Game PC Update: nVidia RTX 4070 Super GPU. That "game console vs. PC" debate; twilight of the consoles? Upcoming RTX 50XX GPUs. And graphical diminishing returns in the Art of Gaming.

I know, that's a massive title! But sometimes there's a bunch of stuff to talk/think about before the holidays. 🙂

With recent holiday sales, like I did recently with the Server, I thought it was time to finally update that GPU in my GAMING rig. Although I had updated the CPU last year to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (~US$150) 8-core processor, I was still playing with the old-skool nVidia GTX 1080 GPU that I got back in 2017. 

Clearly, after 7 years and a few generations, it was time to get a modern gaming GPU; yeah I have the RTX 4090 but that's for the workstation rather than gaming, in fact, I haven't even installed a single game on this workstation!

As you can see, I got the ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 Super Evo OC Dual-fan model, currently ~US$600 (~CAD$800). The RTX 4070 Super variant was released in January 2024, not long ago and I figured would make for a good contemporary card with longevity for upcoming games and should last me into the 2030's. It's equipped with 12GB of GDDR6X which should be adequate for awhile. And because it's the dual-fan model, it's not as long as the 3-fan cards; this is important because the enclosure I'm using has a limit to the length of large graphics cards it can accommodate.

Part II: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - power, distortion, and the subjective. (And a few photos for Swifties.)

Let's continue with Part II of the evaluation of 3e Audio's A5 and A7 Mono amplifiers. See Part I last time for the initial discussions, features, pictures and measurements around output impedance, frequency response and stereo crosstalk.

This time, we'll finish up with further measurements of output power, distortions, subjective discussions, and summary.

Unless a product can be purchased, there's probably no point publishing the results! So I timed this post to correlate with the opening of the 3e Audio AliExpress store for these products.

Home Server update: Windows Server 2025, 24H2 codebase, and the Intel i7-7700K CPU

Hey everyone, as I finish listening and writing up the second part of the 3e Audio Class D amplifiers review probably correlating with the release of the product soon, I thought I'd put a "quickie" post up this week on an update to my home SERVER computer.

As discussed in 2017, here at home, there are 3 main computers (WORKSTATION, SERVER, GAMING) that form the foundation for my day-to-day "digital" life and to some extent for the family as well. Over time, each of the machines get upgraded as needed. Last year, I stuck in the nVidia RTX 4090 GPU into my Workstation for AI/LLM work. Plus I upgraded the Gaming machine CPU (GPU upgrade soon 😁).

Other than replacing aging hard drives and updating the 10GbE network card, the Server really hasn't needed much attention over time. With the release of Windows Server 2025 OS in November, I figure this would be a good time to update the workhorse.

Part I: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - Features and initial measurements.

Every once awhile, a manufacturer will connect to see if I might be interested in testing out one of their upcoming products. Recently, 3e Audio (their mission being to Enhanced, Exceed, Enjoy) based in Shenzhen reached out for an honest, independent, evaluation of their new amplifiers. As usual, most of my hardware discussions are based on objective results which I believe significantly reduces personal subjective biases and advertising hype - no YouTube videos where reviewers make silly facial expressions to draw attention to the thumbnail image here folks. 🙄

You probably haven't heard of this brand, but the engineering-focused company has been around for a number of years selling boards to the DIY market with DSP, power supply, and Class D amplifiers. In August, they announced the release of their line of five fully-assembled "A5x A7x Series Next-Gen PFFB Amplifiers". In the picture above, we see the pre-release A7 Mono (260W into 4Ω 1% THD+N, single TPA3255, PBTL) and A5 (150W x 2 into 4Ω 1% THD+N, dual-TPA3251, PBTL) models sent here for evaluation.

As you might know, in this blog over the years I've been covering a number of these very reasonably priced TI TPA chip amps from the early generation TI TPA3116, to the early TPA3255 models (like the AOSHIDA A7), to the very high performance Topping PA5 MkII+ (TPA3251), to the recent inexpensive and higher powered Fosi Audio V3 Mono (TPA3255) with Post-Filter Feedback (PFFB). The inclusion of PFFB to 3e Audio's amplifiers is not new for this company as this feature has been available in their DIY boards since at least 2022. 3e Audio is aiming to exceed the performance of others that have come before; of course, we'll see about that on the testbench!

I'm not sure exactly what date 3e Audio will make these amps available or the prices. At the time of these tests, I was told that they will be taking orders on their AliExpress store in early December 2024. Final prices might change, but I was told that the amps will range from US$199 for the A5se (140W x 2 into 4Ω, 1% THD+N, single-TPA3251, BTL), to US$300 A7 models with power supply.

MUSINGS: The need for full-range sound (likely with subwoofers) in audiophile systems. [And Ojas New Ageism?]

"As an audiophile with an eclectic taste in music, I feel that life is too short not to enjoy the full audible frequency range."

That statement above is just an audiophile's (my) opinion. While I know some audiophiles debate about the need for the use of subwoofers, it has always been a "must" for my reference systems over the decades. Obviously, it's not really my business what anyone else buys or enjoys for themselves. My only intent in this post is to remind audiophiles that most of our passive speaker systems, including relatively large floor-standers, are frequency bandwidth limited (for human hearing).

I know that there are some audiophiles and well-known reviewers out there who have expressed aversion towards the need for full-frequency reproduction - basically flat frequency response down to 20Hz - as a priority. Since robust low-frequency reproduction below 40-50Hz commonly requires an adequate subwoofer, it's surprising to me that the idea of having one isn't more universal among audiophiles, and there are often comments like this warning of issues that come across as dissuasive.

