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  1. tmallin

    Making Roon Sound Better

    I have long experimented with using Roon instead of the native Lumin App to play my music through my Lumin X1 streamer/DAC. The tradeoff has always been the superior sonics of the native Lumin App for all music—whether internet radio, my music files, Tidal, or Qobuz—vs the superior GUI and...
  2. tmallin

    Watkins Generation 4 Speakers

    The Watkins brand is hardly a well-known name in high-end audio circles. This family-run company has been around for about 60 years, though, with first Bill Watkins Sr., and now his son, Bill Watkins Jr., running the operation. A short interview with Bill Watkins Jr. can be found here. Bill Jr...
  3. tmallin

    Graham Audio LS8/1 Signature Edition & a New System

    Graham Audio LS8/1 Signature Edition & a New System Why Move on from the Sanders 10e? I have a decades-long history of changing speakers every year or two. For lists of speakers and other audio equipment I've owned over the years, see this Tom’s Corner thread.I acquired my current listening...
  4. tmallin

    Stax SR-X9000 Headphones: Yes, They ARE Better Than the SR-009S!

    I just swapped out my Stax SR-009S headphones from my Computer Desktop System for the new Stax flagship, the SR-X9000. It's only Day One, but the change was immediately and clearly audible and not very subtle. Everything else about the system remained the same. Not only was the sound obviously...
  5. tmallin

    Love Is Always Better the Second Time Around: The Sanders Sound Systems 10e Hybrid Electrostatic Speaker

    The First Time Around: The Sanders 10c About a decade ago I owned the then-current-model Sanders 10c speakers. Toward the beginning of my time with them I wrote:
  6. tmallin

    “You Are There” Absolute Sound: Can We Get There From Here? Part IV

    The first three parts of this discussion were written long ago, but are available on WBF at the following threads: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/%E2%80%9Cyou-are-there%E2%80%9D-absolute-sound-can-we-get-there-from-here-part-one.590/...
  7. tmallin

    Hum & Noise

    One source of hum in systems (at least in days gone by) was grounding problems in the cable TV feed. When stereos began to become "home theater" systems doing double duty for video and audio entertainment, such hum problems frequently arose. For reasons not entirely clear to me (perhaps greater...
  8. tmallin

    Streaming vs. Collecting

    I think that a lot of the nostalgia for the good old days of record collecting conflates love of music with the love of the hunt for collectables. With today's streaming, there is not so much fun or effort put into the hunt, and the finding doesn't really result in possessing and owning your new...
  9. tmallin

    Piano Sound

    I listened briefly to a short part of the Vikingur Olaffsson recoding of Debussy and Rameau on DGG. Typical sound for that label: close up, clean, a bit too bright, bass weak, some but not quite enough room sound. This was the Qobuz 24/192 version heard via Roon. I briefly compared the Tidal MQA...
  10. tmallin

    M-1 iPad Pro (2021) as a Streamer Driving Headphones

    I'm crossposting from my system description thread the following to this new thread. I thought others might want to chime in with their experiences about how best to drive headphones more or less directly from a recent iPad, one lacking a stereo mini jack, having only a Lightning or USB-C jack...
  11. tmallin

    What's Wrong With Loudspeaker Preference Testing?

    Over on the REG Forum I instigated a spirited discussion of loudspeaker preference testing of the type done by Floyd Toole. This accompanied my recent reading of Toole's book, Sound Reproduction (3rd Edition), as well as my recent acquisition of speakers, the Dutch & Dutch 8c, which perform well...
  12. tmallin

    Using Roon Tools to Identify Your "Reference" Recordings

    Prior Threads on Recordings for Judging Audio System Quality It has been many years since I've listed recordings I've found particularly useful for making judgments about audio equipment. Prior threads in Tom's Corner listing such recordings and bearing on the issues involved include...
  13. tmallin

    Small Room Audio System Considerations

    It has more and more occurred to me that setting up a satisfying home audio system in a small room is subject to some different considerations than when one has a larger room to play with. Let’s consider dedicated audio rooms only. By small I’ll somewhat arbitrarily define such a room as one...
  14. tmallin

    Skylan Stands for My Dutch & Dutch 8c Speakers

    Why? The idea of moving on from my 28" Monoprice Monolith stands did not originate from any dissatisfaction with the quality of sound I was getting from the speakers mounted on those stands. As you can tell from what I've said before in my Dutch & Dutch 8c thread, I've found the 8c's to be near...
  15. tmallin

    Apple AirPods Max Headphones

    I purchased this on a lark after getting and being very satisfied with my new maxed-out iMac. These are actually quite surprising in terms of sound quality. I've written quite a bit about my wide-ranging experience with top-flight headphones in other threads here in Tom's Corner. My current...
  16. tmallin

