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AlternateAccount posted:So why doesn't their logic of having imaginary bullshit have a noticeable affect on digital data being processed ever get applied to photography? Better gear makes for better display of your digital camera photos. It's much, much, MUCH easier to objectively judge visual media. The comparison doesn't really work.
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Feb 27, 2014 19:11
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Digital photography nerds love zooming in on pixels, and since pixels can be directly compared to pixels from different photos taken with different equipment, it's easy to directly compare gear that way. It's extremely easy to compare color, contrast, sharpness, distortion, etc. And likewise for displays. There is a whole bunch poo poo involved with calibrating your display to industry standards. I think anybody claiming to have a "golden eye" when it comes to photography equipment would get laughed out of the industry pretty quick.
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Feb 27, 2014 19:12
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Yeah, and most photographers understand the concept of "good enough" when it comes to things like sharpness. Then again there are people who will spend untold thousands on camera stuff and only shoot test charts.
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Feb 27, 2014 19:54
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The expensive gear widened your soundstage because it hosed up the phase.
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Feb 27, 2014 21:35
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grack posted:It's much, much, MUCH easier to objectively judge visual media. The comparison doesn't really work. On the other hand, 'HDR' tone-mapping is popular
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Feb 27, 2014 23:36
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Well yeah, you also have "sharpener" kernels or crazy over-saturation to make things look 'better' the same way "louder" sounds 'better' to the average joe even if it completely degrades the signal quality. Intensity vs Authenticity trade-offs are obviously subjective, but not exclusive to audio/video. Although that makes me wonder how many of those 50k "studio quality+++ precision" rigs are just constantly tuned into a drowning smile.
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Feb 28, 2014 00:48
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TheMadMilkman posted:I found this interesting. It's from whatsbestforum in a thread about an $8,400 power cable. What he's saying is right enough to almost be credible: typical linear power supplies DO draw their current in peaks, and this can be a problem in large installations of fluorescent tubes, but we already solved this problem in high power switch mode supplies that use the same principle: active or passive PFC can be designed into equipment to remove this current distortion, and is often required for certain classes of equipment at high power levels. The rest is also technically possible, but a) a well designed audio amplifier using negative feedback has a power supply rejection ratio of a loving ton at the frequencies he's talking about (120 Hz) and b) if you for some reason need more regulation you can... use a regulated power supply. I'd love to hear what amplifier had a 30% reduction in power from a 1-2% mains voltage drop, for that to happen it would have had to be right at the clipping point, and let's not forget that power companies usually deliver voltage +-10% and basically no distortion-spec.
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Feb 28, 2014 16:10
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 quote:The addition of 24 karat gold fills the micro cracks and the empty spaces between the crystal boundaries to improve transmission properties, while also inhibiting the surface oxidation and tarnishing that will occur over time otherwise." These custom, precious metal fuses are also cryogenically treated. Finally, the Supreme fuses are treated with a proprietary quantum level process. Primary side fuses! The "Capacitor parallel to a rectifier" symbol is just a logo. The fuse is made of a "cryogenically treated, gold plated, etc." plain wire. I wonder how they tested the particular fuse that some audiophile crazy can purchase?  There's no price on the above link, so I was curious: quote:Introductory pricing is $50 each for the 0.75" (5x20mm) small size and $75 each for the 1.25" (6.3x32mm) large size. The all silver tip-to-tip SilverStar fuses, and the original Gold-Plated fuses continue at prices ranging from $39.95 (small SilverStar and Gold-Plated) to $49.95 (large Gold-plated) and $59.95 (large SilverStar). http://www.hifi-tuning.com/index_eng.html Nice power wooden strip including spikes for only $8500 STRADIVARI No. 6 - Reference Power Plant  Spikes on a power strip? Wasn't spikes initially invented to provide stability for heavy 70's speakers wobbling on 70's thick carpet?
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Feb 28, 2014 20:51
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something_clever posted:Spikes on a power strip? Wasn't spikes initially invented to provide stability for heavy 70's speakers wobbling on 70's thick carpet? Yes they were. In the civilized world no-one has (or had) wall-to-wall carpet so they invented little pucks to put under the spikes instead of just, you know, not putting in spikes.
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Feb 28, 2014 21:07
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What the gently caress is a quantum level process?
