Meet Parker, he goes deep into the sound of vinyl 

The best line of this interview "Everything in engineering is a compromise". Anyone designing transducers (microphones, speakers, cartridges) knows how true this is.

I’m fortunate enough to know parker. He’s one of the smartest people I know, especially in the audio field. Bar none. The amount of passion he has for electrical engineering and audio is amazing. He can also fix basically anything that’s thrown at him as well. Glad to see him getting a spotlight on here.

Parker is going to do some amazing things in the audio industry. What a smart and nice young man! Thanks for this video Steve.

He is such an engineer... uncomfortable in front of the camera and public speaking. But he comports himself well and is clearly knowledgeable about his subject matter. That is very cool and I deeply enjoy listening to subject matter experts talk about their subjects.

His reaction to your record cleaning method is priceless! Another fascinating interview, Parker really comes alive when he gets to talk 'engineering'. Thank you both.

Its nice to listen to a guy as intelligent as Parker.

I actually learned a lot from this interview Steve! I am hearing things about turntables and cartridges for the first time, ever!

How can I buy a copy of the painting of the two guys waiting for the elevator? Mesmerizing

Absolutely fascinating interview. Thanks.

Thank-you Steve. Another super interesting interview. Dampening mechanical resonance issues totally make sense. IMHO, the best part of the hobby Is learning new things everyday.

You got the sound right on this one! I can actually hear both people. 🙂

Excellent interview!!!! Thanks to you both!

I love these videos with engineers. Keep em coming,Steve.

What a treat to have this fellow on who knows his stuff, has done focused experimental trials, and is willing and able to communicate it. Steve, why is it your interview technique to ask a question of someone who knows, and before he answers, tell him what your answer is? Insecurity? Fully half of this interview is Parker nodding his head, silently, and hinting that he knows more but is courteous enough not to interrupt. Again, what a treat to hear Parker, who clearly understands the physics of vinyl source systems, and can offer insight into their issues, trade offs, and why their perfection is elusive. By the way, anyone who knows anything about vinyl audio playback knows that you start with as clean a record and stylus as you are able. It is a primer to 101.

This guy is quite knowledgeable for someone his age. I think he is going to be an authority on the subject by the time he's 40.

Great to see his passion for cartridges and tables 😎

This was a great interview. I'd love to hear more from Parker!!

Wow! Great learning experience. Thanks, Steve!

Like seeing the youngbucks with some common sense and drive to make something better. Like this guy.

Parker is a very pleasant guy, informative, and good to listen to.

Definitely a great idea to check in with him every year. I hope he has a very successful career in audio.

Parker you are a splendidly knowledgeable Engineer. Hope to see you produce some great audio products, especially in Vinyl. You are like a freshness in the middle of snake oil salesmen. Way to go

Learned some stuff today! Thanks for posting Steve

I bet Steve has accumulated a small archive of unaired video interviews with very interesting people involved in the research of audio reproduction. I bet we have much to look forward to. Thanks Steve, just keep ‘em coming.

Parker this is gold. Steve please feature more engineers - though I get behind the we eat what we like/ pick your distortion argument, it’s great to have some actual science behind what is a mostly scientific pursuit. Refreshing compared to claims that cable x is “dynamic sounding” but no real reason how it why. Greet video both of you

Outstanding video Steve, thanks Parker.

He is the future of vinyl

Well.....that was just outstanding...thanks boys!! After listening to all of this it finally dawned on me.....I'm engineer savvy :). This was well understood. Over and above that I guess my interest over the years has been vinyl and turntables, so it seems I have learnt a considerable amount. By contrast when in depth electrical engineering is spoken about, I feel it's out of the realm of my knowledge base & as I try to be thorough, it's often difficult to read articles without the need to read other articles to scaffold my knowledge/understanding to meet the needs of the original article. It can be overwhelming. Best of luck on your future endeavours Parker!! 🎶🎶🎶

Good in your view, always nice to learn something new after 45 years of spinning records

Very informative, it's good to see a young man devoting his passion to the reproduction of music.

Fascinating interview. Thanks!

Wow, definitely learned a few things with this one. Great interview

he gets it right in one sentence: mechanical impedance matching, a somehow simple concept requiring wave theory and basic laws of physics understanding . we live in a world where digital data flow jargon took over and became the popular knowledge among many of his same generation. yet principles around transfer of energy at zero loss and zero contamination remains to be the big challenge for designers. great contribution to the industry and audiophile audience.

