MAX live event #2
The second Musical Accuracy eXperience, or Musical Accuracy eXcellence (we're not sure which one works best yet but both end up as MAX) was held 19 October 2025 at Auto24 in Roodepoort. A fantastic venue [...]
Can We Really Measure What We Hear?
The Limits of Microphones and the Power of Human Hearing In the world of high-end audio, few debates stir more quiet tension than this one: if you can't measure it, does it really exist? Or [...]
The Envelope of Perception – Rethinking the 20 kHz Limit
The Paradox of Human Hearing In audio science, one contradiction continues to provoke confusion and debate. According to conventional wisdom, the human ear cannot hear above 20 kHz. That limit has shaped how we design [...]
IS YOUR DAC TRULY NEUTRAL?
Timing, Filtering & Perception: Why Digital Audio is Never Truly Neutral. Is your DAC truly neutral? Many believe a DAC is a transparent conduit, simply passing along what was encoded. But anyone who’s explored digital [...]
MQA LABS: Digital Audio with an Analogue Soul. How QRONO d2a Improves Digital Audio Playback
Background The early days of digital audio promised, and mostly delivered, a better way to store and transfer audio recordings. Compared to the best analogue sources like open reel tape and vinyl, digital audio offered [...]
Car Sound Part 3
..../ and try we do. Enter damned Audi Stage Right. A circa 2014 estate to be more or less imprecise. In all honesty I had heard this car before, about a year ago in fact. [...]
Car Sound Part 2
../ The fun part is that we can be duped. (from Part One) How are we duped? This is where Digital Signal Processing or DSP makes an appearance. In essence what happens when we hear [...]
Car Sound Part 1
What's in a car sound system anyway? These days there is quite a bit actually. Digital Sound Processing (DSP) has changed everything. From the days when digital was limited to CD and sound processing was [...]
Lies, Damned Lies and Amplifier Power Ratings
In my last technical article, I wrote about the relationship between amplifier power and how we hear. In that piece I showed that small increases in amplifier power make almost no differences to the loudness [...]
Critical Podcast Episode 1 Script — The Rooms We Listen In
Welcome friends. This is new for us all -- new systems to do it on and learn how to operate. We are new as co-hosts with very different backgrounds that we hope will add to [...]
How Loudness Relates to Amplifier Power
Pretty much everyone who has been playing in the A/V game for more than a few minutes is aware how important amplifier power is … or at least or how important marketing departments tell us [...]