Audioholics Reviews and News from Audioholics

THX Media Director

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:32:08 -0000

THX Ltd. today introduced THX Media Director, formerly codenamed “Blackbird,” to simplify home theater set-up and operation. THX Media Director will enable movies, music and other digital media to communicate picture and sound settings directly to consumer electronics devices, dynamically configuring them for the best playback experience.

CD Compression Depression Music Industry Idiocracy

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:28:22 -0000

Imagine, if you can, going to Paris to see the Mona Lisa. You wait in line for hours only to come to what appears to be a postcard of the Mona Lisa placed where the original had been. You ask the museum staff what happened to the original and you are told that this representation is what is required for the commercial success of the painting. Totally disgusted, you walk out with a severe case of what I call Compression Depression. The music industry as of late seems to be no different as they pump up the output levels and lay on the compression to play into the LOUDER is better mentality.

Video: Dolby Interview at CEDIA 2007

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:45:27 -0000

Craig Eggers is interviewed by our own Gene DellaSala to discuss the next generation AV receivers and HD/Blu-ray DVD players which enable the user to have an experience in the home that is equivalent to the studio masters. Dolby discusses the upcoming Audioholics State of the CE Union event where Dolby and AIX Records will be doing an impressive 7.1 demo. Craig also clears up some misconceptions about Dolby TrueHD.

Dolby Labs CES 2007 Video

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Craig Eggers talks to us about Dolby Labs new technologies that are part of the high definition audio and video formats hitting the consumer electronics market including Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Volume.

Exploring Digital Audio Myths and Reality Part 1

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0000

By: Chris Tham This is part one of a set of articles exploring some common myths and…

Understanding Surround Sound Production

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0000

When our friends at DTS offered to fly me to San Francisco to cover a seminar they were putting together, I was intrigued. From it's somewhat generic sounding title I was at a loss to figure out how this seminar presentation would play out.

The Case for NOT going above 0 dBFS For Digital Playback Systems

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0000

I first became aware of this issue back in the early 90's when I was testing a DAC that used a Burr-Brown Digital Filter and D/A Converter. I observed that the 1kHz square wave test from CBS CD1 test disc was being clipped. I knew that the analog low pass filter had plenty of headroom, so I decided to contact Burr-Brown and speak to an applications engineer. When I explained to the applications engineer exactly what I was observing he remarked that this test went over the 0 dBFS limit and was clipped by the digital filter.

Issues with 0dBFS+ Levels On Digital Audio Playback Systems

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0000

When you make a digital recording, an analog waveform (represented by an electrical signal with a continuously varying voltage) is sampled at regular intervals and converted to a set of numbers. Each number, or digital sample , correspond the voltage of the electrical signal at a specific point in time. These numbers are stored in binary form with a specific word size (typically 16-24 bits). The minimum and maximum numbers that can be stored depends on the word size, and corresponds to the voltage range of the electrical signal.

Dynamic Comparison SACD vs CD - Part 5

Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0000

Reprinted with the Permission of Christine Tham. Visit her very informative website at: …

Dynamic Comparison of LPs vs CDs - Part 4

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0000

Yes, you have heard all the arguments before, and you are probably sick and tired of it. LP vs digital is a "religious war" that has been played out by various audiophiles ever since the CD format was introduced in the early 1980s.

Audio Lip Sync - The Next Big Feature?