Barry Fox

Barry Fox | Apr 25, 2025 | Published: Apr 01, 2025 | 0 comments

Barry Fox heads along to Ronnie Scott’s in London to find out how the legendary live music venue has revamped its sound system, and why it’s in a ‘war of attrition’ with drummers...

Opinion

Is it worth recording at hi-res?

Barry Fox | Apr 16, 2025 | Published: Mar 01, 2025 | 0 comments

Are only certain musical genres and acoustics ‘worthy’ of recording at high sample rates, or is it more a case of cost and practicality? Barry Fox is in favour of capturing every overtone

Opinion

Mending cables

Barry Fox | Apr 01, 2025 | Published: Feb 01, 2025 | 0 comments

There are often affordable solutions to tech problems, says Barry Fox, whether that’s a cable failure or a stuttering home network. You might even want to write your own ‘Idiot’s Guide’

Opinion

A guide to home networking

Barry Fox | Mar 13, 2025 | Published: Jan 01, 2025 | 0 comments

For music lovers entering the world of home networking, Barry Fox delves into its many acronyms and foibles, before singing the praises of Amazon’s affordable Fire TV Stick

Opinion

Free-to-air’s pipe dream

Barry Fox | Mar 04, 2025 | Published: Dec 01, 2024 | 0 comments

Changes in viewing and listening habits mean over-the-air radio and TV is being pushed aside by Internet delivery – and the UK’s public service broadcasters are leading the way, says Barry Fox

We need to talk about Freely. Why? Because it’s a clear pointer to the future of radio. Broadcasters are already planning for a time when TV and radio are delivered as an IP Internet stream and not a linear over-the-air transmission. Hence the BBC’s huge investment in its iPlayer and Sounds streaming services.

Opinion

Giant Steps Backwards

Barry Fox | Nov 28, 2024 | 0 comments

Internet radio promises unrivalled listening choice, but what happens when your favourite station goes missing? Barry Fox gets to grips with tweaking TuneIn and adding third-party hardware

A friend gets cross when I reckon that most IT is designed by engineers who don't think about the people who will use it. He says I shouldn't expect computers to work like hi-fi systems. Which is ironic because many modern hi-fi boxes are disguised computers reliant on networking, and they really need to be connected to a monitor screen because a strip display is only adequate for basic control needs.

Opinion

Live and Kicking

Barry Fox | Nov 15, 2024 | 0 comments

British trumpet player Enrico Tomasso on stage at the Felpham Village Memorial Hall in West Sussex. During lockdown Tomasso bought the microphones and equipment needed and taught himself how to stream his music from scratch

When the Covid lockdown made traditional music concerts a no-go, artists and venues turned to live streaming over the Internet. But first, says Barry Fox, they had to master the technology...

Opinion

Sweet Sounds

Barry Fox | Oct 18, 2024 | 0 comments

Supporters of Evovinyl, a sugar cane-based alternative to PVC, claim it can be used to make records that sound as good as 'the real thing'. For Barry Fox, the proof will be in the pudding

It's hard to be green and analogue. Manufacturing vinyl LPs consumes a lot of fossil fuel and heat energy - one estimate puts the production of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) at 30,000 tonnes per year for use by the global vinyl industry. So, it was big news when British speaker company PMC recently announced investment in UK company Evolution Music Ltd and Evovinyl, an alternative to PVC made from natural sugar cane.

Opinion

Disc world

Barry Fox | Sep 12, 2024 | 0 comments

Shoppers at HMV can pick up an affordable turntable to go with their new LPs, but the retailer appears less interested in CD hardware. Barry Fox wonders if DVD players can fill the gap

Vinyl sales keep on climbing. They topped £177 million in the UK in 2023 – seven times higher than ten years ago. The figures come from ERA (which by linguistic contortion is short for the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association). ERA chief executive officer Kim Bayley couples the vinyl climb with ‘the remarkable return of HMV, now back in its Oxford Street home’.

Opinion

Conversion therapy

Barry Fox | Jul 30, 2024 | 0 comments

What’s the best method for turning your analogue LPs into a digital stream? Barry Fox seeks the solution as he digs into a confusing world of dongles, A/D converters and open source software

Experts will tell you it’s easy to make a digital copy of a music stream, or LP, to play in a car or carry around. You ‘just’ suck analogue music out of your hi-fi, feed it into a computer and then ‘just’ send it to a memory device or burn to a blank CD. Yes, but it’s only easy when you already know exactly how. I’ve recently got my hands dirty finding out the easiest ‘how’ for people who want to listen to music, not burrow down computer rabbit holes. Most computers no longer come with a disc burner. But they do come with USB sockets and for £20 you can buy a portable optical burner that literally just plugs into a USB socket. Software (or an ‘app’ in modern parlance) is needed to copy music to a blank CD or USB memory stick that plays at the press of a button.

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