Hunt for hifi XIII: Amp woes — Separates, at separate times?

After ruling out the option of pairing my digital amp with an ADC, I’m facing the fact that I need a new amp in order to get my system to where I’m satisfied. Since the speakers aren’t paid off for quite some time, my funds are pretty limited. So while a high-end integrated like the tried & tested Pass Labs INT-150 or the esoteric and mysterious newcomer Devialet D-premier would be tremendously exciting, I am simply unable to pay for something like that,... Read More

The challenge of scaling the digital threshold

Over the weekend I’ve been involved in some forum discussions regarding whether USB cables can make a sonic difference when connecting a computer to  a DAC. I went into the discussion thinking it couldn’t possibly matter since USB sends CRC-signed data packets, but changed my mind as I researached the topic deeper. In short: With most current USB dac’s, the clock for the D/A is derived from the 12 MHz frequency of the USB 1.0 spec that the stream is locked to.... Read More

Hunt for hifi XII: But what if I keep the amp?

If the ultimate goal is the best sound possible, there is no point in taking little intermediate steps when upgrading as that will just throwing money away. So with the speakers, I bought the best I could possibly afford. I would very much like to continue in the same way with all other components, but the research and auditioning is tiring work, when all I want is for it to be over with so I can forget the model names and technical data and just play music. This longing makes... Read More

Hunt for hifi XI: Onward, brave soldier!

The DAC articles I bravely set out to write are on hold for now. I’ll still ramble on about sound, though. Having poured so much time and money into my speaker purchase, it would be wasteful to lower my standards and efforts for the other components. The required patience is in short supply however, as all my hifi investments from here on will have a smaller effect on the sound than the speaker upgrade brought. It’s tempting, then, to just go with what is affordable... Read More

Hunt for hifi X: There are ten types of people who understand binary…

Digital audio has been around for a very long time – the CD format is over 30 years old now – yet enormous leaps in progress are still being made, and the latest development is undeniably server-based playback. The days of swapping CD’s seem to be over for me, and I’m not looking back. I still buy all my music as physical releases though! As of writing this, I still have not purchased a single electronically distributed piece of music. But that’s another... Read More

Hunt for hifi IX: Now what?

Now that the Focal Diablo Utopia speakers #19 and #20 are mine (Focal are numbering every speaker in their Utopia line, and I appear to have gotten my filthy mitts on an early pair), I stand before the daunting task of trying to find a way to afford source and amplification electronics that do them justice. First of all, I need to figure out where to aim my priorities next. My current amplifier, while immensely powerful, is not the poster child of resolution and finesse. When... Read More

DJ report: Belgium round III

I played a DJ set in Belgium this weekend, where Psykovsky and Cosmosis played live. So it was kind of big, but my morning set (I got on at 8am) got a slightly smaller crowd than last year. Nevertheless, the Belgians know how to stir up a dancefloor riot, and here’s a short glimpse of when I played my favourite track off of Filteria‘s “Heliopolis” album: I arrived just 40 minutes before I started playing, since I had to get up at 6am on Saturday to catch... Read More

Hunt for hifi VIII: It’s over, yet only just begun

So, the time had come to decide. MBL? Focal? Neither? What impressed me the most with the MBL 121 speakers was their stunning ability to illustrate the space of a recording. This makes them nearly unbeatable for classical, jazz, singer-songwriter and live recordings. Since I don’t listen to those types of music much, instead often drawn to “produced” sounds, this argument loses some of its weight in my case. Instead, their ability to provide an accurate and deeply... Read More

Changing to WordPress

Blogger is utter shit, so I’m changing to wordpress. Please be patient as I try to get everything sorted out and a proper design put in place.  Read More

Hunt for hifi VII: Verdict prelude

Before I reveal to you, my imaginary horde of loyal readers, what the final outcome of my quest to replace my old speakers is, I will briefly summarize the previous posts in this series: Part I briefly touched on my approach to music and attitude towards high-end, or audiophile, sound, before telling the story of how my eyes (or rather, ears) were opened by what may well be the most impressive speaker I have encountered. Part II explains in greater depth how I think with regards... Read More