    Acoustic Treatment for Small Listening Rooms: Absorption vs. Diffusion

    I've been using acoustical treatments for my listening rooms since about 1984 which was when my listening area went from a shared space to a dedicated space. Then, as now and at all times in between, my audio rooms have been rather small, especially in terms of the width dimension, meaning that...
  17. tmallin

    CD-Quality vs. High Resolution Streaming

    I find that telling the difference between 16/44 and higher-res versions is sometimes difficult. I find it to be highly recording dependent. Context My current main audio system is outlined at "My Current Audio Systems" thread. As you can see, I currently use the Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers in...
  18. tmallin

    BlueSound PowerNode 2i

    I've been recommending the $900 BlueSound PowerNode 2i to a few people who were looking for the core of a thoroughly modern music system with decent performance for not too much money. Just add speakers. Those who purchased it have been ecstatic. Most online reviewers have been enthusiastic...
  19. tmallin

    iPad as a Streamer Into Benchmark DAC3

    The iPad Pro (as well as some other, lower cost new iPads), has a USB-C connection these days. The largest capacity iPad currently available has 1 TB of storage on board, room enough for at least 1500 CDs. Such an iPad costs about $1,500. Some iPad Pro users have suggested using a general...
  20. tmallin

    My Current Audio Systems

    Here are brief descriptions of my current audio systems. I will keep this post up to date as equipment changes. Latest edit is 04/23/2024. Audio Room Streaming: For a diagram of the signal path, see second diagram at this link. The details are: Xfinity Gigabit internet service, feeding Xfinity...
  21. tmallin

    Dutch & Dutch 8c Speakers

    Given the wide range of "walk on water" reviews and comments, I just had to get a pair of Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers to further simplify my system. I suggest reading the review by Mitch Barnett (mitchco) first--it's the most thorough and rigorous by far, I think. But there are reviews in...
  22. tmallin

    Roon and the Roon Nucleus+

    I am cross-posting below a few posts dealing with this new topic which I first wrote as part of my thread dealing with the Lumin X1. I fear that they otherwise might get "lost" since nothing in the title of that thread indicates that it deals with Roon. Anything further I have to say about Roon...
  23. tmallin

    Lumin X1: Enabling an Even Simpler Yet Better Sounding System

    I have replaced the Lumin U1 Mini + Sbooster Power Supply with the two-chassis top-of-the-line Lumin X1. Not that there was anything "wrong" with the U1 Mini with Sbooster Power Suppy. The X1 just takes the performance to a yet higher level and adds an extremely competent DAC to the streaming...
  24. tmallin

    Salamander Designs Archetype 2.0 Rack + One Extra Shelf

    My Goals for an Equipment Rack I'm not pretending that this is the best rack out there in any category. But it happens to meet my needs and seems to me to represent an excellent balance of price versus performance. For my purposes an audio equipment rack should: provide a stable platform for...
  25. tmallin

    Gradient 1.4 Speakers: Downsizing, Simplifying, and Changing

    Bottom Line at the Top I'm now the proud owner of a pair of the Gradient 1.4 speakers in the all-white finish. I've had them in my listening room for a few weeks now. My bottom line so far is that, for my tastes, these are the best speakers I've yet owned, on balance as sonically pleasing and...
  26. tmallin

    Lumin U1 Mini Digital Transport + Sbooster Power Supply

    Lumin on My Radar The Lumin products started appearing on my personal audio radar following the problems I encountered with my Auralic Aries G2 (as described in this post in the Auralic's thread). Now, most high-end streamers are not known for ease of use or reliable functioning. Those who use...
  27. tmallin

    My Electrostatic Headphone Adventures

    Background My recent electrostatic headphone purchases are not my first foray into electrostatic headphones, not by a long shot. I was an early adopter of the Koss ESP/6 electrostatic headphones many decades ago, back in 1968. Yes, they were heavy and uncomfortable, with considerable clamping...
  28. tmallin

    My Clean Power Adventures

    My clean power adventures go back to the writings of Enid Lumley in The Absolute Sound, beginning, as I recall, in the early 1970s. It was Enid who introduced me to the idea that the sound of an audio system could be improved by properly orienting two-pronged 120-volt electrical plugs with...
  29. tmallin

    Headphones Reconsidered: NAD Viso HP-50 & Mr. Speakers Ether II

    What Has Come Before My two prior headphone threads, "Sennheiser HD 800 S Headphones + SimAudio Moon Neo 430 HA Headphone Amplifier" and Audeze LCD-4z Headphones review most of my experience with headphones over the decades, from the early Koss ESP 6 and 9 electrostatics and Sennheiser 414 and...
  30. tmallin

    A/V Room Service Equipment Vibration Protectors (EVPs)

    A/V Room Service Equipment Vibration Protectors (EVPs) Part 1 My Anti-Vibration Experience I suppose most audiophiles have tried a number of racks and/or accessory “feet” in an attempt to eke subjectively ever-better performance from their systems. I'm no exception. As with most types of...

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