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qirex posted:Anyway, if you can actually place your speakers where they sound right stereo is great, although that also applies to surround, so many people have their center channels pointed at a coffee table or their shins. I can do without surround for a lot of movies- it really seems to depend on the mix, for so many titles it doesn't matter, but every once in a while you'll get a gem, like the shoot out in the hardware store at the end of the first Equalizer movie; Denzel throws something to distract one of the hitmen and it totally pans from side to side right behind you. Where surround really shines for me is with games, especially for 3rd person shooters where you can hear enemies flanking you. Center channels are absolutely optional if you have good front channels though, I'm running 4.1 and it's good enough for my surround needs
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Sep 9, 2025 23:13
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qirex posted:Team stereo here. I'm getting a Wiim Amp Ultra this week and I'm replacing an AVR with it so I can share my experiences. I went from surround to stereo a while back and have no regrets. If you buy good speakers and can do a bit of position adjustment you should be fine with stereo. I would be very interested to hear what your experience is like with the WiiM setup. One thing I'd like to know is if it has offline functionality or if its bricked if you can't connect to the internet. Its kind of difficult to pin that info down from the online discussions I've seen. I don't imagine that it would be an issue 99.99999% of the time but enshittification is a real thing and it would suck if they decided to pull a Sonos once they've got a big enough install base. Apart from that concern, I think I'm leaning more in that direction. Knowing I could add in another amp to make it 4.1 if I wanted makes it feel like it has growth potential, even if I never use it
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Sep 10, 2025 04:17
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Is there any reason not to go with the Vibelink instead of the Amp Ultra if I'm not interested in using on-device streaming apps and I'm relying on optical for my input?
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Sep 10, 2025 13:39
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800peepee51doodoo posted:I would be very interested to hear what your experience is like with the WiiM setup. One thing I'd like to know is if it has offline functionality or if its bricked if you can't connect to the internet. Its kind of difficult to pin that info down from the online discussions I've seen. I don't imagine that it would be an issue 99.99999% of the time but enshittification is a real thing and it would suck if they decided to pull a Sonos once they've got a big enough install base. RichterIX posted:Is there any reason not to go with the Vibelink instead of the Amp Ultra if I'm not interested in using on-device streaming apps and I'm relying on optical for my input?
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Sep 10, 2025 19:37
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Finally got my Wiim Amp Ultra, I was worried about headroom with my 85dB speakers but normal listening volume is like 35/100, and was 40 to 50 on my Integra which is 100WPC class G. Default sub output seems a little hot compared to the AVR. I haven’t delved much into configuration or done the room correction but if I worked at an AVR company I’d be mad/scared. The out of the box is so nice, as long as there being a mandatory app doesn’t upset you. Roon works perfectly. If this had Airplay/Apple Music I could recommend it to so many other people. The potential for long term enshittification exists but for now they’re a scrappy underdog so the value proposition is solid.
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Sep 11, 2025 02:26
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HKR posted:it sounds like the room you're doing this in is exactly like the room I currently have my setup in, so let me show you how I have it with a 5.1.2 AVR setup Where do you sit? I only see the cats' chair in this image.
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Sep 11, 2025 02:57
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qirex posted:Finally got my Wiim Amp Ultra, I was worried about headroom with my 85dB speakers but normal listening volume is like 35/100, and was 40 to 50 on my Integra which is 100WPC class G. Default sub output seems a little hot compared to the AVR. seems like a cool device, pricey little bugger tho. what made you go with this out of curiosity?
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Sep 11, 2025 03:40
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derk posted:seems like a cool device, pricey little bugger tho. what made you go with this out of curiosity? For normal people without audio brainworms the Amp or Amp Pro are probably fine, I paid extra mostly for the little screen for cover art now that I know I probably won’t even turn the thing past 60% but I’m cool with it. That said there’s definitely a risk going with a newer, smaller company, once Sonos melted down all the people I recommended it to yelled at me first.
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Sep 11, 2025 04:06
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I'll probably replace my D7050 with a wiim when it finally dies.
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Sep 11, 2025 07:26
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qirex posted:I was comparing it with other AVRs and integrated amps with ARC, Roon Ready and room correction, especially once you got into buying a Dirac license, even refurb Onkyos were in the $800-1000 range. So it was actually cheaper than those. Coupled with how hard PAC, Voxx, etc. are struggling I didn’t want to buy another giant 40lb brick with janky firmware. I was also looking at the Eversolo Play but there’s usability quirks that turned me off to it. If I had infinite dollars I probably would have ended up with something like the NAD M10 or Cambridge Evo 150. these seem cool for when you don't have a receiver or need to replace a receiver for sure. I have been using raspberry pi's with hifiberry hats for years with roon. HifiberryOS, if you use their OS, your pi with hat shows up as a roon ready device! they work really well, i have the HiFiDigi, and HiFiDac2HD and the HiFiAmp2 floating around my house. they are remaking their OS into 64-bit with a bunch of improvements and features, it is still in alpha stage.
