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It invariably starts with, “What do you do for a living?” It invariably ends with, “Wow, that was amazing!” I’m talking about my experiences sharing my love of music and good sound with several people who’ve come to my house to repair, install, or sell something. I never push my passion on anyone. I wait for them to ask what I do or I wait until they need to walk through my listening room and I see their eyes enlarge to dinner plate size. Young, old, men, or women, matters not. Everyone likes music and everyone is interested in taking little break in the work day to experience something they didn’t know existed.

One young kid’s first question was, “Do you have YouTube?” He had no clue that lossless, high resolution, or high quality audio was a thing. I responded by saying of course I have YouTube and will be happy to stream it through this system. Meeting people where they are, then showing them something even better is always beneficial. After playing some YouTube streams, I remember switching to Tidal to play every song he could think of, because he didn’t want to stop listening. What about this one? What about that one? Do you have XYZ? As if I needed to “have” an album, in order to play it. Needless to say, I can guarantee he talked about the experience for a long time.

Perhaps my favorite experience of late involved my plumber Jerry. Notice I call him “my” plumber. After our shared music / audio experience, he probably calls me “his” customer as well, even though he works for a company that has been around for 101 years. Jerry is old school and wanted to do whatever it took to keep the original fixtures in our main bathroom, rather than replace them with something new and often of lesser quality. His recognition of quality is right up my alley.

After repairing the main bathroom, I invited him upstairs to see the high quality fixtures I put into the bathroom attached to my listening room. I knew he would appreciate them and I had a feeling he would appreciate my audio system. We’d already discussed my career and his first few audio systems as a kid, so it was far from proselytizing good sounding music under the guise of a bathroom fixture review.

Jerry asked to hear something on the system. I said of course, have a seat in the listening chair. The next 45 minutes was spent listening to Rush, Deep Purple, Van Halen, and every band he could think of or that I could recommend. Jerry looked like the Maxell guy, sitting in my chair very relaxed with his hand on the volume control. I told him to let it rip, he couldn’t hurt anything, other than our ears.

When it was time to wrap up the listening session, our conversation about music and good sound didn’t stop until Jerry shut the door to his work truck parked on the street. That walk downstairs, through the living room, and down the front sidewalk only takes a minute for most people. I bet Jerry and I spent 20 minutes walking, stopping to talk, walking, stopping to talk again, etc…

I have no doubt that Jerry remembers the experience and shares it with friends and co-workers from time to time. I know this because Jerry gave me his direct mobile phone number in case of an emergency, and that emergency happened the night before I had some very special guests visiting for a listening session.

I sent Jerry a text asking if it was too late in the evening to talk, and if not, seeking advice on what to do. Jerry immediately called me from two different phones and followed up with a text because neither call went through for some reason. He remembered me as if our initial meeting happened yesterday, and he remembered the music we listened to. Taking it a step further, he said he “had” to hear the Black Crowes on my system if he ever makes it over again.

Jerry walked me through fixing my emergency plumbing issue, even though I told him I was happy to call his office to schedule someone to come out in the morning. Jerry is a mensch who connected with me because of our shared passion for music, and a new interest in high quality sound.

Last but not least, I received a voicemail yesterday from my new small business banker. A young sounding kid who is new to my account, and likely going through a long list of businesses to call. In his message he said he loved the name Audiophile Style (take that all you haters / lovers of the old CA name), was a “low end” audiophile himself (whatever he means by that), and he was very interested in talking about audio with me.

I know what I need to do to share the audiophile love. What are you gong to do?

P.S. Sharing my love of music and good sound goes to another level when my 12 year old daughter and her friends come up to my listening room. It's Atmos music all day long, by request. That's a story for another time. 

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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I’m back from Boston after spending two days with the team at Goodwin’s High End and WADAX Director of Sales and Marketing Brandon Lauer, for the North American premiere of the @WADAX Studio Player. For me, this was a great opportunity to talk to people, both in the industry and out, and to spend some time listening to the new player before mine arrives here in Minneapolis.

The star of the show was certainly the WADAX Studio Player, a component that caught the attention of a few event guests for being a single box capable of replacing several, and doing it at a level they never thought possible.

In fact, one listener was absolutely certain that digital audio had peaked. He was more interested in a pair of amplifiers than anything else. After listening to some tracks, then listening to more tracks, followed by listening to even more tracks, he couldn’t believe what he heard. He stayed seemingly forever, like a kid in a candy store trying to sample every last piece. This guy repeatedly pulled up new music that he just had to hear on the Studio Player. If we are lucky, we’ve all been there before, hearing things like we’ve never heard and making long lasting memories.

