February Edition: 2008

                        

 

Get your fix of older links posted on Cdnav.com

March 31st    March is toast: bring on April I say!  Time-change be damned, spring never seems 'real' till' April swings on bye.  I guess its because - here in the Okanagan at least, our local ski hills close in late March / early April, and no-skiing means spring has sprung!  Speaking of which; our 'local hill', Apex Resort, closed this afternoon, bummer, but if it means biking / hiking/ kayaking / camping - well, to hell with it and onward ho!  I rode the living shit outta' Apex this winter, squeezed every bit of powder I could out of the old mountain - it was all good and I've no regrets!  Lets celebrate the one and only (ever) April, 2008 with Sera Cahoone - Only As The day Is Long.  MP3 courtesy of SubPop Records.  Hint: SubPop isn't known for leaving the free downloads up and in place for too long - if you dig this track (do give it a few listens), then download and save it locally now.

March 31st    When I was a but a wee lad, there was nothing I loved more than cranking up a little (ok, a lot), of classic rock and heavy metal!  One of the bands that I was weaned on came screaming out of Toronto, calling themselves Anvil (ya, kinda' like Advil - the thing your mom reached for every time you cranked the shit outta' Anvil on your system) :-)  Anvil, it appears, now has a documentary!  Now, I can't say I'm a big fan of a lot of their work, I've always been extremely selective about metal; but I offer that their Metal On Metal LP was one of the benchmarks of heavy metal back in the day - and still stands as such.  If you're a 'closet metal-head', give a listen to 1982's 'Mothra' on YouTube for an ear-full of what I'm talking' about here.  Sure, its classic shitty quality 'YouTube', but crank it nonetheless - then buy the CD or LP today - its a mind-blower - the whole freakin' album rocks that hard!

March 31st    Gary Krakow | You're full of shit...  Where the hell did The Street.com find this fucking guy; and who on-staff was stupid enough to actually pay him to type out the absolutely full-of-shit article titled "New Fuse Makes Stereos Sound Fantastic"?  Give me a 767-sized break!  This fellow missed his calling - he should have been a politician...  Hey Gary, I don't suppose you'd like to whip up a couple of lossless files: a before / after - standard-fuse / bullshit-fuse - for us to audition for ourselves would ya'?

March 31st    Lets face it; no matter how much belly-aching we as honest audiophiles do online, in forums / blogs etc., there isn't much we are gonna get done about the blatant fraud which blackens our hobby; aside from perhaps educating the occasional 'audiophile in bloom' before he gets sucked in by the pervasive bullshit.  We really need to strongly encourage non-governmental organizations, marketing watch-dog groups as well as federal and provincial governments to step-up and implementation intelligent, science-based standards on the industry's marketing practices.  Last week I suggested that we contact British Columbia's Competition Bureau - a good start - but we also need to contact similar bureaus across Canada, urging them to address the insane fiasco that we are currently enveloped in.  Today I'm supplying you with the address of CBC's Marketplace Story Suggestion www site.  Please contact them via the email address within that link and request that they look into audiophile voodoo products.  Since they've already covered HDMI cables earlier (Packing The Deal - Feb. 20th), we might suggest that they next look into power-cords or speaker wire (?).  An article from Marketplace or MythBusters is a stepping-stone in the right direction, generating media attention and momentum towards a binding federal marketing legislation.  I've previously spoken with Canada's Nation Research Council and they've informed me that after looking into 'special-cables', they've chosen to employ common twin-lead 'lamp-cord' for their loudspeaker evaluations.  I would dearly love to witness the eventual implementation of a federal "Integrity In Marketing" framework, based in part on input from the NRC in cooperation with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  I suggest that such a design wouldn't appear overnight, but its certainly the rough outlines of a goal which is attainable in the long run.  PS: did you know that there's a MythBusters Forum?  Check it out and be sure to mention the crap that so many are attempting to shove down throats in the audiophile arena!

March 31st    What's new and exciting in the world of gadgets?  How about a little gizmo that acts as a portable DVD player one minute, and doubles as a digital picture-frame the next?  LG's new DP392 is just the ticket!

March 31st    Well, that's it for me today - time to get some shuteye and rest these snow-boarder's legs that I've so intently abused all weekend!  Tune into Old Man River - Sunshine as you ready yourself for what Monday has in store for you.  MP3 courtesy of SXSW and Ohad Rein.

March 28th    Allrighty-then, it looks like I've honed this practice of working short work-weeks to a science of sorts ~ Friday is here already!  Lets celebrate with crankage of Nakia & His Southern Cousins - Playing The Cards.  This taste of white-boy-soul is brought to you care of the band and SXSW.  Check out the man and his band on their website.

March 28th    In case some of you are wondering what to see on your fancy big-screen TVs / surround-sound systems this weekend - take a look at PopCrunch.com's 50 Movies That All Guys Should See Before They Die - A Modern Guide.  Can't say that I'm a fan of every one of those chosen; but I'll suggest that they've hit the nail on about 75% of em'.

March 28th    By now, many of you have read the interesting media clip wherein the Marketing Standards Authority in the UK have weighed in on Russ Andrew's bogus marketing claims about their 'high-end' products.  This so moved me that I've contacted several Canadian marketing watchdog groups, including the Competition Bureau Of Canada and inquired about shady marketing practices here in Canada.  Its been less than 24 hours since I contacted them - will let you know their response.  In the mean time, I thought I'd provide easy access to their contact website in order that you may also voice your anger over idiotic audiofool marketing practices here in Canada.  Its only a matter of time before the utterly out of control lying that is soiling out hobby gets quashed; I suggest we hasten its inevitable arrival...

March 28th    More on the "Buy your Blu-ray player from us" marketing-gig: Best Buy Canada is following suit with Future Shop’s move last week to give something back to consumers who recently purchased an HD DVD player. But rather than offer a trade-in program as Future Shop is doing, Best Buy is providing a $50 gift card to customers who purchased an HD DVD player from the retailer since January 1, 2007.

March 28th    There sure is a lot of yammering about HDTV to be found on the Net', but much of it is piecemeal or thoroughly laced with techno-jargon.  Kevin Baggs puts it down in plain English on his 'Innovation' website / blog.  Check out 'HDTV Explained' for the lowdown.

March 28th    Since I drag miles of the stuff through homes and offices every day, I was tickled to find this article on CAT5e in a recent online edition of Sound & Vision magazine (formerly the magazine we all grew up with: Stereo Review).  Their article 'The Little Cable that Can' provides a brief overview on the topic.  I employ CAT5e in the shop for the smaller speakers in my office hi-fi system as well ,and swear by it as a cost-effective solution.  The stuff is extremely flexible, easy to hide and stunningly cheap; under a hundred bucks for a thousand foot spool!  Check out your local electrical-industrial supply house for a box today!.

March 28th    Those of you employing a PS3 for your Blu-ray duties will be interested to learn that Sony has just released a 'Profile 2.0' update, offering Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 support, mosquito noise reduction and “resume play” along with an improved internet browser.  Read (and view) all about it.

March 28th    Count on good old PBS "the last / best hope for broadcast documentaries", to lay it on the line and cut through the crap of the current American administration like few have done before.  Spend some time with their free, online documentary Bush's War.  Note that you can run the videos full-screen on most decently-powered PCs.

March 28th    Ok, that's it for another week of Cdnav.com.  Get out there and enjoy the spring weather, come home and pour a drink, then crank up a little bit O' Mark Mallman - Death Wish.  Tell me this doesn't just flash ya' back to mid-80's classic rock!  More info' on Mark can be gleaned on his website.  MP3 compliments of M.M.  I don't know what it is that I dig so much on this track, perhaps its the nostalgia, or maybe its the mix of rock and roll and piano...

March 28th    One last note: not even really A/V related, more along the lines of my job-description / hobby.  I just received an email from Tiger-Direct.  I've dealt with T.D. on several occasions in the past, their shipping is dead-dog-slow, but their pricing is jaw-droppingly low.  They are offering a 'bare-bones' PC kit for an astoundingly cheap $190.00 plus shipping and tax.  The details of which are laid out on this site.  If you add a free copy of the excellent / open-source Ubuntu operating system and a whack of free, open-source software such as Open Office, along with a cheap LCD monitor or the old CRT that you have tucked away in the basement / garage - Damn man, that's some cheap PC power!  PS: check out SourceForge for a massive collection of open-source software - its a great repository of O.S.S.

March 26th    Been a few days then hasn't it!?  Well, I've been playing hokey from everything work and 'online' related as the snow has been falling from the sky by the megaton in the mountains!  Apex Resort is set to close in a scant six days, so my priorities have been to spend as much time up there as possible before the inevitable end of the ski / boarding season.  What a shame that they are closing so early this year as conditions couldn't be better.  At any rate, nuff' about me being a slack-ass ski-bum, lets kick off the (now shortened) workweek with a slab of Ian Moore - House Up On The Hill.  I first came to love Ian's music when I heard his amazing track Muddy Jesus years back.

