We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed Brent and Dennis ring in the new year by finding the very fine line between clever and stupid when it comes to A/B tests on YouTube, courtesy of AP Mastering. Next up: John Darko says lazy phrases are the norm in audio coverage but don’t mean anything. Is Darko punching above his weight class without breaking a sweat? And lastly for most listeners, we wonder if the rumors of the audio hobby’s death have been greatly exaggerated, and pine for the days when all audiophiles wore bowler hats.

And for Patrons: When Stereophile does blind testing, Brent and Dennis sit up and take notice… a full 37 years late.

📖 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

Dennis’ relaunched YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureswithCPAP

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:

• Audiophiles are wrong about YouTube's audio quality by AP Mastering: https://youtu.be/Xq1n9oYKiZU?si=2L6KhfoMimpLf12z
• Ready-made phrases: how hi-fi reviews dress up laziness as expertise by John Darko: https://darko.audio/2025/12/ready-made-phrases-how-hi-fi-reviews-can-dress-up-laziness-as-expertise/
• YouTube Indicates What the Future is For Audiophiles - Interesting Demographics: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/youtube-indicates-what-the-future-is-for-audiophiles-interesting-demo/post?postid=2725195
• 40% of Audiophiles May Be Gone Soon, and No One Is Replacing Them by Alexandra Plesa: https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/09/audiophiles-gone-soon/
• Lumines: Arise: https://lumines.game/

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis begin with a discussion about the design and manufacture of high-end audio cables courtesy of Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity. How much art is there to appreciate? How much science is there to check? And most importantly, which aspects of the article pissed off our curmudgeonly duo the most?

Speaking of being pissed off, Brent has a bone to pick with Erin Hardison over his most recent video about flat frequency response. You don’t want to miss that.

And finally for most listeners this week, Dennis finally gets to do an entire segment about King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, thanks to an AI clone of the band that popped up on streaming services. Did this whole story somehow prove that Google is more evil than Spotify? Perhaps!

📖 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

Dennis’ relaunched YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureswithCPAP

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:

• The Art and Science of Designing High-End Audio Cables by John E. Johnson, Jr.: https://hometheaterhifi.com/technical/technical-reviews/the-art-and-science-of-designing-high-end-audio-cables/

• Why "Flat" Response Sounds TERRIBLE! by Erin's Audio Corner: https://youtu.be/LXX6zzA2AY0?si=WgArCIF_uu9TX6Kc
• Børresen X3 Floorstanding Speaker Review by Erin’s Audio Corner: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/b%C3%B8rresen_x3/
• 5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan by Caitlin Huston: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/ai-podcast-start-up-plan-shows-1236361367/
• ‘We are truly doomed’: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard despair at AI clone appearing on Spotify: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/dec/10/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-despair-at-ai-clone-appearing-on-spotify
• “Rattlesnake” by the fake AI band King Lizard Wizard: https://youtu.be/9MKm5HMth5A?si=rb7FuqHo4EnJeEOC
• “Rattlesnake” by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: https://youtu.be/Q-i1XZc8ZwA?si=OAdN3LLq90DpcM7s
• I've Lost 180 lbs. (82kg) on CPAP. Now What?! by Adventures with CPAP: https://youtu.be/uDD7Ft2jx4w?si=Ge7_bqFyTGeY3zKd

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis kick things off by investigating whether translating the words of non-English speakers in a way that suits your agenda might be a promising new business model for bad audio websites. Then they’re joined by SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider for a post-mortem on Dennis’ historic and fateful appearance on The HiFi Five. Wrapping things up for normies, they respond to a request from numerous Patrons to look into New Record Day’s power cable conversion testimony to answer the question: Is it worthwhile to do a deep dive into the testing procedures of people who haven’t themselves done a deep dive into the subject of testing procedures?

📖 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:

• Veteran Speaker Designer Reveals the Top 3 Reasons Why Designers Can’t Build Great Speakers Anymore: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/11/veteran-designer-explains-why-speakers-declined/
• GPM Monitor One: il bookshelf di riferimento by G.P. Matarazzo: https://www.avmagazine.it/articoli/diffusori/2077/gpm-monitor-one-il-bookshelf-di-riferimento_index.html
• Test: Sonus Faber Lumina II by G.P. Matarazzo: https://www.avmagazine.it/articoli/diffusori/2051/test-sonus-faber-lumina-ii_index.html
• The HiFi Five Episode 6: Guest Dennis Burger of SoundStage! by The HiFi Five: https://www.youtube.com/live/OORvfQh_zjo
• The Most Pathetic Excuse in High-End Audio (Ep:94) by SoundStage! Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3e7dD-Yij0
• I Tried to Debunk Power Cords & Conditioners… and Failed Spectacularly by New Record Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIWVDNiRCiM