SoundGuys Podcast
Join our team of experts Chris, Adam, and Lily to explore every facet of audio and related technology. Everything you want to know about the science of sound comes to you monthly. We’re going to show you the world as you’ve never heard it.
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Bluetooth is going to get soooo much better featuring Bluetooth SIG Vice President of Marketing Ken Kolderup
02/02/2020
Bluetooth is going to get soooo much better featuring Bluetooth SIG Vice President of Marketing Ken Kolderup
Bluetooth LE and the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) are going to make huge improvements to the Bluetooth standard. This will include hearing aids, broadcast communications, audio sharing, multistream audio and more. We met up with Ken Kolderup at CES 2020 and got the low-down of what’s coming. It’s going to make people’s lives better, and significantly raise the bar of baseline audio coming from Bluetooth in general.
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SoundGuys wish list for 2020
01/01/2020
SoundGuys wish list for 2020
2020 arrives, and we’re excited to see what the new year has in store. But we also have a few wishes along the way. Are true wireless earbuds bad, and even harmful? Will Google’s Pixel Buds 2 be great? What about gaming headsets? Will they ever get their stories straight? We’re hopeful, and cautiously optimistic. And we’re breaking it all down and we have a few more surprises along the way in this episode of the SoundGuys podcast!
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The headphone jack debate continues…
12/02/2019
The headphone jack debate continues…
Lily Katz has this month’s Sound Bite and she has something to say about your precious headphone jack. She doesn’t need a headphone jack in her phone and she lays out her reasons for it. But how can a true “SoundGuy” (well SoundGirl) not care about the best audio possible? Well, she does. But she doesn’t necessarily get it from her phone. Home is where the headphone jack is, after all. Isn’t that how the saying goes?
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It’s time to take a stand
11/02/2019
It’s time to take a stand
There is a problem brewing in the world that has festered for too long. It’s time we all spoke out against this evil that hurts us every day. Of course, we’re talking about hand dryers in the bathroom. What else would we be talking about?
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What do your car and headphones have in common?
10/01/2019
What do your car and headphones have in common?
When you hop into a modern car and close the door, the outside world just fades away. Great insulation, right? That gets you part of the way, but sound technology similar to what you might already have in your headphones contributes to the serenity in surprising ways. How does a car get so quiet that you can kick back, relax, and enjoy your music? Adam Molina breaks it down for you in this month’s sound bite!
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The real reason manufacturers ditched the headphone jack
09/02/2019
The real reason manufacturers ditched the headphone jack
The headphone jack is controversial, but ditching it means more than just forcing customers to buy new headphones. It’s actually forcing customers to buy your new headphones. Chris Thomas takes a deep dive into why the headphone jack is disappearing on our phones, and it goes a lot deeper than you might think.
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Can music really improve your workout?
08/02/2019
Can music really improve your workout?
Lily Katz takes us on a journey filled with exhaustion and endorphins to examine if music can really improve your workout. How can a simple song motivate you to go harder, faster, and stronger and push through the pain? Will this podcast help you become a better you? You’ll find out!
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The Intense History of Sound in Video Games
07/01/2019
The Intense History of Sound in Video Games
Today, we take sound in video games from granted. But how did sound evolve from the pings of pong to the toe-curling growls of The Last of Us? What innovations now allow us to slash boxes to the beat in Beat Saber, and what music genres have grown out of the video game community? It’s a wild ride with the SoundGuys, and they’ve brought a friend for the ride. Juan Carlos Bagnell of SomeGadgetGuy.com joins us on our journey through the bleeps and bloops of video game sound.
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Can you hear me now? Why does my mic suck?
06/01/2019
Can you hear me now? Why does my mic suck?
Sometimes when you’re on a call, the person on the other end has no idea what you’re trying to say. Fortunately, we have some experience in that realm, and Adam breaks down the four most common reasons why your microphone might suck, and how to fix the problem. So check it out!
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Sounding off on privacy
05/01/2019
Sounding off on privacy
Sometimes your headphones come with an app to help get the most out of your cans. But what happens when your headphones want to know more about you than just what the next track is? Privacy is becoming a huge issue all around the internet, and our experience with privacy recently intersected with an episode from our sister podcast, the DGiT Daily. Privacy violations can happen where you least expect them.
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Loudness Wars!
04/02/2019
Loudness Wars!
Since digital music became popular, audio engineers have been pushing the idea that louder is better. Unfortunately, that just isn’t true. As music gets louder, fine details within the music become undetectable, and the experience is ruined. This all came to a head in 2008 when the game Guitar Hero had to remix some tracks for the game. Most notably, was Metallica’s Death Magnetic and suddenly, the music sounded better. Since then, it seems the loudness was have come to an end. This is our sonic histo
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Introducing Sound Bites
03/18/2019
Introducing Sound Bites
We love sound here at the SoundGuys, and after a year of podcasting, we've come across a lot of great topics that are super interesting, but there isn't enough there for a full episode. So we're introducing a new kind of episode called Sound Bites. Sound Bites will be short, to the point, give you something really neat, and then let you go about your day.
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Weaponizing Sound
02/15/2019
Weaponizing Sound
When most of us think of sound, we think about music that gets our foot tapping, or maybe a pleasant background noise like birds chirping or waves washing up against a shoreline. It’s soothing, and calming. But, like most everything else in life, it can also have a darker side. What if you wanted to use sound…to harm?
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CES 2019 Wrap Up
01/14/2019
CES 2019 Wrap Up
This round table discussion of CES 2019 was recorded at the Blue Microphone podcasting suite at Treasure Island. Jonathan Feist of Dronerush.com led our discussion for our laryngitis-laden podcast hosts. We break down the hows and whys behind The SoundGuys Best of CES awards. It’s a great look inside the tech from one of the the largest consumer electronics shows in the world.