Another interesting interview thanks

This is why the DS Audio cartridges perform so well., low mass, as no coil OR magnets on the cantilever. I have been blown away. Seek them out....

I still have and use my B&O RX2 turntable. Really informative interview. Beautiful.

Great news, someone to continue Peter's great work.Parker seems like a sharp guy & looks like the future of audio will be in good hands. BTW I gave up all my high end moving coils once I got my Soundsmith Hyperion, they just don't compare, next stop will be the Strain Gauge!

We need to keep an eye on this guy - he gets it, he knows. Not many do today.

Great to see someone young and talented with a passion for the electro mechanical reproduction of music. The transfer of experience, knowledge and passion is critical for the future of high fidelity music reproduction. Shame about the state of Linn, the LP12 was my entree into being an audiophile. Now I don't feel so bad about giving it up for adoption.

"Stuff that works in theory does not translate to things that work in practice". that's my favorite quote here.

Wow awsome interview Psrker has a lot of knowledge and very intresting to listen to I do hope he he can design the cartridge he is striving for as there would be a lot of audiophiles queuing up to buy one. Once again a very informative video thanks Steve.

Parker is an attractive lad.

I learned so much from this young man👍

that is for every field of engineering, not just audio. its a compromise

Sound smith is impressive, Lederman is advancing the state of the art by research and engineering. Parker seems to be a great pick as a passionate seeker of answers. My favourite revelation is the stylus jitter and the notion of the stylus sampling the treble signal as it bounces off of and onto the groove. The Sondek LP12 was a muse for many designers and Ivor Tiefenbrun fixed many of the problems of the suspended subchassis belt drive record player. The upgrade and servicing support kept LP12 working and evolving and it also spawned non-Linn modifications that advanced the form. Linn often adopted and developed thinking generated in aftermarket modifications. More power to Parker and Soundsmith they are definitely tackling the microscopic engineering problems of record playback with passion and new insightful thinking. Great stuff.

Parker really knows this subject better 90% out there doing his own research a Soundsmith asset !

'Reducing stylus jitter' definitely new generation. But mind his wisdom, it is in the humbleness. Nice interview. Respect.

Very interesting video this one. 👍🏻

Great discussion, impressive young man. He's on his way. Steve, cleaning vinyl right is not hard and it's almost meditative. Damn sure it doesn't 'hurt' the sound, and we all know cleaner vinyl is better than dirty vinyl. So, why not?

Turntables are fascinating! 👍👍👍

👨👌👌😎😎👍👍Parker is such an amazing young man extremely smart good looking 😍 and very down-to-earth I am very happy he is in the audio industry and going to make things better in the future good luck Parker PS Steve fantastic video please follow up with these young man😎😎👍👍🍻🍻❤️❤️

Parker? Peter Parker? So much Spiderman here...

Very interesting things to learn from this young engineer who chose to specialize in low moving mass cartridges. I’m a retired electrical engineer so I know the meaning of induction , just getting familiar with my first moving coil Sumiko after nearly 50 years with various moving magnets Shurs, Ortofons and many others. I can dare say (even at my age) you hear the wider stage, lower noise floor and many other fancy terms, to shorten: a step forward in the quest to impruve

I like this kid

Well the inertia thing we know (MC vs MM) but the quote "we know that it works in praxis but does it work in theory?" is a really good one!

We've been waiting for you Alyosha

Stylus "Jitter" & "Sampling the groove"..... Does the boss know you're scaring the vinyl audiophiles with digital nightmares?? Good interview :-)

can i say .. that every human being on this Planet has a different Fingerprint !! so is this not the same with our hearing..i'm a very strong believer that whatever you hear is what you need.. but cannot hear or feel that there is that much difference in what you can afford.. i hope that when younger people want to get into Vinyl the will listen to Parker because he is very good at what he knows .. very good video.. Paul

On the cantilever length, very interesting points. If you think the attachment point (which I think is usually some form of rubber or similar) will have some resistance to bending, the shorter the cantilever, the harder it is to bend so compliance (ie how easy it can move) is reduced (as Parker said). The longer the cantilever, the more of a “lever” effect you have and the easier it is to move, except as you make the cantilever longer now you have the moving mass of itself to make it less compliant. Very interesting points, learning something new here!

PARRRRKERRRRR!

Great video discussion. Would love to see a follow up: Parker finds a way to remove jitter. So annoying to hear the pops when you have a clean record....

