SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast

SoundStage! | The SoundStage! Network | Schneider Publishing Inc.

The official podcast for SoundStage!, featuring host Jorden Guth for seasons 2 and 3, plus hosts Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger for season 1 read less

Our Editor's Take

The team behind the SoundStage! website produces the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast. The website is an online audio magazine. Brent Butterworth and Dennis Burger hosted season one of the podcast. Jorden Guth hosts season two. The podcast is about "everything that matter's in high-performance audio. It includes news, facts, products, opinions, and anecdotes.

The podcast targets audiophiles. An audiophile is someone who is passionate about high-quality sound reproduction. The conversations include product reviews, expert interviews, and industry updates. Listeners can expect detailed conversations about high-end headphones, speaker systems, and amplifiers. Each December, the hosts name their favorite products of the year.

Butterworth and Burger have both written for high-performance audio publications. These include SoundStage! and Wirecutter. The latter is part of The New York Times. Butterworth and Burger have many decades of audio product testing experience. In season one, they discuss consumer trends and significant product reviews. The podcast hosts discuss blind-test results for products like amps. They also share their thoughts on emerging news stories in the high-fidelity (hi-fi) industry. One example is "MoFi-gate," a scandal that shocked the analog audiophile world in 2022.

Guth, season two's host, has many years of experience as a member of the SoundStage! video production team. In each episode, Guth interviews a guest who knows more about hi-fi sound than he does. One example is Daryl Wilson, the CEO of Wilson Audio. In the interview, Wilson talks about his background and career. He also explains what makes the company's speakers different from others.

Guth also interviews Geoff Morrison, the editor of SoundStage! Solo. They discuss how headphones can introduce people to the world of hi-fi. SoundStage! Solo is a website that focuses on headphones and earphones. Another such website is SoundStage! Access, which focuses on affordable audio and tips and tricks for beginners.

The SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast may appeal to fans of high-performance audio. It may also interest anyone who considers themselves to be an audiophile. New episodes are usually available twice a month.

