Articles by Jez Ford, Editor, Sound+Image magazine

Jez is the Editor of Sound+Image magazine, having inhabited that role since 2006, more or less a lustrum after departing his UK homeland to adopt an additional nationality under the more favourable climes and skies of Australia. Prior to his desertion he was Editor of the UK's Stuff magazine, and before that Editor of What Hi-Fi? magazine, and before that of the erstwhile Audiophile magazine and of Electronics Today International. He makes music as well as enjoying it, is alarmingly wedded to the notion that Led Zeppelin remains the highest point of rock'n'roll yet attained, though remains willing to assess modern pretenders. He lives in a modest shack on Sydney's Northern Beaches with his Canadian wife Deanna, a rescue greyhound called Jewels, and an assortment of changing wildlife under care. If you're seeking his articles by clicking this profile, you'll see far more of them by switching to the Australian version of WHF.

Articles by: Jez Ford

I experienced the world's first "interactive 3D symphony" in a new audio format that expands on the ideas of Dolby Atmos – here's how

By Jez Ford published 13 October 24

An orchestra of music mixed as a 3D choreography of sound – a new visual audio format makes good sense for VR goggles, but is that how we want to listen to music?

A man wheeling a suitcase and carrying red cable

What I did on my holidays, or 6 lessons in checking hi-fi and TV systems for schoolboy errors

By Jez Ford published 1 October 24

I recently transformed two hi-fi and TV sound systems – one of them for almost nothing because of a hilarious installation error.

The Wombles album pulled out of a vinyl collection

After reviewing hi-fi through five decades, here's why The Wombles remain my biggest musical influence

By Jez Ford published 19 September 24

The furry litter-pickers were a supergroup of GOATs and heavily influential on my formative musical taste.

I just saw the fulldome presentation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon – and was blown away

By Jez Ford last updated 16 September 24

The bad news: your home cinema ain’t gonna cut it. The good news: there’s more to fulldome than Floyd.

Cyrus CDi player on wooden rack with magazines in background

How music streaming is righting a wrong of the Compact Disc

By Jez Ford published 30 August 24

As we wave goodbye to the CD format, it turns out silver discs were largely imaginary all along...

Tidal is definitely lossless, and my mate can prove it

By Stephen Dawson published 30 August 24

I decided to see what the real measurable differences were between the (hopefully) lossless service and the admitted lossy Spotify...

a person wearing headphones and meditating

Why I gave up my search for silence to embrace ambient headphone listening

By Jez Ford last updated 26 August 24

Once upon a time I travelled the world in search of silence. I never found it...

Audio Pro Addon C5A in a kitchen next to some limes

Got a Bluetooth speaker? Think of it like cheap vodka, and take this route next

By Jez Ford published 6 May 24

Bluetooth speakers are convenient and affordable, but you can do better. Much better.

Living room with a sofa, table and glass walls

The trouble with my listening room: speakers weren't made for it

By Jez Ford published 2 May 24

A realisation that open-house lifestyles may not provide quite the conditions for which your loudspeakers were designed...

Australian Hi-Fi Show 2024 report: all-Aussie supersystem, Avantgarde world debut, and more

By Becky Roberts, Jez Ford published 8 April 24

The highlights from, and the lowdown on, the weekend’s Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney...

I grew up playing vinyl in the car. Can we do that again please?

By Jez Ford published 5 December 23

Dude, where's my carMignon?

The setting you should change to enjoy Netflix’s Tour De France: Unchained to the max

I changed one setting on Netflix’s Tour De France Unchained – and it brought the whole show to life

By Jez Ford published 13 June 23

Égalité, fraternité, they say, but the English and French soundtracks of Tour de France Unchained do not treat their audience equally.

Dolby Atmos music just went to another level, and I’ve never heard anything like it

By Jez Ford published 9 June 23

Medieval music in a big cathedral is not generally my first go-to for an evening listening session. But wow, now it is.

PSB Speakers: a brief history

By Jez Ford published 19 May 23

From a home-made violin – via Floyd Toole and Canada's National Research Council – to a a 50-year-strong speaker brand.

Will UWB change the world of headphones? Because Bluetooth can't

By Jez Ford published 8 March 23

Bluetooth cannot transmit lossless high-res audio. Ultra-Wideband can. Will it change the world of headphones?

Stable Diffusion 1.5 via playgroundai.com

AI sound is here – and I urge you to demo it

By Jez Ford last updated 1 March 23

AI art and AI chat are changing the world. AI video is developing - but what about AI sound?

Headphone 3.0? How a computer in your ear could change headphones forever

By Jez Ford last updated 2 September 22

Get your ears ready for CosmOS, an operating system that aims to bring apps to your headphones

Stranger Things S4 sounds better thanks to Sennheiser's ever-morphing Ambeo

By Jez Ford last updated 1 September 22

If you think Sennheiser’s Ambeo is a world-beating soundbar, think again. Now it’s a stereo soundtrack on Netflix’s Series 4 of Stranger Things. Confused? Here’s the back story.