I was pleased to meet one gentleman who’d been reading Audiophile Style since nearly day one, back when it was Computer Audiophile. It was enjoyable to reminisce about the early days of computer audio, using kludgy systems because we had no choice, and to see this guy’s eyes opened up by what a single box solution such as the Studio Player can accomplish.

While at Goodwin’s I had time to listen to my own music selections, in between chatting with the guys about all things audio, network, and music. Rather than use my own files from the USB stick I brought, I decided to go all-in, and use Tidal Connect for all my listening. The Studio Player supports UPnP, and will soon be Roon Ready, but nothing was simpler than pulling out my iPhone 15 Pro Max and using the Tidal app to control the music playback experience.

One of my favorite albums, Chico Freeman’s Spirit Sensitive, sounded fantastic in the Goodwin’s “big room” through the Studio Player into Spectral preamp and amp, and out to Avalon loudspeakers, with Shunyata power and MIT signal cabling. The Studio Player was completely capable of driving the amplifiers directly, but given that this was a Spectral Audio system, a preamplifier was used. The Studio Player’s adjustable output voltage and output impedance options were absolutely key to bringing this music to life and getting the best sound possible out of the system. Once the Studio Player was warmed up and configured by Brandon Lauer, Chico Freeman was realistically blowing his horn between the loudspeakers and Cecil McBee’s bass strings were being plucked right in front of me. The realism of the presentation was wonderful.

One track that really surprised me on this system was Van Morrison’s Madame George, from his 1968 Astral Weeks album. I’ve listened to this track a million times. I love it because it sucks me into the music and the story, and it enables me to forget about the world outside for nine minutes and forty-one seconds. Listening to Madame George on this system, through the Studio Player, revealed one of the blackest backgrounds I can remember. It was as if the recording artifacts were completely gone and musicians were playing live.

Given that the entire “big room” system is different from my own reference system, I could never say that any single component is responsible for a specific attribute I heard or didn’t hear. What I can say is that the system as a whole, pulled me into the music emotionally. That’s what I’m after when listening to music. I want to feel something rather than just hear something.

The playback performance I heard at the Studio Player’s North American premiere was terrific. Like many people, I believe good sound starts at the source and without a good source, nothing further down stream really matters. The fact that the sound was this good should at least tell us something about the Studio Player. It’s completely capable of driving a reference level system to great heights.

My Studio Player can’t arrive soon enough. Look for not only a full review here on Audiophile Style, but also some updates on my experience with the Player after it arrives.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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Hi Guys, I’m back from the WADAX event at Goodwin’s High End in Boston, although I wish I would’ve stayed in the city because Pearl Jam is playing Fenway Park again tomorrow. While I work on my write-up of the events and WADAX studio player, I encourage everyone to check out this podcast called Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters. I listened to the latest episode with Shelby Lynne last night and absolutely loved it.

I didn’t really get into Shelby Lynne until her album Just A Little Lovin’. I got even more into her on her following album in 2010 Tears, Lies, and Alibis and saw her on that tour at a tiny club called the Dakota here in Minneapolis. Those two albums remain my favorites of hers, but all of them are good and most importantly from the heart.

For a peak into her soul and songwriting, checkout the latest episode of Songcraft. It’s really neat to hear her talk about herself and how she creates this beautiful music. Plus, she doesn’t hold back any opinions. She’s so refreshing.

Click the image below to listen:

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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Hi Guys, just a quick note today to encourage those in the Boston area to join me at Goodwin’s High End for the US premiere of the Studio Player from @WADAX. Brandon Lauer, the WADAX Director of Sales and Marketing, will be on hand to provide all the details one could want about the Studio Player and to facilitate playing all one’s favorite music through the new player.

I’ll be there listening until I can listen no more, because I’m really excited for the Studio Player, but I’ll also be there to host a Q&A about all things digital / computer audio related. My favorite part of any event is talking to everyone and offering any help I can provide, so please bring questions. I’ll be there to help until they kick me out :~)

Where;  Goodwin's High End, Waltham, MA

When: Thursday, September 12, 2024

Time: 2:00 - 7:00 PM

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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1984 / 1985

One morning in June of 1984, having recently completed second grade, my friends and I were hanging out in my garage. Unsupervised, like every kid over the age of five, we sat on our BMX bikes and pondered where we’d ride to next. Then we saw it. A huge truck with what looked like miles of thick cabling. Our eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Cable TV was about to be installed in our neighborhood!

