Frequently asked questions about general hi-fi stuff including various types of equipment, technical concepts and advice for getting the best results.
Not from Spotify, but with Apple’s new Lossless services, yes you can! Apple has finally updated its streaming music service and released Apple Lossless files across the board, with at least CD quality uncompressed, lossless 16-bit / 44.1kHz files, with some offered at up to 24-bit / 192kHz. You can now get hi-fi sound from […]
Can I get hi-fi sound from streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify? Read More »
Assuming you have around $1000 to spend, this gets you a far better vintage turntable than a new one, assuming the vintage deck is in good working order. There actually isn’t anything I can strongly recommend for $1000 new, unfortunately. But, that same amount of money would get you a decent Technics SL-23, SL-120, SL-1200,
What’s better: a vintage turntable or a new one? Read More »
Very important for proper hi-fi system performance and dynamic range. This combination of technical parameters determines the actual sound pressure level you can attain without distortion and also tells us a lot about the dynamic capabilities of the system. As usual, science provides the answers. For example, let’s say you have a low-powered amplifier, say
How important is it to match amplifier power output with speaker sensitivity? Read More »
Because in order to faithfully amplify the minuscule signals generated by a phono cartridge, they must have the highest precision and lowest noise of any amplifier in your system. It’s no mean feat to take a 0.3mV signal and amplify it to the level needed by a regular line-level preamplifier. One millivolt or 1mV is
Why are phono preamplifiers so important and good ones so expensive? Read More »
Not if you care about hum, noise and sound quality! The only time you would buy a cheap phono preamplifier is to add vinyl playback to a cheap system that doesn’t have it and where you don’t care too much about the results. Whilst that use case does not reflect most of my customers or
This is a good question with a simple answer: it was designed and built to last longer. We need to start this brief discussion by acknowledging the shift in product design life and public expectations around this. Back in the day, people saved and bought hi-fi gear, with a view to keeping it for a
Because all hi-fi equipment and electronic devices contain parts that change over time, wear and need periodic cleaning, lubrication and adjustment. When you combine the sometimes hundreds of electronic parts with mechanical components like the levers, switches, belts, gears, pulleys and connectors found in many types of hi-fi gear, you have a combination of parts
Why does electronic equipment need to be serviced? Read More »