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It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
12/21/2018
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
You always know when the holidays are approaching because of the music you hear. From stores to radio stations to shopping malls, you are awash in the spirit of the season. Holiday music has a real psychological effect on you - for better or for worse, and we wanted to explore that, and what you can do about it. Featuring special guest interviews with Dr. Eric Spangenberg and Dr. Linda Blair. We even get an appearance of the Grinch, courtesy of Small Town Titans.
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Codecs: The Alphabet Soup That Matters
11/15/2018
Codecs: The Alphabet Soup That Matters
When shopping for a nice set of headphones for yourself or someone on your holiday list, you might run into codecs, and you might not be sure what to do with them. What are they? Do they matter? Help us SoundGuys! Fortunately, we’re here to do just that. Including a special appearance by Gary Sims, we break it all down for you.
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Spooky Audiophile "Ghost" Stories (That People Still Believe)
10/16/2018
Spooky Audiophile "Ghost" Stories (That People Still Believe)
Three tales that will surprise and shock you. These spooky audio myths come straight from the cult of audiophilia, and we’re here to help you sort through fact and fiction. Are Monster cables any better than coat hanger wire soldered together? What is jitter? And how far does one need to go to break in those headphones and get them just right? These scary (read: not scary) tales are served up with a healthy dose of fact in the SoundGuys Podcast.
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Sound: The Original Internet
09/15/2018
Sound: The Original Internet
You might be surprised to find out that before we had fiber optic cables linking the world, we had to reply on other means of communication. Those older means almost always involved sound. You know about the dots and dashes of the telegraph, and the screeching handshake of the modem. But did you know computer geeks in the 80’s used to transmit video games over FM radio?
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Is Bluetooth Dangerous? NO! Part 1
09/01/2018
Is Bluetooth Dangerous? NO! Part 1
If you do a Google search for “Is Bluetooth Dangerous?” you are met with page after page of disinformation about the supposed dangers of Bluetooth radiation, and non-ionizing radio frequency radiation. This is part of a campaign by a few organizations to capitalize on your fear, and sell you some worthless trinkets on the side.
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Drones Gone Wild
08/15/2018
Drones Gone Wild
Drones are becoming more common in today’s society. Consumer products can be seen zipping around our parks. Commercial applications range from civil engineering projects to search and rescue. Drones are enhancing our society every day - at least our human society.
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The Sound of Every Day
08/01/2018
The Sound of Every Day
Whether you realize it or not, you deal with technology based on sound every day. Home-roasting coffee requires sound cues from the roasting beans. Sound waves can make objects levitate. Sound can be used to sterilize your fruit juice. Ultrasounds are used in many applications of healthcare. There's an awesome and ridiculous piece of sound tech designed to shag away teenagers - no kidding. Sound can also affect your buying habits.
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The USB-C Train Wreck
07/15/2018
The USB-C Train Wreck
What led us to relying on USB Type-C connectors for audio? Why don’t they work very well or at all? The SoundGuys break down the loss of the headphone jack, and the difficulties surrounding USB-C audio with the help of Robert Triggs of Android Authority. Why is this universal standard not universally standard? It turns out, there are a lot of reasons and we break them all down for you on our fourth episode of the SoundGuys podcast.
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The State of Smartphone Audio in 2018
06/13/2018
The State of Smartphone Audio in 2018
If you listen to music today, chances are you’re doing it on a smartphone. So, we decided to take a look at smartphone audio and see where it is today. There have been some polarizing changes made to the medium in the last few years - do the changes matter? Can an audiophile still get a great experience even if a smartphone lacks a headphone jack? Come with us as we explore wired and wireless audio coming from the most important gadget you own, how it’s working today, and how it will be working, tomorrow. Full transcript available at SoundGuys is: Chris Thomas - Lily Katz - Adam Molina - Produced by: Adam Doud - Make sure to subscribe to the SoundGuys Podcast on iTunes and visit and our for reviews, news, and everything you ever wanted to know about sound and audio equipment.
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Smart Speakers: A New Legal Frontier
06/11/2018
Smart Speakers: A New Legal Frontier
Smart Speakers are taking the world by storm, but is that opening up new, legal cans of worms that we’re not prepared to deal with? What happens when your entire life is recorded from within the sanctity of your home? Do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy when your every word is recorded, transcribed and stored? Does this create a constitutional crisis?Join us on the SoundGuys Podcast as we explore this phenomenon that is seemingly innocuous, but actually potentially sinister. Are you safe in your own home, once you invite Alexa in? Full Transcript available at SoundGuys is: Chris Thomas - Lily Katz - Adam Molina - Joined by special guest: Jay StanleySenior Policy AnalystAmerican Civil Liberties Union Produced by: Adam Doud - Make sure to subscribe to the SoundGuys Podcast on iTunes and visit and our for reviews, news, and everything you ever wanted to know about sound and audio equipment.
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The MP3 revolution
06/11/2018
The MP3 revolution
The .MP3 is arguably one of the most important innovations in digital media. Without MP3s we don’t have iPods, Podcasts, or P2P file sharing. Arguably, the smartphone looks completely different today if not for the MP3 format. And it all started with a woman in a diner waiting for a cup of coffee. Join us on the SoundGuys Podcast as we explore the history of the MP3, and discover how the MP3 turned not one, but two entire industries on their heads with the creation of a new file format. Full Transcript available at SoundGuys is: Chris Thomas - Lily Katz - Adam Molina - Produced by: Adam Doud - Make sure to subscribe to the SoundGuys Podcast on iTunes and visit and our for reviews, news, and everything you ever wanted to know about sound and audio equipment.
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