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Feb 28, 2014 21:34
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AlternateAccount posted:What the gently caress is a quantum level process? An
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Feb 28, 2014 21:34
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If yall are serious about starting a thing to prey on the weak-minded (but rich), my business teacher has a ridiculous amount of China connections and could proto stuff for insanely cheap. I actually mentioned it to him and he doesn't want to get attached directly because of the immorality of it (the way I pitched it was sell 100 $5000 power cables and walk away) but he'd have no problem being a middleman. Really, just hype the poo poo out of something for a month or so on a couple other forums, whip up a site with 3 discontinued (fake) products and a new, improved, top of the line one, and disappear when we're rich. That's all it'd take. I could probably do something in wordpress like, tonight, if someone could CAD up a few progressive models and one to send to China, and we'll all be worth 6 figures by July. Is it immoral? Kind of. Do I want to own a house in the near future? gently caress yes. Pudgygiant fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 12:55
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Sound insulation/paneling would work best, since it can make an actual objective difference to a listening experience when dog barks or thunderstorms are muffled. The only issue with morality is just how high the markup is, but that bad feeling can be negated with extra business for others by advising cusomters to solicite the services of a local a carpenter to install it.
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Mar 1, 2014 15:25
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If huge markup is immoral, movie theatre popcorn is Stalin.
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Mar 5, 2014 21:45
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..and people who put some techflex over a garden hose and a 50 cent power cable are literally hitler. Edit: and an entire stick of glue from a hot glue gun 
Willeh fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Mar 5, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 23:30
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AlternateAccount posted:What the gently caress is a quantum level process?
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Mar 6, 2014 00:39
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GWBBQ posted:The smallest change you can make and still charge more for it. This is why you're not allowed to talk about double blind testing - it's Schrödinger's cable. It's simultaneously the most amazing, incredible audio experience, and not. Testing it would collapse the waveform and ruin it!
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Mar 6, 2014 01:46
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let's take a moment to stop mocking audiophiles, refresh ourselves, and do the exact opposite: this is a popular image on imgur right now and I can't figure out why but it really bothers me
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Mar 6, 2014 09:59
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atomicthumbs posted:let's take a moment to stop mocking audiophiles, refresh ourselves, and do the exact opposite: Psycho acoustics is a mad thing. It's not too far off the complete opposite of the fletcher Munson curve.
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Mar 6, 2014 10:29
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Look at these noobs boosting instead of cutting.
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Mar 6, 2014 10:34
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Louder is better! (With ~+10dB boost around 8kHz that EQ preset would be more appropriately named "eardrum explosion".)
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Mar 6, 2014 10:44
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ynohtna posted:Louder is better! I bought a CD called Earquake that came with two earplugs. Welp, that's my ear[word] story hope you enjoyed it. 
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Mar 6, 2014 13:30
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"Dude, you have to hear this!" *clip clip clip clip clipity clipclipclip* :speaker blows: "Dude! Wtf?"
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Mar 6, 2014 13:41
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ynohtna posted:Louder is better! Yeah I rebuilt it in iTunes on my end, then recreated the desired effect almost perfectly by just knocking up my desk fader up a few dB. Who knew!
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Mar 6, 2014 14:05
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EL BROMANCE posted:Yeah I rebuilt it in iTunes on my end, then recreated the desired effect almost perfectly by just knocking up my desk fader up a few dB. Who knew! I was able to recreate it by flicking the high and low boost switches on my MR5s to their +2 dB settings.
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Mar 6, 2014 16:54
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Every MP3 or smartphone forum ever has at least one "post your favorite EQ!" thread, with tons of absolutely ridiculous settings, including full boost/cut on all frequencies for some idiotic reason. I've stuck with flat EQ settings for years, hasn't let me down yet.
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Mar 6, 2014 17:06
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Bet those eq settings sound amazing on Beats
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Mar 6, 2014 23:37
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Now you guys have got me curious about measuring the phase and frequency response effects of the presets and the graphic in iTunes. For gently caress's sake.
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Mar 7, 2014 03:38
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Pretty much every well reviewed headphone out there has its own "house curve" built in anyways. They measure +6db or so down low and gradually roll off above 8khz or so to -3db or so buy the upper end. Given how close the speakers are to your ears, this is pretty much in line with what Dolby, THX, Audyssey and others do when calibrating a home setup versus a large commercial venue.
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Mar 7, 2014 15:43
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Neurophonic posted:Now you guys have got me curious about measuring the phase and frequency response effects of the presets and the graphic in iTunes. For gently caress's sake. Post the results if you do. I'm honestly curious. I spent last night toying with a Fisher console stereo from 1963. Apparently I'll be inheriting it from my grandma when the time comes. The cabinetry is in great shape, but the electronics are going to need some work, and the foam surrounds for the speaker drivers are obviously dead, given their age. The biggest thing for me will be figuring out how to get rid of the nasty 60 hertz hum. In the end, it should make a nice piece for our master bedroom.
