“They Had To Wear Pants At Some Point”

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This week, Dennis and Brent dig deep into a Reddit post about soundbars to gain some insight into how A.I. is going to make sense of audiophiles in the future. (That’ll make sense in context, promise.) After that, they riff on some interesting new data about CD and LP sales, which prove K-pop and wall art are driving the whole audio biz. Then they turn their fleeting attention to recent developments in streaming — apparently, Spotify editorial playlists are in decline, but is Spotify still the only streamer that matters? Brent has some data of his own (and a $147 ASCAP payment!) to add to the conversation.

💿 “The Audiophile Society's Speaker Test and System Optimization Album”: https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-speaker-test-and-system-optimization-album. 

📖 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:

💿 The Audiophile Society's Amazing Fabulous Magnificent Speaker Test Album (engineered by Brent with VO by Dennis): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-speaker-test-and-system-optimization-album

💿 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

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

Further Reading: 

“Are soundbars getting like, really good?” by u/jpinakron: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/1uypwah/are_soundbars_getting_like_really_good/

“Luminate Midyear Report 2026: R&B/Hip-Hop Falls, Dance Rises, CDs Surge 16% & More” by Kristin Robinson: https://www.billboard.com/author/kristin-robinson/

“A Your Morning Coffee Special Episode: A Conversation with Jaime Marconette from Luminate” by Your Morning Coffee: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-your-morning-coffee-special-episode-a/id1529809478?i=1000776959540

“Spotify’s editorial playlists look enormous, but they’re shrinking” by Austin Staubus: https://medium.com/@itsnorequests/spotifys-editorial-playlists-look-enormous-but-they-re-shrinking-4ea5575c81a9

“Find Your Anti-Algorithm” by Dennis Burger: https://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/feature-articles/1392

“(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window?" by Cyger and Butterworth: https://youtu.be/_C5B7V8WW8s?si=zS2TJsssPNNPtK0f