Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own. In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
Dec 6, 2023
At home I primarily use foobar on my desktop, but I do listen to music when I go to bed too. For that, I have a Fiio M3 paired with a Grado SR80e (bowl pads) and I couldn't be happier. The M3 supports high res files with good battery life for a cheap price and combined with the power off timer feature, I barely ever have to charge it. It is also small enough and cheap but durable enough that I don't have to worry about it falling off my bed to my tiled floor and the sound quality with the Grado is just amazing and helps me sleep much better.