GigFi combines two of my absolute favorite things in the world: custom playlists and live music. By creating customized Spotify playlists listing music from artists playing shows in your city within the following days, GigFi provides an aural summary of the music happening around you at all times. I had no idea Medeski, Martin and Wood were in town! And Dethklok?? And it's not just about figuring out which big dogs are around, GigFi offers music…
search
I've already admitted I have a live music problem, OK? I don't need something awesome like GigFi making my addiction worse. Much much worse.
Register to win an autographed Pat Metheny The Orchestrion Project Blu-ray disc (MSRP $24.98) we are giving away.
According to Dolby:
The Blu-ray features amazing Dolby TrueHD with advanced 96k Upsampling and 7.1 surround sound, immersing you in the concert and taking full advantage of Blu-ray disc capabilities for optimal play in home theaters. In addition, Dolby conducted a special interview with the star of The Orchestrion Project, Pat Metheny that your audience will love. The video contains a Q&A with Pat as well as insight into the stunning TrueHD 7.1 surround…
There never seem to be enough AC outlets, and when there are, they're not always easily accessible. I have two dedicated 15A duplex outlets at the power-amp end of my room, but a subwoofer and multiple power amps (up to three at a time) exhaust those facilities. What happens when I need to add a second subwoofer or other EQ? What do I do when I want to keep more than three amps cooking for quick comparisons?
Until I find a way to run more dedicated lines, the best option is to split the AC sources by using a power-distribution box that takes up space and can be costly, or to simply add a…
The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun by Robert Greenfield 431 pages. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Hardcover, $30.
Robert Greenfield's engaging biography shows that Ahmet Ertegun was destined to dominate. The son of a Turkish ambassador, Ertegun (1923–2006) left his native country at age two, and lived for a decade in Switzerland, France, and England, where he had a nanny who had previously cared for the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. His first American home was an architectural gem of a mansion on Washington's Embassy Row. House guests included Cary…
[Note - this article is from the May, 1963 issue of Stereophile]
Many readers have asked why we don't maintain a permanent listing in each issue of The Stereophile of those components that we feel to be the best available, with or without qualification.
So, we are following our readers' suggestion, and will list in each issue groups of components which, at publication time, we feel are ones from which our readers would be well advised to assemble their systems. The list will change from time to time, as new products appear, old ones are obsoleted, or manufacturers change their…
Back in August, we told you about the proposed $150 Orbit turntable from upstart U-Turn Audio. The company is now moving closer to making their dream a reality. And, if they can keep their promise of high-performance sound and construction, that reality will likely be a dream-come-true for many young and budget-minded music lovers.
U-Turn Audio is funding their project through Kickstarter and hopes to raise $60,000 by Monday, January 21, 2013. As I write, 90 backers have pledged $15,666. (Is that a multiple of 33.3?)
Visit U-Turn Audio's Kickstarter page for more info…
In the summer of 2011, Stereophile's long-time editor in chief, John Atkinson, was invited by the Technical Council of the Audio Engineering Society to give the Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture at the 131st Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York, October 21, 2011.
The AES website notes that the Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture series was established in May 1999 by the AES Technical Council, the Board of Governors, and the Richard Heyser Scholarship Fund to honor the extensive contribution to the Society by this outstanding man, widely known for his ability to communicate new…
"What Happened to the Negative Frequencies?"
Nothing happened to them, of course, as I will show, but you mustn't forget that they are always there.
Nothing happened to them, of course, as I will show, but you mustn't forget that they are always there.
Everyone in this room will be familiar with the acronym "FFT." The Fast Fourier Transform is both elegant and ubiquitous. It allows us to move with ease between time-based and frequency-based views of audio events. You will all be familiar with the following example. Here is the waveform of a short section of a piece of music:
And here is the spectrum of that music:
This usefulness of the FFT algorithm—…
Is There Something There?
Over the almost 35 years during which I have taken part in or organized listening tests, I have become convinced that what is fundamentally important is to respect the listeners—to listen to what they tell me. Yes, there may be a trivial explanation for what they hear. But there may be something there. When I first heard of so-called LP "demagnetization"—where an LP sounds better after being subjected to the action of, for example, a bulk tape eraser—I was skeptical. But I didn't dismiss the reports; I just filed them away for further investigation, if and when…
Over the almost 35 years during which I have taken part in or organized listening tests, I have become convinced that what is fundamentally important is to respect the listeners—to listen to what they tell me. Yes, there may be a trivial explanation for what they hear. But there may be something there. When I first heard of so-called LP "demagnetization"—where an LP sounds better after being subjected to the action of, for example, a bulk tape eraser—I was skeptical. But I didn't dismiss the reports; I just filed them away for further investigation, if and when…
Nothing Is Real
It is a common put-down of audiophiles: "You're imagining things." But is this a meaningful criticism? Is there a real difference between "reality" and "illusion"? Or was Professor Dumbledore on to something?
It is a common put-down of audiophiles: "You're imagining things." But is this a meaningful criticism? Is there a real difference between "reality" and "illusion"? Or was Professor Dumbledore on to something?
I have been interested in human perception almost as long as I have been working in magazines. This sound is something with which everyone in this room will be familiar: a 1kHz tone at –20dBFS.
[Play 1kHz, –20dBFS sinewave tone]
What I'd like you to do now is to imagine the same tone for 10 seconds.
I believe a scan of your brain…