All items in category Magazine Articles
Zero Phase In Studio Monitors
by Vance Dickason

Zero Phase In Studio Monitors

This Voice Coil’s Spotlight, written by Vance Dickason with commentary from Floyd Toole, Wolfgang Klippel, Andrew Jones, and James Croft, focuses on Zero Phase in Studio Monitors. As Dickason explains, "the implication of using FIR filters to zero out the phase of a loudspeaker to improve its subjective performance seems inherently flawed given all the research done over years that concluded that the human ear is not very sensitive to phase or group delay." This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2019.
Read more...
Fresh From the Bench: The DPA d:vice MMA-A Mobile Recording Interface
by Stuart Yaniger

Fresh From the Bench: The DPA d:vice MMA-A Mobile Recording Interface

Stuart Yaniger reviews the DPA d:vice MMA-A Digital Audio Interface, a two-channel microphone preamp and A/D converter that allows the use of the renowned DPA microphones with any iOS device, a Mac or a PC. Apart from being an audio measurement expert, Yaniger is also an enthusiastic music recordist and this device not only fit in his pocket but he also found it to be "a slick piece of engineering and industrial design." Originally published in audioXpress, October 2019.
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD
2019 Midwest Audiofest Speaker Design Competition
by Thomas Perazella

2019 Midwest Audiofest Speaker Design Competition

One of the most important audio events for the speaker building and DIY audio communities, the Midwest Audiofest (MWAF) is held in Springboro, OH, in July every year. Sponsored by an impressive group of vendors and hosted by Parts Express, this event combines several activities including a huge tent sale at Parts Express. For Thomas Perazella the highlight of the event is the Speaker Design Competition, for which he was again one of the competition judges. This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2019.
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD
Fresh From the Bench: KanexPro HAECOAX HDMI Audio De-Embedder
by Gary Galo

Fresh From the Bench: KanexPro HAECOAX HDMI Audio De-Embedder

This review explains the merits of the KanexPro HAECOAX, an HDMI audio de-embedder, which extracts the PCM datastream from your players HDMI output and feeds the datastream to an S/PDIF output at the disc’s full resolution. Gary Galo discovered the device some time ago, enabling him to extract digital high-resolution audio sources from HDMI signals. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2016.
Read more...
Purifi Audio - A Straight Wire to the Soul of Music
by Jan Didden

Purifi Audio - A Straight Wire to the Soul of Music

audioXpress' Technical Editor Jan Didden met with Bruno Putzeys and Lars Risbo, the founders of Purifi Audio, the new Danish company that the entire audio industry is talking about. The Netherlands Audio Engineering Society (AES) section invited the duo for a technical update on their plans, and they gracefully agreed to a presentation on June 13 at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, which Didden attended and reports here. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2019.
Read more...
Fresh From the Bench: Meet the PureAudioProject Trio15 Heil AMT Speakers
by Oliver A.Masciarotte

Fresh From the Bench: Meet the PureAudioProject Trio15 Heil AMT Speakers

In this speaker review, Oliver Masciarotte and Kent Peterson (of Warkwyn) listen, measure, and listen again to the PureAudioProject Trio15 Heil AMT speaker system. This is a fascinating modular system, in this case designed using an ESS 6" Air Motion Transformer (AMT) and two Eminence 15" drivers, specifically optimized for use in open-baffle applications. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2019.
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD
Fresh From The Bench: Examining the miniDSP EARS Headphone Test Fixture
by Stuart Yaniger

Fresh From The Bench: Examining the miniDSP EARS Headphone Test Fixture

In the March 2019 edition of audioXpress, focusing on Test and Measurement, Stuart Yaniger explored the new Earphone Audio Response System or EARS, which miniDSP introduced as an affordable test jig for headphone measurements. Basically, this is a plug & play USB audio streaming device, featuring dual low noise calibrated mics with interchangeable silicon ears. But is it really the answer to bring "headphone measurements to the masses," as the manufacturer intended?
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD
Good Vibrations (Part 2) - Dealing With Unwanted Vibrations
by Norman Varney

Good Vibrations (Part 2) - Dealing With Unwanted Vibrations

Following a first R&D article, where Norman Varney discusses the basic principles of unwanted vibrations in audio playback environments, in this second part he writes about what his research found to be effective ways to counteract those effects. The article details the evaluation process and extensive measurements that lead to the creation of various products that AV RoomService provides when helping clients with their acoustic problems. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2019.
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD
Fresh From the Bench: Sonarworks True-Fi Software - The Simple EQ to Fix Your Headphones
by Luke McCready

Fresh From the Bench: Sonarworks True-Fi Software - The Simple EQ to Fix Your Headphones

This review focuses on something special for headphones, looking in-depth at the Sonarworks True-Fi Software, which aims to improve headphone listening on the desktop and smartphone at a price consumers can afford. Luke McCready test drove the software to discover its strengths and limitations, and also shares what’s coming next for Sonarworks. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2019.
Read more...
Good Vibrations (Part 1) - The Basic Principles of Unwanted Vibrations
by Norman Varney

Good Vibrations (Part 1) - The Basic Principles of Unwanted Vibrations

In this article, Norman Varney discusses the basic principles of unwanted vibrations in audio playback environments. "When we play back audio, we only want to hear sound waves created from the electromechanical vibrations produced by the loudspeaker. They are the result and intention of the artists. They are the original signals. These are good vibrations. However, for this article, we will focus on the basic principles of unwanted vibrations of audio playback environments," states Varney in the article introduction, originally published in audioXpress, August 2019
Read more...
 FREE DOWNLOAD