During the next week, my brother and I lobbied our parents like never before, to get us cable TV. We had no clue what was on cable TV, but we knew we wanted it. Our parents said channels such as HBO and Showtime were way too expensive at $5 per month extra, but we could get basic cable, and a guy would be there to complete the installation in about one week. I immediately biked over to my friend Jamie’s house to deliver the news, life was never going to be the same!

As a kid with a collection of The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen cassettes, I stumbled upon MTV and discovered music I didn’t know existed. Equally as important, and bringing this back around to the topic at hand, I discovered WGN TV broadcast out of Chicago. What’s more, the Chicago Cubs played all 80 home games at Wrigley Field during the day. I’d never seen such a beautiful baseball stadium, with announcer Harry Caray equally as colorful. I watched every Cubs home game for the rest of the 1984 season, and learned quite a bit about baseball from commentator Steve Stone.

May 6, 1985 was a day I’ll never forget. My dad pulled me out of third grade for the day, I took my first ride on an airplane, and watched my first Cubs game at Wrigley Field. If I wasn’t converted by WGN TV the previous summer, I was fully converted to a lifelong Cubs fan as soon as I stepped into the “The Friendly Confines.”

1991

It all started with unforgettable opening chords played by Stone Gossard and a striking vocal from Eddie Vedder. 

Son, she said
Have I got a little story for you
What you thought was your daddy
Was nothin' but a 

My friend Mike and I looked at each other and said, What the fuck was that! It was Pearl Jam's "Alive." Pearl Jam's debut album Ten came out August 27, 1991 and my life was never the same. Needless to say, the start of my sophomore year in high school and the second half of 1991 was the most transformative time in my music loving life.   

Pearl Jam's Ten was busting at the seams full of music that mattered to me and the sound was like nothing I'd heard previously. In no time, I memorized every lyric on every track. These guys cared about people and stood for something. They were angry at the man. They supported women as equals, as opposed to the debaucherous and demeaning actions of my old favorite hair metal bands. I felt every lyric and every riff as if this was an album made just for me, but at the same time I felt the movement that just had to be coming. There was no way to hold this down. Everyone was going to hear this stuff very soon. 

After reading the liner notes, front to back and back to front, many times, I sent a letter into something called the Ten Club, P.O. Box 81429, Seattle, WA 88108. I wanted to be a part of whatever the club was about. It turned out to be Pearl Jam's official fan club. I received a response asking for around $10 to join the club. At the time, $10 was a bridge too far. I could either buy a CD or be a member of this club. I skipped the club membership, went back to Down in the Valley, and purchased Toad The Wet Sprocket's album Fear, also released August 27, 1991. Toad's album Fear began my decades long interest in the band and the solo work by singer Glen Phillips.

In 1992 I saw Pearl Jam perform at Harriet Island, across town in St. Paul, during Lollapalooza. By the time the band went on stage I was somehow separated from the friends I went to the show with, and there was no stopping me from getting very close to the stage to see these guys up close in person for the first time in my life.

Over the years, my love of Pearl Jam has only grown. Mike and I went to Cheap-O Records at midnight on October 19, 1993 to purchase the band’s second album Vs., then stayed up way too late listening to and trying to decipher the meaning of each track. The following day at school was worthless for both of us, but we’d have given up an entire week of school for the midnight experience we still talk about to this day.

I’ve seen the band many times here in Minnesota, the PJ20 anniversary concerts at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, at Fenway Park, and a show in 2022 at Madison Square Garden. Pearl Jam always delivers, never “phoning in” a show or just going through the motions. The setlists are always custom for each show and by the end of the evening, every fan feels like s/he got far more than their money’s worth.

2024

Back in 1985, 1991, and most of the surrounding years, it would never have dawned on me that some of my favorite things in life could be experienced together and that the experience would be much better than the sum of the parts.

Last week my wife and I drove to Chicago, met up with my friends Mike (same Mike from 1991), Pat, Kent, Mike, my brother Dave, and sister in law Holly, to attend two Pearl Jam concerts at Wrigley Field. Few things in life are better than friends, family, Pearl Jam, and Wrigley Field combined. Heightening the experience is the fact Chicago is singer Eddie Vedder’s home town, and the band loves to play Wrigley Field. During a break in the music Vedder recalled all the places in Chicago the band has played, ending with Wrigley Field and saying, “This takes the cake.”

We entered Wrigley Field through the left field gate on Waveland Avenue, obtained our “field” wrist bands, and proceeded to walk under the bleachers and onto the field. As we all stepped on to the field, the collective goosebumps and smiles were unforgettable. Walking inches away from the storied green ivy, looking up at the rooftop seating across the street, the magnificent scoreboard with Dark Matter World Tour displayed, and the newly hung Pearl Jam flags on the left and right field foul poles, we all felt like kids without a care in the world. I turned to my friends and said, “Look at us, we’re in center field!”

