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Phanatic posted:So do a shitlot of video games, including titles you might have heard of like Halo, GTA, and WOW. And little radio stations like NPR. The games and Spotify aren't interchange formats though. With the expiration of MP3 patents one of the big reasons to use Ogg as the captive internal format in a game has gone away. Don't expect WoW to change, because it would be extra work for no gain, but someone starting a game from scratch now has no need to choose Ogg purely to avoid Fraunhofer patent licensing fees. Streaming services like Spotify probably want to stick with not-MP3 since many other codecs (including Ogg iirc) provide equivalent perceptual quality at a lower bit rate.
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May 15, 2017 21:36
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I'm pretty sure Rockstar paid for the MP3 license anyway since GTAV supports MP3 playback on the custom radio station, so that's not why they used Ogg.
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May 16, 2017 11:03
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They're probably tapping into the Xbox/PlayStation's media player API for that.
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May 16, 2017 15:12
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So when doing some research on some affordable speakers for my new setup, I think I stumbled upon someone who has to be considered an audiophile but seems to somehow possess a complete mirror of the usual traits. http://philharmonicaudio.com/ Amongst the $2,000+ speakers he sells, the 3rd thing listed on his site are $210 bookshelf speakers that are mods from Parts Express bookshelves that are already supposedly pretty good. Dennis is apparently a bit of a king of crossover design, and apparently improves the speaker a fair chunk and charges next to nothing for the assembly of it all. The guy won't even make a speaker if he doesn't think it's worth the cost of parts and assembly, and refuses to upsell people on something they don't need. What is going on? He seems like a good dude, and I'll probably pick up a pair when the queue dies down a bit.
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May 16, 2017 15:47
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EL BROMANCE posted:So when doing some research on some affordable speakers for my new setup, I think I stumbled upon someone who has to be considered an audiophile but seems to somehow possess a complete mirror of the usual traits. I was looking for some towers with Raal ribbons and for a while there it was a tossup between Philharmonic and Ascend. The Philharmonitor is amazing and he's a no-bs type of guy it seems so I'd imagine that his rendition of the
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May 16, 2017 22:12
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My favorite thing about audiophiles is how they tout the "superiority" of high-end transports but they still have to get them serviced every year or two because they crap out anyway. I've 2 seperate NAD CD and DVD players that both developed quirks after a year or two of ownership and eventually got worse and worse. The CD player was randomly picky about which cd's it would play and become more and more sensitive to skipping due to vibration, soo much that near the end walking past it would cause it to freeze. The DVD player stopped playing DVDs but still played cds, and was still somewhat picky about some cds, even new ones. They were second-hand sure, but they'd spent their time sitting inside on a nice shelf in air-conditioned living rooms. Versus the Pioneer and Denon CDJs I've had in the past that were solidly trashed at indoor and outdoor gigs for hours on end with no hiccups and would play the most ridiculously scratched disks no problem. I remember once checking the skip protection out by putting a disc into the Pioneer CDJ200, picking it up and shaking the crap out of it only to have it continue playing as if nothing had happened. Only posting this up because I ended up telling an audiophile I bumped into at the pub last week the same story and his response being "Well it's very delicate high-end hardware and it needs to be professionally serviced just like a high-end car[...]" And could not accept that industry-grade gear used at international venues and concerts around the world for more than the past decade would be perfectly fine for home Hifi use. Sure buddy, keep drinking the kool-aid and blow $3000 on that NAIM cd player you were boasting about. TLDR Audiophile interaction summary: $3000 Naim CD player = "Good value" $200 Pioneer CDJ1000 = "Bad quality"
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May 22, 2017 07:37
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"If something it's too easy and cheap to do, the only conclusion is that it must suck."
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May 22, 2017 07:51
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Palladium posted:"If something it's too easy and cheap to do, the only conclusion is that it must suck." EXCEPT this one weird little trick you can do yourself at home (like gluing "horns" to your pick-up or putting a lump of Blu-Tack on your CD spindle).
