Rediscovering the Joy of Physical Media…if you ever really “undiscovered” it.
Some Sunday thoughts on whether this audiophile journey has a destination, or if nirvana is forever just around the next upgrade bend….and at a cost.
OR WHY THE SEE IT, HEAR IT, TOUCH IT HIFI SHOW EXPERIENCE SHOULD BE ON YOUR BUCKET LIST
As I write this it is early September 2023, I am looking back on what a busy year it has been, and there is still over a quarter of it left. It seems a while since I had the chance to sit down and write a piece that wasn’t either HiFi News or a HiFi Show Report and that is basically because our feet have barely touched the ground this year.
In the first of what will undoubtedly be many articles on the subject, Lin and Stu look back on the formative years of HiFi Pig. More »
YOUR FREE 23 PAGE INTRODUCTION TO SMALL ROOM ACOUSTICS AND ROOM TREATMENT.
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH GIK ACOUSTICS. More »
A personal viewpoint on free parties.
The Future of HiFi Shows – A Short-Term Viewpoint. More »
I recently got a pair of rather splendid in-ear headphones sent for review and a few things struck me about headphones and the way that we (or I) consume music. More »
What do you do when the lights go out? As a child of the seventies, this was part of the fabric of my youth, power cuts were a regular occurrence and of course, any seventies-era family was always well prepared.
Stu’s guide to not being a dick when it comes to buying Hifi. More »
I was trying to think back to the time when I had my Hifi Epiphany and originally had that instant when I first had the experience of knowing that a high level of audio playback was something that was really essential to me.
THE NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVE – EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE
Stu’s interest in the Neil Young Archive is piqued by David Solomon of Qobuz and Phil Baker, CEO of the Neil Young Archives.
Hifi things go awry without a logical explanation? It can only be The Hifi Poltergeist!
This week Stu looks at Hifi Shows – remember them? More »
Stu looks at a few things from his past as a fledgling audiophile, though he didn’t know it then.
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More Hifi and audiophile tools and tweaks that many of us will have at our disposal to make our audio lives ‘easier’.
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As audiophiles, many of us will have amassed certain tools and the like to help them get the most out of their HiFi system and music. Only it’s not always plain sailing as Stu has found out over the years! More »
Last week’s Stu’s Views blathered on about how much a pain in the fundament vinyl records can be to the avid collector, and the response to it was really phenomenal – we got messages from all over the world and the article prompted one chap in South Africa to put pen to paper (actually, fingers to keyboard) and share his lifelong love affair with records going right back to the days of shellac 78s. Obviously, I’m FAR too short of tooth to remember those kinds of things. More »
There’s a meme, or rather a cartoon, that’s been doing the rounds recently that has two characters looking over a HiFi system with the caption “The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and inconvenience.” If you spend any time on social media, and particularly audiophile groups then I’m sure you will have seen it. And so, if we take this cartoon to be anything like the truth of the matter, this begs the question “Why would anyone bother with such an outmoded and problematic format of music playback?” More »
In this latest diatribe, Stuart Smith has a bit of a look at what we mean by the term High-Fidelity.
Ok, I admit it, I have on several occasions ranted about my thorough dislike of all things streaming – specifically streaming services. I’ve moaned about having my listening experience being tailored to my past listening preferences, and I’ve whined about being tied to a screen and the lack of physical media. I also didn’t like the fact that I found myself constantly flicking between tracks and not playing full albums. Don’t get me wrong, I ripped most of my collection of CDs to a NAS and then a Melco unit years ago and streamed them of a weekend evening when we were having a bevvy or three whilst we leap about like the Lords from that Christmas tune. I’ve also moaned about the fact that artists get very little revenue from their music being streamed – more on this later. More »
Stuart Smith comments on the current situation, its effects on HiFi shows, people, and the world as a whole. He also mentions music a bit too.
There really is a tidal storm of music out there! A never-ending, algorithmically-curated musical selection that is spat out ad-nauseam especially for you, your gender, your socio-economic grouping. Perhaps I should just let it wash over me, or perhaps I should just have nice cup of tea, turn on the wireless and calm down a bit. Perhaps not. More »
The Single Life – The Magic Of Single
The single was the mainstay of the teenager’s musical diet, but what magic is held within those grooves?
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