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Yeah the A8 had a full on custom system and it was really really reallllllly good. Audi actually had B&O people over to work on the car which is why it ended up sounding top notch. Other manufacturers just license a brand, Jaguar/Land Rover's Meridian kit is just badged Meridian, Meridian themselves don't have any actual input into the design at all except sending a dude over every now and again to say whether it sounds alright. I had an interview at JLR there a while back with the head of the department and he said they wanted to go with B&O as they'd get the same in-house expertise but they had to remain seemingly 'British' hence Meridian. 
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Jun 11, 2018 14:16
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Volkswagen used to have optional Dynaudio setups in most of their lineup and they were easily the best sounding I heard in any brand that entry level. Actual dynaudio drivers and they were on board for tuning. Then they went to “Fender” audio where Fender apparently tweaked the EQ and Panasonic made the drivers. Now they’re doing Beats as their optional audio....quite the fall from grace.
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Jun 11, 2018 14:34
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They need to make an audiophile car and charge like a cool mil for it. Just a listening room on wheels. Bonus points if they build it on some ultra-generic frame (like a Taurus or something).
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Jun 11, 2018 15:07
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I just saw this.....$100 for the nicest sounding electrons ever....that go into your transformer, and get converted to DC, then get passed through capacitors....yeah.... https://www.amazon.ca/PS-Audio-Power-Port-equipment/dp/B001HRDMLE
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Jun 11, 2018 15:37
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pocket pool posted:They need to make an audiophile car and charge like a cool mil for it. Just a listening room on wheels. i am 100% here for this
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Jun 11, 2018 16:19
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DoesNotCompute posted:I just saw this.....$100 for the nicest sounding electrons ever....that go into your transformer, and get converted to DC, then get passed through capacitors....yeah.... Here you go, a much better option: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=29615996&cp=12550830.2568454.2632232.2632331.2632336 And it's 20A rated, too!
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Jun 11, 2018 17:09
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iospace posted:Here you go, a much better option: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=29615996&cp=12550830.2568454.2632232.2632331.2632336 Can you please let me know how many layers of nickel have been applied to the connectors. It will affect my soundstage.
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Jun 11, 2018 17:58
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DoesNotCompute posted:Can you please let me know how many layers of nickel have been applied to the connectors. It will affect my soundstage. None that I'm aware of, which I've heard helps. The lack of nickel, I mean. iospace fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jun 11, 2018 |
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Jun 11, 2018 18:12
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DoesNotCompute posted:I just saw this.....$100 for the nicest sounding electrons ever....that go into your transformer, and get converted to DC, then get passed through capacitors....yeah.... There are a frightening number of Verified Purchase reviews on Amazon for this outlet.
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Jun 11, 2018 19:34
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iospace posted:R-2R is the most easy DAC to make, ever. Takes a bit of space if you're breadboarding it, but it's so freaking simple. I like how "expensive high-precision matched resistors (and a lot of them)" is a plus when it's a garbage EE design approach. The only reason discrete components still exist anywhere is because the EEs who aren't selling you snake oil can't put their functionality yet into the ICs themselves.
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Jun 12, 2018 04:02
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Apparently there's a bunch of drama going down on audiophile message boards.
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Jun 15, 2018 14:57
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Ha! Nice.
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Jun 15, 2018 15:19
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A company named Schiit, whose best selling product is literally named the Fulla Schiit.... is bad? WEIRD Edit: Haha holy crap, Amir still causing scene drama after all these years pzy fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jun 15, 2018 |
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Jun 15, 2018 17:36
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It's not like, 3 dB worse or anything either. It's bad, like "my first hobby electronics build" bad. Absolutely audible differences, and nine of them good. Was it a poorly thought out prank or something?
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Jun 15, 2018 17:46
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It's "audiophiles are retards and 99.9999% of them think objective measurements don't matter". I mean gently caress, I've read multiple page threads on Head-Fi extolling the virtues of burning in headphone cables.
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Jun 15, 2018 19:21
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What's a recommended DAC for ~$100?
