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Alan_Shore posted:Thanks, that's really helpful! I also just saw on MassDrop that for $15 more they have the Topping TP30 Mark2 https://www.amazon.com/Topping-TP30-MARK2-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00J2P9I2A If you don't need an amplifier, stick with the Zuperdac. If you do, the Fiio Q1 is a better option than the Topping.
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Aug 24, 2017 17:53
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The Android thread is suddenly full of people with Golden Ears.Alan_Shore posted:I used to have absurdly expensive wired headphones and now have absurdly expensive Bluetooth headphones (with aptx). Combat Pretzel posted:Who the gently caress cares about frequency plots? That's a fallacy. http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/0406b80af628416f/index.html quote:Exclusively designed 45mm True Motion D/A drivers feature a four-core voice coil (just a single-core on ATH-DSR7BT) that process the digital signals into smooth movements of the diamond-like carbon material coated diaphragm. 
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Sep 12, 2017 14:48
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lol You could argue bt has a bigger carbon footprint, you could argue that having to charge yet another thing is inconvenient, you could argue that the no-battery/no-antenna cans are more durable, or a million other objectively true downsides to Bluetooth... But get the gently caress out of here with that noise about artifacting. What are you the villain from Star trek generations, ripped out of the Nexus every time there's a minor change in what you listen to?
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Sep 12, 2017 15:07
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Endless Mike posted:The Android thread is suddenly full of people with Golden Ears.
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Sep 12, 2017 15:17
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I mean yeah, BT is inherently not as good as wired's performance ceiling, but if you're listening on the subway, a bus, or any other noisy environment auditory masking is going to be a much bigger concern. 
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Sep 12, 2017 15:19
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Some people only tried Bluetooth headphones in the bad old days when the phones would only put out phone-line-quality audio or only a little better, because of how older profiles worked, and simply never tried the newer standards and the headphones that go with.
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Sep 12, 2017 15:25
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GonadTheBallbarian posted:I mean yeah, BT is inherently not as good as wired's performance ceiling, but if you're listening on the subway, a bus, or any other noisy environment auditory masking is going to be a much bigger concern. To be honest, if you give me an aptX HD or LDAC headset, I'd probably not care. But the only compact BT headsets, i.e. those with some ear buds, a wire and a small/light battery box, are Chinese poo poo branded ones where you get regular aptX at best. Or it's at least just advertised while the headset doesn't actually support it. All other ones are either expensive as gently caress or pretty bulky. Especially those collar ones irritate me like hell. --edit: I'm interested in something with that form factor and decent codec support:  It's certainly not impossible to stick a decent DAC and amp into something like this. Apple's Lighting dongle is pretty much pudding, considering it's exceptional audio quality, considering the footprint all components have to fit on. Comedy option: 
Combat Pretzel fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Sep 12, 2017 |
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Sep 12, 2017 15:27
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That makes sense—that's exactly where you'd hear the differences, anyway. It's a bit of a pain if you have a phone that doesn't support the latest codecs, but modern BT really comes close to the point where most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. There's also a million and one reasons why a set of headphones would sound shittier than another one, so the problem might also not be completely just "bluetooth."
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Sep 12, 2017 15:40
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GonadTheBallbarian posted:That makes sense—that's exactly where you'd hear the differences, anyway. That's the thing - if you take two identical sets of headphones and then add all the hardware required for a good bluetooth connection (battery, DAC, amp, charging circuit, receiver, etc.) in to one, it's going to be a helluva lot more expensive. The added components cost money, the extra R&D costs money, the more complicated manufacturing costs money, and the licensing fees add money. I don't value wireless enough to want to pay that premium, nor am I interested in accepting worse sound quality at similar prices. And, like Combat Pretzel, the vast, VAST majority of my listening is done in quiet environments. grack fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Sep 12, 2017 |
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Sep 12, 2017 18:45
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No arguments there—I'm 100% on team wired. But all else being equal, BT isn't poo poo right now, even if it's not preferable for some people—I guess is the main point here. Still makes no goddamn sense as to why Apple ditched the headphone jack oh wait
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Sep 12, 2017 20:06
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I use bt exclusively, but there are locations where I get consistent audio interference. I just have to move my phone closer to my headphones.
