SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast

In this week’s first segment (2:26 to 22:02), Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger talk about the former’s experiences at CES 2023, and reminisce about what the show used to be, both in terms of hi-fi and as an overall barometer of the state of the consumer-electronics market.
Next up (22:44 to 45:57), they return to the Harman target curve well yet again to talk about a new video from The Headphone Show, which discusses their move away from the Harman curve as a result of their adoption of the B&K 5128 head and torso simulator.
Finally (46:48 to 58:57), they wrap up this week’s episode with a bit of a retrospective and a look toward the future.
Sources:
"Best audio tech at CES 2023" by Hamish Hector: https://www.techradar.com/news/best-audio-tech-at-ces-2023-next-gen-soundbars-headphones-and-earbuds
"Say goodbye to the Harman target" by The Headphone Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut5WeqH0vcs
"New Headphone Measurement Target FAQ" by The Headphone Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-mcdEW66jc
"Introducing the newest SoundGuy: The Bruel & Kjaer 5128" by AJ Wykes: https://www.soundguys.com/introducing-the-newest-soundguy-the-bruel-kjaer-5128-45973/
“A Fond Farewell” by Brent Butterworth: https://soundstagesolo.com/index.php/features/366-a-fond-farewell

This week, hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger kick off the discussion by digging into SoundStage!’s year-end coverage (3:17  to 26:06). In addition to discussing their favorite products of the year, they also talk about three people who deserve recognition for significant contributions to audio reproduction.
Next up (27:03 to 45:43), they dig into a piece from Stereophile about the ways in which audio distribution is changing, especially at the higher end. That leads right into a conversation (46:27 to 1:01:40) about JBL hitting an important milestone in the headphone market, and what implications that may or may not have for the validity of the Harman curve. 
Sources:
"The 2022 SoundStage! Network Awards for Outstanding Achievement and Products of the Year" by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1747-the-2022-soundstage-network-awards-for-outstanding-achievement-and-products-of-the-year
"Henry Kloss, Dead at 72" by David Lander: https://www.stereophile.com/news/11260/index.html
"Sivga SV023 Headphones Offer Outstanding Performance & Value for $450 - Take 2 Headphones" by Mike Perez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUaDnqOEg6w
"Re-Tales #27: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in the hi-fi industry" by Julie Mullins: https://www.stereophile.com/content/re-tales-27-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes-hi-fi-industry
"JBL Hits 200 Million Headphones Milestone": https://news.harman.com/releases/jbl-hits-200-million-headphones-milestone

This week, hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger start by taking a look at The Absolute Sound’s coverage of the Taiko Audio Extreme music server and evaluate some claims made by the manufacturer and reviewer alike (4:48 to 20:43). Does a glorified hard drive really need 700,000µF of capacitance? And should your music server really serve double duty as a space heater?
Next up (21:43 to 43:40), they check out a recent video by YouTuber Cheapaudioman in which he blind-tested a mid-level power cable and compared its performance to a stock cable with the same model of amp. More importantly, they dig into the comments section, which is surprisingly constructive.
Wrapping things up this week (44:23 to 56:28), Brent and Dennis skim the surface of a new article by Joseph Taylor on SoundStage! Xperience titled “XTC, Curated,” and also discuss other entries in the series, which dig deep into the history and output of a variety of musical artists. 
Sources:
“2022 Golden Ear: Taiko Audio Extreme Music Server” by Matthew Clott: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2022-golden-ear-taiko-audio-extreme-music-server/
"The Art of Electronics, 3rd Edition" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill: https://amzn.to/3Pmno96
"Do Power Cables Make a Difference? The Results Surprised Me - Blind Testing the Audioquest NRG-Z3" by Cheapaudioman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1aKrc3A6E
“XTC, Curated” by Joseph Taylor: https://www.soundstagexperience.com/index.php/features-menu/curator/1087-xtc-curated
“Curator” category page on SoundStage! Xperience: https://www.soundstagexperience.com/index.php/features-menu/curator