Dirac Live 3: A look & listen with the Integra DRX-8.4 - the process, microphone placement suggestion, tweaking, and multichannel/Atmos results.

As discussed years ago with my sound room set-up, I believe room correction DSP is very important and has become part of my routine whenever I make significant changes in room layout or when I incorporate new equipment. I would argue that an audiophile who has not seriously spent time trying this likely has not heard the best sound in their room from their system. Simply put, you'll notice a level of control and audible difference way more than just swapping hi-fi DACs, amps, etc. hardware.

With the arrival of the Integra DRX-8.4 receiver recently, I started using the included Dirac Live Full Bandwidth license embedded in the hardware. As I had done in the recent past with Acourate and Audiolense XO, let's dive into the steps I used to get Dirac running and the results I achieved. Hopefully this discussion could be useful for those of you thinking of trying out Dirac.

I'll document the steps I followed, issues I ran into, and tips to overcome problems.

Integra DRX-8.4 Multichannel Receiver: Overview, features, build, a few pre-out measurements...

Obviously, value is an important consideration for consumers when it comes to buying and enjoying products. As discussed over the years, I'm not an audiophile who's particularly interested in the luxury aspect of these machines. To me, the ideal of achieving "high fidelity" sound does not care about MSRP or some other determinant of whether a product is artificially exotic/elite, thus "High End Audio" (a.k.a. High Priced Audio) is meaningless to me unless there is evidence of improved sonic performance (whether from plain increased objective fidelity or incorporating technical features) correlating with higher asking price. As such, I believe audiophiles should seriously think about the value of modern AV receivers which over time have also incrementally shown improved sound quality by incorporating higher quality DACs, newer DSP room correction technologies, and potential benefits like balanced connections.

In my opinion, this also means the divide between "home theater" enthusiasts and "audiophiles" is largely artificial when it comes to sonic performance. Subjectively, we're all aiming for an excellent audio experience with high-fidelity to the source with utmost clarity (including time-domain coherence), low distortion, high dynamic range, excellent reproduction of nuances, while achieving realistic/intended soundstage. Objectively, a high quality AV receiver these days should not have difficulty providing hi-fi performance compared to many very expensive products (like the Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblocks US$80k/pr as an obvious example - other than high power, there's nothing particularly good), plus typically these AV companies provide way more features and modern amenities. The R&D firepower behind these companies are substantial compared to the small-business shops that typically make products for the esoteric 2-channel audiophile niche. Over time, as I hope audiophiles increasingly consider enjoying the new multichannel recordings and remixes, moving into "immersive" audio, these multichannel receivers should be seen as serious options.

The only utilitarian difference between home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles is whether video playback is needed.

In this post, let's start with having a look at the item pictured above, the Integra DRX-8.4 multichannel receiver. (Discussions and measurements of AV receivers are not new on this blog with previous posts on the Yamaha RX-V781 and Onkyo TX-NR1009.)

Despite being the current flagship receiver from Integra, the price is "only" US$3,200 or about CAD$4,000. I bought this item through standard retail channels online because I was interested in it; no company incentives.

MUSINGS: Words, worldviews, and the multimodal expansion of AI. [Let's have some fun with generative AI in 2024.]

"If language is as inextricably tied up with consciousness as it seems to be, then the continuing diminishment of our inclination to use it to express in letters the times in which we live could mean that an element of human consciousness itself is on the verge of disappearing."   --- Anonymous

I saw this interesting comment above during my readings across the Internet this past week. I guess it triggered in me some thoughts around writing articles these days with the rise of audience engagement with video, the bold new world of AI "generative" technologies, and trust in the sources we read/listen/watch. In this post, let's just "shoot the breeze" with some meandering musings around these themes and navigate through some complex ideas... 🤓

Years ago, during the heat of the MQA Affair, I talked about writing these blog pages using a pseudonym. That was in response to MQA's issue around anonymity; perhaps they were paranoid that I was an industry player or working for a competitor. These days, in the face of increasingly sophisticated artificial agents roaming the Internet, foreign influences, machine-generated content (including artificially generated audio and video), I think it's quickly becoming old-fashioned to worry about just mere human anonymity having nefarious intent!

Now that my writings have spanned more than a decade, I trust that readers know that I'm actually very much a "real" guy behind the keyboard who's passionate about audio reproduction, sharing my perspectives on the high-fidelity pursuit as an audiophile of the early 21st Century. I have my philosophical views, thoughts on the importance of objective hardware fidelity and adequacy, the importance music itself as the origin of the art we admire and the emotions evoked rather than attributing too much of this to the hardware.

Furthermore, I trust my writings have been internally consistent in presenting my audiophile worldview, built up based on objective fundamentals. Comparatively, I think this is quite different from what we typically read elsewhere coming from most magazine writers. My beliefs are often at odds with the interviews given by Industry experts, and I hope these accumulated articles have been vastly more in-depth than superficial opinions on social media.

DIY: Archimago's "RED DRAGON" Speaker Cables - Canare 4S11G (OFC, Star Quad, 11AWG). [And fascinating Townshend video with Wireworld in the mix.]

Alright friends, time for another fun and easy audiophile craft project! 🙂

Among the cables we use in audio, I would argue it's most fun fooling around with speaker cables as a DIY project. This is not necessarily because it "sounds different" (after all, this recent blind test didn't show a difference between $27 12AWG OFC zip cord and a $20k Gryphon set as discussed here, right?).