March 26st   Further mental compass reorientation for British Columbia's Island population of audiofools: Long & McQuade is offering a six-week 'Recording Fundamentals' course at the Victoria Music Education Center this March 29th. Those who wish to learn how depth and acoustic perception is accomplished can forget about shoving wooden cutting boards under their CD players and amplifiers, swapping cables and wall-plugs as well as any number of idiotic 'tweaks'. Also, check out their many other clinics being offered across Canada.

March 26st    The 'big delay' in posting you see on the site is due to modifications to the server I host on - they've screwed up their Microsoft Front Page 'Server Extensions' in such a way that I am no longer able to use FrontPage or Microsoft Expression to create the 3x-weekly posts... these few interm posts will be via my old DreamWeaver app', so some items might not work as they normally would. As with most things from NetFirms - this means "we have no idea what's wrong, it'll just start working miraculously out of the blue one day soon..." For those audiofools who read my missives and still don't' think that its possible for them to be deceived by the marking departments at their favorite A/V hardware suppliers; allow fellow Canadian Bill Nye ('The Science Guy'), to demonstrate how incredibly easy it is to deceive this human brain of ours, even with something as accurate as the vision system: Illusions

March 26st    Continuing right along with the "hammering away at audiofools" theme :-) I stumbled upon a fun little page online this week titled "Can You Hear The Difference". Some cat has set up an easy to use 128Kb/s vs. 320Kb/s MP3 audition page for our listening / educational pleasure. Its simple; play one clip, then the other - which is closer to "high-fidelity"? Now, don't get me wrong, there sure are differences and you'll hear them with a nice sound card and headphones / speakers, bit isn't it astounding how close the 'sound' is at first glance. I mean, shit man - in the 128Kb/s clip - over 90% of the original signals potential bandwidth is simply not available - and yet the clip is audibly intact to a remarkable degree! No matter how many times I contemplate the scenario, it still amazes me! And the 320Kb/s clip; it sounds great! Another great thing about this little audition is that folks are actually out there, putting up online auditions! I think its admirable and to be applauded! One of the simple lessons that went pretty completely unnoticed with my recent RCA and power-cable auditions of lossless .wav files was that each and every person reading the particulars has the capability to participate in their own 'File A vs. File B' auditions in this day and age - and yet, even after thousands upon thousands of readers answered my original posts on multiple discussion forums; none - not one goddamned person - bothered to proceed through the steps required to build their own (insanely simple), sub-hour process themselves! WTF!? Is the entire population of the online audiofool world that lazy or are they all brainwashed sheep, tongues hanging out, eyes glossed over, hanging on every word from A/V manufacturers; I think the answer is obvious...

March 26st    I've always been a fan of AudioHolics, Bob Carver's products and deep bass; put em' all together and what do ya get? A.H.'s review of the Sunfire HRS-12 Powered Subwoofers. $900.00 bucks a pop aint chump change, but then again, chances are you'll never again need to plop down for another set of subwoofers in your lifetime...

March 26st    Ok, thats it for me this fine Tuesday; I've had enough of DreamWeaver's idiosyncrasies for the time being. I'll sign off with a track from Monahans - I run to you.

March 21st    Hadn't intended on posting till' Monday, but this just can't wait; in hope of saving someone else from the biggest waste of two hours and two minutes of their lives;  No Country For Old Men is easily one of the single biggest disappointment of any movie rental I've yet to see.  That puts it 'down there' with some pretty miserable titles.  The acting is 'great'; aside from the fact that all of the characters that you'll recognize, act in exactly the same manner as every other show you've ever seen them in.  The script itself must have been created on a major cocaine binge; many conceptual threads begin, only to be dropped and never again resumed.  The number of 'suspensions of disbelief' / impossible scenarios, tops even the most ludicrous fairytale - simply put; its beyond pathetic.  The gore I can deal with, I've seen much worse outta' Hollywood from any number of flicks.  And the ending...  utterly disappointing in every way possible.  In fact, if you are sadistically inclined enough to even rent it, then for Pete's sake, eject the movie at the half-way point and take it back, because you're gonna' freaking hate the remainder of the flick.  I'll try not to hold back what I thought of it; its fucking shit!  No, sorry: "its complete fucking shit!"  Andrew's rating - 1.5 out of 10

March 19th    Been a busy couple of days!  "Our hockey team" - The Vees, had an even busier week; after leading the first-round of 'Junior A' playoffs three games to one, they found themselves even-up and fighting for their season in a Game 7 just a few short days later!  And what a G7 it was; their competitors, the Vernon Vipers, ice quite a battalion of excellent players and they threw everything but the proverbial kitchen-sink at the Vees in this deciding game - which we luckily won.  Lemme' tell ya' fellas, watching Junior A 'live' is much more satisfying than NHL on TV!  In honor of the absolute grinding effort I witnessed last night, I'm going to lay a couple of massive slabs of heaviness on ya' today: I'll start you off easy and migrate into complete metal-overkill as we move along :-)   Lets kick it off with a head-full of Vancouver's own Black Mountain - Druganaut  MP3 provided by the band and SXSW.  More info' about Black Mountain can be had here.

March 19th    LimeWire, that pirate-ship of the Internet - is going legit!  Yup, they have a BETA site up offering 500,000 DRM-free tracks in MP3 file format, at 256Kb/s.  The site is a little slow at the moment, very BETA, but I look forward to good things from them in the future.  They are offering a number of plans, and your end-price will basically depend on which you enroll in.

March 19th    Many of us spend an exorbitant amount of time in our automobiles, so I guess there's no reason that we shouldn't highlight an A/V discussion forum on the topic; check out Steve Meade Design's discussion group if its mobile audio you're all about!

March 19th    Great picture - so-so sound...  Broadcastroom.com has an excellent article that explores the conundrum of HDTV supplying kick-ass visual signals while only feeding us 'basic' audio signals.  Seeing as most of you reading this site are likely to be audio-geeks, you might find the subject worth a look, I did.

March 19th    Portable MP3 players are pretty cool, but they have a down-side: you generally cannot share the tunes with your friends unless you have an external device of some sort to plug into them.  Enter the Creative Labs 'Zen Stone'.  Dirt-cheap, available in multiple-colors, and able to play a variety of popular digital music file formats, this might be the answer to those times when you wanna' rock out with the boyz' but aren't keen to, or don't have the option of, plugging into an external amplifier / speakers.

March 19th    Just so you, my fellow Canucks, are up to speed with what the Canadian Private Copying Collective has up their sleeves for the 2008 / 2009 'recording season' :-), roll an eyeball over their draft titled Proposed Tariff 08/09. 

March 19th    Always one to put music ahead of insane audiofool idiocy, I bring you the unique Musicovery.com.  Like so may other 'floating-cloud' music discovery sites, Musicovery brings you a mind-numbing array of bands, but they've added the additional capability of breaking searches into 'mood', 'era' and 'Genres'.  The audio-quality isn't exactly top-notch, but the way in which it leads off one track and onto another is pretty cool!

March 19th    Those of you who are regular readers know I'm a fan of A/V receivers as the core of a system; they save a lot of space and tangles of wires, 'sound' the same as a set of separates (see our forum for unsighted auditions - damn the audiofools), and allow one to save a pile of cash on a system build.  I've generally leaned towards what Pioneer has released as they offer killer bang-for-the-buck, but recently I was shown a killer product / deal from Yamaha, and thought I should point it out to my readers.  The V663 offers all of the recent-market bells and whistles, and is available for under $500.00 online (a hair over $400.00, new-in-box on eBay).  Check it out.

March 19th    At the outset I promised you an ass-kickin', eye-ball shaking onslaught of metal; true to my word, crank the living bejesus outta' Mitra - Crucifixed  -  Free and legal MP3 supplied by the band and SXSW.  This is one that'll scare your mamma folks: SlugMag has an interesting review of the LP its taken from, I quote:

"Here’s a chronological recap of what happened when I first listened to All Gods Kill.  I was a decent person.  I opened this CD, I put in the CD player, and I instantly became evil.  This is the sort of album that has the capacity to turn any good Christian into an unadulterated axe murderer.  The album is blues-tinged, southern rooted, stripped down, no-nonsense hard rock at its best.  It makes Metallica look like a bunch of pussies and your average speed metal gods look like pretentious poseurs.  If you are familiar with (REO) Speedealer or Billyclub, the alma mater of the members of Mitra, you may begin to know what you are getting yourself into.  Frontman Kurt Grayson’s voice is used like an instrument (Iggy Pop would be proud), the versatility of which is evident throughout the 13-song album, and showcased on “Crucified”, transitioning from husky wallows to ear piercing screams.  The rhythm section, provided by Mark Her and Harden Harrison (both ex Speedealer), runs like a never faltering, well greased machine gun.  This album proceeds without so much as a moment for the listener to breath.  Each track progresses from the previous relentlessly.  I will be the first to admit that I am a pansy, but listening to this album is certainly an exercise in stamina, and a much-recommended one at that". – Brady Gunnell 

Have a great short-workweek folks, live it up to the max!  Oh, hey; while we're on the subject of heaviness - if you're of the metal persuasion, do your overtaxed brain a favour and get yourself a copy of Tool's Aenima LP - specifically the title track - which should definitely go down as one of the Top 10 best metal tunes ever written!

