Audiophile Style

An interview with Frankie Tan and Kelvin Lee of OraStream. Based in Singapore, OraStream offers both behind the scenes technology and services to music streaming companies such as the Neil Young Archives, Naxos, and Primephonic, and it offers a direct to consumer application and service called Brio. If there is one technology that should be embraced by all the music streaming services, it's Orastream's MPEG-4 SLS offering. It's a solution to real problems, that requires no special hardware or decoder, and leaves the audio signal 100% unaffected for those streaming with a good network connection. As you'll hear, The OraStream Service is an end-to-end audio delivery platform. It works with full resolution audio recordings to deliver the highest quality of streaming audio on web, desktop, and mobile music players. The Audio adapts automatically to network bandwidth fluctuations for uninterrupted playback on cellular Wi-Fi, or wired networks. When bandwidth allows, music plays at full bit-perfect resolution. When bandwidth degrades, music plays at less than full resolution audio quality. The process of network-based, audio quality adaptability is dynamic and transparent to the music listener. Both Frankie and Kelvin have a wealth of education and experience, and knowledge about streaming audio and the technologies surrounding it. Listeners on the geekier side will enjoy their technical descriptions of how OraStream works, but those a bit less tech savvy will equally appreciate how they explain the clear benefits to consumers. For example, it's fascinating to hear Frankie describe how Amazon Music HD works by slipping lower resolution audio into the middle of a high resolution track, and this being the reason Amazon can't offer exclusive mode in its applications.

I talk to Dr. Mathias Johansson, Dirac Research co-founder and chief product officer, about the beginnings of the company in Upsala Sweden, its work with BMW, the current Dirac offerings for audiophiles, the differences between Dirac software and Dirac built into hardware, and many general DSP & room correction topics.

I talk to Michelangelo from Volumio about his background, the beginnings of the software and hardware products, and the current Volumio offerings. Michelangelo also gives candid answers to questions about Volumio's subscription model, where the company is headed in the future, and the ten bonus questions, to which there are no wrong answers.

Mitch has been involved in digital signal processing for many years, including writing a book and contributing several articles to Audiophile Style on the topic, and recently starting his own company called Accurate Sound. I talked to Mitch about digital signal processing, some of the myths and reasons people may have dismissed it in the past, and what we can look forward to in the future. Mitch also discusses his room calibration service, his new software convolution engine called Hang Loose Convolver, and something new he is working on.

The conclusion to my interview with the team at Rockport Technologies. Rockport has crafted boutique high end audio products for 3 decades, starting with the Sirius turntable and transitioning into loudspeakers such as it groundbreaking Arakkis and Lyra models. Many Audiophiles who've heard Rockport products over the years place these speakers at or near the top of the list for the best loudspeakers speakers in the world.

The conclusion to my interview with the founder and CEO of Acoustic Sounds, Chad Kassem. Acoustic Sounds owns its own record pressing plant, vinyl reissue label, original production label, print shop, recording studio, and its own LP mastering business after purchasing the Mastering Lab form the late Doug Sax. Hear Chad talk about all of this and the decades of work that goes into reissuing work from artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Nat King Cole, Pink Floyd, and many more.

An interview with Radio Paradise founder Bill Goldsmith. Hear about Radio Paradise's high quality lossless streaming, Bluesound and Sonos integration, how the company finds and serves music, and how Bill's career in the broadcast industry lead him to start Radio paradise before anyone had a smart phone or a truly fast internet connection. The show ends with a round of bonus questions where there are no wrong answers. Enjoy :~)

The conclusion of my interview with Grammy winning engineer, producer, and audiophile Bill Schnee about his new book Chairman at the Board and his 50 years of experience working with Steely Dan, Whitney Houston, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, and many more of the most talented people in the music business. Buy Bill's Book Here - https://audiophile.style/schnee

An interview with Chief Design Officer and Vice President of R&D for the McIntosh Group, Livio Cucuzza. We talk about his childhood in Sicily, his design inspirations, the fact that his father owned a HiFi shop as he was growing up, the product design process, the sf16 product launch, and how he handles the rich heritage of both Sonus Faber and McIntosh Labs. The show concludes with two album recommendations and a round of bonus questions where there are no wrong answers. Purchase the albums recommendation here: https://audiophile.style/blossom https://audiophile.style/difranco McIntosh Group Links Sonus Faber - https://www.sonusfaber.com/ McIntosh - https://www.mcintoshlabs.com

An interview with Bryston CEO James Tanner. We discuss the past, present and future of the company, including its push into digital music servers a decade ago, its recent loudspeaker initiative, and its modular DAC/Preamp the BR20. The show finishes with two album recommendations and a round of bonus questions where there are no wrong answers. Purchase the album recommendations here: Eric Dolphy's Music Prophet, The Expanded 1963 New York Sessions Remastered by 2xHD -https://audiophile.style/edmp Lake Street Dive's Obviously - https://audiophile.style/lsdo More information about Bryston - https://bryston.com Podcast music curtesy of Chesky Records on the album The Body Acoustic.

A discussion with famous music photographer, music lover, and audiophile Charles Peterson about some of his most iconic shots, including Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Johnny Cash to name a few. The show concludes with how to purchase Peterson's prints and a round of bonus questions where there are no wrong answers. Music curtesy of Chesky Records album The Body Acoustic.

A discussion with the Qobuz team about how the service works, including how it gets the music we here, what happens if a listener finds an issue with an album, and the thorny issue of artist compensation, among many other topics. I also discovered a "new" jazz album from 1960 that I highly recommend, and show finishes with a round of bonus questions where there are no wrong answers. Music curtesy of Chesky Records album The Body Acoustic.

A discussion with Schiit Audio co-founder Jason Stoddard. We talk about his early days at Sumo Electronics, meeting the other Schiit Audio co-founder Mike Moffat from Theta Digital, which product put Schiit Audio on the map, why Schiit creates its multi-bit DACs rather than using something more standard, and the genesis and design goals of the flagship Yggdrasil DAC. You'll want to stick around for the bonus questions at the end of the show to hear candid answers from Jason about music, food and even comedians. Music curtesy of Chesky Records album The Body Acoustic.