No friends, within reason, speaker cables have never really been proven to sound all that different from each other unless there are clear effects designed into them (stuff like the MIT cables with "articulation control" filter box come to mind). Rather, these are "fun" to make if you have time because you and your visitors can see the cables. A nice looking, relatively thick set can look impressive compared to generic thin wires. While we might measure and find good numbers, or subjectively hear nice-sounding music regardless, appearances cannot be underestimated in the world of the audiophile; after all that's been said and done, we don't need to pretend that it's all for improving sound quality, right? 😉

And so, for fun and curiosity, I found the Canare 4S11G which is the Oxygen-Free Copper (OFC) variant of the well-known 4S11. Many cables claim to be OFC, but the conductor here is certified Japanese Industrial Standard JIS-H-3510.

I reached out to AVshop.ca here in Canada and grabbed 25' (CAD$3.16/ft or just less than USD$2.50/ft) of this wire to play around with. Here's the result of a little DIY, what I'll call my "RED DRAGON" speaker cables. Because red is cool and dragons are auspicious and marketing departments seem to think "mythical creatures" cables 😯 appeal to audiophiles:

GUEST POST: A Raspberry Pi Music System that Punches Above its Weight - Wax by Jeffrey Barish

[Hey everyone, the community of Raspberry Pi audio applications has grown tremendously over the years! SBC's similar to the Pi running on Linux OS are almost ubiquitous inside streamer components these days. Jeffrey Barish recently contacted me about his novel software which looks like a fantastic system for managing a music library that imports art, rich metadata, and other information that can be run in a small all-in-one box with DAC output! Here's his write-up and introduction to Wax.]

Using a Raspberry Pi as the basis for a music system is not novel. Raspberry Pi OS is based on Linux, so at least 20 audio player programs should be compatible. If you listen only to pop and you are satisfied with a program that allows you to simply select and play an album, then you will probably be satisfied with almost any of these programs. However, if you are a serious music lover – and especially if your collection includes classical music – then you are probably looking for more.

Serious music lovers like to know something about the music they are playing. They like to know the identities of the artists performing the music. These capabilities are available in some proprietary solutions, but those products are expensive, they might require additional components (e.g., a DAC or disk drives), and some require that users pay an ongoing fee. This article describes a new program for the Raspberry Pi that provides an inexpensive solution with these and many more capabilities.

Pacific Audio Fest 2024: Part III - parting thoughts, audiophile education, speaker:amp price ratio & the future?

Hypothetical scene in Seattle...

Another year, another Pacific Audio Fest in the annals of audio shows. Looking back, this show would be the 6th of this sort I've attended and subsequently discussed on this blog over the last decade, let's see:

Vancouver Audio Show 2015

Vancouver Audio Show 2016

Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2019 - final RMAF
[Pandemic Years]

Pacific Audio Fest 2022

Pacific Audio Fest 2023

It's interesting reviewing some of those others over the years. I think most audiophiles will recognize that over time, not really much has changed, has it? Sure, the companies come and go, we've seen the ebb and flow of themes both in this blog as well as at the shows (for example, jitter was more of an uncertainty when AudioQuest introduced their JitterBug device in 2015). We've seen the rise of "high-end" computers and streamers (also discussed here), and these days I noticed that the companies are not as aggressive in the marketing as these products mature. Streaming may have reduced the need for local libraries, or simply that consumers themselves are comfortable with digital audio quality, the lack of sonic difference (and the "Bits Are Bits" reality).

The Dolby Atmos Music Target Curve. And on being an audiophile "tonmeister".

[For the post this week, let's take a pause from the Pacific Audio Fest 2024 discussions (last 2 weeks). Next week we'll have a Part III discussion about audio shows.]

Standardization is generally good.

I've discussed in previous posts that Dolby Atmos defines loudness characteristics for recordings and this has helped preserve dynamic range in multichannel/Atmos albums following their guidelines. Likewise, we can benefit from standardization of the frequency response as this will allow us to better "translate" the sound from the studio into our sound rooms. This idea is not new for audiophiles. The ill-fated (with good reason) MQA promised that we could experience the "sound of the studio", but they never could deliver in a large part because there was never any standardization for essential parameters like the frequency response, among other failings. In the same way, back in the day (~2014), this was the promise of hi-res audio by Neil Young and Pono that you would somehow get the "finest digital copy" and this would represent the sound the artists intended from the studio; clearly they overpromised and under-delivered by 2015.

It's one thing to standardize between the studio and home ("inter-system") playback, but it's also important to standardize "intra-system" - that is, between all the speakers in your set-up when you're doing multichannel such that each speaker is calibrated to the same timbre. This is important in a multichannel layout since we do not want "objects" moving through space changing tonality because of mismatch between speakers around the listener. The Dolby Atmos Music Target Curve is Dolby's recommendation for the music studio frequency response. This curve evolved from the X-Curve, an 'X'perimental frequency response based on some early empirical work exploring the performance of actual theater sound systems starting in the 1970's, and evolved over the years. See this paper for more details, note some similarity of the Dolby Atmos Music Target Curve to the SMPTE 202M - 1998 X-Curve.

As with all things in audio, nothing wrong with asking whether this curve is the "best". 🤔

Pacific Audio Fest 2024: Part II. [About that MACHINA DYNAMICA, and mental health. 🫣]

PAF'24 - the balcony shot on a Sunday afternoon as things start to wrap up...