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Sep 11, 2025 14:21
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qirex posted:I was also looking at the Eversolo Play but there’s usability quirks that turned me off to it. What was it you didnt like about the Eversolo Play? I was looking at that as an option but decided against primarily due to price and it having a bunch of stuff I dont really need but I didnt see anyone saying anything particularly negative about it when I was looking at reviews. Also, maybe someone can enlighten me about the Roon thing. People are really paying a subscription fee to listen to their own music/streaming services they already pay for? Help me out here, cause that sounds dumb as heck.
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Sep 11, 2025 15:09
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800peepee51doodoo posted:What was it you didnt like about the Eversolo Play? I was looking at that as an option but decided against primarily due to price and it having a bunch of stuff I dont really need but I didnt see anyone saying anything particularly negative about it when I was looking at reviews. Roon is library management software that integrates local files with streaming services, a huge discogs-style database, multiroom playback, DSP and mobile playback. I bought a lifetime license as a silly COVID retail therapy thing to break my dependency on Sonos and while I don't regret it, it is silly expensive and probably only a good idea for someone like me who has a lot of local music and also does a lot of streaming [~1800 albums between my ripped CDs and TIdal]. There's plenty of free/cheap options but I basically bought it in lieu of a new amplifier and 5 years later I still like it. It now being owned by Samsung is definitely a concern in the long run.
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Sep 11, 2025 15:38
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800peepee51doodoo posted:What was it you didnt like about the Eversolo Play? I was looking at that as an option but decided against primarily due to price and it having a bunch of stuff I dont really need but I didnt see anyone saying anything particularly negative about it when I was looking at reviews. Roon subscriber here. You're right, I'm paying $15 a month to listen to my personal music library on devices I own. It's dumb as gently caress and I hate it, but there are a couple reasons why its the only choice for me. The main desire is I want my music playing devices to be aware of my NAS stored music library and be able to access them from anywhere on my network, without having a pc attached to them and with one central database. I want to use my phone, tablet or pc to select the music and control the playback experience. I also want to make sure the audio path is not doing anything fucky to my music like reducing 24 bit/96Khz flacs to 16/44.1 for no reason. And most importantly, I want it to handle my extremely hand curated metadata properly. The last two parts are where a lot of services fail. I have NAD devices, so BluOS was my main go to for a while. BluOS is free for supported devices, supports dozens of streaming services, and can index your NAS stored music library. The main issues I ran into it regard metadata and the indexing of music. I am constantly adding music to my library, but BluOS requires me to manually index my music collection every time I want it to add new music. The process also scans my entire library, which is over 2800 albums/2 TB. It takes forever to add One Album. I also collect different versions of the same album, and use flac tags to differentiate between them. BluOS handles this poorly, as seen with Boris' Absolutego.  Each version of the album here has a %VERSION% tag, as well as a %RELEASEDATE% and %CATALOGNUMBER% tag to differentiate between them. Here's how the tags look in foobar:  BluOS however only sees it as One Album, thus rendering it like this:  Roon is smart enough to recognize this though:  Now to BluOS's credit, it does offer a view that lets me drill down the folder structure of my music as opposed to browsing via metadata, but BluOS also improperly handles flac tags that have multiple values. For instance songs that have multiple artists or composers attached work properly in Roon:  BluOS discards everything after the first artist however:  Many of the complaints I have about BluOS are fixed with Plex, but my NAD devices can't stream music from plex like they can from Roon (I use apple TVs for plex which require the TV to be on to play music, and since I have OLEDs that's a bad idea). Plex also handles multi value metadata poorly, but at least it doesn't discard it.  Roon does some cool things that the others don't as well. For example, it'll give me information about my playback chain:  and if it's being messed with:  It also handles classical music tags very well:  I've been collecting digital music for nearly 30 years now. I have spent countless hours ripping, adjusting metadata, and researching to make sure my tags are as accurate as possible. Roon is the only service that respects that work.
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Sep 11, 2025 16:24
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800peepee51doodoo posted:What was it you didnt like about the Eversolo Play? I was looking at that as an option but decided against primarily due to price and it having a bunch of stuff I dont really need but I didnt see anyone saying anything particularly negative about it when I was looking at reviews. I will take a stab at the Roon thing. I wish i paid for the lifetime years ago when it was only 4 or 500 bucks. it is now 800 something bucks! I pay 149/year right now. Yes, I too thought it was dumb, but it is a really slick piece of software with multiple ways to have your stereo systems utilize it. The thing that got me initially to keep using it was I had a decent sized library and I tested out its radio feature. Picked a song i like from an artist and let it fly on its own. It picked tracks in my library I never heard before by artists i like, it dove really well and mixed it up really well, better than anything i have ever tried. Now i have a Tidal sub as well, it ties that into it and expands my library exponentially. Like i stated before, i use raspberry pi's with hifiberry hats to get the good sound quality and pass it on to my receiver with the digi hat for my hifi stereo and another one for my garage/patio, and dac2hd for my amp for my headphones, and the amp for some bookshelf speakers. You can sync up multiple devices in different areas, nice for parties. It also has headphone EQ's done by pros for a ton of specific headphone sets. https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/muse i could refer you and you get 30 days to try it out. anyone for that matter! oh also, they have Roon ARC now, so you can stream to your phone/device remotely with the app and still access your Tidal or whatever other streaming service you tie into Roon derk fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Sep 11, 2025 |
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Sep 11, 2025 16:30
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As someone who got a Plex lifetime sub for $50, I will almost certainly never pay for Roon because I have my set up designed around Plex's limitations, but Roon can definitely do some things that other options can't. Really should be an open source solution that doesn't suck but, alas.
