Geek with Family

I’ve been on the lookout for an affordable HDMI switcher in anticipation of an additional HTPC and next gen console (hopefully the Xbox 360 will have HDMI by this spring). Monoprice has a good assortment of HDMI switchers, and I’ve had my eye on their 5X1 Enhanced HDMI Switch, but it has been sold out for weeks (looks like they have them back in stock today). The switcher only costs $88.73 (with an “original value” of $299), so it’s a very attractive option. An AVS Forum member posted this thorough review and found no problems (like sparkling) all the way up to 1080p.

Yesterday, I read the BetterCables Display Magic 5×1 HDMI Switcher ($350) review on Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. The reviewer, Kris Deering, found no fault with the switcher, comparing it in quality to the rest of BetterCables’ product offerings (high). He concludes:

BetterCables has always offered outstanding performance and quality in their products regardless of price point. The Display Magic 5.1 HDMI switcher continues that tradition. Regardless of the source I had connected to it, the unit passed the entire signal and didn’t tamper with it in any way. That is all you can ask of an A/V switcher. The flexibility this adds to a setup that is limited in HDMI switching is immeasurable. This product gets my highest recommendation.

Continue reading HDMI Twins: Is BetterCables Selling an $89 HDMI Switcher for $350?

Popularity: 15% [?]

Captain Jack Harkness: “No idea. We know how to use it, not how it happened…” Torchwood SE1E1.

With so many consumer electronic buying choices it only makes fiscal sense to understand how and why your CD player, processor or amplifier works. All the way from the discrete electronic components (you know Black Gate capacitors are better than Radio Shack’s, right?) to the complicated recipe made up of multiple circuits. I want to understand audio electronic engineering enough to design and build my own DIY projects and gain the ability to detect bull-crank claims in manufacturer white papers and hi-fi press reviews.

Building the CMOY mint tin headphone amp (unfortunately, I’ve only cut the proto board in half and soldered the jumpers in place) got me curious about the inner workings of all my gear. With the CMOY I can follow the instructions and hopefully get good audio out of it without electrocuting myself, but I want to understand more than the beginner instructions and know how to improve the input, output and power supply circuits. So I bought some books.

Continue reading My Quest for How Audiophile Electronics Work

Popularity: 13% [?]

I miss HDTV.

Last year I gave up my HD satellite STB as part of a household cost cutting plan. I only had the box downstairs on the big screen and never watched it for two reasons: warming up my projector and turning on my whole home theater system didn’t fit with my desire for instant TV gratification and the STB had no time shifting/PVR facilities (essential to any TV viewer but more so if you have kids that don’t appreciate midwest prime time).

Recently, I caught a glimpse of HDTV and thought, “Wow, that looks really good, much better than my upscaled DVD video, I should really finally build an HTPC.”

Before dropping any money into video cards and large hard drives I wanted to assess my current HTPC (home theater personal computer) capabilities:

Continue reading Why I Need an HDTV Capable HTPC

Popularity: 20% [?]

Stereophile magazine has infected me with upgraditis (luckily my empty wallet’s immune system is strong). In the last two issues they’ve reviewed Vandersteen Audio’s new 2ce Signature II loudspeaker and Slim Devices’ Transporter. For under $4000, I could take my system to the next logical level. Both these components, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the audio chain, could replace my Airport Express wireless transport and Vandersteen 1c loudspeakers respectively without any regrets.

What you need to know from each review:

Continue reading The New End-to-End - Slim Devices Transporter to Vandersteen 2ce Signature II

Popularity: 11% [?]

Paul Miller, founder of Miller Audio Research and lead consumer electronic measurement pornographer, asks what mysterious scientific measurements are missing that can better define sonic differences between audio electronics in the February Hi-Fi News. He cites the discovery of a method to measure jitter in the mid-nineties as the last new measurement technique. He also suggests that the more measurable a device’s performance the more it can be improved upon. Since jitter’s rise manufacturers of digital components have strived to reduce its ill effects.

So what’s left to measure that will better define a careful listener’s subjective impressions of a new wifi audio player, amp or loudspeakers? Synergy.

What if we figured out how to measure a whole audio system chain at once? How it might work (I have no idea if this follows any kind of scientific method, just my best guess):

• Establish baseline measurements for all individual components: Gather all the same measurements for your source, amplification and speakers as you would now with sine waves and pulses
• Use baseline high bit digital recordings that are viewed both as waveforms and spectrally
• Play both test tones and test songs through the whole system
• Use some really fancy math to compare the system measurements to those of the individual components and derive scores based on error values or 3D spectral comparisons
• Somehow present the results in layman’s terms

So go forth and measure system synergy. Remember, high end audio can only achieve new sonic heights if we set new unattainable goals.

By the way Mr. Miller mentions that everybody’s favorite new AV cable, HDMI, has terrible jitter performance. He doesn’t say how bad but I’m sure there’s a white paper with titillating charts and graphs available on his site or elsewhere.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Hi-Fi News’ Russ Andrews has a system set up column, “Russ’ Top Tips,” where he has suggested that music listeners should place their equipment rack in between the left and right loudspeakers. Many readers wrote in not liking the idea and Mr. Andrews defends the placement in his latest column (at least the issue available in the US, Feb. 2007, page 98, maybe the UK is a month ahead).

According to Andrews, you need to place your equipment rack dead center and maybe a little nearer the front wall of the front loudspeakers (at least behind the front baffles to avoid imaging interference) because that is the quietest and most in time place in the room when music is playing. Huh? I’m not sure how the spot between the speakers is the quietest (though we could all easily check with an SPL meter), but lets take his word for it. What I have a problem with is his reasoning behind the “quiet” spot: all of your equipment’s internal components (diodes, caps, etc.) are microphonic, meaning they are reabsorbing the sound waves out of time and this is distorting the music. Isn’t that called feedback? Shouldn’t we all be dealing with shrill whines from our loudspeakers that change depending on placement?