So let's continue with the September 6-8, 2024 Pacific Audio Fest show-and-tell (Part I last week) at Seattle. These are my visits to the rooms on Sunday September 8th. You've probably seen from my previous show reports that Sundays tend to be less busy than Fridays and Saturdays. Often this is not a bad day to visit because it means that the crowds are smaller, you'll be able to linger a bit longer to enjoy the music, are more likely to be able to request music, and the reps are easier to access if you have questions (or concerns). It's also a good day to make deals since many rooms would rather sell you the gear than pack stuff up and take home that evening. I know some folks scored some barely used room treatments.

Let's spend some time on Wing 2 of the main floor, and then the larger 2nd Floor "Cascades" rooms to finish off. As with last week, all prices are in US dollars unless specified otherwise.

Pacific Audio Fest 2024: Part I. [And expensive speaker cables unanimously turned down in a blind test?! 😕]

This is the third year for the Pacific Audio Fest which first started in 2022, basically after the COVID-19 pandemic reopenings. I think the first 2 years of the show were quite similar in size but this third show is clearly a smaller event with fewer display rooms and less stalls in the Marketplace. Correlated with that, I also noticed fewer headphone set-ups to try out.

To be honest, while I think this probably was disappointing for some, I only had a couple of days to visit anyways so this actually worked out driving into Seattle on Saturday morning, stayed a night, and got home by later afternoon Sunday having felt like I spent enough time in each room, even visiting a few of the rooms a number of times to compare.

So, let's have a peek at some audiophile eye-candy and consider the goods out on display this year. Let's be honest, one of the most important specs whenever doing any shopping is the asking price. Unless specified otherwise, all prices are in USD.

The show ran from September 6-8, 2024 at the SeaTac DoubleTree Hilton which is the same as in previous years. I spent the 7th and 8th "hitting the rooms". Let's go!

AS WE HEAR IT: Moving forward as audiophiles & a plea for higher dynamic range music (to Epica). [Plus highest DR Oasis - Definitely Maybe.]

Well, this weekend is Pacific Audio Fest 2024 and I figure since it's nearby in Seattle and they've decided to make it every 2 years (next in 2026), I'll pop down for a look and listen for a couple days. It's fun staying incognito for the most part as a "more objective" audiophile even if this might not be the prevailing culture at these shows to get a sense of how the megabuck systems perform, what's potentially exciting, and observe the trajectory of the hobby. Given the busyness of work these days, I'll just take my time this year on the show reports with pictures, sharing some thoughts over the next couple weeks.

For this post, it's time for an "As We Hear It" article based on reader E-mails.

I. First Watt Amplifiers & Progressing as Audiophiles

June 26, 2024

Hi Achi:

Your blog took me here (ie. E-mail address) and thanks for all your wonderful work to make the audiophiles' world a better place. Here is my little story.

I have been an audiophile for as long as I can remember. But only recently decided to get serious about the equipment side of things. Thanks to the YouTube channel called Audiophiliac by Steve Guttenberg, I quickly decided to get a pair of Magnepan speakers. That was wonderful, due to planar construction, the transparency and soundstage is amazing. 

Part II: Fosi Audio V3 Mono Amp; Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3255 - Retail box with single 48V/10A power supply and filter. [Power, Distortion, and Subjective Impressions.] And on rejoicing over "Solved Problems" in audio.

Gotta love those Nordost-like flat speaker cables from AliExpress. The 90° locking banana connectors are a bit on the large side however. 😉

As we saw last week in Part I, I started reviewing the Fosi Audio V3 Mono amplifier, early August 2024 retail release, in the form of the stereo with 48V/10A power supply kit. We've already had an extensive look externally and inside the device, seen the benefit of PFFB for load invariance as well as discussed a couple of the issues I ran into (inverted polarity and the ground noise with 2 amps connected to one battery).

This time in Part II, let's proceed deeper into the measurements to explore the amount of power this little amplifier can provide, some details on distortion characteristics, and as usual, ending off with subjective impressions and summary of the product.

Part I: Fosi Audio V3 Mono Amp; Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3255 - Retail box with single 48V/10A power supply and filter. [With initial measurements.]

Over the last few months, I've been hearing a lot about this Fosi Audio Mono V3 (~US$140) amplifier which is typically sold as an individual unit with 48V/5A power supply, or as dual amps with 48V/10A supply, DC filter, and splitter cable (currently ~US$280).

I have already seen a number of reviews and YouTube videos typically with the pre-release product supplied by the company; honestly guys, many of the reviews seem superficial with essentially "Trust me, bro!" opinions rather than presentation of facts. For this review, let me grab the 2 amps + single 48V/10A kit from the Amazon retail pipeline to have a look at the final product. This review is not sponsored by Fosi Audio. With measurements, I believe this would be as bias-free as a review can be.

As you might already be aware, this inexpensive amplifier represents an evolution of their TI TPA3255 Class D "chip amp" product line. The company incorporated community feedback and developed this as a monoblock design (through Kickstarter funding, as usual due diligence needed when participating in crowd-funding) with no volume control so as to optimize resolution, accepts true balanced (XLR/TRS) input, and also incorporates Post-Filter Feedback (PFFB) to lower output impedance (increase damping factor) for load independence.

The company publishes a power rating of 240W into 4Ω, 1% THD; 120W into 8Ω. That should be more than enough for most reasonably efficient speakers of normal load, in normal smallish listening rooms.

