Jim Austin

Marantz SA8001 SACD player
Hi-Rez Disc Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
Jim Austin  |  Oct 20, 2007  |  0 comments
Most people are familiar, at least in outline, with the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." In the story, the Queen decides that it's time for her son to marry, and the Prince—apparently a very fussy young man—decides that he can marry only a true princess, as measured by her sensitivity to small discomforts. It's like being an audiophile, but with peas.
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RealTraps MondoTrap room acoustics treatment
Room Treatment Reviews
Jim Austin  |  Aug 18, 2007  |  0 comments
For a hobby based on science and technology, audiophilia has more than its share of unscientific elements. That's not necessarily a bad thing; not all of those elements are obvious snake oil, and there's more than science to creating—or re-creating—a musical experience. Still, for the more technical-minded it's a little disconcerting that even the most basic distinctions, such as why two CD players sound different from each other, are hard to explain using technical measurements and simple scientific concepts.
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Intoxication, Art, & the Audio Hobby
As We See ItAudiophile Essentials
Jim Austin  |  May 13, 2007  |  0 comments
For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.—Friedrich Nietzsche
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Shure E4 in-ear earphones
Budget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
Jim Austin  |  Mar 25, 2007  |  0 comments
In New York and other major cities, I understand, bus accidents are a real problem. Buses turn right and failing to yield to pedestrians. Clueless pedestrians walk in front of buses. I haven't seen any statistics, but I'm guessing that in this era of cell phones and iPods, the problem has gotten worse: not only do such devices distract you, they make it harder to hear warning signs—such as the sound of a municipal bus bearing down on your ass.
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NAD C 372 integrated amplifier
Budget Component ReviewsIntegrated Amp Reviews
Jim Austin  |  Oct 22, 2006  |  0 comments
At the extreme high end—Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.—reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an absence of character is definitely something most people aspire to.
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Rega Mira integrated amplifier
Budget Component ReviewsIntegrated Amp Reviews
Sam Tellig, Jim Austin  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Apr 08, 2001  |  0 comments
The Rega Couple interconnect ($150/1m pair) comes in a plastic pouch rather like a Ziploc veggie bag—just the pouch and a printed card. How much could the packaging cost? Ten cents?
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Inside Your Brain
News
Jim Austin  |  Oct 23, 2005  |  0 comments
Want to improve your hearing? Have someone tickle your toes, or lightly stroke the palm of your hand. Sounds crazy, but it works, and things get even weirder.
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The Absolute Experience
As We See It
Jim Austin  |  Sep 17, 2005  |  0 comments
I've never lived in New York City, but I've visited often, especially the Upper West Side, where my wife's grandparents lived for many years. There's a little jazz bar there, on Broadway near 106th Street, aka Duke Ellington Boulevard.
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Chips for Chumps
As We See It
Jim Austin  |  May 15, 2005  |  0 comments
In his "From the Editor's Desk" in the March issue of Stereophile's e-newsletter, John Atkinson recounts how, years ago, "erstwhile audio scribe Enid Lumley" demonstrated her pizza-box-tripod tweak at a hi-fi show. Lumley, JA writes, "placed the tripod atop a CD player and convinced her audience—including me—that the sound was better."
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The Digital Genie's Out of the Bottle
As We See It
Jim Austin  |  Dec 12, 2004  |  0 comments
In early 2000, the British magazine The Economist published a lead editorial addressing America Online's acquisition of media giant Time Warner. In the editors' view, TW was a clunky, old-style media company that needed a fresh injection of dot-com blood to help them reach a more narrowly targeted audience. "Sex, shopping and violence," the editors wrote, echoing Internet visionary George Gilder, "...are what people have in common. What differentiates them is their enthusiasm for folk music, tropical fish, or Viennese waltzes."
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