March 16th    Welcome back to the workweek my unknown friends!  Just think, in four short days, it'll all be over :-)   Yup, its a short work-week due to the apparent death and rebirth of the god-dude that everyone's so adamant about.  Lets celebrate this festive event with a track from fellow Canuck, Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is.  Free 192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Daniel and SXSW.  This one takes a few listens, but its one of those tracks that really grows on ya', its definitely one of my current rotation faves'.  More information on the man can be found on his www site.

March 16th    Being a huge fan of live shows, music and the Whistler Valley, you can imagine how tickled bloody pink I was to learn about a new mass-concert being held in Pemberton this summer - July 25th - 27th!  I could blabber on and on, repeating what the promoters have in store for us, or I could just point you to information on the Canada.com web site.  Afterwards, visit the Pemberton Festival Homepage for further details.

March 16th    In my daily work as a PC technician, I see a wholesale move away from classic metal-box workstations, towards laptops.  For the audiophile; this has always meant a compromise in A/V quality; until now.  Acer has just released a new series of absolutely kick-ass laptops for the North American market, check out the 8920G (16" LCD) and 6920G (18" LCD) on their website.  High-definition, wide-screen visuals compliments of onboard Blu-Ray, Dual 320 gigabyte drives, Direct-X 10, the full compliment of Dolby surround-sound modes and 5.1 speaker system (onboard sub!), 4-Gigs of RAM and a whole lot more; ya', on a bloody laptop!  I see my next PC folks...

March 16th    Whew!  I know a whopper when I see one, and this my friends, must rate as a Burger King special!  I was reading a forum the other day, the discussion was regarding power-cables (see blurb below), and one chap asked an open question: "where can I read technical reasons why power cables might make a difference in an audio reproduction chain"?  Some deluded bugger answers him by pointing the fellow to a commercial site run by the Van Den Hul company.  As far as I knew, VDH was involved in record stylus design and implementation.  Apparently the management clued into the fact that cables had a far greater potential for revenue generation than the stylus market.  As such, they've rolled out a collection of cables that put the much-maligned Monster Cable Corporation to shame.  They've also come up with a document or two describing the cable-gospel according to one A.J. Van Den Hul himself.

Lemme' give you a sample of these words of wisdom:  A (hypothetical) fellow asks a (made-up) question "When I listen to my hi-fi set, I hear everything, but there is no depth and imaging in the sound picture. What to do?"  Mr. A.J.V.D.H tells the (make-believe) chap that he should get better cables and treat the ends with V.D.H's 'The Solution' chemical (a pittance at $58.00 for a 25cc bottle) !.  Did Mr. V.D.H. consider the lad's room, his speaker placement, source material?  Nope, fancy cables and magic solution in a bottle is always the best bet to pad one's bottom line, er, I mean, to 'magically fix imaging...'  What a crock of shit!  If you have the stomach for it, or just enjoy a good comedy now and again, check out the incredibly long list of misinformation that can be had on V.D.H's F.A.Q. 'paper'.  Or, print it out and use it to wipe your butt, either way, it's about the same value...

March 16th    American Heritage has an interesting article on a legend in the music business which many of you may find interesting (from 1949 to 1953, Hank had 34 consecutive hit singles - 32 hitting the top ten and 11 going to number 1).  Titled "The Miserable Life, Death and Immortality of Hank Williams", David Rapp succinctly sums up the man and his music in an entertaining read.  Pour a drink and kick back with the article.  For those of you uninitiated with the legend; Honky Tonk Blues.  Oh, and by the way, have a Happy Saint Paddy's Day! and perhaps learn about the origins of the traditions behind it.

March 16th    That's it for a Monday morning post boyz', head off to work with your hearts set on Thursday; reach down and crank up some Lucero - The Mountain  (that's some classic rock!).  MP3 courtesy of SXSW and the band.

March 15th    One of those oh-so-rare weekend posts:  I'm kicking back, relaxing, sipping on a nice cool Nelson 'After Dark' (organic!), beer, recovering from a long day of boarding the hell outta' Apex Mt.  We received quite a decent little dump of snow last night - today was a 'real beauty'.  Some thoughts: I've posted the Power Cable  Comparison 'Take II' on a number of audiophile forums in the past few days, and have had nothing but grins and solemn shaking of my head as I watch the responses (Head-Fi appears, thus far, to be an exception).  Most appear to be stunned that someone would have the audacity to post such an evaluation in the first place :-).  the rest are scrambling to determine which component of the system used "doesn't have enough resolution" so that they can pick it apart - without having actually ever heard, owned or even seen it before I might add.

In my replies to them, I've repeatedly requested that the folks who are in disbelief simply conduct the same type of evaluation themselves (peer-review is the best way to form conclusions on differences of opinion of this nature).  Of the hundreds of terse / mocking answers I've received net-wide thus far, not a single person has offered to conduct a similar evaluation with their own hardware / software.  Instead, they've wasted countless hours attempting to poke holes in the hardware I employed and the methods I used, eternally navigating around the simple solution: try it yourself!  Oddly, they'd rather piss away hour after hour, conjuring up pointless arguments about how and why this 'cannot possibly be true'.  I used to think that the hobby was populated by adult males with better than average educations and a desire for real knowledge; over time however, I am tending to believe that its simply a horde of folks with an excess of ego and no interest in actually learning anything that might conflict with their fantasies of reality.

Its really sad that so many people in our hobby are actively willing to be manipulated by marketing con-men and don't have the balls to figure out simple concepts for themselves.  I know, I know - I've was told time and time again by my peers that asking audiophiles to conduct logical evaluations themselves was a lost-cause, but I have persevered.  I can only hope that some day I'll get one or two of them riled up enough that they'll actually get off their asses and conduct investigations / comparisons unsighted, and then, lo-and-behold, they'll finally 'get it'...  Until then, I need another beer...  Here's some Classic Canadian 'soft-rock' - Blue Rodeo - This Town (MP3 compliments of SXSW and the band)

March 14th    Finally | Friday!  Not too much left of the ski season lads, be sure to get off the couch and head for the hills cause the rains are coming and the flowers are bloomin'.  Saw tulips in the neighbour's front yard a couple of days ago!  So, what to listen to this fine Friday?  Clean that ball of wax outta' your ear and crank up Hymns - I Can't Be What You Want.  More about the band and a decent stream of other Hymn tunes can be had on their www site.

March 14th    Just what the mad-scientist ordered: Yet another Audio Forum; LowYat.net!  Check out how the craziness has affected Malaysia (English-language) - Just so you won't be left thinking that its just us over-ego'd, overfed, spoilt little bastard North Americans who have flipped our collective lids.

March 14th    Found a pretty spiffy, albeit somewhat pricy, workaround for 'the power-strip blues'.  You know the one - outboard power-blocks that hog all of the room on your power-strip, disallowing you from plugging in further components because the plugs are blocked by adjacent devices.  The Tributaries T-12 has an ingenious workaround for this problem: pivoting plugs!

March 14th    Most of us 'audiophiles' never get a chance to see 'the other side of the mixing board'.  I've always maintained that the 'air' / 'feel' / 'depth' and other assorted audiofool lingo used to describe a system's sound is actually held in the room's acoustics, speaker placement and the actual source material's mix / mastering - not some new amplification-stage / design-of-the-week from yet another bullshit 'high-end' audio manufacturer.  Lend an eyeball to a behind the scenes look at the world of Grammy-Award winning mix master Bruce Miller (Miles Davis, Yes, Mariah Carey, White Stripes, Lost Boyz, Dave Matthews, Canibus, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, and many more).  You might even wish to sigh-up with the free online BAM Audio School while you're there.

March 14th    Cut to a rocking track: Band Of Thieves - Woman.  I would like to link directly to the full track as I usually do, but the band hasn't made it available and I've yet to hear back from them.  As such, I point you to their homepage which features an auto-play Flash-script which begins streaming the rocking tune Woman as soon as you land on their site.  For the record; the tune is now stored in your 'Internet Cache' folder...  This is great, old-school, straight-ahead Rock N Roll - I dig it!

March 14th    What would a workweek be without yet another article to set audiofools strait!?  This one comes care of the lads at Audioholics.  Several years ago they sat down with respected loudspeaker manufacturer Jim Thiel to talk cables and speakers.  The conversation leans heavily on cable in this particular case however, and surprisingly, underscores a severe lack of understanding on the part of Jim with regards to the electrical properties of wire.  Be this due to Jim truly believing his own words or spilling out this nonsense for the sake of his deluded clients, I cannot say - this interview however, appears to raise questions on the man's integrity...

March 14th    Russell Smith went off like a firecracker in yesterday's Globe & Mail and I thought he made some great points.  (Snip) The CBC no longer feels there is any point to devoting an entire radio station to the more musically and intellectually complex style of music colloquially, though entirely inappropriately, known as "classical".  Have a look at the entire text on the Globe's online site. 

