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The prevailing fear at that time was that a perfect (i.e. digital) world would not require the endless circular debate so beloved of the hi-fi press. Prescient to a fault.

Back in the day when analogue consoles were the norm (and, even now, if analogue consoles are used for reasons of fashion) chances are that the signal has passed through, literally, dozens of NE5534 devices before it even leaves the studio.

It is important that understanding the purpose and use of the panpot not be oversimplified. It has already been pointed out that, after all the appropriate sums are done, the important message is that an amplitude difference between the speakers translates into a time difference between the...

I would suggest that there's less audiophile-mysticism than you imply above. Reverb is, usually, quite a low-level phenomenon. Another characteristic of reverb is that, if heard in isolation, it is usually highly "stereophonic". W-I-D-E, you might say. It therefore follows that if you use a...

It is, in fact, the revelation of a bit more low level detail, a function of the typical transfer characteristic of most tube kit. The trouble is that once you start over-using the power of this kind of processing, it looses its value. Modern recording doesn't appreciate the value of using...

I'm not convinced that any of the usual simplistic explanations (typically one or more of Class A / crossover characteristics / lots of even-order harmonics etc. etc.) apply here. Here is my theory, in a post from aeons ago that, IMHO, explains why tube sound is so revered by some.

Right, the crucial step to get it working (for me) appears to have been that step 8 should actually be carried out immediately following step 7*, at which point the display lights up and the operation completes within a few seconds. * rather than waiting [ad infinitum] for "Detecting the target...

I see no PDF, only a couple of JPGs -- is this what you are referring to? Anyway, nothing so far. Using the upper port and supplied cable; CH340 (COM3) shows up as expected although, if you follow the instructions, the unit should remain switched off. In my case the above device manager entry...

Has anyone (probably with a working knowledge of the Chinese language) installed the firmware update successfully? I run the supplied software (having set it to the appropriate COM port) and, following step 7, nothing further happens… well at least it doesn't brick the unit! Any further...

I believe that the EU rule is that "made in xxx" refers to the location of the final major manufacture / assembly. But like many EU rules, there are a great many complicated interpretations so don't sue me o_O

To do so is, in most domestic cases, entirely pointless if the use of asynchronous USB is possible. This is the gold standard of domestic digital playback via a DAC. Normally, the best approach for a DAC designer is to make the clock source as electrically and physically close ("tightly...

I have probably spent a third of my life in studios, about half of that in all-digital environments and have never encountered I²S outside a development lab. Which, of course, makes it ideal for selling to audiophile suckers. AES (with external lock to a master clock source) is the de facto...

Has London water changed that much in the last ten years? Pride & ESB certainly have.

Sadly, I no longer believe this is so. Over the past few years, both London Pride & ESB have lost something of their magic; the 'fruity' flavour is considerably diminished. I have reason to believe that this is largely down to something about the yeast having changed, but neither my palate nor...

If you looking for, say, 1 revolution of delay at 33rpm, you need about 1" delay, give or take. Running at 15ips, that's a lot of extra tape to manage on your deck plate. The last generation of tape transports went to some extraordinary lengths to minimize the problem of scrape-flutter, a...

It ain't necessarily so… and it isn't nearly that simple. Sometimes, the record company (i.e. the A&R department funding the production) will demand a certain loudness (”I want it louder than…”). Sometimes they will use a particular recording/mastering engineer because of that individual's...

Did you perform one of the most simple and, I would argue, useful tests of all? Listening to a (preferably familiar) male voice speaking, recorded on a (preferably omnidirectional) microphone in a decent room and reproduced at a realistic level? Such tests can be uncannily revealing when...

Just for the sake of accuracy, it's not a case of the PLL being on or off. It's usually a matter of altering the damping within the loop. It's a compromise, at one extreme, between – i) low damping causing the DAC to remain locked to every little twitch in the incoming stream, but allowing...

This all points to the optical output from your TV being sub-standard. How long is the cable run between TV and DAC? Are you certain the TV is producing a clean optical stream? Many TVs do not, and there is little that can be done other than replace the TV. I have a 4.5m optical run between TV...

Having looked at the video in question, the ¼" tape (on the Studer C37) was running at 15ips, not 7½ips. The latter would have been considered acceptable only for office listening copies.