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May 22, 2017 08:18
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Palladium posted:"If something it's too easy and cheap to do, the only conclusion is that it must suck." I'm in a bit of a discussion about DACs with some audiophile salesman type. He's absolutely bought into the whole marketing spiel and cult of personality around high-end gear designers. Now he's claiming that the vast majority of people agree that there are significant improvements still to be made in digital to analog conversion. Of course he has no proof of these claims. Why do I even bother? KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 08:50 on May 22, 2017 |
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May 22, 2017 08:47
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Jomo posted:The CD player was randomly picky about which cd's it would play and become more and more sensitive to skipping due to vibration, soo much that near the end walking past it would cause it to freeze. Sorbogel feet are pretty good at mitigating this. So is going all hard drive/solid state/streaming. Just saying  I read this post and was intensely reminded of years of selling H/K disc players (not that H/K is high end, but it got a pretty good premium over big box store lines) that were short on features, temperamental, and just plain unreliable. Of course I think H/K was probably buying the cheapest transports possible and tarting them up - there were a number of DVD players that had EXACTLY the same interface as some super cheap no-name players. Meanwhile, almost any Sony player would spool everything off flawlessly for years. I'm sorry to everyone who bought those heaps.
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May 22, 2017 16:08
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My favorite is when they invent new problems with new technology. Direct drive turntables? Brush noise! CDs? Jitter! Digital files? Uhhh... also jitter! [they're really bad at digital audio].
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May 22, 2017 16:22
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qirex posted:My favorite is when they invent new problems with new technology. Direct drive turntables? Brush noise! CDs? Jitter! Digital files? Uhhh... also jitter! [they're really bad at digital audio]. Robert Harley (who is notorious even in the audiophile set for his ridiculously bad ideas and logic) posited some years ago that optical pickups are bad at picking up very small details (true, which is why scanning electron microscopes are A Thing), and that is why CDs have such terrible high frequency response. Never mind the fact that the pits on a CD are well within the range of an optical pickup, all the pits are the same size anyway. It really shows how far someone can take a tiny sliver of knowledge and extrapolate it to ridiculous lengths.
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May 22, 2017 17:08
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Jomo posted:My favorite thing about audiophiles is how they tout the "superiority" of high-end transports but they still have to get them serviced every year or two because they crap out anyway. Panty Saluter posted:Of course I think H/K was probably buying the cheapest transports possible and tarting them up - there were a number of DVD players that had EXACTLY the same interface as some super cheap no-name players. Yeah it's this. The dirty little secret here is that for all the noise they make about superior audiophile grade engineering, companies that sell to audiophiles rarely have the capability to design something as complicated as an optical disc reader in-house, because (among other reasons) the sales volumes of audiophile gear are way the gently caress too low to justify real full system design work. So they cobble some garbage together from off the shelf transports sold as subassemblies, gently caress with things a bit to satisfy the audiophile's deep need to own something ~different~ from filthy pleb gear (e.g. replace the molded plastic disc tray with a more expensive material), slap it in a solid stone enclosure or whatever the most current fad is, and roll around in all the money they make off rich fools.
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May 22, 2017 21:35
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From what I can see there's no difference between high-end fashion and the Hifi world in terms of the types of market players, and the customer perceptions and interactions. 1. The really cheap no-name stuff directly from AliExpress that may or may-not still be intact by the end of the week. This is your lovely mail-order catalog "all in one media player" that your dad bought for the spare bedroom - it sounds like complete arse. 2. Cheap stuff from Asia you'd get at places like Kmart that is reasonable quality and lasts quite a few years. Something like a $100 Sony BluRay player which has all the functionality you'd need in an Bluray/DVD/CD player. 3. Reasonably priced stuff, still from Asia, such as Uniqlo that is a better fit and and should last a long time. Entry level Denon receiver in the Hifi world, does everything 99% of people would need a amp/receiver to do. 4. "Expensive" stuff that's might be objectively "nicer" but probably made in the same factory. Levi's and Banana Republic. Denon upper-range receiver for the Hifi example, since it has more functionality than I'd think I could ever use, but is technically more powerful. Only buy when on sale due to becoming "last-years" model. 5. Actually expensive stuff like Louis Vuitton/christian louboutin that you only buy for the brand. These are the Naim cd players of the Hifi world. 6. The "expensive=better" 1% who spend $1000 for a white shirt because they could never be seen in a normal outlet mall. These are the Burmaster $35000+ cd players of the world that exist solely to prey on idiots who are crap with money. Anyway, I only write this because I buy approach buying clothes and hifi gear with the same mindset and the similarities always amused me.