This week, hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger visit the Audio Science Review forums to shine a spotlight on an overlooked comment by Dr. Sean Olive. The topic? Who should and shouldn’t be included in listening panels and whether a university janitor’s opinions about good sound are as valid as those of your average AES member (4:28 to 21:25). 
Next up (22:25 to 39:08), they opine about something of a unicorn: an article about audiophilia in a completely mainstream publication. In this case, it’s a piece by Sasha Frere-Jones in the latest issue of Harper’s titled "Corner Club Cathedral Cocoon.”
In this week’s final segment (39:52 to 57:34), Brent and Dennis watch a new episode of SoundStage! Real Hi-Fi, in which founder Doug Schneider discusses what skateboarding and hi-fi have in common, and why the resurgence of popularity of the former is good for the latter. 
Sources:
"Headphones and the Harman target curve" on Audio Science Review: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/headphones-and-the-harman-target-curve.17914/page-18&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#post-1381960
"Where Are We At With The Harman Curve?" by Brent Butterworth: https://www.soundstagesolo.com/index.php/features/217-where-are-we-at-with-the-harman-curve
"The Relationship between Perception and Measurement of Headphone Sound Quality" by Sean Olive: https://seanolive.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-relationship-between-perception-and.html
"Corner Club Cathedral Cocoon” by Sasha Frere-Jones: https://harpers.org/archive/2022/12/corner-club-cathedral-cocoon-audiophilia-and-its-discontents/
“View of the World from 9th Avenue: by Saul Steinberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Avenue
“Hi-Fi Will Never Die, Because Skateboarding Didn't - SoundStage! Real Hi-Fi (Ep:48)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksUDpzu8gHA
“Rubik’s Cube: A Craze Ends” in The New York Times Archives: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/30/business/rubik-s-cube-a-craze-ends.html
"Rubik’s Cube And Spin Master: A $50 Million Deal With Endless Possibilities" by Joan Verdon: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2020/11/15/rubiks-cube-and-spin-master-a-50-million-deal-with-endless-possibilities/

This week, hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger are joined by their old friend Steve Guttenberg—aka ”The Audiophiliac”—to discuss his recent interview with Professor Edgar Choueiri, the man behind the BACCH-SP Stereo Purifier (4:00 to 20:15). 
Steve was also kind enough to stick around for the second segment (20:54 to 46:15) to discuss Dolby Atmos for music and movies alike, as well as some particularly disastrous surround sound mixes from the DVD-A/SACD era. 
Wrapping things up this week (46:50 to 1:06:27), Brent and Dennis dig into two speaker-system reviews from Gordon Brockhouse on SoundStage! Simplifi: the new SVS Prime Wireless Pro, as well as the Totem Acoustic Kin Play Tower. Despite being superficially similar, in that they’re both speakers with their own internal amplification, these are actually two quite different products likely to appeal to two very different consumers.
Sources:
"Professor Choueiri perfected SPATIAL (3D) AUDIO!" by Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ484SKyOAc
"SVS Prime Wireless Pro Active Loudspeaker System" by Gordon Brockhouse: https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/217-svs-prime-wireless-pro-active-loudspeaker-system
“Totem Acoustic Kin Play Tower Powered Loudspeaker System” by Gordon Brockhouse: https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/216-totem-acoustic-kin-play-tower-powered-loudspeaker-system

In this week’s first segment (3:54 to 26:09), hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger dig into a review of the Lavardin ITx20 amp and discuss the manufacturer’s claims about “memory distortion” and how its circuitry eliminates that. This leads to a larger discussion about another big bugbear in the audio industry: the time domain.
Next (27:03 to 41:30) they unpack the news that Spotify is supposedly introducing a new $20 Platinum pricing tier that adds lossless hi-fi audio, as well as some other new features that are ill-defined as of yet. Will listeners be willing to pay $20 a month for CD-quality music, or is Spotify hoping the other doodads are the biggest draw?
In this week’s final segment (42:21 to 55:17), Brent and Dennis continue a time-honored tradition of vicariously visiting an audio show by way of SoundStage! Global’s coverage thereof. This time around, it’s Audio Video Show 2022, which was held in Warsaw, Poland. 
Sources:
"Lavardin ITx20 Review" by Alan Sircom: https://hifiplus.com/articles/lavardin-itx20-integrated-amplifier/
“The Most Important Algorithm Of All Time” by Veritasium: https://youtu.be/nmgFG7PUHfo
"Spotify could be readying a hi-res audio Platinum plan" by David Nield: https://www.techradar.com/news/spotify-could-be-readying-a-hi-res-audio-platinum-plan
"Audio Video Show 2022 - Warsaw, Poland" by Doug Schneider and Jason Thorpe: https://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/shows-events/audio-video-show-2022-warsaw-poland 