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Mar 8, 2014 05:57
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Edit: Mean-spirited joke. sorry.
bpower fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Mar 8, 2014 |
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Mar 8, 2014 14:02
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http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/9/5488484/neil-youngs-high-fidelity-ipod-competitor-will-cost-399 So there's this.
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Mar 10, 2014 01:29
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Neurophonic posted:http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/9/5488484/neil-youngs-high-fidelity-ipod-competitor-will-cost-399 I'm confused. Where's the  storage located?
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Mar 10, 2014 01:41
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grack posted:I'm confused. Where's the 
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Mar 10, 2014 01:49
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A brief moment of (semi)clarity from one of them, amidst the bickering about whether it'll be good enough for their ears: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/neil-young-announces-launch-ponomusic-19703/index4.html#post304636
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Mar 10, 2014 03:08
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I wonder if they're going to include a high quality audiophile grade USB cable so no bits are lost in transferring their files... *edit: Actually in the comments there's people arguing over whether or not you'd be able to tell the difference between a flac/wav and a 320 mp3 "on a decent pair of speakers". I have an entire rack of kit for my PA which enable me to run the system completely flat from 30hz-20khz. I've played MANY mp3 files on it and compared them to wavs and flacs at high volume. I noticed no discernible difference, certainly gently caress all to care about. ...so what do they mean by 'decent' speakers if a flat system gives up very little in terms of difference? Olympic Mathlete fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 09:11
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The funny thing is that they argue like mad, but no one thinks to do an ABX test and find out for sure. To be fair, there's more to good speakers than just frequency response. Phase coherence, impulse response, those sorts of things. It's very possible to make a speaker system or setup that responds within +/-1dB to any sine wave between 20Hz and 20kHz, but sounds absolutely awful when playing real material. Luckily, a better-than-decent set of speakers don't have to cost an arm and a leg. I paid ~$800 for a set of Adam A5Xs, and apart from rolling off around 50hz due to their size, they are firmly in the "very good speakers indeed" category. They reveal errors in mastering so well, and if any shortcuts were taken during recording, they will find them. I admit it's a tradeoff, because while well-mastered material sounds amazing, badly mastered material sounds like exactly what it is; badly mastered. And even using these high-quality studio monitors, I am unable to discern a difference between FLAC and 320kbit MP3. Same thing with my studio-grade headphones. Same sensitivity to bad mixes, same complete inability to discern between FLAC and 320kbit MP3. E: Neurophonic posted:http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/9/5488484/neil-youngs-high-fidelity-ipod-competitor-will-cost-399 Speaking of 320kbit MP3: quote:Beats get you kicked out of any recording studio – at least for laughs. I use Klipsch Image S4 headphones for my iPod. They sound pretty good since I run all of my audio at 224 kbps VBR through my nano (otherwise I try to keep all audio at 320 kbps on my PC). But even at 320 kbps, which is the best you’re going to get on audio CDs that you buy from any store, it’s still compressed audio from the original WAV recordings. Granted, running the native WAV files would mean each song would probably average 40-50MB each instead of 7-9MB @ 320kbps. Still, the lossless audio does make a noticeable difference as long as you have speakers or headphones capable of reproducing it. So for Skullcandy and Beats owners, this really wouldn’t be the device for you. If you do happen to own good headsets from Bose, Sennheiser, Sony, etc. or are running studio monitors for speakers, this device would be phenomenal. I personally would be interested in it but I’d have to try it first. I’d keep my iPod for gym visits or running and I would potentially use this device for home audio. Hope it gets traction. How is it possible to be this uninformed and ignorant?  At least some of them get it: quote:I study Electric Engineering.  E2: There's also this competing product from Sony: http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/hd-walkman-digital-music-players/nwz-zx1#product_details_default Take a look at the "Upscale your music collection" graph, it's glorious:  Easily on par with Creative's X-Fi famously bullshit Crystalizer graphs. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 10:12
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quote:If you do happen to own good headsets from Bose... Found your problem.
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Mar 10, 2014 15:39
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KillHour posted:Found your problem. I know it's not in context here, but I really dislike automatic Bose hate. They aren't accurate and boy do you pay for them, but they have been doing the active noise cancellation game longer than anyone; so, if that's what you need,I always recommend them first. I didn't care for them until I sampled a pair of QC320s in Dubai before a 12 hour flight. That was the most bearable time I'd taken the flight from Dubai to Atlanta.
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Mar 10, 2014 16:41
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KozmoNaut posted:The funny thing is that they argue like mad, but no one thinks to do an ABX test and find out for sure. KozmoNaut posted:
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