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Olympic Mathlete posted:lmao they don't even try to make them properly, look how bad the loving holes are drilled into these. I refuse to believe anyone is stupid enough to buy these. If the holes are too well aligned it makes the music sounds too precise, clinical even.
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Feb 26, 2021 17:58
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Some Goon posted:If the holes are too well aligned it makes the music sounds too precise, clinical even. yep, standing waves are a bitch
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Feb 26, 2021 22:40
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I love audiosciencereview and the work amirm is doing to bring objective metrics to audio reviews but the trend has brought another type of audiophile to the front. I'll call them objective audiophiles to distinguish them from the subjective woo audiophiles. These guys will chase objective metrics obsessively based purely on amrim's measurements to irrational lengths. They'll cling to some measurement and insist that they can hear the difference even when the measurement difference is purely technical excellence and well outside of any audible range. They're more rational than the subjective audiophiles since they have actual data but they're irrational in the sense that everything that measures less well sounds worse in their minds than something that measure better even if those measurements are clearly going to be inaudible. You see a lot of them in the comments on the ESS IMD hump. When people started investigating the source of the hump suddenly all these people were insisting their ESS DACs that sounded fine before they saw the chart were broken and you had all these guys asking how to solder in new resistors/capacitors to reduce the hump. Meanwhile no one has demonstrated that the hump is audible in otherwise well designed and measuring DACs. Usability and features then become far lesser in importance than chasing that extra 5 db in SINAD. I'll admit that I have some tendencies toward this too. I ordered a Gustard X16 which measured a 121 db SINAD for XLR out and 118 db for RCA to replace my 107 db SINAD THX Desktop DAC/Amp. Likely that difference is inaudible except for super sensitive IEMs which I don't use with the DAC. I'm sure the sound quality will be identical. But at least I was driven by BT, XLR out and having a remote as well so the better SINAD was only part of the analysis. Yuns fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Feb 26, 2021 |
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Feb 26, 2021 23:00
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A $200 balanced DAC ought to be enough for anybody
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Feb 26, 2021 23:11
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Amir at least notes when things are inaudible, but he can't keep his inner engineer down so he tut-tuts about things that could have been prevented with more effort but are fine within the audible band, which he really shouldn't. Bringing EE back to audiophilia is good, but there's more to audio science than just engineering.
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Feb 26, 2021 23:14
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Yeah, bench racing distortion and S/N ratios vastly beyond the capabilities of human hearing is getting kind of stupid. 16 bit audio has a 96dB noise floor and your average room is 30dB of background noise so arguing over an "inferior" DAC with -100 vs the "good" one with -112 is beyond lame. What's funny is Amir points out when he thinks stuff will be audible or not but people just look for quirks in the graphs and go from there. The good news is you can build a system with objectively better capabilities than the highest of high end electronics not too many years ago for under a grand, connect a raspberry pi with a DAC hat to a Hypex or Purifi amplifier and you have 200 watts at 8 ohms with basically zero distortion and 94% efficiency.
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Feb 26, 2021 23:19
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The advent of the excellent afforable ESS and AKM based DACs along with great class D amps like the Hypex and Purifi amps have basically made excellent audio a commodity. The things that make the biggest difference now are the output devices speakers/headphones and improving the listening space/adjusting for room acoustics with an UMIK and REW or Dirac and a lot of that ends up being personal preference. I bought an UMIK and Dirac Live and equalized the entire frequency range to the target, I found I didn't like the target curve and prefer manually adjusting so I got a refund on Dirac and will just stick to REW. The main things I found with the REW/Dirac was that the Kube 12b has totally sufficient bass that is decent in the 20s and that I have a bizarre null at 233 Hz that seems to make no audible difference but is really distinct on a graph. In other news, SVS just announced the 1000 Pro series of subs which replaces the 1000 including adding the DSP that's in their higher end offerings. Should be a really good option for the budget and space conscious. Yuns fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Feb 26, 2021 |
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Feb 26, 2021 23:48
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Some Goon posted:Amir at least notes when things are inaudible, but he can't keep his inner engineer down so he tut-tuts about things that could have been prevented with more effort but are fine within the audible band, which he really shouldn't. Bringing EE back to audiophilia is good, but there's more to audio science than just engineering. Ugh. Yes. I especially loved their making GBS threads on new test fixtures because they better approximate a human ear for the crime of "being difficult to fit" (nevermind that it's the only fixture that has valid data down to 20Hz and up to 20kHz due to the updated electronics). It's a legit complaint, but throwing out what is replacing the old fixtures you jerk it to is patently insane GonadTheBallbarian fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Feb 27, 2021 |
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Feb 27, 2021 00:12
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Yuns posted:The advent of the excellent afforable ESS and AKM based DACs along with great class D amps like the Hypex and Purifi amps have basically made excellent audio a commodity. The things that make the biggest difference now are the output devices speakers/headphones and improving the listening space/adjusting for room acoustics with an UMIK and REW or Dirac and a lot of that ends up being personal preference. I bought an UMIK and Dirac Live and equalized the entire frequency range to the target, I found I didn't like the target curve and prefer manually adjusting so I got a refund on Dirac and will just stick to REW. The main things I found with the REW/Dirac was that the Kube 12b has totally sufficient bass that is decent in the 20s and that I have a bizarre null at 233 Hz that seems to make no audible difference but is really distinct on a graph. I’d argue that’s because the ‘magic bullet’ tools are not going to be able to determine why a dip in magnitude response is occurring, and whether or not an EQ fix is appropriate. Even with multiple measurements, the data has to be weighted accordingly. That includes taking things like the usage into account - making a pretty graph in a 10cm window isn’t much use if there’s two sofas of family who have to listen to the system. Humans (with sufficient information and experience) can be quite good at that.