Let's take a good look...

SUMMER MUSINGS: What are the most important audio components? Domains / dimensions of the audiophile pursuit.

[Available as audio podcast summary.]

The other day, I came upon another common question we run into within the audiophile forum communities. The thread topic on the Steve Hoffman Forums read: "What is more important? The quality of the source devices or the quality of the amp and speakers?"

Among the pages, in response to the question, there was this one listing items as such:

1 (tie). Source material, i.e. the recording, the mix and master, etc.
1 (tie). Speakers
3. Your hearing
4. Analog source playback device
5. Your room
6. Your mood
7 (tie). Digital source playback device
7 (tie). Amplification

A good list to start with! Let's spend some time in this post thinking more about this, adding more details, and broadening it out. Clearly, this (and variants of this) topic is one of those "classic" big-picture questions that demand a more nuanced and complete take. Specifically, let's make sure to contextualize the response with what I believe are relevant dimensions or domains to include.

2.5Gbps Ethernet in the Sound Room... (D-Link DMS-106XT & GigaPlus S25-0802 2.5G Smart Switch). And a quick peek in the Headphone Bar & Red Cat Records.

On occasion, I get a kick out of reading the audiophile media's review of ethernet switches. These are perhaps some of the most hilarious pseudo-infomercials out there as companies try to justify their highly expensive network switches in the hopes of capturing the interest of the few audiophiles who still somehow do not realize that there's no benefit to these devices (even Paul McGowan agrees, imagine that!).

Feel free to check out the reviews of such things like the Silent Angel Bonn NX Pro Ethernet Switch (asking US$4000!), or filters like the Network Acoustic Muon Pro (asking £1,329.17!). There are also now Chinese companies that make these things for audiophiles - Gustard N18 (US$370 - only 2 ethernet ports + 1 gigabit SFP) and N18 Pro (US$530 - 5 ethernet + 1 gigabit SFP) for example; sure, they're cheaper but that's still quite a bit for what you get which is just a nice looking ethernet switch with integrated power supply and an essentially meaningless 10MHz clock input! (Timing is essential inside the DAC for precise conversion to analog output, not the network switch.)

A few years ago (2020), I talked about the Netgear Nighthawk S8000 as a great choice for a high quality ethernet switch which affords features including port priority. Hey, it's still a great little switch and I see that sometimes there's still stock available on Amazon.  Over the years, I've upgraded my home network beyond 1Gbps (and update here) so I figured let's find faster switches to try out for the sound/media room.

Here are two easily available and not expensive options: the D-Link DMS-106XT (US$200), with 10GbE high-speed port to connect to your main network plus 5 x 2.5GbE ports for downstream devices with user-defined port priority, and the very inexpensive GigaPlus S25-0802 2.5G Smart Switch (US$80), an 8-port 2.5GbE switch with 2 x 10Gbps SFP+ for those who want to use fiber networking, or possibly 10GbE RJ45 multigigabit transceivers (some very inexpensive like this).

Both are fanless - essential for the sound room.

AudioVero Acourate v3.1 - room correction with bass pre-filtering and Inter-Channel Phase Alignment (ICPA).

After writing the post on Audiolense recently, I thought it would be good to have another peek after a few years now at AudioVero's Acourate (€416 non-EU countries); the latest version 3.1 released in June 2024.

For years, Acourate has been the room-correction filter toolbox I've used (at least since 2016, updated 2019, plus discussion on partial correction in 2021). Now that it has been half a decade plus a pandemic (!) since the step-by-step 2019 update, let's look at the latest version which has brought with it changes in the user interface as well as the Inter-Channel Phase Alignment (ICPA) feature released in version 2 which I had not discussed previously.

Before getting started, a big thanks to Mitch Barnett of Accurate Sound for his YouTube video a couple years back using Acourate 2 showing the technique around pre-filtering and ICPA. I've taken inspiration from his video, applying it to my home set-up, and converting those steps into a written blog format for the current Acourate version. If what I'm doing here is not clear, make sure to also check out the video since Mitch might have already covered your questions/issues there.

Let's get started!

SUMMER MUSINGS: Defining "subjective" and "objective" audiophile evaluations.

Hey everyone, I thought I'd make a "quick" post in response to this comment in the recent "SUMMER MUSINGS: On the perils of subjective opinions in High-End Audio (dCS v. GoldenSound)" article:

SY 24 July 2024 at 13:07

Could I beg and plead with you to join me in refusing to misuse the term "subjective" to mean "uncontrolled?" Something can be subjective and absolutely valid and rigorous (e.g., subjective reactions made with basic ears-only controls) or subjective and absolutely invalid (e.g., subjective reactions made with peeking, preconceptions, and non-auditory inputs).

Subjective =/= uncontrolled. So much fuzzy thinking has arisen because of that conflation of terms.

Greetings SY,

Sure! I agree with you that "subjective" (when referring to audio hardware reviews specifically) is simply a reference to the form of evaluation and does not imply whether the evaluation is valid or invalid, nor whether controls were applied or not. Certainly some subjective opinions are clearly valid if the difference is obviously detected by the listener. I trust no audiophile worth his street credibility would have difficulty telling the difference between AM mono and FM stereo sound quality for example and will accurately point to the stereo FM playback being of higher fidelity.

Indeed, subjective reviewers listening under controlled conditions also can produce highly valid reports. I hope I have not confounded that over the years. For clarity, let me expand the position in some (pedantic) detail for those who like reading this stuff. 😉

SUMMER MUSINGS: On the perils of subjective opinions in High-End Audio (dCS v. GoldenSound).

