In this SIAS 2024 video, I finally got Ted from SuperChonk to sit down with me for an exclusive interview. I met him briefly back in 2022 at the November Hi-Fi show, but this time he “didn’t have a choice” — we actually got to talk properly. We went through his origin story as a reviewer (pandemic boredom, a desk full of earphones, and the itch to share thoughts), and what makes his perspective different: he comes from a manufacturer mindset, so he pays extra attention to aesthetics, build, and clever tech implementation. We also got into his review process, and I liked how practical it is. He uses a set of test tracks, including Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” because it can expose treble peaks and sibilance, then balances that with modern, more compressed music to make sure gear works across different mastering styles. For the spicy questions, Ted called airplane earphones “human torture devices” (I fully agree), and he shouted out the QDC Emperor as the best thing he’s tried at the event when price is out of the equation. We also touched on some hype picks like the Hexa Gen 2 and a warm, bassy mystery 7Hz collab that should be landing soon.