Hunt for hifi VI: The final showdown – before the bell

Later today I will sit down and compare the Focal Diablo Utopia with the MBL 121 speakers side by side. I won’t purchase the winner today, and if I didn’t have such a rich history of financial recklessness I’d say I may never buy them. But having bought into my own justification pitch, I realize I might pull the trigger eventually. Age has at least taught me to take a few deep breaths before I take the plunge. This will probably be the final comparison between... Read More

Hunt for hifi V: Justification

I stole this image somewhere in an attempt to illustrate what is generally an accepted costly hobby. This really is over the top though. While it’s easy to point out when audiophile excess has entered the land of absurdity, it’s a bit more interesting to look at the conditions where purchasing high-end components makes sense. Since all of my recent hifi posts are basically just flow-of-consciousness ramblings, here’s a list off the top of my head: If you can... Read More

Hunt for hifi IV: Attack ov ze Germans

Having exhausted the options of speakers cheaper than Focal Diablo Utopia that has my preferred dry, tight and precise sound, I was beginning to think that I might have to either buy the damned things, buy something cheaper I wasn’t fully happy with, or just keep what I have and take up knitting instead. But in a last attempt to make sure there were no options, I asked what else there was in the same price class as the Diablo’s. After all, if I’m going to spend... Read More

Hunt for Hifi III: Trap doors and mirages

Audiophiles are often ridiculed for spending time and substantial amounts of money on snake-oil products. These can vary from little wooden blocks to place speaker cables on like a monorail so that it never touches the ground (presumably to prevent static electricity, or something) to all manners of vibration dampening hocus pocus. The criticism spans from entirely valid, as I would say is the case for the examples I just gave, to dubious, which is the case for things like analogue... Read More

Hunt for hifi II: What is good sound?

Some time back, before I bought my Logitech Squeezebox Duet, I was touring the hifi stores auditioning CD players. Not only is my CD player the oldest component in my system, but I had also heard some mantra about “source first” in composing a stereo system, not giving it any thought beyond the initial “sure, OK”. I ended up with the Squeezebox instead, and have since made a complete 180 in terms of system design philosophy. The speakers are affecting... Read More

Hunt for hifi I: High-end fever

As a music aficionado I am concerned about sound quality, in the sense that I want to experience the music at its fullest potential, be it ultra minimalist ambient, goa trance, black metal or wall noise. Spending a fortune on hi-fi equipment will leave nothing for records, and to me it’s clearly better to listen to a huge selection of great music on mediocre equipment than to listen to just a handful of records on great equipment. But there is a balance, of course – if... Read More

Schedule change

The new world order for this weekends party is that I play between Battle of the Future Buddhas and Filteria, instead of after them. This makes a whole lot more sense, seeing as I will now be taking over from howling psychosis while it’s pitch black, and leave to über-melodic power-trance in broad daylight. This lets me leave the “normal” goa trance to the other DJ’s while I can dig really deep in my record collection to pick out the sickest mindfuckery... Read More

The yearly Swedish forest gig

My first and possibly only outdoor gig for the year is going to be this upcoming weekend. The flyer: Pretty damn sweet lineup if you ask me! I’m playing 03:30 – 06:00, which means early dawn -> full sunlight. The music will go from dusk hypnoticism to orgasmic sun worship (as if Filteria doesn’t provide enough sun worship =). I will also play in the chillout, from 22:00-00:00 if all goes well. I will be playing Steve Roach music exclusively, hopefully getting... Read More

Intermission acid

Not much happening here lately (as usual, I suppose) so while waiting for my planned series of posts on ambient overlord Steve Roach I’ll post this short clip from a private party where I played with Kompressorkanonen: I don’t think I will ever get tired of that sound.  Read More

I’m a big boy now

So I finally have an artist entry on Discogs thanks to poking Jannis in the kidneys while he’s making music. Some short comments on the two tracks from his latest album that had me involved: Filtertraces – this was a complete track that was pretty nice, but we sat down one day and completely rearranged it, added layers and tweaked pretty much everything. It was me shouting commands and Jannis sweating over the mixing desk and synths. I’m not sure how it happened,... Read More