Our seats for both shows were straight out from the stage, in the middle, where any self respecting audiophile would choose to sit. Without an arena roof to contain and amplify certain frequencies, the sound of this show was fantastic! There’s nothing like an outdoor concert, when the weather is beautiful, for sound quality.

The setlists for each night were wonderful. There was something for the casual fan and as Eddie said, something for the serious collector. Starting the first show with the song Release is my favorite way the band eases into a concert. Listening to the lyrics, looking up at the sky, and taking in the warm air and visceral impact of Jeff Ament’s bass is an otherworldly experience for us fans of the last 34 years of Pearl Jam.

The majority of the setlists were different for each show, with a little overlap for the new Dark Matter songs and a couple others. I was happy to hear the Dark Matter songs both nights because I’d yet to hear them live. I loved every minute of all of them, and could’ve listened for a third time.

My favorite Pearl Jam song is Given to Fly. I was elated the band played it both nights. I didn’t expect this, but was happy to throw my “arms wide open” and sing aloud like my life depended on it. Hearing and singing this song live never gets old.

In the middle of each Pearl Jam concert Eddie plays a couple songs solo. The first night was easily my favorite Eddie solo performance I’ve ever seen. As he walked out with his Gibson acoustic guitar, I removed my earplugs. I knew the sound would be just perfect this way, as he started into the song Just Breathe. As he plucked the strings and delivered the emotional lyrics, I captured a short video for my friend Maier who couldn’t make the show, and sent it off to him before the song was over. It’s Maier’s favorite Pearl Jam song, and I at least felt like I could experience it with him a little bit this way.

After Just Breathe, Eddie told an at times funny and at times tear jerking story about Tom Petty, before everyone lit up their phones and sang Tom’s I Won’t Back Down with Eddie. I will never forget listening and looking around me to see all of Wrigley Field lit up with phones. Although I’d prefer the old school Zippo lighter being held up by everyone, I understand it’s 2024. It was a very special moment, shared with 40,000 people.

The lighting and visual imagery on large screens behind the band were amazing. Every other time I’ve seen Pearl Jam, the band has had a pretty naked stage, focusing on the music much more than the effects. This tour is very different, and it was never more apparent than hearing and seeing them play Do The Evolution.

Casual fans may not realize the Do The Evolution video was originally directed by Kevin Altieri (Batman: The Animated Series) and Todd McFarlane (Spawn), premiering August 24, 1998. The accompanying video for the Dark Matter tour live shows is stunning to see on giant screens, while the band grooves extremely hard, and the crowd sings while raising its hands, “I'm a thief, I'm a liar - There's my church, I sing in the choir - (hallelujah, hallelujah).” I don’t smoke, but I felt like a cigarette after this song.

At the end of all Pearl Jam shows, Kille Noble the band’s lighting designer, flips on all the lights, enabling the band and fans to see everyone. This is always a double edged sword because we know the show is coming to an end, but it’s so damn cool to see everyone singing and having the time of their lives.

The end of these two Chicago shows was as spectacular as I could’ve ever dreamed. The first night closed with Alive and Rockin’ in the Free World. The second show closed with a mix of songs that blew my mind. It started with Alive, then Baba O’Riley, then what Vedder calls Yellow Wing, a mix of Yellow Ledbetter and Little Wing!

The following video isn’t mine, but I have to include it here, to better tell the whole story. As Alive starts, around the 4:55 mark of the video, a famous Chicago “L” train can be seen on the left, going by Wrigley Field passed the Addison stop, toward the Sheridan stop. I encourage everyone to watch the whole thing, to get the vibe, before the lights are flipped on around the eight minute mark. The video doesn’t do it justice, but at least people can see what I’m talking about, what pulls so much emotion out of me, and what my friends, family, and I will remember the rest of our lives.

Epilogue - Ishnala

On the drive home from Chicago Sunday afternoon, my wife and I stoped at the Ishnala Supper Club. Those who aren’t from the midwest may have no idea what a supper club is, and I don’t blame them. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, supper clubs are always a place for prime rib, old fashions, and an old school 1950s vibe. Ishnala is the best supper club I’ve ever visited, by a mile. The outside grounds are beautiful, right on Mirror Lake, and the inside feels like a time warp. There’s old wood paneling, animals on the wall (not my thing but I get the vibe), and a staff that’s friendliness is second to none. If you’re ever near Wisconsin Dells, or heck even if you aren’t, I highly recommend visiting Ishnala Supper Club. Even the vegetarians near us loved it.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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Many of us remember 1GB hard drives, and 4MB modules of RAM for that matter, followed by the explosion of storage capacity for less and less money. Once hard drives got large enough and cheap enough, it was game-on for those of us looking to move our collections of music in lossless quality from thousands of individual discs to a single disk with immediate access. What could possibly go wrong? Life was good. Or so we thought.

