The Occasional Podcast

Marc is back from his travels abroad and he returns with all the good news, highlights and best sound from the HIGH END Vienna show. Hosted for the first time at its new location in Austria, HIGH END 2026 found a new home for one of the biggest international audio shows on the planet. Marc and Brian dive deep into the best parts of the Hifi event, with all the audio goodies and tasty sounds from the massive high end convention. S14E8 Sponsors: VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - Intstruments For The Music AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You BORDERPATROLdotNET - For Music Lovers, Not Scope Jockeys

A very special interview with Bill Low of AudioQuest. This week's episode is a much more cerebral experience, and one of our favorites to tackle. Joined by AudioQuest founder William Low, we talk about some great topics for anyone interested in high fidelity, critical listening and all the possibilities around hearing. What is realism in audio? Why does our hearing focus on certain things and not others? How have we evolved as a species to hear things a certain way? Bill and host Brian Hunter jump in to the fray with these and plenty of other audio tips, tricks and passing thoughts for this mid point of Season 14. A real highlight for the season so far. S14E6 Sponsors: VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times BORDERPATROLdotNET - For Music Lovers, Not Scope Jockeys WOOAUDIOdotCOM - The New WA300-BAL Speaker Amp

Marc And Brian from pt.AUDIO run down all the latest gear hitting the HiFi and Audiophile market for the holiday season. From premium speaker products to headphones, IEMs and amplifiers, this episode discusses and dissects all the new product announcements for 4th quarter and beyond. If you are attending Capital Audiofest next weekend, please swing by the Wilson Room and see our CAF 2025 sponsor, Doug White and The Voice That Is. Doug will showcasing his fine selection of brands including Tidal Audio, Turnbull Cables, Equitech, REL Subwoofers and more. Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S13E5 Sponsors: AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49 PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - Legendary British Sound – Elevated THEVOICETHATISdotCOM - The Wilson Room At Captial Audiofest 2025

An interview with Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith. Peter has a very long history of research and development in audio. From his time at IBM to amps to turntable cartridges, Peter has long sought to educate and enlighten the twisting technicalities of HiFi. In this interview we chat about why audio is sometimes pros, cons and compromise. It is an evolution that attempts to help to solve a host of problems, while sometimes creating new ones. But most importantly, it's weeding out things that break over time so consumers have a lifelong product. We also chat about turntables and is analog better than digital? Do Turntables have sample rates? Measurements, cantilever material, why mono karts might be better, cable burn in and how "getting used to something" really effects how we can form preferences. Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S13E3 Sponsors: AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 18-19 In-Store HiFi Celebration AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You MUSICHALLAUDIOdotCOM - No Nonsense, Just Great Sound SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49 PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

Our recommendations for the top 10 best sounding Turntable Carts from the past 12 months. Marc and Brian run down their best turntable cartridges for record players available to buy today. Released in conjunction with the pt.AUDIO Buyer's Guide Summer 2025. You can check out all the "best of" gear from every HiFi category here: https://pt.audio/category/audio-gear-reviews/buyers-guide/ In this epsiode we also discuss the pros and cons of Moving Magnet vs. Moving Coil cartridges and how to properly budget a cart vs. the total price of the turntable and components. Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S13E1 Sponsors: AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 18-19 In-Store HiFi Celebration AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You MUSICHALLAUDIOdotCOM - No Nonsense, Just Great Sound SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49 ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

An interview with Vince Burzzese of Totem Acoustic. Vince has been developing speakers for many years, and his longtime brand Totem Acoustic has carved out its audience in the HiFi realm since 1987. We sit down with him to chat about his design philosophy, audio journey, and more in this very unique interview. Vince is a rare Canadian designer based out of Montreal, Quebec. His goals and mission in audio are made clear and help provide an interesting insight into the how and why he has dedicated his professional life to audio. It is a really fun listen for anyone interested in high-end audio, high fidelity, and speaker design philosophy in general. Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio Season 12 Merch is now available! The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S12E9 Sponsors: ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

Our recommendations for the top 10 best sounding integrated amplifiers from the past 12 months. Marc and Brian run down their best amp picks from cheapest to most expensive. Released in conjunction with the pt.AUDIO Buyer's Guide Summer 2025. You can check out all the "best of" gear from every HiFi category here: https://pt.audio/category/audio-gear-reviews/buyers-guide/ Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio Season 12 Merch is now available! The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S12E7 Sponsors: ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

Andrew Jones of MoFi Electronics joins the 5-timers club with us this week on The Occasional Podcast. Recorded at AXPONA 2025, this episode tackles the finer talking points of loudspeaker bass design, as well as all the new interesting bits on Mr. Jones upcoming MoFi Electronics flagship floorstander, the Sourcepoint V10. Andrew Jones has a long history with high fidelity design, working for speaker brands like KEF, TAD, Pioneer and Elac. In this episode Andrew discusses some audio myths, A/B comparisons and what the idea of "better" truly means within the context of audio listening. Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio Season 12 Merch is now available! The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram S12E5 Sponsors: ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times