EasyVTA Rega tweakers delight
EasyVTA height adjuster for Rega arms One of the things which many vinyl enthusiasts have found very frustrating is the inability to adjust the pillar height on a tonearm with any degree of certainty or repeatability, especially where those adjustments are by means of inserting shims either in the headshell or between the arm base […]
Bluesound Node Icon first listen & how AI will impact music streaming
In August Bluesound launched the latest additions to their Node range of streaming devices with three new models, most interesting of which is the Node Icon that pulls in a whole raft of features including dual mono ESS DACs, balanced output, aluminium casework and dual headphone jacks. More interesting is that includes new MQA tech […]
Lowther celebrates the Voigt 4ft horn’s centenary
Voigt 4ft Tractrix Horn loudspeakers At the Phipps Brewery in Northampton last month Lowther proved they can organise much more than ‘a piss up in a brewery’. The tap room demonstration of the Voigt 4ft Tractrix horn was a revelation in all sorts of ways. Firstly holding the demonstration in a large bar was very […]
Cartridge tales from stylus to speaker
Audio-Technica explain the vinyl replay cartridge Senior Technical Product Specialist at Audio-Technica, Darcy Archer, answers questions on the role of the cartridge in a record player. For those new to vinyl playback, could you explain what a turntable cartridge is and its role in the overall sound quality? The cartridge is where our vinyl experience […]
Streaming the Jplay way
Jplay streaming control app Jplay is a streaming control app that works broadly along the same lines as Roon but does not require a core to be running on a separate processor, what’s more it aims to provide high sound quality as well as a rich user experience. Roon has proved that streaming enthusiasts are […]
Digital signal transmission from SPDIF to I2S
Metrum Acoustics explain I2S Now let’s take a trip down memory lane, back to the day when 14 bits were read off a silver disc and converted to 8 bits (EFM or Eight to Fourteen Modulation). Two times 8 bits made up for one 16-bit sample, for one audio channel. This was done to correct […]
Bluetooth for audiophiles
Bluetooth technology At its basic core, Bluetooth employs UHF radio waves in the ISM bands to connect between source and receivers. When first designed and brought to market in the ‘90s, it was primarily for transmission over very short distances of up to 10m. The technology is shared by nearly 40,000 partners and governed by a central body that […]
MQA RIP?
The curious plight of MQA As many readers will have seen in the hi-fi press and group forums, MQA was placed into administration on the 6th of April. Rather than rehash the press release of this news, The Ear thought that now might be a good time to look at what the company set out […]
PRaT: audio system timing in context
PRaT and the four pillars for system evaluation PRaT. Please excuse me. For those readers unfamiliar with this odd term PRaT is an acronym, shorthand for pace, rhythm and timing, and it makes an interesting case study for those of us who fancy ourselves as amateur psychologists, and who also have more than a passing […]
Pump up the volume, or maybe not
The volume factor Over time I’ve often wondered what it is about listening to music that sets people alight. Looking at the variables that we can actually control with an audio systems settings seem to be a good place to start. Having been to literally hundreds of hi-fi shows over the years, and heard all […]
Three ways to record a string octet
The Henry Wood Hall in Borough, south London is a large but not otherwise particularly distinctive grey Victorian church, it was undoubtedly grand in its day but has absorbed a lot of soot since then. When you walk through three sets of doors into the main hall this notion is completely reversed, the scale and […]
Making Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4
Bowers & Wilkins’ Worthing factory produces 6,500 pairs of 800 series loudspeakers every year, a figure that likely exceeds any other range of high end loudspeakers. So once they have production up and running they don’t rush into changing the model range until significant improvements have been made across the board. But this year after […]