (XTC) / Ambiophonics: Introducing CTXMatrixBeta, a Free VST3 Plugin with XTC Calibration. [Guest post, STC.]
Auro-3D "Auro-Matic": Preset and Strength settings and effects. (Brief look at Dolby Surround Upmixer and DTS Neural:X.)
QUICKIES: Black aluminum alloy footers. Equipment racks. Center channel in music. Underwhelming Spotify Lossless. More Paul McGowan/PS Audio USB cable & jitter foolishness.
Do loudspeaker footers make a difference? Inexpensive aluminum alloy "isolation" footers.
Linn's SPACE Optimisation DSP feature for their DS/DSM digital audio streamers. Does it even work?
SUMMER MUSINGS: What could possibly be wrong with the High-End Audiophile Industry?! 🤔 (The supplier side of audiophoolery.)
SUMMER MUSINGS: Who/What is an "Audiophool"? (And old quad album mixes.)
A look at the music library: How much DAC intersample overhead is enough? True Peak analysis of genres in an eclectic digital collection.
Another Digital Volume Control Article 🙂 (Guest post by Bennet Ng)
Dolby Atmos Visualization: Elton John's "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)". [And Deadmau5 & The Neptunes' "Pomegranate".]
SUMMER MUSINGS: Multichannel and the audiophile - recent articles and thoughts, 2025 update.
Linn DS streamers: Majik DS(/1), Klimax DS/2 and Klimax DSM/2 measurements. (Examples of "high end" audio.)
SUMMER MUSINGS: Paired speaker testing, more crossover thoughts, running tests ourselves and for ALL speaker reviews!
1kHz Test Tone: Does increasing the number of PCM values really matter? And Stereophile's "still listening" to the community (so they say).
Follow-up: Topping DX9 DAC tests. And reduction in the ability to comment on the Stereophile website.
Roon in 2025, 10 years on: Sound quality, thoughts, and suggestions. And an increasingly AI-generated Internet.
As It Is. - Guest post by T.S. Gnu.
nVidia RTX 5070 Ti GPU - a look at the lowest-priced version. And imagine, relinquishing "lossless" orthodoxy.
PSA: Logitech dropping many Harmony remote support May 28, 2025.
Part III: Topping DX9 "15th Anniversary" Limited Edition DAC & Headphone Amplifier - DSD, S/PDIF inputs, headphone out, pre-out, and AMPT. And the desire beyond Perceptibly Perfect.
Camera upgrade: Sony (Alpha) α6700 mirrorless camera with 18-135mm f/3.5-6.5 OSS kit lens. 🙂
Part II: Topping DX9 "15th Anniversary" Limited Edition DAC & Headphone Amplifier - PCM Filters, Frequency Response & DAC Resolution. (And Trump's ongoing oblivious narcissistic tariff buffoonery.) [Firmware 1.23 Update]
Part I: Topping DX9 "15th Anniversary" Limited Edition DAC & Headphone Amplifier - build, features, listening impressions & subjective luxury.
Multichannel/Atmos 3D Audio Walkthrough. The idea that DACs sound about the same. Countercultural & honest audiophiles?
MUSINGS: Trust, empirical testing, and evidence in the Audiophile hobby. And the Double Blind Test (DBT) strawman argument.
High Frame Rate (HFR) movies: time to overcome resistance? Also, on anachronistic nostalgia. And why I rarely go to movie theaters these days.