March 14th    In case you missed the memo: South By South West (SXSW), is on in the States at the moment.  Get an ear-load of the hundreds of bands via their Online Music Player.  You can just let it go and have a taste of the mind-boggling array of tuneage, or you can 'Fast-Forward' through the many featured artists - your choice.  If you have the patience to go through the entire list (good luck on that one), and find some outstanding bands, let me know and I'll post em' here for all to enjoy!

March 14th    Ok cats, that's it for me this week - Here's hoping you have a blast over the weekend - and remember, life is freakishly short, get out there and have an ass-kicking good time cause you never know when its your time to be worm-food...  (Seriously, two business associates from completely different walks of life died on us here in town this past week.  Both were in great shape, one 50ish the other early 60s.  Both of them 'left the rock' through different means, one on Monday, the other Thursday).  The moral of the story - don't sit around and moan - get yer' asses outside and do some fun shit man!  Oh, and crank the living shit outta' this track just for good measure: Matt King - Shanty Town  (MP3 compliments of the band).  This one will appeal to fans of off-beat punk-esq stuff along the lines of the Butthole Surfers.

March 13th    Ok, so once in a while I just 'throw stuff up here, A/V related or not - cause' I get a kick out of it'.  Flickrvision is one such post.  Those of you with a photography fetish are gonna' dig it - mouse-over the images and leave you mouse in place, as all further images will take on the effect...

March 12th    Think it'll be a short post today boyz', been traveling a lot of late and am kinda' tuckered out!  Here's a track that'll be a hit with the little lady; described as "lush indie pop with shimmering melodies, sparkling soundscapes, and beats like a train on a track": Kate Tucker & The Sons Of Sweden - Faster Than Cars Drive reminds me very much of something else, but I can't quite put a finger on it...  MP3 compliments of the band and Starbucks Records (perhaps that's where I've overheard it playing in the background?)

March 12th    The boys over at Home Theater Shack have released the latest version of Room EQ Wizard and its worth checking out!  This powerful, free software application can assist in evening out acoustic issues in your listening room.  All you need is a quality sound-pressure meter, computer and a free membership to the Shack' and off you go to decent-listening-room nirvana!

March 12th    Many of us (me included) are on the lookout for the best bang for the buck in a large 1080p TV.  I stumbled upon this UK-based site the other day and felt that it gave a pretty decent overview of what's available on an ongoing / up-to-date basis.  Check out HDTV News.com's site - I dig it!

March 12th    That's it, I'm outta' here: told ya' it was gonna' be a short one today, I'm damned tired, its late, gotta' go: tune out with this track from the unlikeliest of places: The Republic Of Iran!  Hypernova - Fairytales that don't have happy endings.  This track isn't my usual "I love it" kinda' postings, but it does strike a certain note in me.  At any rate, I post it here to show everyone that Iran isn't just about nasty dudes with funky clothing and oil...  256Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band.

March 11th    An out-of-place, yet curiously interesting post this fine Tuesday; Power-Cable leads - Do they Make An Audible Difference?  Have a listen for yourself here.  If more folks would just take an hour or so to put down something like this - the whole "power-cable-bullshit & lies" thing would fall by the wayside...

March 10th    A little late, but better than never: the 'Monday Afternoon' posts :-) . Had a hell of a great weekend folks: took in Friday's first-round playoff between our Vees and Vernon's Vipers, which we won by a landslide, then off to Revelstoke to check out their new Mt. Mackenzie Ski Resort - which by the way, kicks some serious ass!  If you're into the sport, then by no means do you want to miss a trip out their way - its massive in the Whistler / Blackcomb way, and offers a load of seriously cool terrain - with hundreds of square kilometres of expansion potential.  Lets ease into the workweek with a smooth groove from Frank Smith - Throwin' Rocks.  MP3 compliments of Frank & Ye Old Records.  More info on the band can be had here.

March 10th    Yup, the Internet holds some of the oddest 'stuff'...  This falls into the "Whatever happened to..." category: Defunct Companies - a directory of A/V companies that fell by the wayside over the years, along with a brief tidbit about each.

March 10th    I saw mention of American retailers offering up 'deals' for folks who brought their in HD-DVD players to 'upgrade' to Blu-ray decks, but nothing for us Canucks - until today: FutureShop is stepping up and allowing for a $100.00 discount if you bring in the now-defunct HD-DVD format reader and walk away with one of their 'new' multi-format decks from LG or Samsung.

March 10th    Tubes are "warm"?  Transistors are 'Cold"?  Check out this [guitar] amplifier listening evaluation put on by Georgia Technical Institute of Electrical & Computer Engineering titled 'Tubes vs. Transistors in Electric Guitar Amplifiers'.  Adobe PDF, 247Kb.   

March 10th    Many is the audiofool who will tell you that "you cannot set up your own turntable, you'll need a professional to do that" (cough... that would be the same 'professionals' who'll try an' sell you a couple hundred bucks worth of 'upgrades' and cables while in-store).  Well, as usual with these messed-up cats, they're completely wrong!  Wired gives us the obviously titled "How To Set Up a Turntable"

March 10th    Seeing as most of you reading this site are both Audio & Video junkies, I think its only fitting that I post the Official Guide to the Summer of 2008 - a summary of new movies you can look forward to checking out in 08'.

March 10th    Time for another tune don't cha' agree?  Check out Richard Swift's Paisley Park (a little Beetles-ish, no?).  Free MP3 compliments of Proudly Canadian Records.

March 10th    There's this cool cat going by the name of 'StickBoy' who keeps track of 'Classic' Canadian bands on-tour across this kick-ass country of ours, and he actually keeps his lists up to date!  Check out Canadian Classic Rock 2008 - Tour Dates.

March 10th    Everyone's got a 'favourite' old-school / classic bit of audio hardware that, for whatever unfounded reason, they still think is 'the best' of an era.  I for one recall really liking early 80's Luxman hardware - perhaps because it was what I saw hooked up to my then (and still), favourite loudspeakers: Magneplanars, in my local (Winnipeg) hi-fi shop.  Looks like Hans Hilberink has a real bug for Luxman kit as well - so much so that he's build, designed and maintained The Luxman Vintage Audio Website.  Go ahead, marvel at products from yesteryear - and know that the Luxman brand has recently been reawakened in North America.

March 10th    That's it - I'm outta' here!  Here are a couple of pics for ya':  Revelstoke Mt. and Your Wandering Editor - damned happy to be in the mountains!

March 7th    Did that week fly bye or what!?  I believe that it was made all that much easier by skipping out on Wednesday to go boarding in the mountains; as such, I'll have to work on skipping out on work more often!  What are we listening to this fine Friday?  I've heard an awful lot of good chat about The Band Of Heathens, but never took time out to get an earful - definitely 'My Bad' cause' these cats rock out old-school, think The Band / Little Feat / Townes Van Zandt and you get the picture - or just have a listen to Jackson Station; I'm sure you'll dig it and reach for the volume!  MP3 courtesy of the band.  More info' here.

March 7th    There are a few great loudspeakers designs that get short-shift in today's audiophile community: The Transmission-Line Loudspeaker model is one of them.  Robert Allen Robinson set out to dispel unfounded notions and present a comprehensive dissertation on the topic as he worked his way towards a Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering degree in 2007, at the Georgia Institute Of Technology.  Enjoy his articulate manner and well written prose here.  (Adobe PDF formatted document, 2.12 megabytes)

March 7th    That didn't take long: Lite-On and Phillips have released the first external Blu-ray drive for public consumption.  You can also purchase an internal version at a pretty decent price of $150.00.  If you're not an 'early-adopter', wait a few months and you'll start to see price erosion left, right and center on this product genera as discussed in this link where Sony executives suggest that stereo players will continually drop in price.

March 7th    There are few cats publishing independently on the Web' who's missives I place any stock in; Seth Godin is one of them.  His recent presentation to the industry, titled 'On The Future Of The Music Business' is a good read that I think many of you will find worth your time.  I agree with pretty much all of it, and in fact see this site as a component of the 'Tribe'.  Check it out (Adobe PDF formatted document, 191Kb).

March 7th    You poor frozen bastards in Winnipeg: Rejoice, there are a shipload of excellent bands making their way through your fine city over the next few weeks!  Steve Earl at the Burton Cummings Theatre on the March 10th, Lenny Kravitz at the MTS Centre on the 17th, Black Mountain & Ladyhawk at the Pyramid on the 27th and Rascal Flatts at the MTS Center on the 28th.  Hell man, those are only a few of the dozens of great acts that you should be getting off your "sitting in front of the TV on our frozen asses" and going down to see!  Check out our Jam Concert Listings link to get all the details on who is where across this fine country of ours!

March 7th    That's it for me this week boyz'.  I have, as usual, a stack of paperwork awaiting my attention, and I can only procrastinate so long before I have to break down and acknowledge that dammed stuff!  Have a freaking fantastic weekend and crank up some Luke Doucet and the White Falcon - Blood's Too Rich to get your feet tappin'!  (Free & Legal MP3 compliments of Luke and SWSW.

