Category: Home Audio
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On Mic Preamps
I recently rewired my home studio and added the capacity to include some outboard gear in the process. Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing some recordings to work out the kinks and get set up to record a new batch of originals that I’ve been working on. As is inevitable once my recording…
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Re-listening
The shift to hosting a personal Navidrome server has shifted my listening habits, fostering more repeated listening contrasted with Apple Music’s constant novelty aspect.
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On Listening
Let’s start by agreeing that there is so much great music out there—old and new—that it’s not possible to listen to all of it. Today, discovering new music now can feel like drinking from an algorithm-fueled firehose, but I can remember before the internet came around where all we had were music magazines, really good…
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AirPlay 2 on Shairport
This is still in its infancy but it’s fantastic to see AirPlay 2 support making its way into Shairport/Linux. I haven’t tested this yet as I’ve been buying old AirPort Express (amazingly, they support AirPlay 2) devices to replace my Raspberry Pi’s but it’ll be fun to pull out a raspberry pi and try to…
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Apple Lossless Dolby Atmos
I scored a great deal on a NAD receiver/amplifier (with a phono preamp!) recently and finally had a chance to run it through its paces into my KEF Q150s. I primarily listen to vinyl through this setup but also have an older AirPort Express going into an outboard DAC via optical out so that I…
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Library Management of Live Grateful Dead Matrix Recordings
For the past several months I’ve been using Roon audio server to handle my home hi-fi listening. It’s a slightly pricey subscription model for what I use it for and I’m actively looking for an alternative. Basically, I just want a box that holds a bunch of lossless audio files and serves them up to…
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Zoom volume and Music Volume control with Keyboard Maestro
My new favorite Keyboard Maestro shortcut allows me to toggle between audio outputs (Built In Output device and my USB output). The Built in volume controls my iMac speakers, the USB output controls my Amp. So, combined with the superb Rogue Amoeba’s SoundSource, I can easily bounce back and forth between controlling my music volume…
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Good Grateful Dead Matrix Recordings
On facebook the other day, a friend asked for some Grateful Dead live show recording suggestions the other day. I can’t imagine a show that I wouldn’t listen to but I list some recent favorites down below. There is always gold to be mined in every show, somewhere. That said, for the past year I’ve…
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Stereo HomePods for Difficult Rooms and Social Listening
I’ve seen couple of blogs (Kirkville, BirchTree) recently opining on stereo HomePod configurations and comparing them to a pair of Sonos speakers. I don’t have a pair of Sonos to compare my stereo HomePod configuration to but my experience with the HomePods stereo pair may be useful for some so I am sharing here. A few months…
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Mac radio nirvana
Setting up my new iMac, I’ve found a nice combination of apps to make listening to radio at my desk a real pleasure. [update Jan 8, 2020: this setup still works great but I have also purchased the subscription to Triode and also use the Mac desktop version of the app when at my desk]…