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May 23, 2017 02:36
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BobHoward posted:Yeah it's this. The dirty little secret here is that for all the noise they make about superior audiophile grade engineering, companies that sell to audiophiles rarely have the capability to design something as complicated as an optical disc reader in-house, because (among other reasons) the sales volumes of audiophile gear are way the gently caress too low to justify real full system design work. So they cobble some garbage together from off the shelf transports sold as subassemblies, gently caress with things a bit to satisfy the audiophile's deep need to own something ~different~ from filthy pleb gear (e.g. replace the molded plastic disc tray with a more expensive material), slap it in a solid stone enclosure or whatever the most current fad is, and roll around in all the money they make off rich fools. "Audiophile engineering" is taking the credit of the billions of cumulative R&D $$$ of the big semicon firms while simultaneously ranting about just how lovely their $0.20 audio op-amps are. And optical disc players, what the hell is that? Everyone I know long dumped them into the garbage pile when they discovered the wonders of streaming.
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May 23, 2017 03:43
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Palladium posted:And optical disc players, what the hell is that? Everyone I know long dumped them into the garbage pile when they discovered the wonders of streaming. I still buy dvd box-sets for older tv shows, especially British ones, because you can't Netflix a lot of them last time I checked. Same with a lot of foreign stuff. As for CDs, while I've actually ripped my current library and I listen to it that way while on my computer, I still enjoy the ease of putting a CD on while I'm cooking or doing housework. Plus again, as much as I love Spotify, not all artists are on there or have their entire catalog uploaded - especially local artists. I feel a bit  asking this, but can someone explain trakt.tv to me? does it just integrate your streaming and local media sources into one front-end across different devices?
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May 23, 2017 05:23
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I recall B&O DVD1 players being something like Panasonic players in fancier (huge) boxes with tarty paint. Annoyingly from factory they weren't region free whereas cheaper brands were so we had a whole stack of people who'd paid Ģ900 for a standard DVD player that couldn't import films to play on it. We had to buy in a special remote that cost about Ģ500 in order to zap them with a specific code to unlock them.
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May 23, 2017 08:39
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Jomo posted:
Yeah it's last.fm for video. "Hey Jomo watched the gently caress out of x! Other people liked that and other stuff he had, here's some poo poo be might like.
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May 23, 2017 08:47
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I'm legitimately sad that physical media is dropping out fashion. Streaming is fine, until there's a licensing dispute with a particular label, or a band decides to favor one service over another, then suddenly all your favourite band's albums disappear over night. And no thank you, I am not subscribing to 2 or 3 different services so I can fill in the gaps.
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May 23, 2017 14:44
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I am a so I still like physical media for movies. I also live out in the boonies and can't stream 4k because my internet is too slow. If physical media for movies ever goes away, I'll probably be one of the last hanger-ons. I apparently am also an old man because I like having a nice stereo (although at this point it's a nice 7.2.4 for movies) and am not satisfied with watching movies with just tv speakers or a soundbar or on my phone. I have switched pretty much entirely to spotify for music though. It's just movies I'm super picky about.
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May 23, 2017 14:52
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I still buy CDs but that's mostly because they're super cheap now.Mind you I don't play CDs, I just rip them and put them in the closet but they're nice to have. At some point I'll get a streaming service but I always get frustrated at the few things I like that they don't have.
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May 23, 2017 15:20
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qirex posted:I still buy CDs but that's mostly because they're super cheap now.Mind you I don't play CDs, I just rip them and put them in the closet but they're nice to have. At some point I'll get a streaming service but I always get frustrated at the few things I like that they don't have. Yeah, CDs are regularly less expensive than MP3 albums on Amazon. I think they're just trying to free up inventory space at this point.
