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I am suspicious of ALL reviews, paid for or otherwise. Whether it's done for money or ego, they have an agenda. I apply this to restaurants, cars, HiFi, books or anything that has a review. The only thing for me are the measurements, or other verifiable facts, not opinions. Consequently, buying...

If the amplifier is measured with different loads, that also tests the current capability. The Powercube will also test different phase angles of the load, so suitable tests do exist and are used. S

You can believe that if you want. I prefer to believe my measurements which show no such thing. If the power supply behaves as you describe, it's clearly inadequate. Once there is enough capacitance to hold sufficient charge to provide its rated output into rated loads, then everything else is...

It's electronics, not magic. If we're measuring linearity of the transfer function, then a single tone is fine. Using two tones is just another way of assessing linearity, as there is a mathematical relationship between harmonic and intermodulation distortion. If you have an amplifier where a...

Music doesn't do that either. A music signal can only ever have one voltage value at any one instant in time. It doesn't matter how many tones it is made up of, at any one instant there is only one value of voltage. A sinusoidal 1kHz signal that swings both positive and negative will exercise...

You know, every time I read that a loudspeaker is 'bland' or 'boring', I find I like them. To me, bland and boring is neutral and uncoloured. As our transatlantic friends say, YMMV! S

Don't know the P3, so really can't comment. I did read the P3ESR review in Stereophile, and the response looked OK, except for the oddity around 4-5kHz. I really can't get enthused over small passive 'speakers, especially expensive ones, when there are plenty of active 'speakers, from Kali to...

The KEF 101 was a superb little 'speaker, much better than the LS3/5a for mid & HF smoothness in frequency response. Neither 'speaker has much bass, but I agree that the KEF bass was more satisfying. The Jim Rogers JR149 is another 'speaker with the same drivers as the LS3/5a, yet manages a...

One of the finest culinary experiences I ever had was in Paris. There was a cheese shop in the Rue d'Amsterdam (Androuets) that must have had some 300 cheeses on sale. Above, they had a restaurant where every dish was cheese-based. Managed to get there twice, and had the most wonderful meals...

Just about to sit down to lunch with three favourite cheeses:- Cote Hill Blue from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Baron Bigod from Bungay, Suffolk Mrs Temple's Binham Blue from Wells Next The Sea, Norfolk If I had to, I suppose I could give up meat, but would find it impossible to give up cheese. S.

In the UK, I can completely recommend Expert Stylus. They have retipped three of my cartridges, an EMT, an Ortofon and an AT. Excellent service at a sensible price. I had a terrible experience with another cartridge refurbisher who ruined my EMT, and it had to go back to the factory for them to...

Not tried optical, but regularly use a 15m length of ordinary cheap coax for S-PDIF without any problems. It may be that the cable happens to be around 75 ohms impedance, but it was bought just as a stereo extension cable. Digital audio is incredibly rugged, far more than the audiophile...

The way I rate amplifiers is to feed the amplifier 1kHz into a dummy load of the rated impedance, usually 8 or 4 ohms, sometimes as low as 2 ohms. I then increase the input volts until the output, as seen on a 'scope shows clipping. I then go back and forth a little with input level to find the...

I don't know about the others, but Spotify downloads can only be played in the Spotify App, so that only works for as long as one has a subscription. In the Free version, one can only download Podcasts, not music. I don't know what happens to one's downloads if one drops from the paid tier to...

Unless the recording is 'documentary', i.e. replicating a live performance, then I think anything goes. Many classical music recordings are of the 'documentary' types, in which case a simple microphone arrangement I think works best. However, for most Pop/Rock etc recordings, there's no...

That's it, I think. Amplifiers, whether pre, power or integrated won't have an audible difference unless either broken, or deliberately designed that way. In that case, they're not amplifiers, just effects boxes. S.

Really? Do you have any references for this, as I've never heard that polarity is audible on normal programme material. Indeed my own blind tests haven't shown any such audibility. S.

I ripped my entire CD collection (just over 2000), which I have backed up locally and a second backup I keep off-site. I also have some 300 albums in my Spotify library, which I use for albums I might want to play once or twice, but not anything I would be upset by if they went away. Anything on...

I disagree. The jack is a fine connector. It allows convenient connect and disconnect, without locking, but is held in sufficiently tightly to stand reasonable cable movement. It is reasonably well balanced that it doesn't cause any great reduction in common-mode rejection, it is sufficiently...

Remembering the LPs I played a lot at that time ( which I still play!) :- Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets and DSOTM Hendrix - Are you Experienced Simon & Garfunkel - any Moody Blues - any Cream - Fresh Cream and Disraeli Gears Blind Faith John Mayall - Beano album Sweet memories. S