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Sep 13, 2017 03:58
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GonadTheBallbarian posted:I mean yeah, BT is inherently not as good as wired's performance ceiling, but if you're listening on the subway, a bus, or any other noisy environment auditory masking is going to be a much bigger concern. Man that's all I was saying! Then this clown tries to smear me in this thread. Shameful. Bluetooth sound is good, wired is better. That's it!
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Sep 13, 2017 05:21
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Owe you a beer. All there is to it.
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Sep 13, 2017 14:54
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GonadTheBallbarian posted:No arguments there—I'm 100% on team wired. Pro business move: buy a headphone company, then make everyone throw away their old headphones.
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Sep 14, 2017 14:17
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I've been reminded that this exists again! http://wathifi.com/ I wish it were updated more often though!quote:“It’s actually irrelevant which Tellurium Q cable you select to compare against its Nordost opponent, it’s more that the difference in the nature of the performance of both ‘families’ is so huge as to render the ‘bits is bits’ idea laughable to any listener. See also: https://www.akikoaudio.com/en/akiko-audio/akiko-audio-audio-accessories/52-sd Gonna buy me like 64 tuning sticks and have the best sound in the world.  Olympic Mathlete fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Sep 19, 2017 |
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Sep 19, 2017 08:31
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my favorite new thing is mqa, a lossy high-res format with amazing features nobody asked for like built in eq curves and new drm it's obvious that's where the digital market is going so they get all these analog dudes to regurgitate their press releases and do bake-off listens against like itunes files or if they do a listening test against cd or vinyl it's invariably a new mix/remaster done exclusively for high resolution of course it all requires mqa certified hardware to support the drm
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Sep 19, 2017 19:01
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Yeah it's... a thing Kudos for trying to reduce filesize I guess? idk
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Sep 19, 2017 19:55
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i'm glad they have someone set the EQ for you, so you can hear the music as some rear end in a top hat with more money than sense thinks it should be heard.
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Sep 20, 2017 00:14
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The new hotness is 32 bit/384KHz, because going ~9 times over the audible Nyquist requirement with dynamic range exceeding Saturn V taking off in an anechoic chamber at absolute zero surely must make Diana Krall sound better at nearly 1GB per 5 min track.
Palladium fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Sep 20, 2017 |
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Sep 20, 2017 04:14
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no one actually listens to music on these systems, so Diana Krall may as well be pavarotti played through a guitar amp for all anyone can actually tell
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Sep 20, 2017 10:19
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Don't forget Dire Straights Brothers in Arms. The "we'll throw a bone to the kids" album I've been seeing in equipment reviews is Random Access Memories because I guess they can only listen to newish music if it was meticulously mixed to sound like it's from the 70s
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Sep 20, 2017 15:59
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I’m gonna make an album called Music for Audiophiles that’s just pointlessly tuneless but made to sound ‘good’. Lots of pad sweeps should go down well. I think $99.99 is an appropriate price tag for my minutes of work.
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Sep 20, 2017 16:30
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EL BROMANCE posted:I’m gonna make an album called Music for Audiophiles that’s just pointlessly tuneless but made to sound ‘good’. Lots of pad sweeps should go down well. $149.99 for the DSD version
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Sep 20, 2017 16:31
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Make sure you include lots of foley sound effects like glass shattering (wow it sounds so real!)