Every once awhile here in audiophile-land we see our share of drama.

There was MoFiGate a couple years back when vinyl collectors panicked about DSD256 data corrupting their precious analog remasters, Tekton (Eric Alexander) v. Erin recently due to legal threats for calling into question a speaker design, we've seen silly hyped Pono/Neil Young claims a decade ago, and of course the painfully prolonged MQA episode which was just a mess (as summarized years ago).

Well, in the last week we have something a bit different; the dCS v. GoldenSound lawsuit threat due to unhappiness about a YouTube DAC review from late 2021. I'm not going to rehash the stuff here because there were clearly many missteps in dCS's communications as explained in GoldenSound's video and here's the dCS response where the company "fully acknowledge that some of the emails shared by GoldenSound were unacceptable and we addressed and acknowledged this in subsequent communications".

I trust they'll figure it out between the various players on the two sides. As with the domestic conflicts of others, I'm not particularly interested in the details as to who said what unless personally involved. Likewise, some of the technical details regarding the external clock, DSD resampling, seem to be side distractions from the concerns around the review; no need to spend time with these minor digressions.

Instead, I was more curious about that original dCS Bartók DAC/headphone amp YouTube review by GoldenSound that came out on December 31, 2021. What was it that made dCS or their representatives so upset? Is there something about the review itself we can/should learn from?

Seating variations, multi-seat correction & multichannel DRC. The audio "sweet spot".

A look at the rear of my room and the sofa seating - surround speakers, LP rack for a little bit of diffusion room treatment. For best practice, it's important to not sit too close to the back wall. I have 3' between the couch and the LP rack, and the rack is about 17" deep before that back wall. 

Before putting the UMIK-1 microphone away after using Audiolense XO as discussed last time, I thought it would be interesting to explore in greater detail what happens with frequency response and time-domain performance as we sit off the "sweet spot" where the measurements were collected and correction calculated for.

In the image above, I've put a meter stick on my listening couch to identify the seating positions 1 and 2-feet to the right and left of that sweet spot so I can take detailed measurements of what happens to the sound coming from the 5 main speakers at those positions with and without DSP turned on.

Multichannel Digital Room Correction with Audiolense XO. And "What's your budget?".

As you might recall from over the years, I strongly believe that one of the most important things one should try as an audiophile seeking high-fidelity - after having a decent sound room, and getting good equipment - is to consider the use of room correction. It could be as simple as frequency-domain EQ correction for larger bumps and dips (as discussed with the Behringer DEQ2496 hardware back in 2013-2014, device measurements here), or the much more sophisticated frequency and time-alignment of filters created by software like AudioVero's Acourate (and 2019 update) capable of much higher resolutions.

The power that one has to optimize and customize the sound runs well beyond most hardware upgrades other than wholesale speaker replacements and changing sound room! The change one can expect with room correction dialed in is astronomical compared to all the snake oil tweaks, cables, hi-res DAC/streamers, even amplifiers you might want to throw at your system.

These days, I've increasingly been converting multichannel content over to my Roon server, typically 5.1 SACDs and DVD-As but also Bluray rips, ideally lossless TrueHD with 7.1 channels. Unfortunately, Roon is currently unable to decode codecs like EAC3-JOC (lossy multichannel/Atmos) or TrueHD (lossless, based on the MLP codec) so the content typically gets transcoded to multichannel FLAC-compressed PCM which can handle up to 7.1.  

Although Acourate can be used for multichannel filter creation, the manual procedure here is unfortunately quite involved and more than most audiophiles would like to get their hands dirty with! Which is why today's post is going to be about multichannel digital room correction using Juice HiFi's Audiolense XO (€390, currently version 6.21). I see that there is the less expensive Audiolense Surround which I suspect could be enough for many users, and if all you need is 2-channel stereo, there's Audiolense 2.0.

MEASUREMENTS: Nordost-like flat silver-plated copper speaker cables. And, comments of a "high-end" cable insider compared with an apologist?

Cables are fun to play with! They look different, there are all kinds of brands available, and for some audiophiles, there's a sense that the sound has been "changed" if not "improved" when trying products at different price points. All without lugging big and heavy speakers or amplifiers around which makes the upgrade easy especially if one believes that the change can be equivalent to such component swaps! Speaker cables in particular would be the most interesting because they carry complex musical signals of potentially high current and voltage for longer lengths. (Digital and power cables are least interesting for me for obvious reasons - here's my summary post of cable measurements over the years.)

I've already talked about a number of different speaker cables in the past; most recently here, here, and here. Notice that morphologically, all of them have been "roundish" cables so I thought it would be fun to try something flat and measure to demonstrate the LCR changes that this kind of design provides.

Looking around AliExpress, I found the cables above - China-made Nordost-like speaker cables - I bought the 2.5m pair with locking gold-plated banana plugs for less than US$100. There are similar products found on Amazon but you'll need to shop around for a good price.

I think the design of these are probably most similar to the Nordost Heimdall 2 cables which currently retail for about US$2,500, 2m pair.

The E1DA Cosmos Stack: ADCiso and 2 APUs. An example of bad multichannel - Neil Young's 'Harvest' on DVD-A (2002), fixed in new Atmos mix.

E1DA Cosmos ADCiso Grade A center.
Cosmos ADC Prototype I've been using over the years to the left.

