The Occasional Podcast

Brian Hunter

High Fidelity Interviews, News and Audiophile Happenings

  • 36 minutes 51 seconds
    The Best Hi-Fi Products For 2026: Speakers, Amps, DACs & Turntables Reviewed

    Our 2026 Buyer's Guide For Audiophiles. Marc and Brian go over some of the best and brightest audio products reviewed and heard for the upcoming year. Broken out into several HiFi categories, the buyer's guide provides some insight into the season's best audiophile products along with some general banter and tips for the hobby. See the full guide in written form at PT.Audio.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Copper

    pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Gold

    S13E7 Sponsors:

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - Legendary British Sound – Elevated

    SVSOUNDdotCOM – Join the Sound R|Evolution

    8 December 2025, 11:21 pm
  • 45 minutes 49 seconds
    Capital Audiofest 2025 - HiFi Highlights And Best Of Show

    Coverage and impressions from Captial Audiofest 2025. Marc, Brian and Scot broadcast live from the big DC audio event. This show includes full impressions and observations on trends. What rooms sounded like perfection? What new products really impressed? All the details on a ton of new gear get annouced at this East Coast show and we have them all to share with you in this robust, boots-on-the-ground episode.

    This episode's event sponsor is Doug White and The Voice That Is. Doug was showcasing the Tidal Piano G3 Loudpeaker, TIDAL Ferios G2 amplifier, Turnbull Audio Prestige Audio Cables and new Power Distributor, REL Carbon Special Black Label, and Equitech Model 2RQ at Capital Audiofest 2025.

    CAF 2025 Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    Season 12 Merch is now available!

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    19 November 2025, 6:10 pm
  • 38 minutes 27 seconds
    All The New Audiophile & HiFi Product Announcements For The Holiday Season - What You May Have Missed!

    Marc And Brian from pt.AUDIO run down all the latest gear hitting the HiFi and Audiophile market for the holiday season. From premium speaker products to headphones, IEMs and amplifiers, this episode discusses and dissects all the new product announcements for 4th quarter and beyond.

    If you are attending Capital Audiofest next weekend, please swing by the Wilson Room and see our CAF 2025 sponsor, Doug White and The Voice That Is. Doug will showcasing his fine selection of brands including Tidal Audio, Turnbull Cables, Equitech, REL Subwoofers and more.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S13E5 Sponsors:

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - Legendary British Sound – Elevated

    THEVOICETHATISdotCOM - The Wilson Room At Captial Audiofest 2025

    5 November 2025, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Rooms! Treatments, Correction And Everything You Can Do Optimize Performance For Your Stereo

    An interview with Ed Mullen and Nick Brown of SVS. In this detailed educational discussion, we explore all the things that you can do to improve the sound of your stereo through adjusting your listening room. An often overlooked, essential part of HiFi performance is condition of the ceiling, walls and floor of the room your rig is located in. Technical expert Ed Mullen joins us to dissect the subject including room treatments, standing/null waves, room gain, controlling floor boom, bass bleed, isolation and more.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S13E4 Sponsors:

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - Legendary British Sound – Elevated

    THEVOICETHATISdotCOM - The Wilson Room At Captial Audiofest 2025

    22 October 2025, 11:45 pm
  • 1 hour 7 minutes
    Is Analog Better Than Digital? An Interview With Peter Ledermann Of Soundsmith Plus The Status Of HiFi Design In Education

    An interview with Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith. Peter has a very long history of research and development in audio. From his time at IBM to amps to turntable cartridges, Peter has long sought to educate and enlighten the twisting technicalities of HiFi. In this interview we chat about why audio is sometimes pros, cons and compromise. It is an evolution that attempts to help to solve a host of problems, while sometimes creating new ones. But most importantly, it's weeding out things that break over time so consumers have a lifelong product. We also chat about turntables and is analog better than digital? Do Turntables have sample rates? Measurements, cantilever material, why mono karts might be better, cable burn in and how "getting used to something" really effects how we can form preferences.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S13E3 Sponsors:

    AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 18-19 In-Store HiFi Celebration

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    MUSICHALLAUDIOdotCOM - No Nonsense, Just Great Sound

    SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    8 October 2025, 8:37 pm
  • 47 minutes 8 seconds
    Measurements - What Do Audio Designers Think? Interviews With Pass, Jones, Grell, Watts, Qvortrup, Comeau and Dudleston

