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).