Data / Music Storage

In my previous life I designed, configured, and managed, among other things, large storage area networks (SAN), mirroring and synchronizing data around the globe. Digital data storage and its fragility has always been top of mind for me. However, I completely understand that most people have busy lives, other interests, and don’t care to learn about data storage. Just like Post Malone sings in one of his new songs, many people have “A Guy for That.” Whether that guy takes care of everything or that guy is a nephew who answers one’s questions at Christmas time, the bottom line is that most people just want their music accessible quickly when they tap play on a tablet and prefer not to think about storage.

Well, consider this article food for thought in reevaluating how you store your music collection. Two recent items reminded me of the importance of keeping music storage top of mind not only for me, but for the Audiophile Style community. By top of mind in this instance I don’t mean that we should constantly be thinking about it or have a command of it like a professional. I mean we should have a grasp on the concepts, implement a robust music storage strategy, and checkup on it once in a while.

1. Last week a friend contacted me because something wasn’t right with his music storage solution I’d setup for him in 2020. Four years ago I configured two solid state QNAP NAS units in his house. One runs Roon and contains the music files Roon uses for playback. The other contains an automatic backup of the music files. In addition, the backup QNAP uploads the music files to Backblaze monthly. A robust music storage solution, but not infallible.

2. Yesterday, an industry friend sent me an article from Mix Online (link), about an attempt by archiving company Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services, to get the word out about issues with the hard drives the company stores for record labels. As a music lover, this article depressed me, but as someone who understands data storage it didn’t surprise me at all.

According to the article:

• One-fifth of the drives Iron Mountain recently tested were unreadable.
• The music stored on disks at Iron Mountain isn’t just that recorded digitally, but also that which was transferred to digital from deteriorating analog tapes.
• Even when hard drives work, sessions created in Pro Tools or any other app from 25 years ago may not be usable because of a lack of backward compatibility or plugins, apps, or operating systems.
• The need for immersive mixes is also uncovering many disks that aren’t readable.

Delicacy, Compatibility, and Longevity

The one thing that makes me jealous of Michael Fremer is that a vinyl album he purchased as a sixteen year old in 1964 could be placed on the shelf, forgotten about for the last sixty years, placed on a turntable today and still be playable. In fact, if the album was forgotten about for sixty years, its pristine condition will make it even more valuable. On the other hand, I purchased Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten as a sixteen year old in 1991. Does anyone think I’ll be able to spin that Compact Disc in 2051? Not only will CD players be non-existent but the CD has no chance of lasting that long. But, I can hear all the tech nerds saying, what about the ripped version of the album in my library? For the answer to that I refer everyone to the previous paragraph about Iron Mountain. If left on a hard drive and stored away, my ripped version of Ten will be toast.

Digital music storage is delicate, whether it’s on a spinning drive or one of the solid state variants. It also suffers from compatibility issues in the form of drive interfaces (SCSI, IDE, SATA, NVMe, USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, etc…). Both of these issues also play into a lack of longevity for digital formats, whether that be software or hardware.

Fortunately, music loving audiophiles don’t have to suffer the same fate as music labels who ship their masters off to a dark, cold, cavernous storage facility. We can more easily address the issues that may ruin a musical masterpiece for a record label. Here are some ways I’ve addressed digital’s delicacy, compatibility, and longevity issues. If these are a bridge too far for you, just get “a guy for [it].”

Belt and Suspenders:

NAS to NAS to Cloud - As I mentioned above in the system I setup for a friend, this solution is robust. A NAS for storing music files, that’s accessed by Audirvana / JRiver / Roon / JPLAY / MinimServer whenever music is played. A backup NAS that automatically looks at the music NAS for changes, and backs up those changes every day. The backup NAS also backs up its data to a cloud service, such as Backblaze or iDrive, monthly. I select monthly, rather than nightly or weekly, cloud backups for one reason, in case shit hits the fan. By that I mean in case I accidentally delete something or in the event malware locks up my entire NAS for ransom. If the corrupted music files are backup to the cloud before I notice anything is wrong, then I’m SOL. One month gives me plenty of time to discover an issue and restore from the cloud.

