In this episode, hosts Darren and Duncan get way off into the deep end about different kinds of resistors before getting back on track with a podcast singing the praises of the budget state of the art in hifi audio. The guys also tackle a listener question about -- you guessed it -- power cables, and this week's recommended album is an incredible debut from a rising UK star.

Over the years, hosts Darren and Duncan have DIYed just about anything and everything in the audio hobby, and they've learned a ton of lessons from boatloads of mistakes. In this episode of The Hifi Podcast, the guys share all the best tips and tricks they've learned, in order to help the beginner or intermediate DIYer avoid the same pitfalls and achieve quicker success.

Audiophiles should be familiar with the concept of measuring THD (total harmonic distortion) in audio gear by playing a tone and watching for similar activated tones called "harmonics" rise up on the spectrum analyzer. But what happens when we use two or more tones? Beyond the associated THD products, we also will see artifacts created by the two interacting, and usually these are happening down in the bass region. In this episode, engineer Darren Myers breaks down IMD and explains how it works, and why it happens more in amplifiers than any other device.

In this episode the guys take a look at why we are audiophiles, and they examine how the hobby interacts with our physical and mental makeup. A specific perspective on the whys of hifi audio sees audiophiles as having more in common with hippies than scientists, and the guys may have to agree. Also in the episode are great questions about subwoofer crossover points and DIY vibration dampening.

When it comes to RF (radio frequency) loitering around our music like a nuisance, audiophiles aren't completely out of luck -- we have a couple of tools at hand to deal with it. In this episode of The Hifi Podcast, the guys begin the main topic answering a question about shields and grounds in power cables, and parlay that into the larger topic about eradicating RF. Ultimately when the best course is to "move" the energy, the most effective tools will make the ground return the easiest pathway for the tiny little high frequencies.

Darren and Duncan live in Colorado, and the recent news of the cancellation of this year's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest hits hard. Sadly, the bigger announcement wrapped in the recent memo about canceling this year's show is that the group putting on the show is hanging up their hats for good. RMAF is no more, and in this episode the guys reminisce and pay tribute to those who have kept this special event alive for so long.

Speaker expert Chris Brunhaver is back, although this week, the guys aren't jawing about squawk boxes. Rather, in this guest appearance Chris joins the discussion about the old aphorism that "there's no free lunch in audio." Turns out, there are several ways the truth of this statement shows up in the hifi hobby, and the guys explain why it's truer now than ever before.

In this episode, Darren and Duncan talk about where they are with one of the many audio DIY projects that are in the queue. A listener's question prompts reflection on what makes the project unique, and the guys explain why changes to the plans were made. Another great question about bass traps is asked, and the album of the week is a posthumous work from an influential figure in African music.

In the '80s, it was trashed. No, we're not talking about Motley Crue, but we are in fact talking about harmonic distortion - you know, the villain of audio. During the "specs wars," watts ruled and distortion was the fool, and as we look at the landscape and the modern audiophile takes on the matter, not a ton has changed. With curious, useless specs like THD+Noise floating around out there, we wonder if the understanding of distortion has matured along with much of our technology in the last 40 years.

In hifi audio, our lexicon is pretty extensive. So much so, that sometimes, our words can trip over themselves and show up substituted for other words as we're trying to express what we think about how a thing sounds. We have the "Rs", which are Revealing, Resolving and Ruthless. And there are probably more than just that, but in this episode of The Hifi Podcast, the guys talk about the ins and outs -- and the ups and downs of resolution.