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PODCAST

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast

This podcast is part of the HiFi Hobbyist Multichannel project for people whose hobby is High Fidelity audio reproduction. It started life as a blog in 2020 and has expanded to include videocasts and AI-generated audio discussions. The HiFi Hobbyist podcast is a new channel that aims to discuss the issues raised in more detail through a dedicated audio podcast channel where in-depth talks will be alternated by AI discussions of the same issue. We will also produce occasional special editions. Our

music music commentary

All Episodes

33:43

Journeys: an experiment in AI and Music Part 1

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/04/14

This week’s podcast is in two parts. It is a departure from the usual pattern, looking at the use of AI in the generation of music. There are legal and ethical issues, especially in the area of creativity and intellectual property, and we shall return to these at the end of Part 2 of the Podcast. This podcast is built around Journeys, a music and AI project developed by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist., featured in full on the main website at Hi-Fi Hobbyist dot net, as a virtual vinyl album with two sides, a

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27:08

How Chinese brands are no longer merely imitating...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/04/10

In a previous podcast, we looked at Chi-Fi, Chinese-manufactured Hi-Fi, which is gaining increasing recognition in the international Hi-Fi market. In this podcast, we will look in more detail at how this industry has developed from a low-cost manufacturing centre to an innovation and R&D hub, and how Chinese brands are now building products based on their own innovations that can match or outperform traditional rivals from the West. In the first part, we look at the historical development of

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42:17

The AI debate about how to deal with your room acoustics

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/04/03

Last week's podcast looked at the issue of room acoustics and room treatment. This week, we hand over the topic to AI protagonists for a debate about whether specialist room treatments are required in a domestic setting, or whether simpler pragmatic adjustments to room decor with the potential addition of digital signal processing can suffice. As always, the purpose of deploying AI is to provide an alternative view of the issue. The accompanying music this week is from the Planet Suite by Gustav

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40:01

The elephant is in the room and its called acoustics

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/03/28

Recent opinion pieces on the HiFi Hobbyist website have reported on differing views from online commentators on the importance of room acoustics and room treatments.In this podcast, we will look in more detail at the underlying scientific theory and seek our own conclusions on the topic. Part 1 of the podcast outlines the basic acoustics theory, Part 2 looks at the implications of the Schroder frequency and the need to handle upper and lower frequencies differently and then Part 3 looks at

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41:54

AI takes a deeper look at how the recording quality...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/03/21

This week's podcast is a generated discusison take a deeper look into how the recording quality of live albums improved over the 1970s. The discussion is not limited to the five albums I discussed last week, and the discussion has a more U.S-centric feel which may balance things for those who think my choices last week were too UK-biased. Once again, I have generated accompanying music to show how AI thinks live rock music from this period sounds .

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56:10

My favourite double live albums from the 1970s

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/03/14

For me, the 1970s were a golden age of the double live album. Of course, these were the days of vinyl, so we’re talking about four sides, giving a total playing time of up to about 90 minutes.Speaking personally, this was how I got to know some of my favourite bands of this era. In this podcast, I will seek to identify my five favourite live albums from the period and discover how they were recorded. What are your favourite live albums from the era? What memories do they evoke? I hope you enjoy the

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30:45

The AI discussion about 100 years of recordings of...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/03/07

This week’s podcast is the last in a cycle of four. Using the same sources as the Hi-Fi Hobbyist did last week, our AI protagonists discuss the significance of the key recordings of Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies. This week’s music accompanying the podcast are selections from an early recording of Arturo Toscanini conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Opus 68, the ‘Pastorale' at the Queen's Hall, London in 1937, first released in 1943 and now in

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56:29

100 years of recordings of Beethoven’s Symphonic Cycle

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/02/28

This week’s podcast is the third of a four-week cycle. This week will review recordings of Beethoven’s nine symphonies from the last one hundred years. This will be followed next week by letting our AI protagonists discuss the most significant recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies. The podcasts are all accompanied by extracts from the Symphonies. This week’s recordings of the Eroica Symphony are performed by The Czech National Symphony Orchestra and published by the Musopen Kickstarter Project under

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43:39

What happens when AI debates the merits of...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/02/21

This week's podcast is the second in a cycle of four in which our AI protagonists discuss Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies. Using the same sources as the Hi-Fi Hobbyist did last week, our AI protagonists select and rank their favourite three symphonies, and then go on to justify and debate their choices.Whose choice will resonate with you? The Hi-Fi Hobbyist, or one of our AI protagonists? It is perhaps appropriate, given the subject matter, that this cycle of podcasts about Beethoven’s symphonies is the

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52:40

The HiFi Hobbyist's guide to Beethoven's 9 Symphonies...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/02/14

This week’s podcast is the first of a four-week cycle. This week we will review Beethoven’s nine symphonies and choose a top five. This will be followed next week by letting our AI protagonists discuss the symphonies and the Hi-Fi Hobbyists ranking.After that, the following week’s podcast will consider some of the greatest recordings of Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies cycles, both from a musical and audio perspective, as befits a Hi-fi hobbyist podcast. The four-week cycle will conclude with an AI

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21:23

The AI Debate about CHi-Fi: Hi-Fi Hobbyists dream or...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/02/07

This week’s podcast is a generated debate to decide whether Chi-Fi represents a dream or a nightmare for the Hi-Fi Hobbyist. The AI protagonists use the sources from last week's podcast to create their arguments. Once again, the music accompanying this podcast consists of tracks of Chinese music by Kazoom, played on traditional Chinese instruments, hosted by Pixabay.com, and used under a Pixabay licence.

