[email protected] (Archimago's Musings)
17 articles on Archimago's Musings
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On using AI/ChatGPT analysis to convince consumers about audio snake oil? GR-Research UberBUSS anyone?!
These days we have AI making hit music, and AI actors coming soon. The AI industry is "hot" and impressive, seemingly the answer to all kinds of queries we may have right at our keyboards! I think it's absolutely true that with the advent of LLM's and multi-modal deep learning models, we have even more ability now to learn, analyze, and summarize all kinds o
Douk Audio VU3 Pro Analog VU Meter - more bling! (Make sure to try some harder music at audio shows! 😉)
Hey there guys and gals, since I've been in the mood for bling this end-of-year season (as per recent discussion of the Fosi Audio LC30), let's grab another one of these VU meter boxes - as you can see above, it's the Douk Audio VU30 Pro (typically around US$150, Canada link, AliExpress), a 2024 upgraded version of the Douk Audio VU3 (non-Pro) which came out
Happy New Year! And a thank you to the Lyrion Music Server folks for renewing the life of my Squeezebox Radio. ☺️
Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas-New Year Holiday season!On Christmas morn 2025, as I relaxed in the sitting room waiting for the rest of the family to get ready for some holiday festivities, listening to holiday music, I could not help but marvel at the fact that my little Logitech Squeezebox Radio sitting over the fireplace, released back in 20
More Bass: The SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer (sealed, 12", 550W, DSP, Bluetooth)
Over the holidays, Santa brought me a new SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer (currently US$900 black ash, US$1000 piano black, Canada: black ash, piano black) for the system in the sound room. As you can see, I got the slightly more expensive shiny piano black version. As usual, I bought this from typical consumer channels.On this blog, we've talked about full-range
miniDSP UMIK-2 USB measurement microphone (also ambient noise floor, measurements of my system using Dirac Live with Paradigm + SVS subs)
Well, as mentioned previously, it was a great holiday season and here's another gift from Audio-Santa 🙂 - the miniDSP UMIK-2 measurement microphone. I bought this through Solen.ca here in Canada and they did a great job with the order and quick shipment. Amazon Canada often has limited stock of miniDSP products.I'm sure the miniDSP company is well known to
miniDSP UMIK-2 USB Microphone: analog gain & optimizing self-noise. Plus audiophile gear pictures from "No Other Choice".
Last week, I discussed the miniDSP UMIK-2 USB measurement microphone and as I mentioned then, it's not often that we see much discussion about these devices among audiophiles even though they are important in helping us chase down sonic problems and of course to calibrate the sound system. To me, that calibration process is an essential part of achieving a t
Audiophile Potpourri: December 2025 web traffic among audio sites, price of cables poll, and flashback 2014 while looking ahead.
Let's have some fun this week on miscellaneous topics.Occasionally, I'll highlight items I've either written or found on audio discussion forums I think would be good to share. One reason I decided to start doing a blog beyond just contributing to forum discussions was precisely because while the public forums are great for interactions with community member
More Audio Potpourri: What's the best sample rate converter? The other father of MP3 (James D. Johnston "JJ"). Are measurements important? And TAS' "objective" confusion.
For this post, let's discuss a few other audiophile items that have come my way in recent weeks.First, let's talk about something I haven't brought up for awhile now: sample rate conversion (SRC).A few weeks ago, Spoon (a.k.a. Steven Elkins of Illustrate) sent me an E-mail about his new src.hydrogenaudio.org page evaluating and ranking the qualities of vario
Inexpensive USB2.0 Digital-to-Digital Converters (DDC) Pt.1: Douk Audio U2 PRO (Upgrade Version) and SMSL PO100 PRO - initial look, about I²S-HDMI. In praise of unofficial Atmos mixes!
This SMSL unit also does MQA decoding for those who want the feature. Unlike the Douk, this box only has an LED to indicate MQA decoding status but does not tell us the PCM or DSD samplerate.While I've tested some inexpensive devices (like the Topping D10s DAC) which have the ability to convert USB 2.0 input into S/PDIF output, I have not specifically looked
Visit to a "more subjective" leaning friend. And something like Synergistic Research "Transducers" (HFT, GCT, ECT.) to try.
Hey everyone. I'm still waiting to finish the measurements and write-up of the USB DDC boxes discussed last time (a few things I need to double check on!). In the meantime, I thought I'd share some thoughts and pictures with you of a visit I made to a friend, Paul's, place. You'll see that he is much more of a "subjectivist" than I am.Above, we see his liste
Do HDMI cables make a difference for IIS/I2S/I²S-HDMI audiophile DACs?
It's taking a bit longer for my testing of the inexpensive I²S/IIS/I2S-HDMI DDC boxes due to some unexpected results which I'm chasing down currently; hopefully that gets resolved or understood soon.In the meantime, let me address something that folks might be curious about related to this topic of the I2S-HDMI interface... Does the HDMI cable make a differe
Crosstalk Cancellation/Ambiophonics: Updated CTXMatrix Lite with standalone processor & 60° speaker angle support.
Significant changes in the UI from the previous CTXMatrixBeta release.I want to remind 2-channel "immersive sound" lovers about the potential for using stereo crosstalk cancellation (XTC) / ambiophonics playback to enhance the 3D soundstage. You might have already heard of uBACCH in the audio magazines and on forums - why not try a similar effect for free (o
MUSINGS: On high-end audio component prices, inflation, April Fools and peak "greedflation"?
Let's consider how over the last while even audiophile magazines have wondered about the High-End Audio Industry's escalation in suggested retail prices for their products.A year ago, Stereophile attempted to answer "Why Hi-Fi Prices Have Risen". To be fair, I think Jim Austin in the article made some good points about inflation, tariffs, etc. I'm glad that
Audiophile small room acoustics: complex and essential.
In the post "What are the most important audio components?" a few years ago, I said that we need to understand the various audiophile "domains": audio hardware, room acoustics, quality of your music, and of course personal mental engagement. Each of these have a part to play in the achievement of and personal judgment around sound quality.Of those domains, i
Sound Absorption: IKEA Mittzon Floor Standing Panel (+ GIK Acoustic panel).
Greetings audiophiles. Finally, I'm back home in Vancouver after my Asia trip. I love traveling but there always comes a time to look forward to "Home, sweet home." And music to listen to in my personal sound room of course!😌In this post, let's talk about perhaps one of the most boring things you could buy - a sound absorption panel. Made all the more pedes
On Envy, "Cope", and just plain Reality in Audiophilia. More GR-Research/Danny Richie drama.
After writing the articles looking at room acoustics over the last month, I thought this would be a good time to discuss another observation about the psychology and culture of the audiophile hobby and some of the claims that people make.As I noted last time, room treatments like the IKEA Mittzon absorption panels are far from the exciting products highlight
Ceiling Absorption Panels (AudioSilk branded PET material 2'x4'x0.8", doubled thickness).
With the recent discussions about room acoustics and treatments, I thought it would be good to continue on this theme and move forward with the next logical step for my listening space. Let's talk about ceiling sound absorption as you can see installed in the picture above.For years, I've been thinking of doing this but really didn't want to put something up