Server to NAS to Cloud - This approach is identical to the above approach with the exception of the music files that are accessed for playback being stored on the server, not another NAS. Using one of the excellent music server options from Lumin, Aurender, Innuos, etc… is common and highly recommended. I love those solutions. With music stored on the server, things tend to just work. A NAS then reaches out to the server looking for changes to the music files, and backs up those files to its drive(s) daily. This NAS also backs up its data to a cloud service, such as Backblaze or iDrive, monthly.

NAS to HDD and Cloud - I’ve been using this approach, in addition to others, for years and think it’s great because it’s a bit less expensive than using two NAS units. I store my music on a NAS. Then I run daily automatic backups to locally attached spinning USB drives. In addition, I backup the music files from the NAS to iDrive monthly.

My locally attached HDDs are 12+ terabytes, and formatted as exFAT. This is key because exFAT can be read by Linux, macOS, and Windows. I want maximum compatibility in a disaster. The NAS also sends me an email if something goes wrong with one of the disks or an automatic backup job.

Note: Backups come in two flavors. One it terrible for compatibilty, while the other is perfect. I reccomend never using official backup software / applications that store the backed up files in a unique format or format other than straight up files like the original data. Some day in the future this special format will be incompatible. Just backup the files as files, so you can also look at the backup, see the files as they also exist on the "gold" copy of the data, and even recover a single file by right-clicking, hitting copy, then pasting it wherever you want. 

Be Careful and Do Something

I know many people who use a computer for playing their music, backup to a USB drive once in a while, and once in a blue moon take a backup copy to the office for offsite storage. This works, just as well as it works for engineers in the studio and the labels who then send the music to Iron Mountain for long term storage. It’s also fraught with potential pitfalls that will leave music loving audiophiles devastated.  From delicacy of drives, to compatibility and longevity, this solution is seriously lacking in everything except short term expenditures.

What’s inexpensive now, can cost dearly in the future. The expensive part of losing music isn’t just the music itself, but also the time we’ve all put into our collections. This stuff isn’t all available from streaming services. Mobile Fidelity, Analogue Productions, Audio Fidelity, Impex, vinyl rips, tape copies, etc… are all cherished on our local drives and no doubt ripped and tagged with OCD-like precision.

More than anything, I hope this article gets members of the Audiophile Style community thinking about their music, its storage, and how best to handle both for the long haul. There are many more ways to approach music storage and backup. Those I mentioned above are good for many, but not for all. There isn’t a silver bullet for this stuff. Do whatever works for you, whether that’s a hybrid of something mentioned here or a repudiation of these options in favor of something else entirely. Whatever you do, do something.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

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A short, but sweet and satisfying sonic update today.

Like all self-respecting audiophiles, I have an audio bucket list. Several years ago I participated in a dealer event that enabled me to spend time listening to the B&W Nautilus loudspeakers. Up to that point I’d only seen them in photographs and read about the story behind the speakers. I’d longed to hear them in person. Checking the Nautilus box was very enjoyable.

This week I had the good fortune of checking off another audio bucket list item, and I will never forget the experience. I spent a couple days listening to David Wilson’s Magnum Opus, the Wilson Audio WAMM Master Chronosonic. It may be hard to believe that seven foot tall loudspeakers and a matching pair of WAMM Master Subsonic subwoofers can disappear from one’s consciousness while sitting directly in front of them, but once the music starts, the speakers are gone.

I’ve never heard a better loudspeaker. Period. The texture, detail, separation, palpability, and overall musical experience was second to none. No matter what music I played, I never had the thought that it would sound better on speaker XYZ or using driver technology ABC to reproduce it. The WAMM was sonic perfection.

I pulled myself out of listening mode a couple times, to assess the sonic differences between my own Wilson Audio Alexia V speakers and even the Wilson Chronosonic XVX. While I absolutely love my Alexia V speakers, they will never do the things I heard the WAMM Master Chronosonic do, nor do them at a level I’d only dreamt was possible. Along a similar line, the Chronosonic XVX also does many things my Alexia V can’t do, and I’d love to have the XVX as my every day loudspeaker because it’s just that good, but the XVX is also no WAMM.

WAMM is my Mount Everest of loudspeakers, capable of presenting an entire symphonic orchestra or an acoustic singer / songwriter on stage right in one’s listening room. I often couldn’t believe what I was hearing when listening to music I know very well. The separation of musicians and instruments was likely the most amazing aspect of what I heard. It was the exact opposite of an entire orchestra that emanates from two loudspeakers. The WAMM’s presentation made Stravinsky Conducts Le Sacre du Printemps (Columbia Symphony Orchestra) sound like there was a loudspeaker for each musician on stage. The separation was mind blowing, and the entire performance retained amazing delicacy, transients, and musical engagement like I’d never experience.