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53:17

Chi-Fi: Is it a HiFi Hobbyists dream, or a nightmare?

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/01/31

A few weeks ago, the main Hi-Fi Hobbyist looked at the emergence of Chi-Fi. Chi-Fi describes an industry phenomenon where independent Chinese brands deliver high-performance audio equipment at disruptive prices. It marks a shift from OEM manufacturing of Western designs to the emergence of Chinese designed kit offered by Chinese brands and sold on global platforms such as Amazon.This podcast looks in more detail at how it has developed, and the implications for Hi-Fi Hobbyists and Hi-Fi

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21:27

Two AI protagonists debate whether Class AB or Class...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/01/24

In last week's podcast we looked at the different amplifier classes and how they linked to the sound quality of key exemplar amplifiers of each type. One of the conclusions was that the vast majority of modern amplifiers are either Class AB or Class D.For this week's podcast, we have generated a debate between two AI protagonists, one championing the virtues of Class AB, the other, the benefits of Class D amplifiers. For accompaniment, we have stuck with electronic techno by Nick Panek, this time

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23:05

What class is your amplifier in?

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/01/17

A few weeks ago, we looked at the the difference between valves and solid-state components such as transistors or integrated circuits in hi-fi amplifiers. One of the issues that emerged from that podcast was the question of amplifier topology or class. It appeared from the research undertaken that the amplifier topology could have as much impact on the ultimate sound as the nature of the devices doing the amplification. In this podcast, we will consider the most common amplifier classes, the

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20:27

Two AI protagonists debate the merits of the HiFi...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/01/10

In last week's podcast, I selected my favourite five Jethro Tull albums.The selection was based on musical and lyrical quality, rather than the sound quality of the original releases, but as this was a Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast, sound quality was raised, especially in relation to the Steve Wilson remixes where available. For this week's podcast, we have generated a debate between two AI protagonists, one set the task of defending my ranking, the other required to oppose it in classic debating

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32:18

The HiFi Hobbyist Top Five Jethro Tull Albums - Ranked!

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2026/01/03

Jethro Tull have been producing music since 1968, and therefore selecting 5 favourite Jethro Tull albums for this podcast is a difficult task.This week's podcast is the Hifi Hobbyist's attempt to select a Top Five Jethro Tull albums. Only five in the list in order to try to explore the merits of each title in some detai,l particularly with reference to the sound quality of each album. The Jethro Tull catalogue has been well served by a series of remixes by Steve Wilson, often on the 40th

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27:47

The HiFi Hobbyist New Year Podcast - Two AIs debate...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2025/12/27

Welcome to this week’s podcast, which is a generated debate about the different approaches to performing and recording Handel’s Messiah, as discussed in last week's Christmas podcast. The AI protagonists debate the merits of the newer authentic or "historically informed" performances compared to the more traditional larger scale performances popular in the early years of vinyl LP records. The selections of Messiah that accompany the podcast are again supplied from Wikimedia Commons. They are used

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50:23

The HiFi Hobbyist Christmas Podcast: Handels Messiah

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2025/12/20

Happy Christmas from the HiFi Hobbyist!This week’s podcast considers Handel's Messiah, which has become a staple at Christmas. We shall consider its origins, its impact, and the HiFi Hobbyists favourite recordings The selections of Messiah that accompany the podcast are supplied from Wikimedia Commons. They are used under a Creative Commons 2.0 licence I hope that you enjoy the podcast!

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15:56

A Generated AI debate about the merits of valve and...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2025/12/13

This week’s generated discussion iis about last week’s podcast about the relative merits of valve and solid-state (transistor) circuitry in high-fidelity audio amplification.It takes the form of a debate about the merits of each technology with each participant championing one of the technologies This week’s music is entitled Digital Sunset by Nver Avetyan and used under a Pixabay licence. I hope that you enjoy the discussion.

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26:27

A Technical and Subjective Comparison of Valve...

The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast ·

2025/12/06

This week’s podcast which considers the relative merits of valve and solid-state circuitry in high-fidelity audio amplification. We use the term “solid state’ because the discrete transistors of early designs have now largely been superseded by integrated circuits incorporating many transistors Transistors largely replaced valves in the 1960s, but have retained a niche market in high-end, and also some budget enthusiast products, and we will try to understand why. As valve amplification is often

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43 results

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