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Feb 27, 2021 04:00
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Neurophonic posted:I’d argue that’s because the ‘magic bullet’ tools are not going to be able to determine why a dip in magnitude response is occurring, and whether or not an EQ fix is appropriate. Even with multiple measurements, the data has to be weighted accordingly. That includes taking things like the usage into account - making a pretty graph in a 10cm window isn’t much use if there’s two sofas of family who have to listen to the system. Humans (with sufficient information and experience) can be quite good at that.
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Feb 27, 2021 08:56
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Olympic Mathlete posted:lmao they don't even try to make them properly, look how bad the loving holes are drilled into these. I refuse to believe anyone is stupid enough to buy these. If he really was about improving the sound of the room, he should probably first remove that gaudy ceiling fan. I'm pretty certain the plastic blades will reflect a lot of poo poo around the room.
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Feb 27, 2021 13:29
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What's amusing about this is imagining how badly designed an endpoint would need to be to communicate EMI from the network port to the audio pathway.quote:nnuos is excited to announce the release of their new PhoenixNET Audiophile-Grade Network Switch, designed
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Feb 27, 2021 18:37
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On the same note, why no fiber solutions? I mean, it decouples circuits. Not that it matters in anyway practically.
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Feb 27, 2021 19:56
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Combat Pretzel posted:On the same note, why no fiber solutions? I mean, it decouples circuits. Not that it matters in anyway practically. quote:The noise floor was appreciably lower, which allowed me to hear more deeply into the music. Interestingly, I could lower the volume setting on the preamp, yet still hear as much detail and musical information as I could at louder levels. Compared to Wi-Fi or a long run of generic copper Ethernet, the soundstage was also notably more spacious, open, and airy-sounding with improved focus on individual instruments and voices. On the whole, the overall presentation was a notably more lifelike and natural-sounding digital streaming system.
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Feb 27, 2021 20:16
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Mamma mia! I hope none of these people are in any professional positions where they have to make sensible decisions.
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Feb 27, 2021 21:36
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Combat Pretzel posted:Mamma mia! I hope none of these people are in any professional positions where they have to make sensible decisions.
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Feb 27, 2021 22:37
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qirex posted:A few months ago a guy on TAS did exactly that, buying thousands of dollars in data center grade fiber network gear because his video doorbell used too much wifi bandwidth. Because he spent so much money there were, of course, obvious benefits: That guy is definitely an idiot however the gear he got is nowhere near data centre grade.
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Feb 28, 2021 04:20
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Pile Of Garbage posted:That guy is definitely an idiot however the gear he got is nowhere near data centre grade. Those tplink adapters are the bottom rung of the media converter catalog, they are fifteen bucks each, same for the optics, OM1 is a bit lame given that the audiophile stuff mentioned in the article costs as much as a decent motorbike. The catalysts mentioned could be a hundo. The basic idea is not entirely mad, esp if you have lot of interference in the power feed(and you cannot fit shielded Ethernet) but the expense for that project is likely less than one single amp. SlowBloke fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Feb 28, 2021 |
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Feb 28, 2021 10:45
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Because I can't leave well enough alone. I'm switching up my desktop nearfield setup. Here is my current set up I lack bass management other than the LPF and 3 option eq of my subwoofer. The main speakers are running full range. The system actually sounds just great. I tried an active analog HPF on my main speakers but it added noise and interference to the system.  Here is my new set up I now have full control over the crossover and eq for both the mains and sub for proper bass management and room eq. As to why I'm not just going with the SHD and adding the complexity of an extra DAC. It's because the SHD doesn't support DSD or MQA or bluetooth and the Gustard doesn't do bass management, eq or crossovers.  Not sure if any of this is worth the time and effort. Yuns fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Mar 3, 2021 |
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Mar 3, 2021 17:22
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Use headphones.
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Mar 3, 2021 17:46
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I doubt a nearfield environment will benefit much from Dirac but you appear to have created an excellent audiophile Gordian knot. And do you want actual feedback on , say, your idea of a separate, second DAC for high res?
