Intro
Contents
The Alpha Audio livestreams originate from an idea Yung had: what if our readers could experience what we experience on the couch in the Alpha Audio listening room? From a modest test, this has grown into our main activity. Alpha Audio has put a lot of time, effort, research and money into conveying what we hear in the best possible way to listeners and viewers on YouTube.
We get many questions, comments, tips, criticisms and also many compliments on our livestreams. We like all of it, because interacting with you as readers and viewers is what makes our platform better. In this article, we list and reflect on the main topics you share with us.
Why does Alpha Audio broadcast livestreams?
Through the livestream, you can hear for yourself how something performs, and we try to put that performance into perspective with our commentary. This gives you, the consumer who can spend his hard earned money only once, a better view on what a device can bring than reading all the reviews available on the internet.
The livestream is a great tool to be able to pick what is worthwhile for you, out of the overwhelming offerings in the audio jungle. Everyone has a different preference and this allows you to discern which device or upgrade you prefer. You can then step into a shop in a more targeted way and listen at home to see if your choice is satisfying for your situation. We are an aid to help you navigate the audio jungle.
“This does not work over YouTube!”
Besides curiosity and scepticism, Alpha Audio also experienced a lot of resistance to the concept of livestreams. For example, people, without listening most of the time, screaming loudly in the comments that you cannot hear anything meaningful because of the compression applied by YouTube. The reality is that you can hear very well the characteristics of the devices being tested, and how they differ from each other.
“The man in the green shirt”
Through the livestreams, as a listener and enthusiastic participant in the chat, colleague Martijn ended up at Alpha Audio. If anyone knows whether you hear the same thing at home as you do on the couch in the listening room at Alpha Audio, it should be him. And yes, you do, with the exception of two aspects: you do not hear the depth of the soundstage properly, only with very large differences do you get some of that, and you do not hear what it sounds like exactly in tone and colour. But that is not the point.
Experiencing or watching a show?
We have experimented a lot with the form. The current format, with fixed camera positions in the Alpha Audio listening room, the standard microphone setup, without an elaborate script and with attention for the viewers participating in the live chat, works very well for us and for our viewers.
Can it be glossier, grander and slicker? Yes. We showed that with the live bands in Artone studio. That set-up just did not prove sustainable for many reasons. What you do not see are the many, many hours of organisation that go into setting up a test beforehand and afterwards, especially for Jaap.
The Artone livestreams also require another 4 people in the technical crew and the studio has to be rented, of course, plus the musicians’ fees. At present, the current set-up of the stream is simple and clear. And in terms of viewing figures, we do not really notice significant difference. It may be that once a season we will do something with our fine neighbours at Artone.
Stream team
A few hours of livestreaming is hard work. We go in uninhibited and are often as curious as our viewers. If you see us reacting to something, that is the first spontaneous reaction. There is nothing concocted beforehand, ‘you get what you see’. We are often exhausted at the end of a stream. Nevertheless, we get a lot of satisfaction out of it and we notice from the reactions that many of our viewers are satisfied with what they learned. But remember: we are just human too.
Uh oh. I’ve probably watched 15-20 live streams and reviews and I just now saw this post.🥴 My bad. It is a really important post though and everyone engaged on the site should read it. Maybe pin a link to this on home page? Anyway, I like that the author has clearly framed the mission, style and important values of Alpha Audio in his words. Some people clearly don’t get it though. Dedicated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic hobbyists committed to transparency and helping others craft their own personally satisfying listening experience while having fun doing so. I can attest to their friendly openness and sincere desire to help as they have never failed to answer any of my neophyte posts. I’ve received sensible and useful guidance on building my first serious system over the course of weeks for what I spend on coffee in just one day. If you have questions, then I recommend Jaap, Yung, Martijn, and Geoffrey (and hidden colleagues!) without reservation. They are such a pleasure to work with. In my mind, Alpha Audio is more public service than small business. But in truth, all of this costs real money. So join me in Patreon and support them even if only for a single month. You will help keep their informative helpful work flowing. Be kind, be generous. Helping others is a gift you give yourself. Thank you. 🙏🏼
Almost everyone with headphones except me, with my modified and very improved KEF Q100 5.25″ coaxial (they sound much better than originals), in near field while listening to Live on my second audio system (computer).
You cannot see all the differences but you can see a few that serve to make a ranking or discard.
– maty –
Indeed!