The Audio Stuff: Independent Audiophile Reviews and 16 Free Audio Tools
The Audio Stuff is an independent Hi-Fi publication covering headphones, loudspeakers, DACs, headphone amplifiers, speaker amplifiers, digital sources and accessories. Sixty eight reviews carry a single score from 0 to 10, anchored to a published reference list so a rating means the same thing in every category. Sixteen free audio tools sit alongside them, all running in the browser with no account and no uploads.
How the scoring works
One number, one word verdict, and a hard rule connecting them. Each verdict tier owns a numeric band, and a review whose score falls outside its band fails the site build instead of publishing.
| Verdict | Score band |
|---|---|
| Reference | 9.0 to 10.0 |
| Highly Recommended | 8.2 to 9.4 |
| Recommended | 7.0 to 8.4 |
| Mixed | 5.5 to 7.4 |
| Pass | 0.0 to 6.4 |
Bands overlap deliberately. The overlap is where price, competition and reliability decide which side a product lands on.
Review methodology
- Two weeks minimum of daily listening across genres and sources. No demo room verdicts, no first impressions published as reviews
- One fixed chain every time: a treated stereo room with measured bass behaviour, plus a desktop headphone rig on a reference DAC and amplifier pair
- Head to head against the benchmark for that category, with the reference list published rather than implied
- Level matched by measurement to ITU-R BS.1770-4 loudness, never set by ear
- Standards cited, not invented. Blind comparison follows ITU-R BS.1116-3, distortion and noise figures cite AES17 and AES-2-2012, headphone plots use the IEC 60318-4 coupler, loudspeaker data follows ANSI/CTA-2034-B
The 16 free tools
Browser based, client side, nothing transmitted anywhere.
Matching and power
- Headphone amplifier power calculator using sensitivity, impedance and headroom
- Speaker amplifier power calculator accounting for distance, room gain and crest factor
- SPL at any listening distance
Room and acoustics
- Room mode and bass trap calculator mapping standing waves to 300 Hz
- Acoustic panel absorption curves with NRC and SAA output
Signal and files
- Hi-res audio fraud detector that exposes upsampled files via FFT spectrogram
- Signal generator for sine tones, five noise colours, sweeps, polarity and channel checks
- Digital volume bit depth loss calculator for Windows and macOS
Cables
- Speaker cable gauge, resistance and damping factor
- Cable capacitance, phono loading and treble roll off
Ears and listening
- Blind ABX test, level matched and sample accurate, with a shareable certificate
- Frequency ear training from 20 Hz to 22 kHz with adaptive difficulty
- Sound signature finder, a blind preference test that names your taste in plain English
- Ten band EQ simulator with export to Equalizer APO, AutoEQ, Wavelet and Poweramp
- Safe listening and SPL timer built on WHO exposure limits
- Help Me Choose, a four question finder that returns a ranked shortlist from the scored catalogue
Who it is for
- Buyers about to spend serious money who want a verdict with a number behind it, not four adjectives
- Owners troubleshooting a system, whether that is an amplifier running out of voltage or bass vanishing at the listening seat
- Sound engineers and producers needing quick, accurate math without opening a paid measurement suite
- Anyone who suspects they cannot actually hear the difference and is willing to find out blind
Editorial policy
No verdict has ever been sponsored. Brands receive no pre publication review and cannot request changes afterwards. Loaner units are disclosed in the review header. Affiliate links never move a score. If a manufacturer pulls advertising over a negative result, that gets published too.
Running since May 2023, written by Jakub Charkiewicz. Every score carries a named byline and a direct contact route.