March 5th    Lets just kick into this right off the bat shall we: Crank the living shit outta' a track from Company : The Sad Businessman.  A little discordant near the end, guess they're experimenting with the folk genera.  More info' on the band here - track compliments of the band and Jag Jaguwar Records.  Update: The more I listen to this track, the more I dig it!  Give it a virtual 'spin' and you'll see what I mean.

March 5th    Time for a little more 'ler-nun': Check out the excellent Audio Express article 'How Horns Work'.  Leave it to the backbone of the D.I.Y. A/V industry to bring us yet another excellent essay on loudspeakers.  It supplies one with 'everything you ever wanted to know about horns' and a whole lot more that you hadn't even considered!  (725Kb - Adobe PDF File)

March 5th    Mentally insulted by what I read on the vast majority of A/V forums, I've been turning back from whence I came: Computer Forums.  Many of them discuss A/V a great deal, but the majority of the discussions are limited to that great unknown in the audiophile field: reality.  'Computer geeks' like myself are firmly rooted in factual realities, a spin-off of our stock and trade where 'everything has a reason and there's a reason for everything'.  All facets of our industry can be measured and contrasted, which leaves absolutely no room for snake-oil salesmen and shysters.  For those of you who aren't familiar with my Baptized in Fire stance on truth, respect and integrity; this is where I came from.  Check out hardforum for a taste of what I mean.  Afterward, click on over to The Register (pretty-much my all-time favourite), for a taste of intelligent tech-humour in spades, with a dollop of UK flavour.  What the hell does this have to do with A/V?, everything: didn't ya' read what I recently postulated?  "A/V and computer technology are forever linked from this generation forward".  Secondly, the core-logic | utterly definable approach that software engineers must take with their trade, forces them to be rational about the whole - if only audiophiles were on the same wavelength...

March 5th    Those of you daring enough to have ventured into the forums section will have no-doubt already seen what I refer to as "Great Coat-hanger Caper" link.  Several years ago, an educated lad was so cheeky as to see if his audiophile friends would be able to discern the difference between 'audiophile' speaker wire and... straightened cloths-hangers!  For the rest of you; here is yet another chance for you to see what happens when folks actually set their minds to finding the truth, hidden among the weeds of today's A/V hobby.  A "don't miss it" kinda' read!  As always, I strongly encourage you to conduct unsighted auditions yourself, and if you are so inclined, let me know and I'll publish the results here so that others may attempt to replicate your work.

March 5th    Extended Warranties: Buy or Avoid?  Electronic House has food for thought on their site with regards to one of the biggest conundrums facing the prospective electronics consumer.

March 5th    Another short one today boyz',  I'll leave you with a mellow little ditty by Lightning Dust | Listened On  This very much reminds me of something a 'female Curt Cobain' would crank out, mellow, but I dig it!

March 3rd    Now wasn't that a bloody great weekend?!  I was able to both ride my Mt. Bike down here in the valley as well as snowboard the living shit outta' my legs in the mountains!  British Columbia kicks some serious ass folks - we rarely get the asinine cold weather of the prairies, or the insane moisture levels of the East Coast - and we very often experience the 'dual-climate' phenomenon where its spring in the valleys and winter in the mountains!  Attended a party at a local band's home Saturday night at Apex Resort, met a load of extremely cool people. listened to a shitload of live music and discovered that I'm not half-bad at poker!  Played 'dealers call' for a few hours, and while I didn't make a pot of cash, neither did I walk away with less than what I sat down with!  Nuff' about me, lets celebrate the one and only March 3rd, 2008 with a dose of Alabama3 and their track - Woke Up This Morning.  Kinda' like soul/funk, I understand that this track has been featured on The Sopranos, Gone In 60-Seconds, A Life Less Ordinary and The Simpsons.  I've actually never heard it before, but its hits a certain funky note for me so I thought I'd share it with ya'.  MP3 compliments of the band and SXSW.

March 3rd    Who among us hasn't wondered to themselves as they listened to a particularly complex tune: "what was it the artist was trying to say here?".  Check out SongFacts and get the lowdown.  This site has a lot of different 'stuff' on it, more than enough in fact to keep one occupied for hours...

March 3rd    Into Vinyl LPs in a big way?  Then you're not gonna' want to miss The Vinyl Tourist.  This cat has put together a pretty comprehensive site that touches on five different categories: Journeys, a region-by-region guide to retail and other sources.  Discographies & Biographies, a (reasonably) complete listing of the work and history of some of the Tourist's favorite artists.  Good Sound, an introduction to better quality home play-back equipment, including specific recommendations for turntables and phono cartridges, plus tips on record cleaning and storage.  Mini FAQ, quick tips for finding albums and valuing or selling your collection.  "Have You Seen This Record?," the VT's personal Want List.  Some of his sub-links lead into 'audiofool' sites, but for the most part, the cat seems to have it together.  One of the aforementioned sub-links I found interesting, is the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society site.

March 3rd    Did you folks know that we actually have a Canadian car company?  Its called the 'Zenn Car', and fellow Canadian Rick Mercer has a great little clip on YouTube that you should definitely watch!  Support your fellow-Canucks!  (Obviously not A/V -related, but I like to throw in eco-stuff that I deem 'cool'!)

March 3rd    Well, that's it for me today, short post, but I have company paperwork to deal with as usual and need to get that shit outta' the way.  I'll leave you in Wolfgang's Vault - make the best of your time there lads, the place is chalk-full of music from every walk of life!  Go ahead and sign-up, the username / password you need can be had with any old made-up email address you want... (they don't send "confirmation emails" as do so many sites).

March 3rd    One last post; quite a while back I introduced you to a 'bar-band' called Amplified Heat and their track Heart Attack.  Its raw, mean and lowdown rock and roll - kinda' what Lemme & Filthy Phil might be part of...  I just happened upon the companion video to the track and thought I would share it with ya'.  The small .wmv flick isn't any better than the MP3 fidelity-wise, but it does capture the band in full flight!  Imagine how jacked up these guys would get ya' live after a few drinks, while on a night-out with the boyz'.

Feb 29th    So that's it for February, 2008 - there won't ever be another one, so make the most of it lads!  Never one to shy away from the completely bizarre; I bring you Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 - My Girl, Suicide - Free MP3 compliments of the band (favorite line: "And all the prostitutes are gussied up for church" :-)  More info' about the band can be had on their MySpace page.

Feb 29th    ASUS is kicking ass and taking no prisoners in the PC-based A/V arena!  I run some of their kit (Xonar PCI internal), and can vouch for the equipment's clean throughput and flexible interfaces - now it looks as though they are taking the Xonar core and building a whole lot more onto it in order to satisfy the video (HDMI) crowd as well.

Feb 29th    I was gonna' let you off easy, what, with this being the last day of the month, plus a weekend and all - but said "fuck that weak shit" and dumped this "pocket-protectors for dummies" article on ya instead.  Conversion: Issues In Hearing, Sampling, Quantization and Implementation - by James D. Johnson, Microsoft Corp. Audio Architect.   Its based on an in-browser Microsoft PowerPoint document.  I don't think that you'll be able to read it with out either Microsoft PowerPoint installed or Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer, available here.  This AES document offers honest and factual insights into digital audio technology that you'll rarely get from online discussion forums.  The slide-show is long at 79 pages, but the font is very large and there is little text on each page.  Thanks to the boyz' at Hydrogen Audio Forum for a tip-off to this document.

Feb 29th    Shit man, did you finish all that reading?!  If so, reward yourself with a listen to Batteries' track Childproof  Free MP3 compliments of the band.

Feb 29th    A few days ago I pointed you to an excellent article in which the Canadian program Marketplace thoroughly debunked the expensive HDMI cable myth.   They've recently posted another excellent article titled How does a stadium concert sell out in seven minutes?.  I've oftentimes wondered the very same thing.  Ever try to get tickets to a Neil Young show in your favorite city?  Good luck...  The Marketplace article explains this phenomenon and makes suggestions about how to make the best of a bad situation.

Feb 29th    Gee. imagine that: 48% of teenagers bought no CDs at all in 2007, up from 38% in 2006. Music downloads continue to grow, though, with iTunes leading the way.  [Of course, iTunes comprises about 3% of the music actually downloaded over the Internet these days...]

Feb 29th    Lets face it; the future is all about computer > stereo system interfaces.  Move on or get lost in the dust with audiofools who are still convinced that vinyl sounds better than digital audio and Amiga geeks who remain convinced that their archaic 'computers' are superior to what's available today.  Its time to learn How To Build Standalone NAS Systems for house-wide distribution of multimedia content.

Feb 29th    That's it, I'm outta' here for a few days / may or may not make it back for Monday's posts...  Blow out the cobwebs with some seriously heavy Canadian content: The Cancer Bats - French Immersion :-)  If you're a fan of this kinda' heaviness, check out their website.