    This episode is a collection of interviews that help explore the idea of measurements as they relate to high fidelity audio reproduction from an audio product designer's perspective. Some of the most predominant makers of HiFi gear share their thoughts on measurements, discussing the usefulness, limitations, and greater impact on the market. Includes interviews with Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK, Andrew Jones of MoFi, Nelson Pass Of Pass Labs and First Watt, Axel Grell from Sennheiser, Bill Dudleston from Legacy Audio, Rob Watts Of Chord and Peter Comaeu of Quad and Wharfedale.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S13E2 Sponsors:

    AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 18-19 In-Store HiFi Celebration

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    MUSICHALLAUDIOdotCOM - No Nonsense, Just Great Sound

    SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    24 September 2025, 10:37 pm
  • 34 minutes 27 seconds
    Top 10 Turntable Carts Of 2025 - The Best Cartridges Available For Your Turntable/Record Player

    Our recommendations for the top 10 best sounding Turntable Carts from the past 12 months. Marc and Brian run down their best turntable cartridges for record players available to buy today. Released in conjunction with the pt.AUDIO Buyer's Guide Summer 2025. You can check out all the "best of" gear from every HiFi category here: https://pt.audio/category/audio-gear-reviews/buyers-guide/ In this epsiode we also discuss the pros and cons of Moving Magnet vs. Moving Coil cartridges and how to properly budget a cart vs. the total price of the turntable and components.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S13E1 Sponsors:

    AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 18-19 In-Store HiFi Celebration

    AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

    MUSICHALLAUDIOdotCOM - No Nonsense, Just Great Sound

    SCHIITdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    8 September 2025, 10:01 pm
  • 27 minutes 25 seconds
    Top 10 Turntables Of 2025

    Our recommendations for the top 10 best sounding turntables from the past 12 months. Marc and Brian run down their best turntable picks from 2025. Released in conjunction with the pt.AUDIO Summer Buyer's Guide. You can check out all the "best of" gear from every HiFi category here: https://pt.audio/category/audio-gear-reviews/buyers-guide/

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    Season 12 Merch is now available!

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S12E10 Sponsors:

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection

    PASSLABSdotCOM - Rediscover Your Music Like Never Before

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    11 July 2025, 6:34 pm
  • 26 minutes 52 seconds
    Vince Bruzzese Of Totem Acoustic

    An interview with Vince Burzzese of Totem Acoustic. Vince has been developing speakers for many years, and his longtime brand Totem Acoustic has carved out its audience in the HiFi realm since 1987. We sit down with him to chat about his design philosophy, audio journey, and more in this very unique interview. Vince is a rare Canadian designer based out of Montreal, Quebec. His goals and mission in audio are made clear and help provide an interesting insight into the how and why he has dedicated his professional life to audio. It is a really fun listen for anyone interested in high-end audio, high fidelity, and speaker design philosophy in general.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    Season 12 Merch is now available!

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S12E9 Sponsors:

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection

    DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    27 June 2025, 8:35 pm
  • 57 minutes 3 seconds
    Peter Comeau Of IAG (Wharfedale, Mission, and Quad)

    An intervew with Director of Acoustic Design at IAG, Peter Comeau. Peter helps manage the sound design for IAG brands, including Wharfedale, Mission, Quad, Castle and Audiolab. We chat him up and discuss his outlook on listening, reproducing sound and more. Peter gives his take on several audiophile myths, including how far a speaker should really be placed from a wall for the best bass response. He also sheds a little more light on the idea of "British" speaker designs and some of the pros and cons of two-way vs three-way approaches. This includes some insights into the new (and very popular) Super Linton sub-$3k standmount that we got a chance to review.

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    Season 12 Merch is now available!

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S12E8 Sponsors:

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection

    DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    11 June 2025, 5:18 pm
  • 29 minutes 51 seconds
    Top 10 Integrated Amplifiers - Cheapest To Most Expensive

    Our recommendations for the top 10 best sounding integrated amplifiers from the past 12 months. Marc and Brian run down their best amp picks from cheapest to most expensive. Released in conjunction with the pt.AUDIO Buyer's Guide Summer 2025. You can check out all the "best of" gear from every HiFi category here: https://pt.audio/category/audio-gear-reviews/buyers-guide/

    Video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

    Season 12 Merch is now available!

    The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Walnut : 230 Gram

    S12E7 Sponsors:

    ZMFHEADPHONESdotCOM - Traditional Craft, Modern Acoustics

    NORDOSTdotCOM - A Clear Choice For The Best Connection

    DEVOREFIDELITYdotCOM - Nothing Brings You Closer To The Music

    PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

    28 May 2025, 11:47 pm
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