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May 23, 2017 15:47
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Wasabi the J posted:Yeah it's last.fm for video. "Hey Jomo watched the gently caress out of x! Other people liked that and other stuff he had, here's some poo poo be might like. Yeah Trakt is pretty neat, but their site is more engineered to look pretty than run smoothly I find. It's definitely useful when you watch a ton of episodes of a show that you put on hold for a bit and can't remember where you got to, though. It's also pretty good for showing you how much of your life you've wasted.
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May 23, 2017 16:19
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I like to have DVDs/Blu-Rays for shows and movies I really like, only because they still come with a bunch of extra footage and special features that are rarely included on streaming services. Of course, I'm immediately ripping those and storing them on a hard drive, because I don't like actually swapping discs around.
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May 23, 2017 16:54
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fishmech posted:I like to have DVDs/Blu-Rays for shows and movies I really like, only because they still come with a bunch of extra footage and special features that are rarely included on streaming services. Of course, I'm immediately ripping those and storing them on a hard drive, because I don't like actually swapping discs around. Back in my DVD buying days I found very few extras to be worth it. Notable exceptions were the Star Wars trilogy box set (the backstory disc was great) and the Ronin director's commentary. Nothing else sticks out in my memory. Eventually I wound up seeking out Superbit discs because every bit with h.262 helps.
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May 23, 2017 17:11
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Evil Dead 2 and Spinal Tap were the only two directory commentaries that I can recall were just as good as watching the actual movie.
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May 23, 2017 18:21
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Dodgeball has a fun commentary track where the first 40 minutes is just the actors arguing before storming out, at which point it cuts to the There's Something About Mary commentary. (The real one is hidden.)
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May 23, 2017 18:24
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People seem to be discussing some actual products in here so I thought I'd ask. What kind of setup should a regular person go for if they want good quality, but don't necessarily need a bunch of placebos and expensive stuff? What's considered a reasonable setup for a small living room where I'd be watching movies and listening to music? What if I also want to get some vinyl? What's considered "reasonable person quality"?
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May 23, 2017 23:39
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If I was starting from scratch I'd probably do like $200-400 on a discounted or refurb receiver and $300-600 on a pair of bookshelf speakers with plans to add a subwoofer later. The main decision you need to make is if you're OK with 2 channel or might want to go surround sound at some point which will determine your first receiver. Don't worry too much about streaming features and the like on receivers since the built-in stuff is usually balls and doesn't get updated that often. Just get one with several inputs, both analog and digital. You can buy a Bluetooth adaptor or Chromecast Audio cheap. If you get a stereo receiver you'll want to plug all your video devices into the TV and use its optical out [most have this] and if you get a home theater one you can usually just use that as the hub for everything. Get speakers with at least a 5" woofer, but bigger is better especially when you don't have a sub. Traditional rectangular boxes with a port on the front or back are the most common design and are just fine. Sealed speakers will have less bass for their size than ported ones. Heavier speakers usually sound better. As a rule of thumb speakers need to be replaced the least often so if you're going to splurge at any point this would be the best time. It's best if you can listen to them first but there's a bunch of internet direct companies with good return policies. If there's one in your area try to find an actual hifi shop, even though they'll probably stock a bunch of dumb overpriced stuff most of the ones I've been to have entry level gear as well and they'll let you listen [maybe burn a CD since they'll probably super scoff if you ask to plug your phone in]. Get all your cables from Monoprice or Amazon. Get a wire stripping tool and cut speaker wire yourself [14 awg is thick enough unless you have crazy long runs or weird speakers], banana plugs are convenient to put on the ends of them. If you want a turntable you need a phono preamp somewhere in the chain. They're built in to a lot of modern turntables and in most stereo receivers and higher-end surround receivers but you can also buy a $35 outboard box that does it so don't totally sweat over that. I don't know enough about consumer record players to tell you much more though. Obviously there's a near-infinite amount of info out there but these are the basics and I should probably get back to work. qirex fucked around with this message at 00:32 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 00:26
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If you have room for floorstanding speakers go with those, you get more bang for your buck (particularly when to comes to movies).
