Category Archives: Audio

Janice Joplin’s Bass noise

Posted on August 3, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The audio producers of CDs and other music really do need the best possible monitoring equipment. Unfortunately, far too many (particulary those preparing stereo material) seem to rely on relatively small direct field monitors that, unfortunately, are somewhat bass deficient. … Continue reading →

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… but how much infrasonic do you want anyway?

Posted on August 3, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Just pondering my last post (‘Rumbling a Subwoofer with a Cartoon‘) and thinking about those high levels of infrasonic sound. If we posit that there were such a thing as a subwoofer that would deliver down to ten hertz or … Continue reading →

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Rumbling a Subwoofer with a Cartoon

Posted on July 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Do you like showing off your subwoofer? There are a number of DVDs that do the job fairly well, but my favourite is the otherwise forgettable Titan A.E.Fox animated movie. In particular, the first six minutes or so before the main … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, DVD | 2 Comments

DVD Audio is not MPEG audio

Posted on July 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Ah, an Australian newspaper (which shall remain nameless) reports: The new [DVD Audio] standard, based on the MPEG-2 format used in DVD video, uses the extra storage to produce a high quality audio recording that more closely replicates the sound … Continue reading →

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DVD Audio Bonus Groups — DTS responds

Posted on July 30, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I have queried Warner Vision, the Australian distributor for the majority of DVD Audios, and DTS about the appearance of Bonus Groups. Now DTS has responded (Warner has told me that they are querying the US company for their titles). Here’s … Continue reading →

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Perreaux of New Zealand’s SHX-1

Posted on July 28, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Through some silly oversight, I didn’t have Perreaux listed under the hardware links. Well, that’s fixed now. Perreaux is a New Zealand brand of electronics, especially well respected for its amplifiers. Incredibly it has been around since 1974 and, I’m fairly certain, … Continue reading →

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Crippled SACD multichannel

Posted on July 27, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Multichannel Super Audio CD (SACD) simply does not work properly in most home systems. And we are in the hands of Sony and Philips, it seems, until it does. SACD is duking it out with DVD Audio as the high … Continue reading →

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I Hate DRM, or why MP3 will be forever with us

Posted on July 25, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Declan McCullagh’s invaluable Politech mailing list is carrying an item by a poor chap who purchased a pile of music from Apple’s Music Store. No problems until two things happened: he moved from the US to Canada, and his computer system crashed. … Continue reading →

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Does Creative have an iPod killer at last?

Posted on July 24, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Well, the price is right. Creative’s Nomad Jukebox Zen needs to shorten its name to match its price, to really kill the Apple iPod. What’s wrong with just the plain old Creative Zen? And without iPod’s beaut non-moving control wheel … Continue reading →

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Oh, oh … sad news on surround sound music mixes

Posted on July 22, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The SMR Home Theatre web site has a fascinating, if in parts depressing, report on ‘Surround Professional 2002’. What was fascinating was an insight into the surround mixing philosophy of some highly regarded professionals. Here are a few excerpts from one … Continue reading →

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