More engineering interviews please! Especially DACs, amps and transducers.

Give the man a cigar

"Minimizing moving mass"...this is a major consideration.

i’d love to see parker’s cartridge

This all really makes more sense to me when referred to as mechanical impedance. I know electronics OK, but I'm not very experienced with mechanical reproducing of sounds. Its resistance to change will therefore change depending on the frequency. And its not just one frequency at a time either, I'm beginning to get my head around the complexity involved. This needed some googling and it turns out that it has a name: Impedance analogy Weirdly enough it applies to even more stuff that is kind of similar between electronics and mechanics, Ohms law and several more that Im already familiar with. I did not know that and that really changed my viewpoint of mechanics overall. Thanks Parker, I learned a lot today!

smart dude

Keep the stylist in the groove by simply increasing the tracking Force. Jitter problem eliminated... Oh, if it was just that easy. Looks like a great future for this young man and we will benefit from it.

Please steve, we need more of parker

Frankenstein cartridges... Every innovation starts as a Frankenstein! Love it.

wow. a super expert. fascinating lecture. I assume he is an ME.

I don't want my audio to be perfect, I just want it to sound amazing! And analogue LP's do that for me! I'd rather listen to an amazing sounding record that's imperfect, than to listen to a so-so sounding CD that's perfect! Although I have nothing against CD'S, I still buy BOTH!

You gotta have a proper sit down with this guy, Steve. I'd listen to a few hours of cartridge talk for sure. And I know I'm not the only one!

SONIC YOUTH!?!!!

We didn't use the word jitter in high end audio until digital came along. You do have to be old enough to remember. Dancing the jitterbug?

Paaaaarkeeeer....👍✌

I use an old Shure V15 iii w/original stylus and it really makes wonderful music. Even compared to several new cartridges I use. Why? Thanks Steve for your enlightening videos.

What specifically is stylus jitter?. Mentioned several times, but not defined.

I dig entrepreneurs... But this guy may wanna communicate with his boss about his experiments and interviews. Lol...😂

Is no one going to mention how he seems like a younger Steve?

At 13:00 min in, this explains why surface noise is so much less noticeable with the really high end cartridges.

Snazzy and savy guy.

I have to wonder if this young fellow knows about the "cantilever-less" Decca/London phono pickups. "Scans" at the stylus tip and from directly above the stylus. London Jubilee or Reference. Other than that - IMHO phonograph records & their playback equipment are now Fred Flintstone products

Parker has given me faith in todays youth.

does he ever play the man in the mirror

This guy is real jittery.

I grew up when there was only records. They either add a medium amount of noise or a large amount of noise. CDs won because they sounded better as very small amount of added noise.

Stylus "sampling the groove" due to jitter - analog sampling! 14:49

He winced when you said dish soap and rightly so contains salt harsh chemicals, you should never use it on your car damage is the paintwork, you can use car soap. And if you want to cut down on jitter you can use a salt free hair conditioner in a rinse process after washing

im like the guy standing there in the mirror, like what the fuck get over with it. we need to go hang on the street dude hahaha

Man I wish I was smart.....😀

If surface noise is down to jitter, why do some records sound quieter than others? I have many old records that have less surface noise than most modern records. I only have a few modern records that are as quiet as may old ones.

Save the world from stylus jitter! Indeed. Great info.

Most important quote of this video: "A great turntable with a mediocre cartridge sounds better than a great cartridge on a mediocre turntable"

Modern music has more frequencies than vinyl has the capacity for...how do you engineer around that? Is that the future for vinyl?

How can you cAll something jitter which is commonly used to describe a digital electrical phenomenom to the physical stylus and moving mass. Jitter is outside the normal language of describing the physical. I don't thinking he knows what he is talking about or has used the wrong language.

Amazing interview about solving vinyl problems...that where all but GONE in 1982 (digital CD).

Awesome interview and insight! Regarding the importance of having a clean record, I feel he’s overlooking the basic common sense stuff typical of many engineers (especially young ones!) with big hyper-functioning brains. In my experience and practice, cleaning a record by ANY means or method improves the sound by removing foreign material from the record. In most cases discernible to the average (audiophile) ear, this will eliminate the most distinguishable aspects of noise outside of the music. Thank goodness for people thinking on micro levels, but a clean record is always imperative in generating interference free sound. If he perfected his idea of the perfect stylus impervious to jitter etc., play it on a dirty record and its bound to sound terrible.

Who are those two dudes hanging out in the hallway ?

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