Readers here probably are aware that over the last few years, I've been using the E1DA line of devices, the Cosmos ADC, APU, and Scaler typically paired with PC-based software like Room EQ Wizard for most of my measurements, especially for the highest fidelity products like DACs. As a hobbyist exploring objective performance, there's obviously no need to spend thousands of dollars on devices like the Audio Precision (here's a peek inside the APx555B top-of-the-line model, around US$30k). Not enough return on investment unless one is doing professional product design and testing.

As usual, over time things evolve around here and since I needed an extra ADC for work-related purposes, I bought one of the newer E1DA Cosmos ADCiso Grade A to replace the prototype that Ivan sent me back in 2021 which I will repurpose elsewhere.

This post is mainly an update and comparison, refer to the original article on the Cosmos ADC for more details.

"High-End" DAC Blind Listening Results - PART III: Subjective Descriptions

In this last part of the "High-End" DAC Blind Listening Survey write-up, (see Part I, Part II) let me document the more qualitative aspects of the responses I received from listeners. These come from the comments section where listeners described what they heard. You'll also get to see in context some of the descriptions of the hardware used in the evaluation.

Comments will be posted verbatim other than removing any identifying information and names unless the person specifically says it's OK. Not all comments are posted, only the ones with a fair amount of subjective experiential content or description of evaluation procedure. It's interesting knowing which city/country some folks are from so I'll leave that information if mentioned.

So as not to neglect those who said they heard no difference (yet I know many spent a good amount of time on the test), let's start with that group of respondents... I'll add some comments/responses along the way.

"High-End" DAC Blind Listening Results - PART II: Results & Analyses

I imagine that the banner graphic above must be so bizarre for some audiophiles! How is it even possible that the audio output from something cheap like the Apple USB-C headphone dongle could be mistaken for the way more expensive Linn digital streamer devices that cost orders of magnitude more?!

Well, of course we can! And if we are to honestly appreciate the difference in sound output between the very cheap and very expensive (we can buy a lot of other stuff, services, and experiences for US$20,000!), IMO, as audiophiles, we must open our minds to such comparisons. The hi-fi audiophile pursuit is not a cult; everything is up for empirical examination regardless of company, price tag, or which heroic personality is attached to said product.

Last week in Part I, I unveiled the identity and discussed those DAC/streamer devices. Let's proceed today with looking at the data from the recent 2024 "High-End" DAC Blind Listening Survey which collected listener impressions for 6 weeks; plenty of time I trust for those motivated to download, listen, and offer their subjective opinions.

As usual, let's go through the data broadly and then let's see if the results can provide some answers for specific questions around audibility, preferences, and listener subgroups. I'll group these questions and evaluations into a number of Sections.

Grab your favorite beverage, have a seat, this is a pretty long one... 🙂

"High-End" DAC Blind Listening Results - PART I: Devices Unveiled!

The time has come friends. Over the last 6 weeks, I've been collecting the data from the 2024 "High-End" DAC Blind Listening Survey. The procedure I think is already well described in that test invite post so I won't spend time here recapping that. Thanks for everyone who participated in the blind listening!

As with many blind listening tests, unless it's literally obvious, I know it's not easy to flip back and forth and it's very common after a few A/B/C switches to second-guess oneself! I certainly appreciate the time that participants spent downloading the >500MB file, getting it onto your listening devices, and the listening itself.

For this post, let's talk about the test, some rationale, and let me unveil the 3 DACs that were used.

NYC Explorations: Audio46, Stereo Exchange, and dwindling audiophile stores.

New York - after the rain.

Hey everyone, it's nice to be back home on the West Coast after the trip to NYC. May is a great time to visit so long as one catches some nice weather! At least it's not too hot yet. I'm sure if it were not for the COVID pandemic, I would have visited much sooner; the last time was back at the end of 2015.

Let's see, as we await the final results to come in for the "High-End DAC Blind Listening Survey" (closes on May 15, 2024), this week let's show a few pictures from New York, and see if I had any luck finding some good audio to listen to 🙂.

MUSINGS: On Hardware Audiophilia and Wine Tasting.

Across the years of audiophile discussions, we sometimes will see parallels drawn between the world of the oenophile (wine connoisseur) and hardware audiophile. While both pursuits involve a strong subjective component since the ultimate intent is enjoyment, there are also clearly differences when we take the time to compare them. I actually don't think many of the heated debates among audiophiles have meaningful analogues within the wine-tasting world.

Recently, in this thread on Steve Hoffman Forum about "snake oil", J-Flo made a nice comment on this; let's have a look at his post and I'll add my observations and thoughts with some opportunity to expand upon the ideas.

As We Hear It: Audiophile cable truths, claims, and reviewer age. Multichannel "madness"?

Hey everyone, this week let's have a look at a recent E-mail I received and think about the "classic" audiophile topic of contention over the decades - cables!

It has been awhile since I've talked about cables (I've published a number of cable measurements over the years, links collected here). It's not much fun talking about cables these days because after awhile I think most of us have tried enough cables and honestly just realized the truth that it really doesn't matter what the salespeople claim. There are better things to do like just sitting back and enjoying the music than obsessing over what essentially are minutiae with less potential effects* than hi-res audio recordings (which itself is usually questionable).

[* Unless of course the cable intentionally acts as a filter like some of the MIT cables - as per their patent.]

Here's an E-mail I received from reader JW Haus in March in response to a magazine article in Stereophile:

Detailed THD(+N) vs. Output Level Measurements of ESS ES9039Q2M. Balanced output quality from Hidizs AP80 PRO-X DAP. And Tekton's self-inflicted PR disaster.