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Mar 3, 2021 17:59
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Combat Pretzel posted:Use headphones. One weird trick for not having to do bass management and room eq for a single listener setup.
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Mar 3, 2021 18:12
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qirex posted:I doubt a nearfield environment will benefit much from Dirac but you appear to have created an excellent audiophile Gordian knot. And do you want actual feedback on , say, your idea of a separate, second DAC for high res? Edit to say that I have very few DSD files or PCM >192 kHz other than a few files made purely for demonstration purposes. MQA might be more relevant if more streaming services adopt it. Yuns fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Mar 3, 2021 |
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Mar 3, 2021 18:13
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Lol. Wow, I thought my poo poo was overcomplicated. Edit: you high pass filter your main output, but it still connects to the sub?
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Mar 3, 2021 20:49
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LRADIKAL posted:Lol. Wow, I thought my poo poo was overcomplicated.
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Mar 3, 2021 20:52
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OK, that makes more sense!
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Mar 3, 2021 21:00
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Hi thread! I'm building a new enthusiast gaming PC, and wondering if it is worth the extra $250 or so to get a sound card? I listen to loads of music, and enjoy quality sound both in music and games. I'm going to be using this motherboard https://rog.asus.com/us/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-x570-f-gaming-model/ and this headset: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-360-Special-Gaming-Headset/dp/B01LDTRJG4 I was looking at this sound card: https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blasterx-ae-5-plus What do you think?
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Mar 4, 2021 04:03
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der ruhige posted:I was looking at this sound card: https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blasterx-ae-5-plus lmao ok, are you planning to connect it to a 5 channel (curiously there’s no sub out either) amp/receiver/processor of some kind? If not, just get a USB stereo DAC+headphone amp for the same money. Do you have plans for speakers? If so, what are they? That’s going to guide the advice we can give you. But you’d know if you were the target market for that card
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Mar 4, 2021 04:18
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I think you're in the wrong thread
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Mar 4, 2021 04:18
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I mean that’s a pretty ridiculous card, all things considered
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Mar 4, 2021 04:20
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Ok Comboomer posted:lmao Probably won't be using speakers at all, so, sounds like the sound card won't be necessary. Let's shift gears here. As far as DACs go, what do we think of this one? https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Headphone-Amplifier-Computer-Balanced/dp/B07KR3RF4H
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Mar 4, 2021 04:23
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der ruhige posted:Probably won't be using speakers at all, so, sounds like the sound card won't be necessary. Let's shift gears here. GonadTheBallbarian posted:I think you're in the wrong thread but you're on the right track now. Look at JDS labs, Fiio, Schiit, Drop/massdrop, SMSL trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Mar 4, 2021 |
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Mar 4, 2021 04:27
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Ok Comboomer posted:but you're on the right track now. Look at JDS labs, Fiio, Schiit, Drop/massdrop, SMSL
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Mar 4, 2021 04:50
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qirex posted:What's amusing about this is imagining how badly designed an endpoint would need to be to communicate EMI from the network port to the audio pathway. I mean that is definitely some audiophile woo, however it's not unbaised. Gigabit does throw out a considerable amount of EMI. Anyone got any tips or a nice copypasta for how to troll audiophile threads by asking what speakers are best for ASMR?
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Mar 4, 2021 07:07
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Apparently Spotify is gonna release a subscription level serving uncompressed audio. Gonna be fun to see how these audiophools are gonna poo poo on it.
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Mar 4, 2021 17:20
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I like tidal's song discovery/radio tool a bit better, but that's literally the only thing keeping me from switching to spotify at this point. I hope that feature does well for spotify
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Mar 4, 2021 18:19
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Combat Pretzel posted:Apparently Spotify is gonna release a subscription level serving uncompressed audio. Gonna be fun to see how these audiophools are gonna poo poo on it. 1. Well, actually, it's still compressed 2. It's not high resolution, if my DAC doesn't show 384 on the display I cannot achieve full arousal 3. They don't have *insert 1963 jazz album that said person already owns 7 copies of in various formats*
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Mar 4, 2021 18:31
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The audiophools are never going to be happy until a service comes out with Diana Krall's name attached to it.
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Mar 4, 2021 18:44
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Which musician had stake in that Toblerone looking ipod which had its own music store where you could buy tunes from? As I remember the music player had a little LED that lit up when it was playing music at the highest quality possible from the store but it turns out the only difference between the lossless music sold elsewhere and the music sold in the specific store was that it had a bit of code or whatever in the tag which made the LED light up.
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Mar 4, 2021 18:47
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Which musician had stake in that Toblerone looking ipod which had its own music store where you could buy tunes from? As I remember the music player had a little LED that lit up when it was playing music at the highest quality possible from the store but it turns out the only difference between the lossless music sold elsewhere and the music sold in the specific store was that it had a bit of code or whatever in the tag which made the LED light up. 
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Mar 4, 2021 18:58
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