I am not a sound engineer or music producer. I do consider myself am an audiophile because I really care about the sound qualty of the music I listen to. Unlike some audiophiles, the audio equipment is only a means to an end and not part of my audio hobby. As a result, I tend…

The best source of information is your EARS. Form your own opinions, don’t just accept what other people say. Believe what your ears tell you when listen to music! Remember that many people who write about audio are biased in one way or another.  Beyond that, There is often a lot of  hype to justify very…

You should always chose your speakers first, and then select components which work well with the speakers you have selected. All speakers have flaws which you must choose between so speaker preference will be extremely personal. This is often demonstrated by people who agree about the relative merits of a amplifiers or DAC but disagree about speakers.  It’s also useful…

Headphone amplifiers were almost un-heard of until the 1990s, though many receivers and integrated amplifiers had fairly good quality headphone jacks. As headphones have grown in popularity, and fewer people are purchasing classic stereos, headphone amplifiers have emerged as a product category. The “headphone jack” on smart phones and laptops tends to have mediocre sound…

Today, most music content is digital. This content might be stored locally in a computer file system, on CD/DVD media, or is streamed from some service such as Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, etc over the Internet. To play this digital content you need a device which as able to read or receive the digital content…

Audio Communities Audio Asylum Audio Circle Audioholics avforums diyaudio Hydrogen Audio Steve Hoffman music forums Headphone Community Sites head-fi.org super best audio friends head-case.org headphone.guru “Magazines” Stereophile The Absolute Sound (TAS) What HI*FI? Enjoy the Music Positive Feedback tnt-audio – old school website Audiophile Style – Podcasts and articles Sound on Sound 6moons – site…

Headphones are becoming the dominant way people listen to music as people shift from using records and CDs played through a stereo to streaming services played through a smart phone. Unfortunately, many people are using the earbuds provided with their smart phone, tablet, or laptop which has a significantly lower sound quality than most of…

I think the very best amplifiers are like wire with gain. That is, they add or take away nothing from the sound quality. They just boast the signal enough to drive the speakers. An amplifier that does this requires the source and speakers to be well matched. Often times, people will choice an amplifier that…

How much difference do cables make? My experience is “not a lot”. I participated in a blind A-B test which compared a $1.50/meter 12 gauge speaker cable from a hardware store and a number high end audiophile cables that cost an average of  $2000/meter.  I didn’t notice a difference. There is some research which suggests…