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Episodes

2024 SoundStage! Awards for Products of the Year and Outstanding Achievements
Dec 20 2024
2024 SoundStage! Awards for Products of the Year and Outstanding Achievements
This week, host Jorden Guth is joined by SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider to discuss the 2024 SoundStage! Awards for Products of the Year and Outstanding Achievements. Doug gives the insight on what the awards me and how they are chosen, as well as explain the special awards video SoundStage! created with singer Kellylee Evans. Sources: “The 2024 SoundStage! Network Awards for Outstanding Achievements and Products of the Year” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1927-the-2024-soundstage-network-awards-for-outstanding-achievements-and-products-of-the-year “The SoundStage! Australia Products of the Year Awards 2024” by Edgar Kramer: https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/features/929-the-soundstage-australia-products-of-the-year-awards-2024 “Best Hi-Fi Products and Top People 2024—SoundStage! International Hi-Fi Awards” by SoundStage! Network: https://youtu.be/FYH1bDPczbA?si=-w2b7pGQudQSmIfU Chapters: 00:00:00 Announcement 00:00:30 Products of the Year: categories and choosing 00:05:03 Explaining the Outstanding Achievement awards 00:05:03 Outstanding Achievement award winners 00:13:02 Music Break: "The Wassail Song" by The Reed Pittman Trio 00:15:03 Welcome back from the break 00:15:14 Products of the Year: Distinction category (core sites) 00:15:14 Products of the Year: Outstanding Performance category (core sites) 00:24:58 Products of the Year: Outstanding Performance category (SoundStage! Australia) 00:26:53 Products of the Year: Distinction category (SoundStage! Australia) 00:29:16 Products of the Year: Exceptional Value category (SoundStage! Australia) 00:30:22 Products of the Year: Exceptional Value category (core sites) 00:34:22 Where to find the awards (core sites) 00:35:31 Outro: “Jingle Bells” by TEO
Simaudio & the Art of Local Manufacturing - Origins | Nimbleness | Repairability
Aug 2 2024
Simaudio & the Art of Local Manufacturing - Origins | Nimbleness | Repairability
This week, host Jorden Guth is joined once again by Simaudio product director Dominique Poupart and marketing director Étienne Gautier to discuss how making its products locally affects the quality of the components, their serviceable life, rolling changes to production, and adapting to tough times like global pandemics.  Sources: North Collection: https://simaudio.com/en/product-category/north-collection/ “Simaudio’s North Collection: The Future of Hi-Fi?” on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/simaudio-s-north-collection-the-future-of-hi-fi/ “Simaudio’s Moon 791 Streaming Preamplifier: Uncompromised” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1841-simaudio-s-moon-791-streaming-preamplifier-uncompromised “Moon by Simaudio Has Exited the Echo Chamber” by Dennis Burger: https://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/feature-articles/1201-moon-by-simaudio-has-exited-the-echo-chamber “Simaudio’s Étienne Gautier & the Art of Marketing Moon” on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/simaudio-s-etienne-gautier-the-art-of-marketing-moon-baumgartner-restoration-taskmaster/ Chapters: 00:00:00 Announcement 00:00:31 The origins of Simaudio 00:04:03 How manufacturing at home keeps a company nimble  00:22:03 Music Break: "Threads of Smoke" by Tamuz Dekel 00:23:14 Local manufacturing’s impact on repairability 00:49:24  "Alice Loses Her Temper" by Maybird
Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 2 - A/B Tests | Bass | Athena | Brains, Rooms, Hearing and Listening
Jul 19 2024
Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 2 - A/B Tests | Bass | Athena | Brains, Rooms, Hearing and Listening
This week, host Jorden Guth continues his conversation with Dr. Floyd Toole, exploring the origins of the Athena project at Canada’s NRC, the reasons for and details of his move to Harman International, some of the most misunderstood aspects of his research, the origins of his legendary book Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, his legacy, and the music that moves him. Closing credits music: “Longitude” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships Sources: “Canada’s NRC: A Forthcoming Look at Its Role in the Advancement of Canadian Loudspeaker Design” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1849-canadas-nrc-a-forthcoming-look-at-its-role-in-the-advancement-of-canadian-loudspeaker-design “The Loudspeaker Class of ’74: A Canadian Reunion” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1866-the-loudspeaker-class-of-74-a-canadian-reunion “Floyd Toole, NRC, SoundStage!—Filming of Our Upcoming Documentary” by the soundstagenetwork on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k8ykCTEOhZI?si=BfcmIAWg1s6BKyQm Chapters: 00:00:00 Announcement 00:00:28 Introductions 00:01:19 The limits of A/B testing 00:04:59 Why you have to measure everything 00:15:42 All about that bass 00:18:40 Athena, assemble!  00:23:47 How our brains make sense of rooms  00:27:28 “Emahoy” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships 00:28:45 Working with the CBC 00:31:14 How hearing loss impacts judgment 00:37:48 Another fateful phone call 00:41:20 L.A. is no place to live 00:44:02 The hint of a corporate target 00:46:22 Herding engineers 00:51:13 Listening tests at Harman 00:53:22 Publishing the Harman research 00:55:55 A feature, not a bugbear 00:58:47 “Horse Latitudes” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships 01:00:10 Evolution or revolution? 01:02:35 The two-sub solution 01:07:54 The birth of Sound Reproduction 01:11:05 Rewriting the book 01:13:42 Unanswered questions and Dr. Toole’s legacy 01:45:59 The music that moves Dr. Toole
Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 1 - Two Ears and a Brain | Transistors | Rules and Data
Jul 5 2024
Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 1 - Two Ears and a Brain | Transistors | Rules and Data
This week, host Jorden Guth is joined by the loudspeaker legend himself, Dr. Floyd Toole, whose research at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC), followed by his tenure at Harman International, resulted in arguably more improvements to the fidelity of audio we hear at home than anything attributable to any one person. In this first of our two-part discussion, Dr. Toole discusses his path from university to the NRC and right up to the onset of the Athena project, where we’ll pick up in the second part. Sources: “Canada’s NRC: A Forthcoming Look at Its Role in the Advancement of Canadian Loudspeaker Design” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1849-canadas-nrc-a-forthcoming-look-at-its-role-in-the-advancement-of-canadian-loudspeaker-design “The Loudspeaker Class of ’74: A Canadian Reunion” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1866-the-loudspeaker-class-of-74-a-canadian-reunion “Floyd Toole, NRC, SoundStage!—Filming of Our Upcoming Documentary” by the soundstagenetwork on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k8ykCTEOhZI?si=BfcmIAWg1s6BKyQm Chapters: 00:00:00 Announcement 00:00:28 Introductions 00:04:39 The dawning of the age of the transistor 00:11:05 Two ears and a brain 00:21:28 A fateful interview 00:27:58 Music break: "Turkish March” by T. Bless & the Professionals 00:29:24 Friday afternoon experiments 00:33:54 The differences between musicians and audiophiles 00:38:54 An industry operating without rules 00:49:45 What can we learn from a set of data? 00:54:01 “When I Get Home” by Brian Claxton