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May 24, 2017 09:23
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Olympic Mathlete posted:If you have room for floorstanding speakers go with those, you get more bang for your buck (particularly when to comes to movies).
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May 24, 2017 18:07
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"Reasonable person quality" is a pretty low bar though considering most people go with soundbars and those bluetooth speakers...
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May 24, 2017 22:31
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Olympic Mathlete posted:"Reasonable person quality" is a pretty low bar though considering most people go with soundbars and those bluetooth speakers... I went to view a house that was sale, where the guy had refurbed it all himself - better than most I'd seen to be honest, it was a really cute place and he actually had a ton of permits for the work too. As we were leaving, he asked if we'd checked out the bluetooth speakers he'd installed. I saw them mentioned on the info sheet, but hadn't looked them out but did indeed see a pair of speakers mounted in the ceiling. There were two of them, presumably as he thought he could get them to work in stereo which wasn't the case making one of them kind of pointless so close together in an open layout. He connected his phone to give a little demo, and while the sound quality wasn't great it was a fun gimmick and I could see how people would like and use them. Until the bass caused one of them to vibrate itself free and fall out of the ceiling, that is.
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May 24, 2017 22:43
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Speaking of speaker installs I actually just finished installing a set of powered speakers in my kitchen, for use with a Chromecast Audio. The speakers are made for AV installs in conference rooms and background music in stores and such, according to the spec sheet they're good for rooms up to 80mē, which should be perfect in my 10mē kitchen  Plus they turn on automatically when they sense a signal, and turn off again after 90 seconds of silence, which is super handy.The sound quality is nowhere near that of my Adam A5X's, but I certainly wasn't expecting that anyway. It's good enough, better than a portable Bluetooth speaker, and better than any set of computer speakers I've ever owned. Having music in my kitchen at just the press of a button in Spotify is pretty neat. E: And I'm sure I could cause a few audiophile heart attacks. "Listening to music on conference room speakers?! Why, I never!  "
KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 23:08 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 23:02
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Olympic Mathlete posted:"Reasonable person quality" is a pretty low bar though considering most people go with soundbars and those bluetooth speakers... Anything is good sounding to most as long as it farts out copious amounts of ~100Hz.
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May 25, 2017 02:07
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Olympic Mathlete posted:"Reasonable person quality" is a pretty low bar though considering most people go with soundbars and those bluetooth speakers... Soundbars are actually getting pretty nice, as a lot of manufacturers stopped making the subwoofer do all the heavy lifting. I'm a bit biased, I have MMGW's so my sub is always doing the heavy lifting!
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May 25, 2017 06:59
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I threw this one together out of junk. Sounds surprisingly good.
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May 25, 2017 14:58
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RobotDogPolice posted:People seem to be discussing some actual products in here so I thought I'd ask. What kind of setup should a regular person go for if they want good quality, but don't necessarily need a bunch of placebos and expensive stuff? What's considered a reasonable setup for a small living room where I'd be watching movies and listening to music? What if I also want to get some vinyl? What's considered "reasonable person quality"? For movies and music in a small room I don't see why you'd go wrong with the Andrew Jones series from Pioneer. ~$650 gets you in on a 5.1 set of great speakers with smaller floorstanding towers which you (should) want for music. Any Onkyo/Yamaha/Sony/whoever really receiver made in the last 7 years will have HDMI in and support TrueHD/DTS-MA so grab a used one as the prices drop like a rock when they introduce a new model every other year. Can't help you with a turntable though, I decided long ago that vinyl was another hobby that I didn't need to get into.
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May 25, 2017 16:08
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I had the Andrew Jones set on my list, but many people complain about the center speaker and the sub both being pap. It's how i found the about the Philharmonic Audio budget monitors, because he used to use the Andrew Jones bookshelves as the basis of his work, before moving on from them. He still uses the AJ center though, and presumably does enough work on it to fix the issues people complain about. That's the 3 speakers I'll be starting with, before adding rears/sub/atmos later on.
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May 25, 2017 16:17
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If you wanted to up your budget then you can be like me and get big gently caress off 12" Cerwin Vega towers with the matching center and bookshelves. 
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May 25, 2017 17:38
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