Feb 27th    Half-way mango'!  Hump-day is upon us and rain is coming to the Wet-Coast!  This can mean only one thing; great boarding & skiing this weekend!  Ya man, celebrate with something that will throw you back to shades of your favorite high-school Queen or Blue Oyster Cult LPs: Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears Imitation of the Sky (Free MP3 compliments of the band & SXSW)

Feb 27th    I suspect that I have more than a few CSN&Y fans in the ranks of our readership - count me among you!  Happened upon 4-Way-Site the other day; it hosts what I suspect is the largest collection of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young soundboard and live recordings anywhere on the Internet.  Dig in, download, crank it up!  (Note: The actual download sequence is a little quirky, you have to be fairly patient on the last screen... a small, 'No Virus Detected' - Download File link will eventually display ~ after perhaps a minute or so of waiting, using a standard high-speed Internet connection).  I'm listening to Neil's Oct. 2007 Chrome Dreams gig in Spokane, WA as I create today's posts.

Feb 27th    Slap on your pocket-protectors, don your thickest (broken & taped) spectacles and show us your overbite... its geek-out time again!  Time and time again you'll hear audiophiles, audiofools and common-folk (not likely), discussing, ok; arguing... about dynamic range - be it between different masterings of a recording or the same recording on dissimilar mediums (CD vs. LP comes to mind...).  Up to now, there were only a handful of mediocre methods to 'score' the difference in a tangible way.  Richard Tollerton to the rescue with his software application: pfpf.  (I know, funny name, but not much worse than the crazy band names I post here every week!).  Be warned that its installation is not for the faint of heart; a decent level of computer skills are in order here...

Feb 27th    In for a little reading?  Grab a bottle of your favorite and kick back with a copy of Training For Audio-Visual Presentation In Europe's Audio and video carriers Recording principles, storage and handling, maintenance of equipment, format and equipment obsolescence.  This 329Kb Adobe PDF document pretty much covers everything you would ever want to know about the main audio/video storage formats in use today, but were afraid to ask (afraid to ask on an open A/V forum anyway, cause' you'd get the usual demented answers from audiofools...)

Feb 27th    If you're looking for Home Theater In A Box, done right~ check out Yamaha's latest lineup.  Their YHT-Series is available in four different configurations, each affordable ($400.00 to $850.00), and worth checking out.

Feb 27th    Just a short post this evening lads; I'm back to the paperwork piled up to my left; do yourself a favor and check out Canoe's 'Jam Canada' site.  It'll hook ya' up with some rockin' in your hometown or one near you this coming weekend!

Feb 27th    Aw shit, just one more tune maestro!  Lean a tympanic membrane into a little bit of Centro-Matic and their track Triggers & Trash Heaps  Free MP3 courtesy of the band

Feb 25th    Wow, look at the month fly bye!  Spring is just around the corner, lets hope we get a pile more new snow in the mountains to facilitate our ski / board habits before it turns into water and floods the lower mainland again...  What are we rocking to this fine morning - how about some Steve Dawson - At Arms Length.  (MP3 compliments of Black Hen Music),  If you dig Steve's style, check out a few more tracks on his record-company-hosted homepage.

Feb 25th    Now this is a cool marketing idea: Put together a kick-ass system in a properly designed room, spin a few absolutely classic LPs and invite folks in for a free audition!  Any Canadian dealers reading this' take note - free advertising that will get you more word-of-mouth than a half-page ad' in any audio rag!

Feb 25th    Those of us with (old), cassette or reel-to-reel tape-collections may want to take a few moments to read Wendy Carlos's If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Tape! (A Recipe for Tape Restoration).  It'll give you a heads-up on salvaging that old-school music before you inadvertently destroy it during the next playback.

Feb 25th    I continually offer up loads of reading on the site, but realize that my audience might enjoy just sitting back and using their ears to learn once in a while.  Audio-2-U offers a great many podcasts that might interesting for those of you who are into PC/Mac audio editing.  There are about 18-months worth of podcasts available on his site... Nice work!

Feb 25th    Fellow Canuck Jeff Mathurin runs a page called Biline.ca.  I've mentioned his site once before, around the time I started this site, but I feel that his tireless honesty deserves another honorable mention!   Here's a good one; Jeff's 'insider-information' on how hardware manufacturers deal with web-sites that offer favorable reviews of their products: (er; I'm pretty confident that I'll never get one of these friendly offers from cable manufacturers!)

Feb 25th    Excuse me, another what?  Another bloody audio/video forum!?  How can that possibly be?  I mean, shit man, there are so damn many already :-)   Lend an eyeball Lend an eyeball to AVReview.co.uk and let me know if you learn anything that might be of worth to post here.

Feb 26th    Nuff' outta' me this fine Monday, get yer' asses off to work and produce some 'stuff' for the world to consume and then throw into a landfill a short time later... "can't get enough of that consumer shit" (Sung to the tune of the old "Can't get enough of that Sugar Crisp").  In the meantime, reach for the volume and crank up Sweden's Amandine: Secrets (192Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band)  If you get funky with that track, pay a visit to their 'Media' page and click on the five other album covers you see listed under 'Discography'.  It'll allow you to sample tracks from each of these other releases. (Highly recommended)

Feb 22nd    Its Friday baby!  This can only mean...  its high time to commence with incessant goofing off and cranking it up!  I've a whack of tuneage for you today: lets start off with a glass of white for a change shall we.  I've just been 'tipped' with a fine bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - which I'm proceeding to sample the living hell outta'.  For the record; it kicks ass, you might wanna' get some in ya' soon; tonight would be good!  Kick it off with some Yeasayer - 2080  This dreamy little number was posted here early during mid-summer 2007, but since that link is dead, here is a newly revived one; I dig this bit of smooth weirdness just enough to bring it round'  again!  Free MP3 compliments of the band!  Next up, is something a little more mentally challenging; bend your brain around the rather rough chorus in the Kaiser Chief's Oh My God.  Finally, in case you think I've gotten altogether too fucking weird (sorry boys, too late), crank a bit of the recently deceased Willie P. Bennett (R.I.P. Dude), and his track Ballad In Low E (Low bitrate, but it kicks musically!)  All tracks, as always, are free & legal!  There is a good-bit more of Willy's work, unfortunately in similar low-bitrate, here.

Feb 22nd    I've been trading a series of email missives back and forth with the editor of Tone Publications; it seems that he didn't appreciate my recent, albeit brief, summary of his fine publication.  We've come to an agreement; he thinks I'm a grumpy old bugger and I think he's a lying fucker; perhaps we deserve each other :-).   What I cannot seem to get thought to him is this: I want folks in positions of influence in the industry to begin embracing truly open and honest unsighted auditions, and publishing in said manner.  They, on the other hand, feel that I've lost my goddamned marbles if I think they are gonna' actually tell the truth in hardware reviews.  As such; a stalemate...  Its been a long while, so I'll point it out again; if you want to read honest editorials on A/V, look no further than The Audio Critic's back-issues.  If you're new to this site - enjoy, you'll not see this kind of integrity in publishing for, I fear, a long, long time because in this day and age; lies equals revenue.  I guess its safe to assume that $50.00 Gold-plated USB Cable that Tone's editor promised to send me for evaluation / comparison to a $1.99 Value-Village cable a few weeks ago is never gonna' show :-)

Feb 22nd    Its been a while since I laid any 'hardcore science stuff' on ya' - well, 'tonight's the night' (as Neil Young was wont to day).  Boston University's When believing becomes seeing, or how the brain learns to fill in the blanks is visual-centric, but it applies equally, if not more so, to the auditory realm.

Feb 22nd    I'm not sure exactly how this is going to affect us as Canadian users of the tax-payer financed CBC Radio / TV, but it looks like there's been somewhat of a major change in the world of our A/V supplier today: Shakeup at CBC aims to integrate TV, web & radio

Feb 22nd    Time for some funny shit: now I've been a longtime country fan, specifically, the old-school; Johnny cash, Waylon, Willie and such.  My grandma pretty much embedded it in my DNA as a child, what with her spinning endless country records and popping in 8-tracks left, right and center (I think she had a serious crush on Johnny)  However, a recent article caught my eye and made me laugh aloud:  The Effect of Country Music on Suicide (!).  Adobe PDF, 683Kb.  (Ya, I know - there are more than a few audiofools who read this site daily and now wish that I'd take up a full -time diet of country & western - and maybe move to a ranch, preferably one without internet access...)

Feb 22nd    Many of you know that I dig what Monoprice sells in the way of cable.  Well, I discovered another source of A/V cables, at an equally impressive fee-schedule the other day: ShowMeCables.com.  Have a look if you're into purchasing cable with a sane price.

Feb 22nd    Looking for that hard-to-find classic A/V bit?  I happened upon an interesting Canadian site the other day called Ad-Post.  They sport a surprisingly large index of goods for sale, and all of it in Canada as far as I've seen thus far.  Check it out.

Feb 22nd    Oh Hell, why not; its Friday Afterall - another forum comes your way my friends, this time (gasp), they are of the same mindset as myself; that a vast swath of A/V today is complete marketing crap, hoping to vacuum vast sums of money from gullible pockets on-demand!  Witness The Audiophile Of Happy People (what a hilarious title!).  Its French, translated into English - care of AltaVista, but I think you'll get the gist...

