I am a guitar playing father of one in Austin TX who makes a living in academia and has a passion for music making technology. Educated in experimental social science, I spent years tweaking my audio system while wondering why our understanding of people's response to music was so limited. I love to listen and to play, but I also want to know what makes music and its reproduction important to people.
Website
http://audiomatters.blogspot.com/
After encountering the Harbeth P3ESRs at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Patrick Dillon had to hear them again on his home turf. Here he takes a pair through their paces. “There is something ineffably right about these speakers… If someone told me now that I had $2k to spend on speakers and I would have to live with my choice for years without chance of exchange, I’d buy these Harbeths on the spot.”
Harmonic Technology is a cable company that’s built up a reputation for itself slowly since its founding in 1998 by Jim Wang in San Diego. Patrick Dillon takes a listen to their “Magic” HDMI cable.
“This smallish, heavy, elegant box offers you an on-ramp to musical enjoyment without the hassle of multiple purchases and match-making.” The new Audiant 80i from New Zealand’s Perreaux, offering an upsampling DAC, a MM phono stage, and connections for USB and TOSLINK, is put through its paces by Patrick Dillon.
Best known for his classic Mod Squad and McCormack lines of amplification, Steve McCormack now runs SMc Audio, his own design and upgrade company. Here he talks to Patrick Dillon about his work, the nature of great sound, and the future of high-end audio from a manufacturer’s perspective.
The lure of the tweak – the inexplicable add-on that promises to unleash the full potential of your rig – is strong. In our first collective review, Hifi Zine writers try out the EVS ground enhancer.
“Do you really need a new DAC?” asks Patrick Dillon. At $2k, the Bryston BDA-1 faces competition from innumerable cheaper alternatives, so what can it do to justify that price? Patrick tries it out on several players, from a cheap Denon to a state-of-the-art PS Audio transport, to learn just what is possible.
Given the response to the Albert von Schweikert interview in the very first issue of Hifi Zine, we decided to pose a few more questions to Albert. Fresh back from RMAF where his VR-33 and VR-35 designs were drawing many positive reactions, we invited other owners and interested parties to ask questions.
Music and its accurate reproduction can provide some of life’s great pleasures. Beautiful art meets wonderous technology, and fanatics find communities of fellowship and glossy magazines with which their desires are regularly stoked. Patrick Dillon ponders the ins and outs of this hobby.
Albert Von Schweikert, award-winning designer of speakers from budget to cost-no-object, has spent nearly four decades in the industry. Here he talks with Patrick Dillon about his experiences and thoughts on speaker design and the hi-fi industry.