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Sep 20, 2017 16:39
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I know it's a joke but you should legit do that
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Sep 20, 2017 16:43
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EL BROMANCE posted:I’m gonna make an album called Music for Audiophiles that’s just pointlessly tuneless but made to sound ‘good’. Lots of pad sweeps should go down well. These already exist https://www.amazon.com/Stereophile-Test-CD-1/dp/B0000049XN If you think about it it's basically like those old lowrider MEGA BASS albums but with less 808 and more female vocalists and pipe organ
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Sep 20, 2017 17:59
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qirex posted:Don't forget Dire Straights Brothers in Arms. Random Access Memories is a pretty good sounding album though. Getting super-clean mellow right is a lot trickier than it seems
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Sep 21, 2017 01:54
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I love how audiophiles force themselves to listen to boring as gently caress music 'because soundsystem'
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Sep 21, 2017 10:14
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Music lovers use their systems to listen to their favorite music. Audiophiles use music to listen to their favorite systems.
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Sep 21, 2017 10:16
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Panty Saluter posted:Random Access Memories is a pretty good sounding album though. Getting super-clean mellow right is a lot trickier than it seems Good ｄｙｎａｍｉｃ ｒａｎｇｅ helps.
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Sep 21, 2017 18:00
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it's super clear now that the people behind MQA [a subisdiary of luxury brand Richemont] are on a full-on push to get it established as the "good streaming format," and their pocketbooks are open to the specialist press who are producing such gems as this:quote:The term “paradigm shift” was coined by Thomas S. Kuhn in his influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. According to Kuhn, a paradigm shift in the physical sciences occurs when a body of evidence accumulates that suggests the principles on which a scientific discipline is founded (the paradigm) is wrong, and a new paradigm replaces the old (the shift). Kuhn shows that this process unfolds in identical fashion throughout history no matter what the discipline.
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Sep 26, 2017 17:30
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So, music and audio aren't the only applications for quantization, compression and transmission. If there truly were developments that invalidated Nyquist's theorem or revolutionized how analog data can be transmitted, there are a lot of fields that are far more sensitive, and monetarily lucrative, than even the most golden of 65 year old rich guy ears. Why aren't they pitching MQA for those applications, I wonder.
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Sep 27, 2017 14:55
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The irony of an audio company issuing a press release with the following words in complete seriousness...quote:Moreover, if you’ve spent your entire life adhering to a certain set of ideas, it’s difficult to accept that your beliefs have been based on erroneous assumptions.
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Sep 28, 2017 13:29
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qirex posted:I wouldn't bother reading the whole thing but the argument basically boils down to "newer = better" and "people who don't like this are luddites" with basically no actual science and certainly nothing "revolutionary" Basically that's 375 words of how being contrarian automatically makes an idea right.
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Sep 28, 2017 13:54
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Panty Saluter posted:Random Access Memories is a pretty good sounding album though. Getting super-clean mellow right is a lot trickier than it seems Yeah the mastering in that album is bananas and it scales like mad with good headphones.
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Sep 28, 2017 14:12
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Creative has released a 5,799 soundbar/STB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3j_ryLL9HY 5,799!!!!! https://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/
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Oct 6, 2017 16:46
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quote:every audio stream regardless of quality is algorithmically metamorphosized to an eXtreme Fidelity level of 24-bit 192kHz high-resolution audio and expanded three-dimensionally into a 15.2 super wide soundstage.
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Oct 6, 2017 17:20
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The most amazing thing about that is that it's price competitive with rich person stuff like the Devialet Phantom or BeoLabs.
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Oct 6, 2017 17:50
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Yeah I have no idea who is supposed to actually buy that. If they sell even a single unit at RRP it would be a surprise.
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Oct 6, 2017 18:00
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It's doing so much insane post processing to the sound, isn't that basically kryptonite for audiophiles? also:   And from the Creative CEO: quote:Target audience? Me. His admission that it's insane and he just wanted to make the most absurd and expensive piece of equipment possible makes it somehow forgivable. polyester concept fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Oct 6, 2017 |
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Oct 6, 2017 18:09
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