We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed Tony Stark once famously said, “We have a Hulk.” Brent and Dennis have a secret weapon much more powerful than that. We have a Floyd Toole! And this week, we sit in conversation with him about the release of the fourth edition of his legendary book, Sound Reproduction, and why it has a different subtitle this time: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers, Rooms and Headphones.

📖 Get your copy of the 4th edition of Floyd Toole’s legendary book, Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers, Rooms and Headphones with DISCOUNT CODE 25SMA4: https://www.routledge.com/Sound-Reproduction-The-Acoustics-and-Psychoacoustics-of-Loudspeakers-Rooms-and-Headphones/Toole-Olive-Welti/p/book/9781032761930

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent: https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 1 on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/dr-floyd-toole-an-oral-history-1-two-ears-and-a-brain-transistors-rules-and-data/
• Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 2 on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/dr-floyd-toole-an-oral-history-2-ab-tests-bass-athena-brains-rooms-hearing-listening/
• Read These 2 Books to Know More about Speakers than Most Hi-Fi Reviewers Do by the SoundStage! Network: https://youtu.be/YfIde7VTA7g?si=XjxdvEhY52wdzDvi
• The Biggest Lie in Audio by Brent Butterworth: https://www.soundstagesolo.com/index.php/features/246-the-biggest-lie-in-audio

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed First things first this week, Brent and Dennis wonder why Wired is doing pretty good blind panel testing when actual audio publications almost never dare, or bother. Then they have a conversation with their buddy Joe Mariano, aka Joe N Tell, about his new speaker measurement and target-curve-calculating app Magic Beans. How does it fare against Brent’s bazillion years of measurement experience and Dennis’s kazillion years of calibrating audio systems? Finally, Dennis asks Brent WTF a “notoriously musical” CD drive even is.

And for Patrons: Can Bowers & Wilkins and other former Sound United brands maintain their identity under their new Samsung/Harman umbrella? And should they?

💿 Michael Gaughn’s Jour et Nuit on Bandcamp: https://michaelgaughn.bandcamp.com/album/jour-et-nuit

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent

https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• • We Asked Audio Pros to Blind Test Headphones. The Results Were Surprising by Chris Haslam: https://www.wired.com/story/we-asked-audio-pros-to-blind-test-headphones-the-results-were-surprising/
  • Joe N Tell: https://joentell.com/
  • Magic Beans: https://magicbeansaudio.com/
  • Gramophone Dreams #101: The Shanling ET3 CD transport by Herb Reichert: https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-101-shanling-et3-cd-transport

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed First, Dennis and Brent take a minute to praise a Stereophile article that harkens back to the good ol’ days of audio journalism. Before the dark times. Before … well, all sorts of unsavory developments in the publishing biz. Then they peruse a number of new articles about the state of Spotify, as well as one potential new alternative that’s pretty much just Bandcamp in a trenchcoat. Next, they run a serious risk of being tagged as “garbage” on YouTube by examining the claims of a young audio pundit who’s convinced he’s smarter than everybody else in the headphone industry. Finally, they rant against a Headphonesty scare piece about audio networking until they realize that Headphonesty completely misrepresented the views of the network engineer quoted therein.

💿 Michael Gaughn’s Jour et Nuit on Bandcamp: https://michaelgaughn.bandcamp.com/album/jour-et-nuit

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent

https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• A Poor Man's Audio Show Review by Roy Midyett: https://stereophile.com/content/poor-mans-audio-show-review
• A random 1993 Corey Greenberg article: https://www.stereophile.com/content/sumiko-blue-point-blue-point-special-phono-cartridges
• Spotify Terms of Use: https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/end-user-agreement/
• Lossless audio finally comes to Spotify - here's how to enable it by Craig Donaldson: https://www.pocket-lint.com/spotify-lossless-audio-launch/
• AI-generated music is here to stay. Will streaming services like Spotify label it? by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/08/nx-s1-5492314/ai-music-streaming-services-spotify
• The music industry is broken: OpenWav’s new app aims to change that by Sarah Perez: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/11/the-music-industry-is-broken-openwavs-new-app-aims-to-change-that/
• The B&K5128 Is Garbage by Sharur: https://youtu.be/G2S-Agwxiy4?si=TPTGvDStmG2eYePU
• Tidal and Qobuz Connect Are Ruining Your Hi-Fi Sound Without Dropping a Single Bit, Warns Principal Network Engineer by Alexandra Plesa: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/09/tidal-qobuz-connect-ruining-hifi-sound-engineer/
• Audiophile Streaming in 2025 - Zoom Event by Audiophile Foundation: https://youtu.be/z3VC65XOhxg?si=UNNCNA8tHIvo_8-F