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TheMadMilkman posted:Good enough for human ears happens a lot earlier than audiophiles would care to recognize. But when you’re convinced that the orientation of your ground cable is audible, you’ve already completely lost perspective. Get back into it! Grab a deal off eBay, buy a couple of different coloured MDs, and make some albums/mixtapes. It's surprisingly fun! Not a hassle at all (as long as your PC has optical out)
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Mar 20, 2021 19:40
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Yuns posted:There's a new king of DAC SINAD now. WolfX-700, a Chinese audio reviewer, just tested a DAC at 125 dB SINAD at his blog on L7AudioLab. He's under an NDA as far as manufacturer name and model go but expect to see ASR posters dumping their Topping D90 and SMSL S400 and Gustard X16/A18 soon for the new measurement king notwithstanding the fact that there is no audible difference and that even if there were an audible difference it would be gone once pushed through any amp. Good -- the D90 is a great DAC that isn't absurdly priced and if people are going to shed them for a new numbers king, take full advantage of it! Only used mine w/ optical in, but it's bullet-proof.
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Mar 22, 2021 21:18
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Reminder the nine dollar Apple DAC scored 99 dB SINAD and 0.001% THD.
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Mar 22, 2021 22:25
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Did anyone ever take the Airpods apart and try to measure them?
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Mar 22, 2021 22:27
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Combat Pretzel posted:Did anyone ever take the Airpods apart and try to measure them? Why would you need to take them apart? So long as a dummy head and torso system is used with a decent fit, and has been used to measure other headphones for comparison (because individual ears have vastly different head related transfer functions) then you get usable data with minimal effort. That said I’m actually quite surprised there isn’t a dataset available online already. Especially for the Pro model. Edit: scratch that, soundguys.com have the goods. Forgive the screenshots;   I finally get access to the one at university again in the coming weeks, but I don’t have AirPods to test. I suppose I could buy and return a set, but that seems like a lot of effort. I will finally get to do Nuraphones, although in hindsight the patent documentation and citations told me everything I need to know there. Neurophonic fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Mar 22, 2021 |
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Mar 22, 2021 22:37
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Neurophonic posted:That said I’m actually quite surprised there isn’t a dataset available online already. Especially for the Pro model. https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/apple-airpods-pro-truly-wireless-vs-samsung-galaxy-buds-plus-truly-wireless/1625/1791 I guess I'll be keeping my Galaxy Buds+ some more.
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Mar 22, 2021 22:38
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Combat Pretzel posted:I found something. Here you see the huge difference that fit and ear profile makes. Also, it’s interesting that they use a 9 kHz cutoff. Technically that is the limitation of the HATS for things like HRTF measurement, so it’s kind of ok? But the data gathered above there isn’t useless. Oh, and these are small signal measurements. I’m more interested in response curve at high drive levels personally, as well as distortion profiles.
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Mar 22, 2021 22:44
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Combat Pretzel posted:I found something. Oh. Yeah, the buds+ are good tws. TWS in general are pretty poo poo from a construction perspective, so just run them into the ground. If you really don't like how they sound, get an app like SoundID or wavelet to EQ them
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Mar 23, 2021 02:11
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Lexus IS WAX has a turntable in the glove compartment. https://jalopnik.com/the-lexus-is-wax-edition-is-the-pinnacle-of-car-audio-s-1846530785 
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Mar 23, 2021 04:28
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synthetik posted:Lexus IS WAX has a turntable in the glove compartment. That will be ruined by the first passenger stuffing their drink bottle or other junk inside without looking first or caring.
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Mar 23, 2021 12:01
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DancingShade posted:That will be ruined by the first passenger stuffing their drink bottle or other junk inside without looking first or caring. Yeah, and what an awful tragedy that will be.
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Mar 24, 2021 21:55
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Imagine the giant vinyl scratch caused by the first pothole or speedbump when listening to your rare vintage King Crimson album that you tracked down in some second hand store in Morocco.
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Mar 25, 2021 12:18
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The problem is the placement. They could solve all these problems given more volume for dampening devices. A real audiophile would replace the passenger seat with the turntable assembly, complete with its own springs, shocks, gimbals, etc.
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Mar 25, 2021 16:32
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Zorak of Michigan posted:The problem is the placement. They could solve all these problems given more volume for dampening devices. A real audiophile would replace the passenger seat with the turntable assembly, complete with its own springs, shocks, gimbals, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTQyyhZXO8M
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Mar 25, 2021 16:50
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 quote:Based at the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily, the boutique brand has been making high-end amps since 2009 with the mantra ‘let your ears be your guide’. The Embrace, a replacement for the company's best selling Alchemy ‘hybrid’ integrated amplifier, uses separate tube preamp and power stages – a decision the company describes as being derived from the isolation most people have experienced over the past year, with the hope that the amp will "embrace" both music and the listener. Audiozen says its choice of components is meticulous, with the preamp containing two NOS tubes, ClarityCap ESA series polypropylene capacitors and a transistor power stage. The power supply section houses three toroidal transformers: a50 VA pair dedicated to the preamplifier section and a larger 300 VA unit connected to the power stage. On the front panel, the power switch has been labelled ‘hug power’ and features a stand-by setting to gently heat the core of the tubes before switching on.