Feb 22nd    This is kinda' interesting, if still something that most of us generally consider as 'a future thing': HDTV Magazine (online), has released a 'shootout' between the 'new' Apple TV and VUDU.  Its all about online content delivery and which is best.  This touches on an important fact of life around here; honest, 'show-the-public' overviews of technology.  Fuck this "Its better because I say so, and, um, well, you'll just have to believe me because I'm a reviewer" bullshit.  I'm not one of those "show me the money" cats; for me its "gimme' the facts - Jack"

Feb 22nd    Shit man, look at the clock... lemme' lay one more track on ya' and then its lights out!  This time you gotta' kinda' work for it.  Visit Joan Armstrading's www site and you'll immediately be treated to a shot of Into The Blues - by an outstanding female blues artist!  The file is a streaming MP3, so if you simply give it a minute to spool, then look into your 'Temporary internet Files' folder, you'll see the MP3 file sitting there - enabling a copy / paste if you are so inclined.  I generally like to link directly to artist's files for direct-download, but I've yet to hear back from Joan or her management team, so this is the best I can offer legally at the moment...  What a great track!  Have a fantastic weekend boyz' - do some crazy shit and live it up, cause one never knows when this freaky 'life' shit just up and dumps ya' 6 feet in the dirt (or a ceramic vase on someone's shelf...akk!)

Feb 20th    Geeze', I'm either getting old or mellow this fine Hump-Day cause' I'm really digging this pair of flat-out 'Pop' tunes!  Check out Astra Heights The March and The Republic Tigers Buildings & Mountains.  MP3s compliments of SXSW Promotions and Chop-Shop Records - respectively.  Update: I've been listening to these two tracks quite a bit lately, and damned if they don't rock the shit outta' the place.  Crank the livin' bejeeze outta' them boyz'!

Feb 20th    A post from the forum that I felt should go here (Tnx. to 'Zane9'):  Check out Marketplace tonight (7:30pm).  The storyline for the item is this: "What's the difference between a $260 video cable and one that costs $12?  If you have an HDTV or you're thinking of buying one, you'll probably want an HDMI cable to hook it up.  Some stores say more money means a better picture.  Does it really?".  Should be interesting!  Editor's note: What I would love to see is a legal investigation into the companies that market power (etc.), cables!  Those bastards should be driven off the market for their morally bankrupt, socially inept marketing practices.

Visual Epilogue: Click here to watch the video    Nice, very nice!  We get both the 'Joe Consumer' input as well as 'Techno-Geek' analysis.  They didn't mention where they purchased the $12.00 HDMI, but I suspect that it was likely eBay or Monoprice.  The link provided should open / play in the Windows Media Player (.wmv) 

Feb 20th    Dolby Labs is on the move again, and I mean literally 'on the move'.  They've just released Dolby Mobile, promising to "bring rich, vibrant surround sound to mobile phones".

Feb 20th    You wanted it, you demanded it, you..., ok, no you didn't - but I'm going to give it to you anyway...  KVR Forums (audio plug-ins and effects for audio software apps').  There is some really cool stuff however; Music theory / The Music Cafe / a Buy - Sell area and a lot more.  Hey, it beats the bloody hell outta' reading yet another idiotic post from some audiofool verbally wanking off about his cables / CD player / amplifier yadda-yadda-yadda!

Feb 20th    Good Grief!  I'm finally getting some hate mail!  Unfortunately, just one cat who seems determined to be a complete dickhead...  Said dickhead appears to think I give a flying fuck that he isn't intelligent enough to simply read other websites instead of continually returning back to this one, only to bitch at me...  Ok Fred Framus, you've had your say, now bugger off back to one of the many A/V forums which enjoy the lies and deception which you apparently so cherish...  If you wanna send Mr. Framus a line or two, feel free to contact him at framus@inbox.com  (may the spam-harvesting bots from hell mercilessly rape and pillage this email address...)

Feb 20th    Ya, that was fucked up, but it gets better!  Tone Audio has just released issue number 14 of their free A/V journal for your consumption.  I have such a struggle with this rag': its slick as a glad-handed politician, the layout is top-notch, it's musical coverage is excellent / well-balanced and they continually interview top-class artists. 

Why the negative insinuations?  Its the complete bullshit hardware reviews!  What the hells with these cats?  Are they trying to give Stereofool a run for it's money?  Perhaps hoping to pacify manufacturers in order to secure future 'offers for review' from others who also pine for equally bullshit blatant marketing?  Maybe its just that they realize that keeping rip-off hardware builders happy is an excellent way to suck in a shitload of advertising revenue?  At any rate, [the hardware reviews are] 99% complete fucking bullshit in every paragraph!  Check out page 108 for an amazingly idiotic introspective on a power-lead that they feel is a real deal at, um - $800.00 (going so far as to suggest that you may need three or four of them!).  Gee, lets see, you can be a complete dumb-ass and pay DH Labs eight hundred bucks... or, you can be a somewhat lesser ass and purchase the [exact] same components individually: $89.70 for the cable (Acoustic Tech.com) plus $172.00 for the IEC & Plug.  So there you have it; $261.70 and you pick up a screw-driver for less than five minutes, or $800.00 and you rip open the package.  Either way, you would have to be a complete and utter moron to think that a power cable will affect the sound of your audio system.  Nonetheless, why the hell wouldn't the rag' point out this simple, $538.30 difference if they were out to serve their readership?  Ya, I know: "Fuck that weak shit, its the advertisers they're worried about!".

The balance of their hardware reviews are of similar abysmally low moral quality.  If this rag' had any thoughts of an honest approach to assisting their readership in selecting decent gear they would embrace the methodology I've pushed on the site:

Record two lossless audio tracks, one with Cable A, the other with Cable B (or whatever component(s) were under review, posting both tracks and allowing the public to download / audition & decide for themselves.  Next, post two visual waveforms, one of audio through device A, the other, with the same cut through device B - allowing us to see if there is a visual difference in data pass-through.  Finally, create a lossless 'Audio Diffmaker' file for us to hear for ourselves if there is in fact any audible difference between the files (note that the Tone article specifically states "Without question, there was more music getting through to my speakers").  If you want to download a copy and read-around the hardware lies, go ahead and grab it now - beware that its a significant download at 47.4 megabytes - those fancy advertiser's graphics equal a lot of data :-)  In the meantime, I openly challenge Tone Audio to take up the cause of integrity in publishing and begin presenting their data in an honest light.

Feb 18th    That was a nice, self-imposed long-weekend.  Hope the lot of ya' took some extra time off to be with ones ya' dig as well as doing things that you love the most.  I'm enjoying a glass of my favorite red with some sharp cheddar, puttering around with some 2007 tax prep'.  Booze certainly takes the edge off sending the feds' a shitload of cash...  I figure that we aught to kick off Monday with a taste of the magnificent, and unfortunately disbanded - Drag The River - Death Of The Life Of The Party.  192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Suburban Home Records.

Feb 18th    D.T.R. come across as kinda' folksy, so I thought that you might be interested in a whole lot more: check out the free / streaming Folk Alley.  The cats over there have put together a really slick interface with which to fill your hearts and minds with an endless stream of folksy tracks.  Its a little unusual in that it offers more than just music; occasionally updating you with band info' and tour dates between tracks.

Feb 18th    This next one is pretty much American-centric, but I suppose if its accepted to the South, we'll soon see the same methods implemented here as well: FCC plan to let AM stations use FM at night.  Its an interesting article nonetheless, opening up possibilities that few of us have ever considered.

Feb 18th    So that's it then; Stick a fork in it, its done dead?... Update: it really is official this time round' - This morning Toshiba announced that the deed is done - HD-DVD is no more...

Feb 18th    Here's a mindfunk for ya', check out this curious audio illusion.  I had to listen to it a few times to be sure of what I was hearing.  So much for the "Trust Your Ears" crap boyz'...

Feb 18th    For the past few months I've been hearing about this amazing Canadian manufacturer called Space Tech labs.  I've been regaled time and time again, again how 'high-end' the company is.  So, that and the fact that its Canadian based - I got curious enough to check out the manufacturer's home page.  Imagine my disappointment when I see that they are a purveyor of very expensive tube equipment and CD players; all in OEM chassis the likes of which I can source from eBay for next to nothing.  Check out the top CD players in their range ($1680.00).  This is a basic box with a CD ROM the [exact] likes of which was on the market years ago; Creative Labs manufactured crap!  In my PC tech' shop, I've witnessed more of this manufacturer's CD players 'dead' than any other brand - hands down.  Hell, it only costs $30.00 OEM!  Oh, and the amplifiers / preamplifiers; more fucking OEM / thrown together in a backroom basic kit. 

These cats should be selling their products at a flea-markets for hundreds of dollars; not on the Web' for thousands!  Speaking of web pages; man, that's one sad example of HTML.  Perhaps it would have been slick in 1993, but its butt-ugly in this day and age!  WTF is with audiofools?  I've had a good number of them lavish praise on these; IMO, bloody ugly, ultra-basic bits of kit.  A while back I conducted an unsighted evaluation of RCA cable, employing a very nice Roksan Kandy III integrated amplifier.  Some audiofool didn't like the (null) results and writes that the Roksan "must not have had enough resolution to discern the differences in cable".  He suggested that I should have been using; gulp; Space Tech Labs kit like he uses...  Its bloody amazing; if one prices (anything) high enough, folks will look right past the crap and buy it because it is high-priced.  We live in a fucked society my friends...