Hey everyone, I wanted to post a follow-up of sorts to a couple of previous articles. First, the article "Hi-Res THD(+N) vs. Output Level Measurements (ESS "HyperStream" vs. AKM vs. TI/Burr-Brown). And a bonus R-2R!" was published back in the summer of 2022 showing an interesting sinusoidal pattern in the harmonic distortions with ESS DACs.

Since then, with the release of their newest ES9039 DACs which employ their latest "HyperStream IV" modulator, I thought it'd be cool to have another look...

Another follow-up is a look at the 2.5mm balanced output from the Hidizs AP80 PRO-X Music Player which was measured last year. At that time I didn't do the balanced output measurements so let's capture a few metrics and compare this with the single-ended 3.5mm output.

We can then end off with some audiophile social commentary from this week's drama.

2024 "High-End" DAC Blind Listening Survey!

*Surprise!* It's time for another listening survey.

I like doing these once awhile because it's an opportunity for audiophiles to actually listen for differences between devices, resolutions, or even things like filter settings for themselves as opposed to hanging on to the testimonies of others whether in text or expressed in videos. We can argue all day long about whether THD+N of -120dB is better than -85dB, or if a US$20,000 DAC sounds better than a US$500 one; what matters ultimately is in the listening.

[I agree with Taylor Christensen in his excellent article on "subjectivisms" that what we need more of these days is audibility data to address the category of "scientific subjectivism"; not just opinions or measurements.]

This time, I'll be using recordings of the AMPT Test Track from 3 different DACs for you to listen to. These were created based on my standard procedure of recording and processing described in the link. The only difference is that I'll be using the 24-bit version of the AMPT for this survey to maximize higher resolution dynamic range potential from the DACs.

As a blind survey, I will not tell you which DACs these are to minimize bias. What I can say for now is that these are not devices from Chinese brands although anything can be "Made in China" these days (ie. these are not Topping, SMSL, Sabaj, Shanling, Matrix, Gustard, etc.). Some of these devices can be considered "aspirational" DACs or streamers in that the MSRP of the device could be out of reach to many, even priced "ridiculously" high.

Perhaps this fact might encourage you to listen for yourself: the difference between the least expensive and most expensive device is >100 times!

Expensive Audio & Medical Quackery: Mark Levinson promoting Daniel Hertz "C Wave Technology". And the Maria amps. [Including company response.]

[Available as audio podcast summary.]

While perusing news updates the other day over Spring Break on my Google news feed, there was a suggestion to check out this YouTube video of an interview with Mark Levinson; apparently Levinson had something to say about "Let's Fix PCM Audio".

Clearly, this should be a fascinatingly insightful video, right? After all, we have one of the most well-known names in the high-end audio industry, and who doesn't want PCM "fixed" if indeed there is something to be done to improve the experience from decades worth of music!

Boy, was I disappointed by this "iconic" name in the audiophile world... Anyhow, grab a drink, have a seat. Let's talk about the many interconnections between technology, health, consumer psychology, and truth-in-advertising with this name and company.

EARLY LOOK (Part II): E1DA #9039S USB Balanced DAC dongle/headphone amp - DSD and performance under load. A few more words on the "need" for higher DAC fidelity!

Last week, I published Part I of the review/measurements on the upcoming E1DA #9039S USB dongle DAC/headphone amplifier. Already, we've seen that this ESS ES9039Q2M-based balanced DAC produces very clean, high-resolution sound.

As we continue, let's delve deeper into the performance of this little device. We'll have a look at some features like DSD performance and more importantly, let's examine the balanced amplifier output when subjected to headphone-like loads to see how well it performs.

EARLY LOOK (Part I): E1DA #9039S USB Balanced DAC/headphone amp - Super Hi-Res, Tiny Package! Also, let's tweak...

Hey everyone, it's time to have another look at a product from the engineering workshop of Ivan Khlyupin (IVX) at E1DA - the E1DA #9039S:

Notice balanced 2.5mm TRRS phono output.

As you can see, it's a prototype/preproduction (depending on whether the circuit could still change) unit with pen markings on the box for the number "9" to make sure the correct product was sent my way. 🙂

This is the latest iteration of E1DA's line of USB2.0 dongle DACs which includes the E1DA #9038D6K I had a look/listen to in late 2022. As you likely surmised, this update is based on the next generation of ESS Sabre DACs - the low-power, 2-channel, ES9039Q2M, using their sigma-delta Hyperstream IV modulator. The chip specifications list 130dB of dynamic range, -126dB THD and -120dB THD+N. We'll see in a little bit what Ivan has been able to "cook up" in his lab including some performance results. Back in 2022 with the #9038D6K DAC, he had already achieved -120dB THD+N (120dB SINAD) with single-ended output. How much better does it get!?*

As I sometimes do, due to time limitations, I'll split this write-up into 2 portions to present different roles/functions of the device. For today's Part I, let's just focus on the usual look-and-feel as well as using this device as a straight, unloaded balanced DAC. This will give us an idea of the performance capabilities of the ES9039Q2M in the hands of an experienced engineer. Next time we'll examine this device as a headphone amp.

The current anticipated price for this USB DAC/amp is presumably going to be less than US$150; I believe the exact number is still being crunched.

[* Asking how much better in terms of THD+N is of course a different question from "How much resolution does a person need for excellent high-fidelity reproduction?"!]