Continue reading Russ Andrews Microphonic Equipment Placement and Time Smear

Popularity: 9% [?]

The latest Parallels Desktop build (3150) was released this week and it finally has a virtual CD drive that Exact Audio Copy (EAC) recognizes. With previous versions, I always got stuck trying to test the CD drive in EAC’s setup wizard. Now I just need to find some advanced EAC tutorials and I can start ripping better than perfect digital copies of my favorite (or for more fun, worst sounding) CDs into lossless formats (Apple Lossless for me).

After I’ve ripped a few CDs I may also check out Foobar’s Windows playback and find out if it really makes a difference over a Mac OS iTunes, as suggested by Empirical Audio.

Happy Exact Audio Copying Parallels users.

Popularity: 22% [?]

AudioXpress, the only DIY audio hobbyist print mag, recently published a great how to article about transferring your LPs to DVD audio (though not necessarily DVD-A). Transferring LPs to DVDs in High Resolution by Victor Skaggs (PDF download) is the most detailed LP digitizing article I’ve encountered (Hi-Fi News recently published another how to, but stopped a CD quality audio). As a bonus Mr. Skaggs does all his digitizing on a Mac using affordable software and hardware (with many low and high end alternatives). He’s so into digitizing LPs to high resolution audio that he’s discovered hidden features in Roxio Toast and had features added to Toast (music-only DVD authoring) and ClickRepair (96 kHz file support). I wish I had as much ambition and input with my software tools.

Since my successes with ripping CDs to lossless audio files (with MAX) and listening through my low jitter Airport Express, I’ve wanted to compare a high resolution LP to digital transfer to the digital CD originals. By Victor Skaggs’ comments, I’d have to think the transferred LP would win followed by lossless audio and CD last.

When I get a free weekend I’ll pop open my Rogue preamp, flip the second outputs to fixed and hook it up to my MacBook Pro. Following the AudioXpress article, I’ll record Shellac’s At Action Park, clean it up and burn a 96/24 DVD (or 192/24 DVD-A if I can figure that out). Watch out for the head-to-head test.

(via Macintouch)

Popularity: 22% [?]

“These shouldn’t exist,” the Doctor.

With materials sourced exclusively from Cardiff, Wales’ Torchwood Institute regulated time and space Rift, Torchwood Cables will enhance your audiophile listening experience with unknown alien technology from many possible futures. The 21st century is when everything changes [in your home audio kit].

Every cable purchase includes a free bottle of “auditory enhancement” pills, Amnesiaphor (side effects may include sudden drowsiness and selective forgetfulness that in no way degrade your audiophile experience or turn you into a psychopathic murdererous pawn of a formerly deceased Torchwood agent). A satisfied customer, “It’s weird, my stereo’s never sounded better and I have no idea why. What? Are you sure? When did I get new interconnects? Oh God, I remember… I remember, Jack.”

Torchwood’s leader, Captain Jack Harkness, explains the peculiarity of the various cables’ construction, “A few months ago we were cleaning up the last of Cardiff’s Cyberman scrap and Gwen dropped an earpiece into this alien liquid/solid sphere Tosh had on her desk. There was an electric blue flash and then nothing. The Cyberman part was suspended in the middle of the liquid and when Gwen took a closer look and breathed on the thing, an audio interconnect slithered out. The alien runes on the jacket glowed and then faded. We’ve tested the conductor and termination plugs and they are definately Cyberman alloy. I don’t like it, but everyone else thinks it’s safe, especially Iantu.”

Torchwood interconnect’s jacket runes glow a calming blue when fed an audio signal keeping a constant charge on the alien dielectric (we haven’t identified the material yet but it measures better than air). The Cyberman alloy’s sonic signature is completely neutral, with no resistance and conductivity that’s off the charts.

Don’t ask what the third cable is for, you’re not ready to know.

Torchwood Institute’s doctor, Owen Harper: “I know many of you feel I don’t take AV kit seriously because I’ve got my plasma set on top of the cardboard box it shipped in, but since I’ve rewired my stereo with these cables, I’ve been listening at home more and shooting my fellow Torchwood agents less.”

Torchwood cables are only available in the U.K. Watch out for them at your local hi-fi shop.

Popularity: 8% [?]

A friend tipped me off to this amazing music room built into a barn or guest house. Follow the link for loads of pics of five-figure turntables, loudspeakers, tube amps, CD players and cables. This guy has really bought into the “cables and isolation accessories make a difference” with interconnects and speaker cables that resemble vacuum cleaners, ceramic cable lifters (I guess DIY cable lifter kegger cups wouldn’t blend well with surrounding décor) and tank-like turntable isolation rack sitting on top of a granite tile (which I assume must be twice as thick as normal granite judging by the overbuilt quality of the rest of the room).

As impressive as the audio system components is the acoustic construction of the room, all built-in scalloped acoustic chambers on the walls and ceiling. I love the floor to high ceiling LP and CD storage that he needs those elementary school library rolling step stools to reach the highest shelf.

Too bad he’s not listening to phase and time coherent loudspeakers. All that money spent on massaging the perfect signal through four carat phono cartridges, preamps, amps and cables only to have the listening experience mangled by the loudspeaker. Heh, if you can hear the difference (I would hope this system to be punishingly revealing).

What a Fortress of Solitude (Auditude?). What’s this guy escaping from? (Not to judge, I’m just overcome with envy.)

Popularity: 13% [?]