Blog
11月 25th, 2016
Big Sound in Small Packages: Is it Any Match to Hi-Fi?
Ever since humankind started creating music, the means, or equipment, for doing so have often been prohibitively bulky. True, there exists many small musical instruments, but the ones that can produce sound of sufficient strength and volume are typically really, really large; and an ensemble playing multiple instruments at once requires a lot of space indeed.
更多11月 11th, 2016
The Home Audio Industry Takes a Big Leap Forward: Multi-room, Garden Sounds, and Pitch-Perfect Raindrops
This year I returned to home audio after over a decade working in other industries and I was shocked to find that very little had changed since I’d been away. Generally speaking, progress has been relatively slow. In the 90s there was almost no home install and people tried their best to create a good listening environment, sometimes with a good result, sometimes not. But last month I discovered a very different picture of progress. I attended the CEDIA expo for home technology in Dallas and it was undeniable that technology is finally catching up with the imaginations of the people. Here are a few examples…
更多10月 28th, 2016
Why Should We Strive for Perfection in Sound Reproduction?
When it comes to the reproduction of sound, the quest for “perfection” can seem like a pointless task when the definition itself is difficult to judge—even, and especially, for a musician. But the truth is our brains can tell the difference, and the closer a sound system comes to recreating a performance, the more relaxed and detail-rich our listening experience becomes.
更多10月 14th, 2016
The Need for a Squeeze: Making Big Music Fit into Small Devices
As the listening habits of consumers shift towards ever smaller and more compact playback devices, the sole application of linear and time-invariant processing methods (such as sophisticated equalization technologies) is not necessarily sufficient for reaching the desired and often conflicting requirements of audibility, low distortion, tonal balance, bass response, loudness, etc. DSP system design for small loudspeakers is inherently a compromise, but by using cutting-edge digital technologies we can achieve results which invariably take any micro-speaker to the next level of performance.
更多9月 30th, 2016
Software, Tuning Engineers, and the Pursuit of the Best Automotive Sound
What are the expectations for a tuning tool? And who will use it? What are the factors and contexts that influence the tuning approaches we take, whether it is manual tuning approach, automatic tuning approach, or assisted tuning approaches?
更多9月 16th, 2016
Digital Headroom: The Boundaries of the 16 Bits
When it comes to digital signal processing, there’s one puzzle that remains even once processing is complete. How do you fit the processed signal back inside the permissible limits of the digital number format? This post describes the “why” and the “how” of two different approaches you can take to get around this obstacle and finish the operation.
更多9月 2nd, 2016
Equalization and Digital Filters: Going Beyond the Standard Toolbox
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” This well known quote is attributed to psychologist Abraham Maslow, who observed that the accessibility of a given tool tends to influence the type of approach humans take when solving a problem. As engineers and researchers, we are not spared from the phenomenon of Maslow’s hammer, although many of us might like to think otherwise…
更多8月 12th, 2016
Under the Hood of the Stereophonic System: Phantom Sources
Is there any real physical sound experience that can be exactly replicated through a stereo system? Probably not. Why? Because the sound engineer who’s making the recording is limited to coding a complex three-dimensional sound field using only two channels, which are then played back from two distinct locations in a probably less than perfect listening room.
更多7月 7th, 2016
The 4 Types of Distortion a Good Digital Room Correction System Should Address
The two weakest components of a HiFi system are typically the loudspeaker and the room the music is playing in— the second of which is most often overlooked. Even if you’ve invested in a best-in-class HiFi system, the listening room can still have a tremendous effect on the overall sound experience. Both a sound system’s frequency response* and impulse response** are profoundly altered by everything from standing wave patterns to wall reflections.
更多6月 20th, 2016
In Music, Timing is Everything
When you’re listening to music and something feels off, it can usually be attributed to at least one of two factors. Either something is out of key— for instance, an instrument isn’t tuned properly or a singer can’t sing. Or someone is missing a beat. If each musician in an orchestra were to play at their own tempo it would sound differently than intended, and likely pretty bad. The first of these factors is a question of frequency for a single sinusoid (does each note sound like it should?). The second is a property of time (does each note arrive when it should?).
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