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Mar 26, 2021 18:28
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I know I've ranted about "subjective objectivists" who bench race audio numbers to seek inaudible improvements. But that got me thinking about what would be the cheapest system you could get that would be as audibly good as the most numerically perfect setting aside source (assume PC here) and setting aside output device since that's hugely room/preference dependent. I know the current ASR SINAD kings would be the Benchmark AHB2 amp (113 dB for $2999) and Okto Dac8 Stereo (122 dB for about $1377) -> $4376 What if we substituted the March Audio P122 (100 dB for $595) and Khadas Tone Board 1 (110 dB for $79.90) -> $674.90 If you don't want a bare circuit board, the Topping D10s (112 dB at $110) and Loxjie D30 (114 dB at $170) provide better performance than the Khadas for not much more. If you want to go cheaper than the March Audio, Buckeye Audio sells Hypex based amps for as low as $499 for a stereo P252 model (95 dB SINAD) and a NAD C320BEE amp (90 dB SINAD) can be found for $240 shipped on eBay. Could anyone hear the difference provided that we didn't have an impedance mismatch and that the P122 power output was enough for the speaker? In fact could anyone hear the difference between a C320BEE and Khadas ($320 total) and a Benchmark/Okto setup ($4376) if your power needs were less than 70 watts. Alternatively, what is the most you could spend for the same performance? We have the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC (121 dB at $11,500) and Mola Mola Kula ($13,800). Though to be fair, you can get the DAC integrated in the Kula for only $8,282 for a total of $22,082. Yuns fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Mar 29, 2021 |
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Mar 29, 2021 14:52
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All you need for "audibly transparent" is around -96 db which is the inherent noise floor for 16/44. A MiniDSP SHD Power would do it in a single box but if I wanted to get cheaper you could do a Raspberry Pi with a Khardas hat and a Buckeye NC252 for around $600. If you didn't need the output of a Purifi you could build a Hypex amp even cheaper. If I was going to spend a lot I'd probably just get an all in one like the NAD M33 or a Naim Uniti Star but that would mean I was spending $10k+ on speakers and treatment which I doubt I ever will. The most expensive component I'm looking at now is an Anthem 540. qirex fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Mar 29, 2021 |
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Mar 29, 2021 16:25
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You’re only doing it properly if you take the highest SINAD rated amplifier on the market and use it to drive a soft dome tweeter that hits obscene amounts of distortion at a few volts of input. At least the folks getting JMLC or spherical based horns turned in nice wood by actual craftsmen are spending their money on something reasonably sensible. Assuming their listening position is several metres away, in a large room, of course. This is my favourite madness of late. They call it an “is wall” speaker instead of “in wall”. It’s 4-way with 8 drivers - all off the shelf pro audio components with the most costly in the region of $400 a piece at RRP - in each multiple entry horn. I would 100% actually build this, just for the impact value: 
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Mar 29, 2021 17:14
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The main reason I find "zero chasing" so stupid is because most of what you hear is your speakers and room, and if there is any audible noise in your system it's probably the result of your house wiring and not inferior electronics in the signal chain. That said it kind of makes sense that online bench racing is so popular at a time when you can't actually have people over to hear your awesome system.
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Mar 29, 2021 17:26
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My favorite recent ASR post is the guy who was considering the Gustard X16 or SMSL SU-9 but was leaning toward the SU-9 for its tube emulation mode. So you want the most distortion free DAC possible in order to emulate distortion? Seriously, after a certain point things like readability of the display and ergos of the controls are way more important than squeezing that last dB of SINAD or slight better IMD out of a chipset. SMSL, Topping and Gustard are crushing it as far as getting the closest to theoretical performance of their AKM/ESS chips but are falling down still on usability, features and software vs say RME. Even though it doesn't measure the best, the MiniDSP SHD pretty much has the best set of features I've seen on any reasonably priced DAC and because it comes with support for DIRAC and can be just as easily used with REW it will make far more of an impact on sound. Totally unrelated aside but I now have an Intel NUC 10 i7 serving as a Roon Core and Plex Server which is attached to an external 10 TB drive and 1 TB SSD. I'm pretty happy to move those functions off my main computer. I have Volumio on the SHD set up with the Roon Endpoint extension. Yuns fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Mar 29, 2021 |
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Mar 29, 2021 17:42
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How hardware intense is Roon Core? I have a Mac Mini I've been using as a combo computer and server and was planning on using that. My music will be on a NAS pretty soon and while I know you can run Roon on Intel NAS they don't recommend it.
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Mar 29, 2021 18:28
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qirex posted:How hardware intense is Roon Core? I have a Mac Mini I've been using as a combo computer and server and was planning on using that. My music will be on a NAS pretty soon and while I know you can run Roon on Intel NAS they don't recommend it.
