Cameron Oatley

Cameron Oatley

@GoldenSound

Cameron (aka GoldenSound) is a reviewer and content creator with a fascination not just for the sound and experience of products, but the design, theory and engineering behind them.Cameron’s life has always been closely linked with music, playing the piano, violin and drums from a young age, playing in an orchestra, and singing in both large choirs and smaller ensembles.

However, his journey into high end audio began during university, where after being thrown in at the deep end with a listening session of the Focal Grande Utopia speakers, he knew he had to find some way to get even a small piece of that experience at home.

After purchasing the Sennheiser HD800S as his first truly high end pair of headphones, his love for audio only grew further, and soon his love for technology and engineering began to play a large part as he explored the various rabbitholes of audio theory and design, both analog and digital.

Later beginning his own review channel which besides discussing the subjective sound of audio products, also discussed and explained various aspects of the design and engineering behind them. He also publishes objective tests and measurements for various audio devices.Before moving to working in audio full-time, Cameron was an economist working in private equity. He has keen interests in sailing, Formula One, EUCs and live music.

Cameron’s favourite genres include:
Jazz, Electro-Swing, Classical, Deep House, Electro-Orchestral, and Percussion or Funk Driven Pop.

Cameron’s favourite artists include:
Boogie Belgique, Bob Moses, Plini, Alt-J, Arlo Parks, Half Alive, Big Data, Brock Berrigan, Daft Punk, Emotional Oranges, Grissini Project, Her, Lewis Del Mar, Woodkid, Polyphia, The Long Arm, Louis the Child, Manganas Garden, Mansionair and Pølaroit

Latest posts from Cameron Oatley

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What's inside a DAC? - DAC internals explained
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What's inside a DAC? - DAC internals explained

What exactly does all the extra 'stuff' inside a DAC besides the DAC chip do? GoldenSound walks through each stage inside these products.

Buying Guide: Best DACs, Headphone Amps and DAC/Amp Combos to buy in 2026

As we head into 2026, join us at The Audio Files as we round up some of the best and most compelling products in audio source gear. No matter if you're looking to spend a few hundred, or thousands for the best you can get, we've got you covered!

How good is a $4000 music player? - Astell & Kern SP4000 review
  • Video

How good is a $4000 music player? - Astell & Kern SP4000 review

The SP4000 is the latest flagship device from manufacturer Astell & Kern, delivering not only exceptional performance but some highly desirable software features that start to make this device look strangely reasonable in price.

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Orchard Audio X Zeos Valencia Headphone Power Amp Review & Measurements

Orchard audio is most well known for their class-D speaker amplifiers, but the Valencia offers a departure in both aspects. This is a powerful class AB headphone amp, one which rather unusually follows a ‘power amplifier’ design, having fixed gain and no volume control with the aim of increased transparency, but is the sacrifice in convenience worth it?

Abyss JOAL Review - The best Diana yet, but with some frustrations still lingering
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Abyss JOAL Review - The best Diana yet, but with some frustrations still lingering

The Abyss JOAL is quite easily my favourite in the 'Diana' line of headphones released by US manufacturer Abyss, but there's still some things I wish would change.

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Crinacle made a dongle DAC, and it's very good

The Protocol MAX is one of the most powerful dongle DAC/amps available, with excellent objective and subjective performance to boot.

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I published music to find the best streaming service for Apple devices

Apple may have the slogan "it just works", but from our testing, it seems that when it comes to getting full lossless quality music streaming, it's not as simple as we had hoped.

Zahl EQ1 Review & Measurements

The Zahl EQ1 is an analog parametric EQ device originally designed for professional use in API500 series racks, but might just be the best thing I’ve added to my headphone setup!