In this week’s first segment (3:28 to13:55), hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger discuss a story about a new Qobuz playlist featuring songs mixed for THX Spatial Audio. The mixes are designed to make the sound from your headphones seem like it’s coming from within the room rather than right in your ears. Does it work? Is it worth your time? And did Qobuz accomplish something that Apple couldn’t with this?
Next (14:58 to 30:48) they pontificate a bit on a new review of the Nordost QNet network switch and QSource linear power supply in Stereophile, except they really don’t talk much about the review itself. Instead, they use it as a springboard for a discussion about which components make a real difference and which components don’t. They also answer the age-old question: “What’s the all-time best jazz-backed beat poem about critical thinking?”
In this week’s final segment (31:24 to 52:10), our dynamic duo uses SoundStage! editor-in-chief Jeff Fritz's “Europe Tour 2022” series as an excuse to talk about factory tours, the value thereof, and whether or not engineering tools can truly be considered beautiful. 
Sources:
"THX Spatial Audio on Qobuz: Listen with ANY Headphones!" by Jacob Green: https://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/thx-spatial-audio-qobuz
"Playlist: THX Spatial Audio" by Qobuz USA: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/playlists/thx-spatial-audio-exclusive-tracks/10766496
"NAD C 399 Integrated Amplifier-DAC" by Dennis Burger: https://soundstageaccess.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1179-nad-c-399-integrated-amplifier-dac
"Storm" by Tim Minchin: https://youtu.be/jIWj3tI-DXg
"Giant Steps: A Player's Guide To Coltrane's Harmony for ALL Instrumentalists" by Walt Weiskopf & Ramon Ricker: https://amzn.to/3S6rT7M
“Björk: Sonic Symbolism”: https://pod.link/bjork
"Europe Tour 2022: Arriving in Vicenza and Visiting Sonus Faber" by Jeff Fritz: https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1136-europe-tour-2022-arriving-in-vicenza-and-visiting-sonus-faber
"Europe Tour 2022: Sonus Faber Speaker Production and Design Lab" by Jeff Fritz: https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1137-europe-tour-2022-sonus-faber-speaker-production-and-design-lab

In this week’s first segment (7:24 to 22:07), hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger discuss a new piece by Andrew Heinzman about why he thinks surround sound, Dolby Atmos, and headphone virtualization don’t work for music. There’s some agreement. There’s some disagreement. There might even be some nuance. Who knows?
Next (23:00 to 35:56) they dig deep into SoundStage! Global’s coverage of CanJam SoCal 2022. What were the highlights of the show for Brent? And which products did Dennis wish he could hear for himself? 
Wrapping things up this week, (36:38 to 46:25), they riff on some recent coverage of a new reel-to-reel tape machine by Metaxas & Sins that looks like it was designed by and for Tony Stark. If this is the future of high-end audio, count us in!
Sources:
"Why Surround Sound Doesn’t Make Sense for Music" by Andrew Heinzman: https://www.reviewgeek.com/129509/why-surround-sound-doesnt-make-sense-for-music/
"Jesse Ray Ernster & Bob Clearmountain on Mixing: 'We’re in!'" by John Baccigaluppi: https://tapeop.com/interviews/151/jesse-ray-ernster-bob-clearmountain-mixing/
"CanJam SoCal 2022 - Irvine, USA" by Brent Butterworth: https://soundstageglobal.com/index.php/shows-events/canjam-socal-2022-irvine-usa
SoundStage! Newsletter Signup Form and Focal Celestee headphones giveaway (until Oct. 31, 2022): https://soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2698&Itemid=601
"2022 Golden Ear: Metaxas & Sins Tourbillon T-RX Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck" by Jonathan Valin: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2022-golden-ear-metaxas-sins-tourbillon-t-rx-reel-to-reel-tape-deck/
"Metaxas And Sins T-RX Portable Reel To Reel Finally In Production" at HiFi Pig: https://www.hifipig.com/metaxas-and-sins-t-rx-portable-reel-to-reel-finally-in-production/
Elusive Disc: https://elusivedisc.com/music/reel-to-reel-tape/
The Tape Project: https://tapeproject.com/