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Jun 15, 2018 20:45
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Lowness 72 posted:What's a recommended DAC for ~$100? I got a used Audioengine D1 for $90 in Canada, it has everything I wanted, USB/Optical in, Analog out, volume control for headphones and USB powered so no extra plug.
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Jun 15, 2018 21:16
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Lowness 72 posted:What's a recommended DAC for ~$100?
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Jun 15, 2018 22:37
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Topping D30 or Sanskrit 6th seem to be good. I'd go for a Focusrite Solo or 2i2, though. I prefer pro gear.
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Jun 15, 2018 22:48
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Panty Saluter posted:It's not like, 3 dB worse or anything either. It's bad, like "my first hobby electronics build" bad. Absolutely audible differences, and nine of them good. Was it a poorly thought out prank or something? I skimmed through a bit and the root problem seems to be that Schiit chose to use the Analog Devices AD5547 DAC. This is a R-2R ladder DAC designed for instrumentation applications, not audio. It is an incredibly stupid choice for audio. To give you an idea of how stupid, the AD5547 datasheet does not even provide a frequency response curve (which you'd find in any audio DAC's datasheet). This is not an oversight by Analog Devices; this type of DAC is targeted at applications which care about setting static DC voltages with high precision rather than reproducing dynamic analog waveforms. It doesn't matter so much if your R-2R ladder glitches a bit when you change codes as long as it eventually settles on the right value -- if you're building a precision instrument. If you're designing an audio DAC box, on the other hand... It also sounds like Schiit probably hosed up their power supply design, which is not terribly surprising from an engineering team which chose an instrumentation DAC for audio.
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Jun 17, 2018 01:40
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Guys, you probably don't need an external DAC to begin with. Signal processing, insofar as it relates to consumer audio, is solved, and had been for decades. Short of some kind of electrical interference there will be no improvements over the DAC that's already in whatever you're listening to.
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Jun 17, 2018 03:13
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ItBreathes posted:Guys, you probably don't need an external DAC to begin with. Signal processing, insofar as it relates to consumer audio, is solved, and had been for decades. Short of some kind of electrical interference there will be no improvements over the DAC that's already in whatever you're listening to. I have not listened solely with the DAC. But DAC+Amp vs. computer's onboard soundcard was a clear difference at (approximate) volume matching. And that's with a Modi 2U, which is apparently garbage. I'd be interested to see the difference with a better DAC.
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Jun 17, 2018 04:41
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My iMac used to kick out *insane* amounts of noise - as in, not audiophile amount but literally as much noise as there was signal. So I really did need a dac in my setup (*it might’ve been fault mind, but I neve= got it examined), but I bet nobody could tell the difference between the $20 minidisc deck I used and some $2,000 monstrosity.
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Jun 17, 2018 04:55
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Amps are a different issue. Your audio device may very well require amplification to work properly. The digital-to-analog conversion part of your signal chain will essentially never have an impact on your audio output.
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Jun 17, 2018 05:02
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ItBreathes posted:Amps are a different issue. Your audio device may very well require amplification to work properly. The digital-to-analog conversion part of your signal chain will essentially never have an impact on your audio output. Except, as already mentioned by EL BROMANCE, when that conversion happens inside a computer, which also happens to be the single most common place for it to happen in 2018. Just because it's "solved" doesn't mean manufacturers give a poo poo. It also seems to be a complete crapshoot even within any one brand's product line whether you're going to get poo poo sound or good sound with the on-board DAC. E: Of course the problem probably isn't in the literal chip converting digital to analog but that would be nit-picking. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Jun 17, 2018 |
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Jun 17, 2018 05:12
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Jerry Cotton posted:Except, as already mentioned by EL BROMANCE, when that conversion happens inside a computer, which also happens to be the single most common place for it to happen in 2018. Just because it's "solved" doesn't mean manufacturers give a poo poo. It also seems to be a complete crapshoot even within any one brand's product line whether you're going to get poo poo sound or good sound with the on-board DAC. Then you have, as noted earlier, an electrical problem. An external DAC will isolate your signal chain from the interference in your device, but a more expensive DAC isn't going to do you any (perceptibly) better than any other. (Seriously, watch the video. The signaling theorem is fascinating.)