Feb 18th    In contrast to the story above: an excellent 'case in point' of how audio / video kit should be built / priced.  Check out Audioholics review of the Emotiva XPA-2 power amplifier.  Very high-quality build / shitloads of power / sane pricing!  You can practically arc-weld with this fucker when bridged and it only costs $800.00.  Ya, I know, you're wining that its made offshore; so just look around your house, at the cloths you wear and maybe even the car you drive... any guesses where all that shit comes from?

Feb 18th    Ha, I like the guys at Home Theater Focus and their penchant for good old fashion honesty - check out their brief article Shopping For Audio Cables.  I might just have to cop that catchy phrase myself "The Cable Cult"... :-)

Feb 18th    I posted this one a year or so ago, but the page was loading erratically, and now that they've fixed it, I figured that it was a good time to repeat the story.  Those of you who are certain they have 'golden-ears', plug in a nice DAC and kick-ass set of headphones, then visit the Klippel Listening Test.  I can only get about three-quarters of the way before I'm more or less "just guessing".  Its a lot tougher than it seems at the outset!

Feb 18th    Ok, enough of this posting shit, its late and I still have a bunch of paperwork stacked beside me.  I'll close with another track from Drag the River - Embrace The Sound.  Tap at cha' all later in the week!  If you dig this kinda' alt/ country music, go ahead and check out their homepage.  (reminds me a lot of Steve Earl's early recordings).

Feb 14th    Happy Valentines Day you homely buggers!  Fuck that weak shit: Kick into the sappiest of non-holidays with a blast of Gringo Star - Y'All  (160Kb/s MP3 compliments of the band!)

Feb 14th    Its baaaaaak...  Devolo has launched its latest Powerline Ethernet product: an 85Mb/s adaptor designed to connect a hi-fi to a mains-hosted network so it can play streamed music.  This has been tried a dozen different ways in the PC TCP/IP industry, but has never caught on, will this be the ticket to get audio information around the home without running unsightly wires everywhere?  What will the audiofools say!?  Damn man, they'll be ripping out the copper, drywall flying all over the place, sweat pouring down their twisted foreheads - muttering under their breath "gotta replace it with Cardas... solid core affects the soundstage.. what would my friends think if they knew I was listening through solid-core... must have blacker blacks"  Those poor tormented little bastards.

Feb 14th    Those of you who sat mesmerized in front of the TV in the 70's while the General Lee flew over yet another bridgeless crossing - are gonna' get the not-so-subtle innuendo of this next political message: Patton Oswalt - The Dukes Of Hazzard

Feb 14th    Its about time for some Canadian content: check out "Your tax dollars at work", in a good way for a bloody change: CBC Radio PodCasts.  I guarantee that there's enough there to keep you busy for many an hour (after Valentines Day of course)

Feb 14th    Can you believe it: another fucking Audio / Video Forum!  Hell man, how many of these bloody things are there on the Net!?  I've listed well over a hundred in our 'List Of Other Forums' and yet, every month a few more pop onto the radar.  Check out The Art Of Sound

Feb 14th    Ok, nuff' said for today, take some time and wine / dine / jump yer' ol' lady!  I mean, fuck man, its Valentines Day!

Feb 11th    Another weekend trashed; stayed away from my stash of fine wine enough to avoid the inevitable hangover and made the most of the fresh snow falling in the mountains.  What would winter be like without gravity and my trusty board?  Fucked if I know, and I sure as hell don't wanna' find out!  Lets see, what do we have for you today; (rummaging around the Internet)... it looks like we're in for some of The Green Pajamas (ya, I know, what a freaking weird band name), and their Free track: Wild Pony.  It reminds me of what Tom Petty might do with a raunchy guitarist.  192Kb/s MP3 compliments of Parasol Records and the band.  More info' on the boys is available here.

Feb 11th    Was perusing a thread on a local forum of fools the other day when I happened upon a fellow asking "which Audioquest speaker cable should I use for this amplifier of mine".  Not that the question is unusual among audiofools, but damn man, its just so old and answered.  Lemme' give it to ya' strait kid: "any damned 12-guage or better copper wire will do the trick in a completely transparent fashion as long as the ends are stripped clean and free from corrosion.  You'll not hear a difference from any other copper / silver / gold heavy-gauge cable on earth as long as you keep the runs below a kilometer or so!".  Ok, so I gave you the harsh version, let me pass you onto the kinder tone at Audioholics for the mellow answer to your Audioquest speaker cable question.  Oh audiofools, will they ever learn?  Will they ever conduct unsighted evaluations of their own instead of reading marketing literature and accepting it as fact?

Feb 11th    I've got a real soft spot for the work of Canada's own (ok, so Levon Helm was a Yank), The Band.  I recently came upon an interesting page highlighting the work of this amazingly talented group.  The site has more or less up-to-date news on the who / what / where / when of The Band's members, where they are now and what direction their careers are heading in.  Very interesting reading for fellow Band fans.  Be sure to check out the shitload of Band covers in full MP3 file format.  Final note; each and every one of you should somehow get your hands on a copy of The Last Waltz on DVD (or check eBay, there are usually multiple copies of it kicking around there at any moment).  If you're a member of our discussion forum, I'd be glad to loan you my copy for an evening's enjoyment!

Feb 11th    Another week, another Audio / Video discussion forum!  This time its from way around the rock in South Africa!  AVForums South Africa.

Feb 11th    Now here's a cool & very affordable little gizmo: 'Active USB 2.0'  A cable which enables you to run a decent length of USB wire across a room without additional boosters.  In my case I will soon be running pretty much this distance from the desk where my laptop is situated, under the floor and up to an external USB DAC beside my main stereo system... very handy!

Feb 11th    Some curious shit!  'White Lightning Moonshine'.  You who venture near this (oftentimes scathing), site know all too well my utter dismissal of 'special cables' and other audiofool idiocy, so have a gander at what the chaps over at the notoriously idiotic '6-Moons' have cooked up; a complete set of D.I.Y. speaker and RCA cables - based on a $7.50 extension cord - which they ceremoniously laud as being up there with the best of em' as far as 'sound quality'.  I don't know what to do: offer up a standing ovation of joy that some of the biggest audiofools on earth have finally told the truth, or fall off my chair laughing that they appear to have shot all of their own deceitful promulgations over 'cable sound' in the proverbial foot with this article?  Had one taken these cables and carefully placed an exotic logo and title on it, then presented them to an audiofool 'guru', said fool' would have also lavished it with 'audible accolades'!  Fact of the matter is; as long a something in A/V has a fancy moniker and good looks, audiofools fall all over themselves paying tribute to "its sound" - and so it goes in the world of fools'...

Feb 11th    By now, most of you have heard the potentially lethal shot that HD-DVD has taken in the battle of the high-definition video formats.  From what I see overall, Blu-Ray is gonna' be king of the castle and Sony will have finally won a format grudge-match!  What many of you may not know is that Blu-ray comes in several 'flavors'.  Have a look at what the cats over on the always cool Ars Technica have to lay on ya, and the surprising player that they are pushing as numero uno.

Feb 11th    That's it, I'm outta' here for a few days, tap at cha' later in the week, in the meantime, get your sorry asses out of the house and down to a local live gig ASAP!  Let me tide you over in the meantime with Mark Pickeral's Cody's Dream (160Kb/s MP3 compliments of Bloodshot Records & the band).

Just a reminder: if you fellows dig the tracks you hear on this site, download them now as I cannot guarantee just how long the band / record company / promo-agency will keep any given MP3 available - or how long before a link / page its hosted on is modified and the link quits working.

Feb 8th    Fuckin' A, ya did it!  Welcome to the gateway to happiness: AKA; The Weekend!  Lets barrel right into it with a speedy little number from The Pendletons; Sad Songs. 

Feb 8th    Where would we be without instruments?  We spend an exorbitant amount of time discussing the devices that (re)-create sound, but dame little discussing the instruments themselves.  Was reading through the Boston Audio Societies' www page the other day (a rare bastion of honesty and integrity in an A/V hobby awash in complete and utter bullshit), and they pointed me to the excellent University Of New South Wales 'Music Acoustics' site.  A wide variety of instruments are presented in detail, including: Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass, Didjeridu, Guitar, Violin and voice.

Feb 8th    I've never really taken the time to investigate the phenomenon of 'Perfect Pitch', but just happened upon an excellent article from the Acoustical Society Of America the other day which delves into the topic, and in a very entertaining / educational manner.  Pour a glass, sit back and take some time to enjoy The Enigma Of Absolute Pitch.  (577Kb - Adobe PDF File)

Feb 8th    I don't spend much time on AudioGon, but was recently shown an interesting article about a subject dear to me: Wet-cleaning LPs.  I've been an avid fan of the method for several decades, and this c