John Hughes

The audio bug bit me early on. From window shopping at JC Penney's and Sears, admiring all those 70's combo stereos, to the massive Magnavox console I pleaded with my dad to buy for me at a neighbor's garage sale for just $50. That console became my favorite because it had 12-inch woofers. Woofers were the only metric that mattered to my teenage self! Little did I care then that it also housed the full Magnavox tube phono, preamp, amps, and a two-way horn system. Much of my audio journey has been an attempt to recapture that early feeling of laying atop that console, immersed in my favorite tunes, from Stravinsky to Bach to the Rolling Stones.

I also grew up learning to play (albeit poorly) the coronet, flute, accordion, guitar, and ultimately, the piano. I studied piano for eight years. Recreating the sound of live acoustic instruments has always been my goal with audio.

While in college, I was hired by The Audible Difference, my local high-end audio shop in Palo Alto, to help with warehousing, installations, and system setup. Although a seminal experience, I don't think I was their best employee! Later, I embarked on a classic Silicon Valley tech career, starting up a few small but successful companies in the Web space. Simultaneously, I applied my audio skills to various projects, including participating in the development of the FLAC lossless audio codec and the open-source Pandora Project, which later became the first streaming platform, Pandora. This project involved figuring out how to describe pieces of music with a common set of attributes used to categorize and build playlists—the basis for how all streaming services work today. So if you ever hate that next song that comes up on Qobuz after your favorite track, you can cast a tiny bit of blame my way!

I joined a friend as the tech developer for the VRS Revelation Music Computer, one of the first music servers. We pioneered many areas now integral to building a high-quality streaming setup, like ethernet isolation, RFI and EMI mitigation, and clean ripping of CDs to servers.

I left the audio industry and hobby about 15 years ago but started picking it back up a year before Covid. I've rebuilt my audio system to be satisfying and have reconnected with many friends and colleagues. I am now a Contributor and Reviewer for Positive Feedback Magazine and dedicated to building the Audiophile Foundation into a fun and welcoming space for audiophiles of all stripes and flavors worldwide.