I didn’t set out to write about this listening experience, but the more I listened to the WAMM Master Chronosonic the more I thought I had to at least share a little bit of what I heard with everyone who may never get the opportunity. Only 70 pairs of WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeakers will ever be built, and the cost is certainly prohibitive for most people, including myself. I have to thank The Audio Salon in Santa Monica, CA for enabling this bucket list audio experience. The WAMM Master Chronosonic checks an item off my bucket list, and checks absolutely every sonic box imaginable for those of us who love music.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

    Audio: Listen to this article.

Vinyl was before my time. The first music I owned was purchased on cassette, followed by compact disc. As an eight year old in 1983, I saved up all my money to purchase Def Leppard’s Pyromania on cassette at Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park, MN. I listened to that album start to finish for weeks on end. I read the liner notes front to back, more times than I can remember. I knew all the words to all the songs and appreciated even the deep cuts, as if they were more important than the hits.

Later that year I found a tear-out flyer in Circus Magazine for the Columbia House mail-order music club. Let’s set aside the conversation about what an eight year old was doing reading Circus Magazine and entering into a binding negative option billing contract, for the moment. The Columbia House flyer promised eight cassettes for one penny. My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Amazing, I thought.

I took a penny from my dad’s change jar, scotch taped it to the postage paid flyer, and walked it straight down to the mailbox at the end of our driveway. As a free range kid without much supervision, I then hopped on my BMX bike to meet some friends in the neighborhood, probably stopping on the way to get a refreshing drink out of some random garden hose. Those “free” cassettes were forgotten the moment I bunny-hopped the curb.

Six to eight weeks later, a box of cassettes arrived, surprising both my parents and I, for vastly different reasons. To this day, I couldn’t remember a single band or album name listed on one of those cassettes. The only memory I have is using a brown paper lunch bag for my new cassette collection. Yet, l have vivid memories of saving my money to purchase Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil on cassette from Down in the Valley, in Golden Valley, MN at the end of 1983. Playing the cassette start to finish, reading the liner notes front to back, and endless hours of enjoyment soon followed.

This story repeated later in 1989 when I purchased my first compact disc, Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever, and subsequently signed up for the Columbia House CD club to bolster my collection. I have no clue which ten CDs I received for the price of one at something like $18.95 plus shipping and handling.

Hopefully members of the Audiophile Style community see a bit of themselves in this story, and see where I’m heading with it. The medium doesn’t really matter. It’s about working for something, scarcity, and focus, among other things.

I started streaming music as soon as it was available. Sure the quality sucked, but the amount of music for essentially nothing, was amazing. Call the $9.99 monthly charge whatever one wants, I call it essentially free. We all know how the story went in the ensuing years. We eventually got unlimited high resolution streaming for, hang on I have to look it up because it’s that insignificant, roughly $10-$20 per month. As high resolution catalogs increased, our collective amazement of what we were witnessing only grew. We asked for everything and we got everything. But, has the dog finally caught the car?

Now that we have everything at our fingertips, for essentially free, we should be enjoying this unlimited music collection more than we ever enjoyed our limited collection of cassettes, CDs, and perhaps vinyl records. I accept that some people are happier than ever with this situation, and I’m happy they are happy. However, over the last couple years I’ve rediscovered how much more enjoyable it is to purchase music rather than stream it. Wait, what? Yes, I can’t believe I’m writing an article about my increased enjoyment of purchased music and a somewhat inverse relationship with unlimited streaming services.

A gallon of fresh lake water in Minnesota, a gallon of salt water in Hawaii, and a bucket of sand in the Sahara all have something in common. They are essentially everywhere in those locations and free. In other words, worthless. One could make a similar argument about streaming music from all the major services today. Not even the video streaming services can claim this amount of worthlessness because none of them off everything for nearly nothing. Yet, the music services give us everything, everywhere, for either our time listening to commercials or a tiny monthly fee.

I would never have realized this until I put together my immersive audio system and started buying music that can’t be streamed. We can’t stream lossless immersive audio or even the four channel quad releases of the 1970s. As such, I’ve purchased every release in Rhino’s Quadio series, nearly every Atmos Blu-ray in the Super Deluxe Edition surround series, tons of lossless Atmos releases from Immersive Audio Album, and even more physical Blu-ray releases from individual artists (Pearl Jam, Frank Zappa, and yes the Def Leppard Pyromania lossless Atmos release). I literally have stacks and stacks of purchased digital audio, and I value it much more than anything I can stream.

