audioXpress - January 2018

IT’S ABOUT THE SOUND
8 Music Streaming Services with Volume Normalization
By Ron Tipton
14 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2017
America’s Benchmark High-End Consumer Audio Show
By Oliver A. Masciarotte
Get the scoop on the great sounding products found at the annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, the largest consumer audio and home entertainment show in the US.

24 Audio Editing Software Roundup (Part 2)
Affordable Tools and Free Software
By Fernando Rodrigues
Fernando Rodrigues examines some of the available software audio editors. Here, we look at Iced Audio AudioFinder, Aurchitect Triumph, Wavosaur, TwistedWave, and 2nd Sense Audio ReSample.

30 Vanatoo Transparent Zero Powered Speakers
By Stuart Yaniger
After discovering the Transparent Zeros at AXPONA, Stuart Yaniger procured a pair for extended listening and measurement tests. Learn how these small but mighty speakers stacked up.
38 Smart Speakers: Helping Improve User Experience
Audio Design Rules for Voice-Enabled Devices
By Kevin Connor
Kevin Connor shares his knowledge on how OEMs can create audio and voice solutions that sound great and respond reliably to voice commands, regardless of the backend service.

44 The 6922 Project
By Robert Nance Dee
Robert Nance Dee shares a new, highly refined, and complete project in his series on buffered preamps—a tube hybrid design.

52 Repairing Switching Mode Power Supplies
By Scott Dorsey
Scott Dorsey provides valuable information about how switching supplies work and how they fail, which will ultimately enable users to complete their own repairs.

Hollow-State Electronics
60 Layout and Grounding of Hollow-State Circuits
By Richard Honeycutt