The Occasional Podcast

An interview with Miki Yamanaka. As an accomplished jazz musician and pianist, Miki joins the show this week with her sparkling personality, some great humor and thoughtful insights into how artists think about sound, listening, recording and performing. We further explore some of the unique value of Jazz, Vinyl and even Japanese influences across both HiFi and the music scene. Her new album titled Breathe is a excellent specimen of both top-tier performance and sonic pleasantries. A real season highlight. Special thanks to co-host Bryan Beasley - don't forget to check out his new film Crossroads Of America: Oklahoma's Route 66.

Miki Yamanaka:

On Instagram | Buy The Album Breathe | Stream

We are now on Patreon! Please support the show directly on Patreon for extra bits, behind-the-scenes and direct contact with The Occasional Podcast's creators. TOP supporters on Patreon also have the opportunity to download the show before it goes public to the rest of humanity.

Support us here: PartTimeAudiophile On Patreon

S15E2 Sponsors:

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

SCHIITAUDOdotCOM - Audio Components Designed & Built in Texas, Starting At $49

AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 17th-18th In-Store HiFi Show

WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - The New Elysian R Series

An interview with Jason Stoddard of Schiit Audio. A long time friend of the show, Jason returns once again to chat about keeping things real on the entry-level of high fidelity. We talk about how Jason finds direction for raising expectations at the "floor" of HiFi, rather than continually adding dollars to the price to push the ceiling even higher. We dabble in his latest updates for the Schiit Audio brand, weather another CD player is in the mix, and if robots will every take over the Texas warehouse. A great listen for anyone interested in what is going on in the budget arena of gear, both headphones and two-channel speakers.

We are now on Patreon! Please support the show directly on Patreon for extra bits, behind-the-scenes and direct contact with The Occasional Podcast's creators. TOP supporters on Patreon also have the opportunity to download the show before it goes public to the rest of humanity.

Support us here: PartTimeAudiophile On Patreon

S15E1 Sponsors:

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - Instruments For The Music

AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco Oct 17th-18th In-Store HiFi Show

WHARFEDALEUSAdotCOM - The New Elysian R Series

A verbal get-together with John Klima of the Post And Beam podcast. In this episode we run down the top 10 best party speakers as recommended by the pt.AUDIO staff. John co-hosts the show and gives us his impressions of the brand new Wharfedale Denton 1S bookshelf speakers. What speakers are known for getting the party to rock? What transducers will impress most at your next wine and cheese party? All this and a pre-review of the latest from Wharfedale in the Denton line. Bonus: Are cassettes having a comeback?

Post And Beam Podcast

S14E11 Sponsors:

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - Intstruments For The Music

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

An interview with Director Of Engineering of Benchmark Media Systems, John Siau. The brains behind much of Benchmark's gear in recent years can be credited to John. Between pro and consumer DACs, analog to digital converters and a wide array of HiFi gear, Benchmark has been on quite a run the past 10 years in terms of product development. In this episode, John offers up some really sound advice and information. We tackle some talk about design elements, feedback error correction and help shed light on questions like - have we been slowly losing fidelity over the years?

S14E10 Sponsors:

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

Our picks for the top 10 best sounding speakers from 2026. Marc and Brian rundown their favorite loudspeakers from cheapest to most expensive. Fresh back from a run across the country listening to the world's hottest hifi gear, pt.AUDIO's Editor-In-Chief Marc Phillips joins host Brian Hunter for a full breakdown of the best sounding bookshelf and floor-standers in the known universe.

S14E9 Sponsors:

VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - Intstruments For The Music

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

Marc is back from his travels abroad and he returns with all the good news, highlights and best sound from the HIGH END Vienna show. Hosted for the first time at its new location in Austria, HIGH END 2026 found a new home for one of the biggest international audio shows on the planet. Marc and Brian dive deep into the best parts of the Hifi event, with all the audio goodies and tasty sounds from the massive high end convention.

S14E8 Sponsors:

VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - Intstruments For The Music

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

BORDERPATROLdotNET - For Music Lovers, Not Scope Jockeys

An interview with Julie Mullins of Stereophile Magazine, Analog Planet and many more endeavors. This week we chat with Julie about her long history in audio (which includes all the major HiFi publications) and her epic history as a freelance writer for the arts. From audiophile roots growing up to her high-paced journalism, Mullins has been both listening and writing for most of her life. We discuss music, the arts, AI and writing in this episode - along with some interesting conversations about listening and some of the unique hurdles HiFi faces as a community.

S14E7 Sponsors:

VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

JMF-AUDIOdotCOM - At Hi-Fi Deluxe Show In Vienna, June 5-7

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

A very special interview with Bill Low of AudioQuest. This week's episode is a much more cerebral experience, and one of our favorites to tackle. Joined by AudioQuest founder William Low, we talk about some great topics for anyone interested in high fidelity, critical listening and all the possibilities around hearing. What is realism in audio? Why does our hearing focus on certain things and not others? How have we evolved as a species to hear things a certain way? Bill and host Brian Hunter jump in to the fray with these and plenty of other audio tips, tricks and passing thoughts for this mid point of Season 14. A real highlight for the season so far.

S14E6 Sponsors:

VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

BORDERPATROLdotNET - For Music Lovers, Not Scope Jockeys

WOOAUDIOdotCOM - The New WA300-BAL Speaker Amp

A huge show this week with both Steve "The Audiophiliac" Guttenberg and legendary speaker designer Andrew Jones. The Reviewer and the Designer was recorded live at AXPONA 2026 in Chicago this year. In a keynote session on Friday, The Occasional Podcast had a live audience for the first time. The three way banter was a great variation for the format, with some great conversations and educational bits alike. We pulled out some interesting stories from both Steve and Andrew, along with some unique perspectives on both measurements and design philosophy.

Andrew's new speaker is the field-coil concentric Jones And Cerreta Troubador.

And Steve Guttenberg has a new book coming out titled "The Blind Projectionist" but you can also follow his HiFi commentary on his regular YouTube channel "The Audiophiliac".

S14E5 Sponsors:

VAC-AMPSdotCOM - When Music Matters

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

AUDIOVISIONSFdotCOM - San Francisco May 16th-17th In-Store HiFi Celebration

Live from Chicago, IL - The cast and crew from PartTimeAudiophile's coverage of AXPONA 2026 weigh in. Held April 10-12 in the Schaumburg Convention Center, this episode reports back on all the showroom highlights and the latest hifi product releases from the largest high fidelity audio event in North America. Best of show, standout gear and plenty of weekend observations. Special thanks to Marc Phillips and to all the fans who weighed in on the songs this week!

Hear all the AXPONA 2026 songs and see the room-by-room coverage on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePartTimeAudiophile/reels/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PT-Audio

Seasonal Merch is now available!

The pt.AUDIO Record Weight In Copper

S14E4 Sponsors:

AUDIOQUESTdotCOM — High-Performance Cables & Power Products — Made for You

PTdotAUDIO - Great Sounds Meet Good Times

BORDERPATROLdotNET - For Music Lovers, Not Scope Jockeys