We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed Although Brent and Dennis will probably never again work up the gumption to attend CES, they can muster the courage to read through others’ CES reports and weigh in with their own opinions. That’s this week’s first segment. Then they check out an article from Darko about age-related hearing loss and its relationship with audio copium, and think real hard about whether buying a $10,000 DAC is worth it if you can’t hear above 12 kHz. They then take a TAS hostage video hostage and use it as a jumping-off point for a deep dive into Class G and H amp topologies.

And for Patrons: What the heck is Snyderman’s Maxim? And would you want a million-dollar audio system if you could only use it to listen to “Hotel California”?

📖 Get your copy of the 4th edition of Floyd Toole’s legendary book, Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers, Rooms and Headphones with DISCOUNT CODE 25SMA4: https://www.routledge.com/Sound-Reproduction-The-Acoustics-and-Psychoacoustics-of-Loudspeakers-Rooms-and-Headphones/Toole-Olive-Welti/p/book/9781032761930

Dennis’ relaunched YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureswithCPAP

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent

https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• Can You Identify Famous Guitarists From A Single Note? by Rick Beato: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gESY87hn7_Q
• CES 2026: With Onkyo, Premium Audio Co Proves It Can Walk & Chew Gum at the Same Time by Ted Gree: https://www.strata-gee.com/ces-2026-with-onkyo-premium-audio-co-proves-it-can-walk-chew-gum-at-the-same-time/
• Best of CES 2025: The Audio Gear That Matters by Adam Birney: https://www.soundguys.com/best-of-ces-2025-the-audio-gear-that-matters-130847/
• Eclipsa Audio on GitHub: https://github.com/google/eclipsa-audio-plugin
• Klipsch Demos New Powered Speakers, Shows Off High-End Concepts at CES 2026 by Jacob Green: https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/klipsch-80th-ces
• The Best of CES 2026: The Products We Want to Get Our Hands On Most by Wirecutter Staff: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-ces-2026-products/
• The LG Sound Suite Soundbar changed the way I think about surround sound by Nick Pino: https://www.tomsguide.com/audio/speakers/the-lg-sound-suite-soundbar-changed-the-way-i-think-about-surround-sound
• How age-related hearing loss emboldens hi-fi cope by John Darko: https://darko.audio/2025/12/how-age-related-hearing-loss-emboldens-hi-fi-cope/

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed Brent and Dennis ring in the new year by finding the very fine line between clever and stupid when it comes to A/B tests on YouTube, courtesy of AP Mastering. Next up: John Darko says lazy phrases are the norm in audio coverage but don’t mean anything. Is Darko punching above his weight class without breaking a sweat? And lastly for most listeners, we wonder if the rumors of the audio hobby’s death have been greatly exaggerated, and pine for the days when all audiophiles wore bowler hats.

And for Patrons: When Stereophile does blind testing, Brent and Dennis sit up and take notice… a full 37 years late.

📖 Get your copy of the 4th edition of Floyd Toole’s legendary book, Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers, Rooms and Headphones with DISCOUNT CODE 25SMA4: https://www.routledge.com/Sound-Reproduction-The-Acoustics-and-Psychoacoustics-of-Loudspeakers-Rooms-and-Headphones/Toole-Olive-Welti/p/book/9781032761930

Dennis’ relaunched YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureswithCPAP

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent

https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• Audiophiles are wrong about YouTube's audio quality by AP Mastering: https://youtu.be/Xq1n9oYKiZU?si=2L6KhfoMimpLf12z
• Ready-made phrases: how hi-fi reviews dress up laziness as expertise by John Darko: https://darko.audio/2025/12/ready-made-phrases-how-hi-fi-reviews-can-dress-up-laziness-as-expertise/
• YouTube Indicates What the Future is For Audiophiles - Interesting Demographics: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/youtube-indicates-what-the-future-is-for-audiophiles-interesting-demo/post?postid=2725195
• 40% of Audiophiles May Be Gone Soon, and No One Is Replacing Them by Alexandra Plesa: https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/09/audiophiles-gone-soon/
• Lumines: Arise: https://lumines.game/

We’re on Patreon! Find us at https://www.patreon.com/AudioUnleashed This week, Brent and Dennis begin with a discussion about the design and manufacture of high-end audio cables courtesy of Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity. How much art is there to appreciate? How much science is there to check? And most importantly, which aspects of the article pissed off our curmudgeonly duo the most?

Speaking of being pissed off, Brent has a bone to pick with Erin Hardison over his most recent video about flat frequency response. You don’t want to miss that.

And finally for most listeners this week, Dennis finally gets to do an entire segment about King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, thanks to an AI clone of the band that popped up on streaming services. Did this whole story somehow prove that Google is more evil than Spotify? Perhaps!

📖 Get your copy of the 4th edition of Floyd Toole’s legendary book, Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers, Rooms and Headphones with DISCOUNT CODE 25SMA4: https://www.routledge.com/Sound-Reproduction-The-Acoustics-and-Psychoacoustics-of-Loudspeakers-Rooms-and-Headphones/Toole-Olive-Welti/p/book/9781032761930

Dennis’ relaunched YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureswithCPAP

Brent’s audio projects:

💿 Plaid Pants, Brent’s latest album! https://cygerbutterworth.bandcamp.com/album/plaid-pants

💿 The Audiophile Society's Headphone Evaluation and Spatial Audio Test Album (engineered by Brent): https://theaudiophilesociety.com/collections/albums/products/the-audiophile-societys-headphone-evaluation-and-spatial-audio-test-album

💿 tics by Flip City, mixed by Brent

https://davidaaron4.bandcamp.com/album/tics

Further Reading:

• The Art and Science of Designing High-End Audio Cables by John E. Johnson, Jr.: https://hometheaterhifi.com/technical/technical-reviews/the-art-and-science-of-designing-high-end-audio-cables/

• Why "Flat" Response Sounds TERRIBLE! by Erin's Audio Corner: https://youtu.be/LXX6zzA2AY0?si=WgArCIF_uu9TX6Kc
• Børresen X3 Floorstanding Speaker Review by Erin’s Audio Corner: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/b%C3%B8rresen_x3/
• 5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan by Caitlin Huston: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/ai-podcast-start-up-plan-shows-1236361367/
• ‘We are truly doomed’: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard despair at AI clone appearing on Spotify: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/dec/10/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-despair-at-ai-clone-appearing-on-spotify
• “Rattlesnake” by the fake AI band King Lizard Wizard: https://youtu.be/9MKm5HMth5A?si=rb7FuqHo4EnJeEOC
• “Rattlesnake” by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: https://youtu.be/Q-i1XZc8ZwA?si=OAdN3LLq90DpcM7s
• I've Lost 180 lbs. (82kg) on CPAP. Now What?! by Adventures with CPAP: https://youtu.be/uDD7Ft2jx4w?si=Ge7_bqFyTGeY3zKd