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Jun 17, 2018 05:22
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ItBreathes posted:Then you have, as noted earlier, an electrical problem. An external DAC will isolate your signal chain from the interference in your device, but a more expensive DAC isn't going to do you any (perceptibly) better than any other. (Seriously, watch the video. The signaling theorem is fascinating.) Nuh I won't watch the video and I also won't buy an expensive DAC so it all evens out you see. I think I paid 30€ or something for the one I used with my previous portable computer because it had an electrical problem with the built-in DAC (  )
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Jun 17, 2018 05:29
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The ideal amp is a wire with gain so any amp that sounds like anything at all is just distortion DACs are also basically commodity components these days. It also shouldn't sound like anything.
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Jun 17, 2018 06:19
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq4LRFPyiq4 The ultimate audiophile setup! I bet that poo poo sounds warm as gently caress! I know it would sound awesome, btw. The host thinks with a better DAC that the digital and analog signals would sound more equivalent, when in fact it might make it more different. The sound difference he is hearing, at the least, is the less accurate sound reproduction of the LP format. I totally dig the floated LP with weight on top though. LRADIKAL fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 23, 2018 21:51
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I love/hate guys like this who can somehow say with a straight face that even though every other technology has progressed in the last century, somehow audio reproduction peaked on the first iteration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX65iSZTI7E also lol @ the super-smug "sound waves are energy, you know", like this is arcane knowledge
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Jun 27, 2018 01:34
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m31r1GHPPdA&t=1060s Techmoan checks out a new CD format.
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Jun 28, 2018 01:46
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Tyll Hertsens' replacement at InnerFidelity wrote his first review, and it is a brilliant exercise in how to write extensively about a pair of headphones without usefully describing how they actually sound. In the comments, he also claims that factory burn-in isn't enough to properly burn in a pair of headphones.Rafe posted:
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Jun 28, 2018 09:48
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Wow. What the gently caress?
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Jun 28, 2018 10:28
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Mister Kingdom posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m31r1GHPPdA&t=1060s I was pretty disappointed with this. He seems totally credulous about the sampling rate and bit depth bullshit. And we already have a perfectly good lossless codec. He doesn't at all go into why this one supposed to be better (it isn't). He doesn't endorse it either, but there's a million questions you can ask about the marketing BS, but he just parrots it instead. Without any critical analysis, all that's left is... playing a CD. Not the kind of interesting stuff I follow him for. ColdPie fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jun 28, 2018 |
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Jun 28, 2018 11:25
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"The electrons need to be aligned once again." What a loving idiot.
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Jun 28, 2018 11:36
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I hope beyond hope that it was simply a bad joke
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Jun 28, 2018 11:48
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I had no idea my apple ear buds sounded poo poo because of crooked electrons. 
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Jun 28, 2018 13:35
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MQA has been super good at hooking analog people, I think because it uses lots of bullshit terms like "folding" for lossy compression and also you need special licensed equipment for it to work
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Jun 28, 2018 15:40
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ColdPie posted:I was pretty disappointed with this. He seems totally credulous about the sampling rate and bit depth bullshit. And we already have a perfectly good lossless codec. He doesn't at all go into why this one supposed to be better (it isn't). He doesn't endorse it either, but there's a million questions you can ask about the marketing BS, but he just parrots it instead. The MQA signal comes in a fair amount louder, which can often sound better rather than it actually being better. It’s a shame he didn’t think of hooking up his other CD player to the opt/coax and putting the CD version on and A/Bing by flicking the input back and forth from USB. Either way, it’s not a format that’s gonna sell anyone skeptical on this stuff anyway.
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Jun 28, 2018 15:55
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At least the Techmoan guy would be first to admit he doesn't know poo poo about how anything works. Gives me the idea to make a box that is a little preamp with a bit of gain and a defeat switch so you can tell it's doing something and send that off to him to review. You could rake in $$$ selling audiophile enhancement boxes.
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Jun 28, 2018 16:35
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