About
Free floating ideas and complaints.
In addition to a strong interest in music and audio technology, I started this website because I was disappointed by what I saw in audiophile blogs, forums, magazines. I'm not just referring to esoteric voodoo bogus claims, but also how data analysis tools are crowding out scientific comprehension from academic sources.
The other motivation is even more down-to-earth: I had some ideas, and since I don't see anyone else making what I have in mind I have to do it myself. I like to walk new paths, discover new methods, but also having both feet on the ground.
Thank to the internet (forums, blogs, YouTube) it's getting harder and harder to find a structured, coherent view about a topic. The game is rigged, as it looks like a vicious circle of attention stealing, following of authorities and generated repetitive content (million times repeated claims and lies, though sometimes you can't skip repeating yourself, I understand that).
As I see it, there is still too much confusion surrounding ABX testing. Rejection of ABX testing is absurd, but the idea that sighted tests are the source of all problems and blind tests are the way out of any kind of craziness is certainly wrong. Moreover, searching for the truth with double blind tests and/or statistical methods is a hopeless endeavour. Statistical methods are a poor substitute for logic, reason and experimental methods. The principle is simple: any problem must be understood in such depth that ABX testing (the "weakest link") can be omitted. A well-designed test should produce similar results regardless of whether the test is performed blind or sighted. (Also, the way the data is organized is more important than any data analysis framework.)
Random Access Music (Fun with YouTube)
This tricky YouTube playlist is my brainchild, though more sophisticated versions also exist. Almost 400 songs at one place, composed by real musicians and played on real instruments. Rock, acoustic smooth jazz, dark humor go well together in this playlist.
Click on the image to load the playlist
The logic behind the player is very simple: recommended videos are randomly picked until a video is selected, then the algorithm switches to searching for related videos for the next few clicks.
Csaba Horváth
Even more music
Latest articles:
Sound reproduction, audio measurements & fidelity: the 10 basic rules
Lossy audio compression: principles, methods, misconceptions 🔊 🎧
Speaker Driver Simulation With Room Response (online simulator)