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Mar 29, 2021 18:56
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Neurophonic posted:
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Mar 29, 2021 19:05
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https://aforara.com/ Go wild on their instagram, if you’re keen you could very well determine the components used and make an educated guess at the horn geometry to DIY.
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Mar 30, 2021 01:26
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyobCL8JMKg
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Mar 31, 2021 22:50
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I love dunking on Darko as much as the next person here but I think this is his April Fools video. One of the bonsai channels I follow published one about the founder quitting to become a dj
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Mar 31, 2021 23:04
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I just want to know where I can get indoor plants that emphasise the sub 50hz range.
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Apr 2, 2021 07:04
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You'd likely need elephant ears to hear the difference.
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Apr 2, 2021 07:58
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Wasabi the J posted:You'd likely need elephant ears to hear the difference. Is there an audiophile-certified surgeon who can crudely stitch those to my head?
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Apr 2, 2021 09:57
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Wasabi the J posted:You'd likely need elephant ears to hear the difference. Thanks for making me actually look into this on my bathroom break. Clearly using my academic access for what I actually need to be doing... Anyway, here’s an open access paper: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00359-004-0553-0.pdf  It looks like they’re not obscene. 120 dBZ SPL between 14 Hz and 35 Hz at 1 metre is within the realms of the infra-subs I use for testing aerospace equipment (and sometimes, really fun gigs). The hearing threshold of a 7-year old Asian elephant was determined to be 60 dB at 17 Hz and 65 dB at 16 Hz in the only test I can find. Here’s the human curve:  So yeah, even though they have massive ears and cochlea compared to us, it looks like our torso and bone conduction means we aren’t a million miles away in terms of perception. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
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Apr 2, 2021 14:51
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Neurophonic posted:Thanks for making me actually look into this on my bathroom break. Clearly using my academic access for what I actually need to be doing... You're the hero we deserve.
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Apr 2, 2021 23:50
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Wasabi the J posted:You'd likely need elephant ears to hear the difference. I liked the joke, at least.
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Apr 3, 2021 05:00
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Unreal_One posted:I liked the joke, at least. Its a good one.
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Apr 3, 2021 05:01
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Wasabi the J posted:You'd likely need elephant ears to hear the difference.  You rang?
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Apr 3, 2021 05:16
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Firstly, elephants communicate with infrasound. Secondly 
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Apr 3, 2021 05:41
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drat right they do, which is why it was interesting to see that we experience roughly the same infrasound levels. Auditory processing in the brain is doing a whole heap of legwork for us and them. Fun fact: the subs I mentioned above are designed by the same guy who built a special servo-driven box to test that elephant infrasound theory out in the wild: https://www.soundandvision.com/content/way-down-deep-ii-servodrive-contrabass
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Apr 3, 2021 15:29
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Can’t talk about infrasound without mentioning rotary subwoofers. Those things are wild. I do recall a guy on AVS that installed one (in the theater that he had excavated under his garage— dude was kinda wild) and, after testing it, found out that his neighbors were convinced there was an earthquake. Now THAT is bass you can feel.
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Apr 3, 2021 22:14
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TheMadMilkman posted:Can’t talk about infrasound without mentioning rotary subwoofers. Those things are wild. I do recall a guy on AVS that installed one (in the theater that he had excavated under his garage— dude was kinda wild) and, after testing it, found out that his neighbors were convinced there was an earthquake. Now THAT is bass you can feel. The cost of those is madness but I do fully want one. They’re a bitch to install correctly though, you need a massive rigid cavity into the room. If we’re talking physical actuation, I have a bunch of these that I still haven’t figured out a use for, partly due to being in rented accommodation: https://www.powersoft.com/en/products/transducers/mover/ Did consider mounting them to my office chair at one point but I haven’t had access to the 3D printer at the labs to make a mounting apparatus.
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Apr 4, 2021 22:21
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Neurophonic posted:The cost of those is madness but I do fully want one. They’re a bitch to install correctly though, you need a massive rigid cavity into the room. Which was the club somewhere in Europe which had the wall of subs built into I think concrete poured cabinets? You reckon with a shitload of those Movers you could produce something similar? Like an entire wall that moves and acts as a cone? I was also going to ask about a larger version of these things and have spotted that it was Powersoft who made those too, M-Force. Someone has to be insane and rich enough to try this, surely?
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Apr 5, 2021 18:49
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Which was the club somewhere in Europe which had the wall of subs built into I think concrete poured cabinets? You reckon with a shitload of those Movers you could produce something similar? Like an entire wall that moves and acts as a cone? Are you thinking of Dillinja's Valve Sound System? https://dillinja.co.uk/bio.html quote:Officially the worlds loudest Drum and Bass oriented sound system, at a staggering 96k, the Valve sound system was designed from the ground up to showcase the Valve sound and better represent the full Drum and Bass sound and enabled ravers to be truly immersed in the sound. I dunno if that's the same setup the label I work for tried to bring on tour in the US, but it ended up being impossible because of the voltage differences. Documentary on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt2Pw8CSt4g
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Apr 5, 2021 20:57
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