Audio Unleashed
This is Audio Unleashed: the world’s only totally unfiltered, freewheeling, fearless discussion about the latest events in the world of audio, featuring veteran audio reviewers Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger. With decades of experience, a modest grasp of science and logic, and a marginal degree of financial security, they can tell the good from the bad, and the proven from the preposterous — and they’re not afraid to tell you what’s what.
Episodes
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent catch up with all the news we should have covered last episode, including the Harman acquisition of Sound United, and what it means for the fate of Bowers & Wilkins, Dolby, and the half-dozen audio dealers left in the U.S. Then they ask The Absolute Sound’s philosopher-in-chief Tom Martin to blink twice if he’s OK in his recent vide...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent dig into the news about a new $25/month music streaming service that claims it’s the first to deliver lossless and immersive audio. (Please don’t tell Apple Music or Qobuz or Tidal or Amazon!) Then they look on as an AudioXpress writer does a Marianas Trench-level dive on the return of the 78 rpm record, and question whether these can d...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent deconstruct the latest column by Stereophile’s editor-in-chief and contemplate whether his position on spooky woo-woo has devolved in the past decade. Then they ogle cool amps and preamps on AliExpress that borrow revered brands yet cost only hundreds—and also examine how crazy it’d be to buy this stuff right now (b/c tariffs, not b/c c...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent explore the fast-growing world of made-to-order lathe-cut records – and even play one for you! (Prepare to be … well, prepared.) Then they delight in some made-to-order pink noise from Erin’s Audio Corner, and deconstruct Holly Cole’s new made-to-order (well, for audiophiles) album with the help of Stereophile.
Brent’s audio projects:
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent stop by Strata-gee to see how Sonos is strategorizing to scramble back to the summit of the sound souk with a new … oh, wait, change in plans! Then they ally themselves (very conditionally) with a British-ish mastering engineer who contends that high-priced DACs are a scam. Then they bring their incomparable incredulity to bear on the q...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent page through the storied Gray Lady (known to some as the New York Times and to Brent as “employer”) and find, to their amazement, an in-depth profile of high-end vinyl company Acoustic Sounds and its iconoclastic proprietor, Chad Kassem. Then they check out what YouTube star Cheapaudioman says are the biggest mistakes audiophiles can ma...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent unexpectedly flip the phase of their podcast by lavishly praising another audio pundit. But they quickly get back to business with an in-depth report on what might be the most preposterous subwoofer review (and most preposterous subwoofer setup) in a long history of preposterous subwoofer reviews by audiophile mags. Then they try to fig...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis wonders why a writer for The Atlantic is wondering why his cheap Bluetooth speaker can’t generate the feeling of community he got at a Beyoncé concert, while Brent wonders why Dennis was reading The Atlantic. Then they dig into a recent article on acoustics by one of audio’s most popular personalities to learn what’s better: a lousy speaker in a ...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent discuss Danny Ritchie’s diagnosis of the legendary Wilson WATT/Puppy; can he find the cure for questionable engineering? Then they ponder whether Spotify is truly evil, and what malice might lurk in the hearts of other streaming services. And they wrap up with speculation about why a stupid article on vinyl seems to have been memory-hol...
We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Dennis and Brent discuss how spending money and seeing measurements can influence subjective listening impressions, take a weird vicarious trip to a Japanese Kissa, and listen to a direct comparison between the same digital master delivered on a variety of different media.
Buy-now links for products mentioned herein (As Amazon Associates, we may earn a ...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, while the Audiophiliac (Steve Guttenberg) questions whether we can trust audio reviewers, Dennis and Brent decide whether we can trust Steve Guttenberg. Then they make the mistake of watching one the audio world’s cringiest videos, in which audio icon Mark Levinson tries to explain how PCM audio is stressing everyone out, or not stressing everyone o...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis dig into the latest drama surrounding a sus audio manufacturer trying to suppress bad press; riff on yet another article about the increasing appeal of vintage audio gear; and talk about king-of-all-audio-media John Darko’s experimentations with different amps driving KEF’s Q Concerto Meta speaker. Should you run screaming (or quiet...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis bemoan the sordid tasks mainstream tech journalists are forced to do these days; dig deep into the current state of audio recording methods as an excuse to promote Brent’s new album; and shine a light on a great review of FiiO’s new portable CD player, which really might change the way we consume music.
Buy-now links for products m...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis welcome headphone expert and friend of the podcast Lauren Dragan to answer the question: does the new hearing-aid functionality of Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 really work, or is it just another quickly tacked-on feature everybody else will have to copy? But before that: Some bloviating about Bose’ purchase of the McIntosh Group and some g...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis learn a thing or four about how everything they thought they knew about modern class-D amps was totally wrong; discuss some new FTC rules that might actually affect the audio industry (or at least, the high-end audio industry), and dig into a review of a “magickal” new amplifier.
Buy-now links for products mentioned herein (As Amazo...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis finally lift the lid on the secret Audiophile Society project Brent has been teasing for months, dive deep(ish) into the subject of soundstage in headphones, and check out a new video from Audioholics’ Gene DellaSala about whether or not you should upgrade your speakers’ crossovers.
Buy-now links for products mentioned herein (As A...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis are joined by industry legend Sandy Gross—co-founder of Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, and GoldenEar Technology—to reflect on the legacy of Sound & Vision and its forebear Stereo Review, following the news that S&V is ceasing print circulation. And in an Audio Unleashed first, Sandy sticks around for the second segment t...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis discuss the death of music hard drives (and the inevitable doom of all music recordings?); riff on a cut’n’paste review of a Coherence Systems… something or other, and worry whether a podcast they created about the Harman target curve using A.I. might actually be better than … well, not Audio Unleashed, of course, but much of what ...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis opine about whether or not an elaborate AI-powered streaming music scam is any worse than most of what Spotify does, pontificate about whether or not anyone needs to read amplifier reviews, and dig through the mid-year revenue report from the RIAA for clues about the future of music formats.
Buy-now links for products mentioned he...
We’re on Patreon now! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis kick things off with everyone’s favorite: a vocabulary lesson! What’s the difference between decibels and SPLs, and how are those distinct from loudness? Also, what the heck are LUFS? Next: If EarFun’s new earphones are all that, why pay more? And can Sonos un-punch its own face?
Buy-now links for products mentioned herein (As Amaz...
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