One example of this arrived last week. I received the Bread album Baby I’m-A Want You in quadraphonic and two channel stereo, in 24/192 PCM on Blu-ray. It was part of the latest four album release from Rhino that included Bread, Duke Ellington, Graham Central Station, and Bette Midler, all in four channel quad on Blu-ray.

I’d only heard of the band Bread in passing. Couldn’t previously name a single song from the band, and would never have taken the time to listen to Bread in the past because I had a zillion albums to stream for free. Why listen to Bread when I can listen to ten seconds of a bunch of albums I’ll never listen to again? Only kidding, but there’s some truth to that statement.

Since last week I’ve listened to this Bread album probably 15 times, start to finish, read the liner notes, and looked up more information about the band. I’m now invested in the band and its music, and I’m enjoying it 100% more than I ever would’ve through streaming. I’ve found songs on this album that I totally love for the music, and the sound quality. At the same time, I think I’m neglecting the other four releases that arrived last week, and can’t wait to dig into them. But, I’m on a roll with Bread and will get to Ellington’s New Orleans Suite shortly.

Not only am I enjoying this music more because I purchase it and it has meaning / worth to me, but I’m also discovering just as much or even more music than when I only streamed from the firehose of free music. Looking over the list of albums I’ve purchased in just this Quadio series, I’ve never listened to 75% of the bands and 99% of the music until I purchased it. In addition, I don’t know the last time I listened to The Doors, prior to getting the newly released Atmos version on Blu-ray. The same goes for many other artist and albums.

I still struggle to believe how much more I’m enjoying the music I’ve purchased over the last couple years, over the unlimited buffet I was previously used to from streaming services. I still subscribe to Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal, but they aren’t nearly as enjoyable as ordering an album, waiting for its arrival, opening it up, pressing play, reading the liner notes, and doing it all over again when a new release is available. I highly recommend other music lovers try this, if they haven’t already. Perhaps I’m just late to the party. At least I’m here and I love it. Now back to Bread.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

    Audio: Listen to this article.

A handful of years ago I’d never heard of WADAX. I cautiously pursued the company because of its flagship Reference DAC, Server, and PSU. As someone who espouses the wonders of fine digital audio, I felt compelled to at least give the components a spin. In addition, I started asking around about the company, to see if anyone knew its CEO Javier Guadalajara. Sure I wanted to meet him, from a business perspective, but more importantly I wanted to know about him and his team as people. In other words, are they good guys.

Fast forward a couple years, at the Munich High End show. I had a chance to listen to the Reference DAC and very briefly talk to Javier. The room was buzzing with activity, and I didn’t feel right about asking for specific music or pulling Javier away from everyone else seeking his attention. When I eventually left the WADAX room, I thought there was definitely “something” there, but I’d need more time with both the product and people.

All the stars aligned this year at the Munich show. Thanks to WADAX Director of Sales and Marketing Brandon Lauer, who not only made time for me at the show, but also made sure I talked to Javier and COO Cayetano Castellano, as well as sat in the sweet spot for a listening session. I left Munich this year knowing that I really like these guys, Brandon, Javier, and Cayetano, and feeling excited about the new WADAX Studio Player’s eventual arrival in my own listening room.

To be honest, things don’t always go this way. Sometimes the product is great, but the people have, let’s just say “different” ways of conducting themselves and their business that don’t align with my beliefs. Other times, the people are wonderful, but the products aren’t ready for prime time. This time, with WADAX, it was a home run.

I’m thrilled that, as of today, WADAX now has its own sponsored forum here on Audiophile Style because it will enable everyone in this community to learn about the products AND the people, in an interactive way. I’ve spent a little time with the team, learning about the products, but I’m far from a definitive source on the unique aspects of what WADAX is doing digitally. There’s nothing better than getting the information straight from the horse’s mouth, and having a real conversation with the people creating the products.

It’s also important for everyone to see that there are humans on both sides of this wonderful hobby, who often share a passion for recorded music going back many decades. We, myself included, aren’t just screen names behind a keyboard, and manufacturers aren’t just products and logos. I have a feeling that the great people who’ve helped build this community will interact with WADAX in the forum and eventually say hello to Brandon at audio shows around the world, revealing their screen names from Audiophile Style with a big smile and a handshake.

Please help me welcome @WADAX to the Audiophile Style community!

Join the conversation here - WADAX sponsored forum