When someone named Spammy emails you, you have a choice: flag as a phishing threat, or read in entirety? Well, we do get a kick out of seeing the moniker appear in our mailbox, from a listener whose skewering takes leave us chuckling every time. While most emailers use the show email to send questions, Spammy mostly offers witty commentary with no indication of a need for help and gives off the sense that he's seen it all. But this week, we've got a real honest-to-goodness question from the man. We're assuming it's a man. So the guys take on a comment/question related to the Philips Hue light ..read more

By popular demand, we present the new lost Dunlavy episode. Longtime listeners know that Darren and Duncan originally recorded 10 podcasts before publishing the very first one, as practice. One of those, referenced in early talks about the guys' dearly beloved Dunlavy speakers, was a thorough explanation of how they landed them for free, and insights gleaned from owning them. As requested, the guys do another complete Dunlavy-focused episode, but this time with new insights and a lot more info about the eponymous designer, John Dunlavy. The album recommendation pulls out a gem from a very tale ..read more

With apologies for the delay, and for the audio which was nearly impossible to fix, the guys are back to answer a question from listener Rob Shrode. This episode is about the idea of a special price point threshold in each product category above which one can expect substantial performance improvement compared to below the threshold. As usual, it's not as simple a topic as it seems. The recommended album of the week is the eponymous debut from a brand new, hotshot-laden folk and bluegrass troupe assembled by the always impressive Chris Eldridge.  This podcast is powered by CommonGround Ca ..read more

The HiFi Podcast is back with a tech-centric take on FM Radio, answering a listener question and delving into why so many audiophiles gravitate toward it as a favorite source. As so many conversations do, this one meanders toward noise and distortion, but Darren's take on the loveliness of the sound of FM may surprise you. Brazilian musician Fabiano do Nascimento joins an elite group of artists with more than one album recommended.   This podcast is powered by CommonGround Cables. Read customer reviews at www.commongroundcables.com. Find all of our album recommendations in one place, at w ..read more

In this episode, a listener requests a deeper dive into room treatment for optimizing sound in a HiFi listening space, and the fellas oblige. In fact, Darren and Duncan leap at the chance to talk about the curious look of some commercial treatment products, bemoan the high prices of some seemingly cheap-to-develop elements, and generally touch on many important elements of the entire equation. The Album of The Week this time hits a different genre than usual, with a record from one of the top modern choral groups recording today.  This podcast is powered by CommonGround Cables. Read custo ..read more

Apologies for the wait. Apologies for the sound glitches and skips in this one - still figuring out the new mobile recording rig. But the boys of The HiFi Podcast are back, and in this pre-season announcement, Darren and Duncan explain the plan for the next chapter of the podcast, which will now be divided into seasons and feature shorter but more focused episodes. Listen through to the end to hear the new album of the week, and stay tuned and hold tight while the guys get busy pre-recording the next season of your favorite HiFi show. Don't forget to send in your questions, as the next few sea ..read more

Fresh off the heels of AXPONA (and right on the precipice of Munich), Duncan talks about the details involved in planning a show appearance and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the show from a manufacturer's perspective. Questions about capacitors, audio literature, gain balancing and more are answered, and this episode features not one, but two recommended albums. Saving the best for last, the show finishes with an interview with author, poet, professor, audio reviewer and occasional fly fisher Garret Hongo ..read more

Well, it's finally happened. Your favorite podcast has dusted off the microphone and is getting itself back in gear after a few months shy of a yearlong hiatus. For new listeners, this should serve as a fine guide for ingesting the nearly 200 hours of previously published audio talk. For long-timers, you'll find out why we took a break, and what's ahead for the show. This episode's album recommendation comes from a familiar name to podcast listeners, an artist who traveled to Cuba to record this stunning duet which Duncan considers already to be 2023's best recording ..read more

After a visit to chez Tweak to hear the always-improving desktop system, Darren decided to push Duncan into a project the best way he knew how: by giving him a pair of Seas Excel tweeters and posing the question, "what if you had state-of-the-art soft domes in that thing?" Talking, of course, about Duncan's improbably excellent 2-day speaker project, and in this episode the guys talk about the next possible iteration of the silly little first-order gems. Listener questions are answered, a blind study on network switches is shared, and the album of the week ventures into Brazilian tradition ..read more

In this episode, PS Audio design engineer Darren Myers takes us through the process of designing printed circuit boards, which are known as PCBs. It turns out there are tons of considerations in play when selecting the material of a PCB, and determining the position of components and the makeup of the traces. Listener questions about tweaks and credibility are answered, and this week's album recommendation is a fascinating release from a pair of producers who craft sonic landscapes only from recordings of one instrument -- in this case the upright double bass ..read more