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Sep 11, 2025 18:23
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aparmenideanmonad posted:As someone who got a Plex lifetime sub for $50, I will almost certainly never pay for Roon because I have my set up designed around Plex's limitations, but Roon can definitely do some things that other options can't. Really should be an open source solution that doesn't suck but, alas. plexamp has improved over the years. I got my plex lifetime at $65. Roon still blows plex away in my opinion. Open source roon alternative would be amazing, i hate paying for it, but i have had it so long and it does really good stuff. Turning raspberry pi's into roon endpoints is fantastic. Roon hardware is really expensive for the licensed stuff.
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Sep 11, 2025 18:26
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Ok, audio question. Also a PC question. I have my desktop PC routing through to my stereo receiver for 5.1 surround sound in gaming and music etc. Receiver is a Denon AVR S540BT. (Speakers are Klipsch). PC's GPU is a 5070ti. Monitor is a LG OLED model OLED48c1PUB. Problem(s): If I connect the receiver and the display separately to the PC using separate HDMI (or DisplayPort to HDMI for the display) cables, that creates a "phantom" monitor that reduces my FPS by like 10% (even if just set to duplicate display) and reduces my maximum resolution for some reason also. If I try to daisy-chain from the display to the receiver or from the receiver to the display, I don't have the phantom monitor issue, but the surround sound is lost, and the speaker setup defaults to just stereo. Is there any way I can avoid this issue? My understanding was optical cables can't carry a surround signal -- is that improved now? Is this something I'd need to get an updated receiver to fix, and if so, what would be recommended?
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Sep 12, 2025 01:34
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Ok, thanks for the examples. Its honestly kind of hard to wrap my head around why anyone would pay for that service but it sounds like I don't have a use case for it. I have a ton of totally legal digital files that I definitely own the original physical copies of and which I absolutely acquired in a completely above board manner but I find that putting them in a consistent file structure and occasionally updating some metadata has been working just fine for me. I cut the streaming a while ago because it felt gross helping to fund AI hunter/killer drones so I don't need cross-app organization and my house is very tiny so no need for stuff to follow me room to room.
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Sep 12, 2025 01:49
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Ok, audio question. Also a PC question. Use ARC: Connect your gpu directly to your TV. Connect your TV's ARC to your receivers ARC
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Sep 12, 2025 02:14
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Optical cables could always carry surround sound. Where did this nonsense come from?
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Sep 12, 2025 03:25
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I thought eARC was needed for surround, doing GPU -> receiver -> TV should have worked though e: That TV does have eARC, but it's on HDMI port 2 according to https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-oled48c1pub-oled-4k-tv
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Sep 12, 2025 03:41
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eARC is needed for lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master. ARC can do lossy Dolby Atmos/other surround formats. Optical can do 5.1. There are many options to accomplish the goal, but ARC is best for modern 4k gaming. That graphics card, TV and AVR will absolutely do surround sound over HDMI and ARC, but settings may need to be adjusted on all ends to make it work.
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Sep 12, 2025 03:47
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Is this the "what amp I need" thread? My Yamaha RX-V1800 I bought for 250€ 15 years or whatever ago does not start reliably from sleep/power saving mode. Keeping the power cord for 30s+ off solves it. My friend promised to solder new caps if I bring the power PCB + caps to him. Parts list in service manual so I can go to store with the PCB and parts list and be quite sure I get the correct parts.   IF this does not work I need a plan B. I have a 4ch setup with 2 front and 2 rear channels, front recommended is 2x50..250W and rear 2x20..150W for 8ohms. AV manufacturers like Denon, Marantz etc seem to be dead or dying and the products lack a tuner these days. So I began thinking about alternatives. A 4ch amp is "quite cheap" and quite ugly, 4x150W for 1100€: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...hm-p-14356.html Then I could save money by getting a tuner "later" and using Equalizer APO for setting speaker delays etc. I'd only need a sound card with 4 balanced outputs from Focusite, Audient etc. I'd ideally buy a multi ch DSP like https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex-ht but those are 800€ new. Does it make any sense to try to replace an integrated AV amplifier with separate parts? Ihmemies fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Sep 12, 2025 |
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Sep 12, 2025 09:30
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HKR posted:eARC is needed for lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master. ARC can do lossy Dolby Atmos/other surround formats. Optical can do 5.1. There are many options to accomplish the goal, but ARC is best for modern 4k gaming. That graphics card, TV and AVR will absolutely do surround sound over HDMI and ARC, but settings may need to be adjusted on all ends to make it work. Thank y'all, I finally seem to have this working. I couldn't get it to work going pc -> TV > receiver, perhaps because the TV's arc port was HDMI in not out, but I got it to work going pc > receiver > TV after about a half hour of fiddling with the TV and receiver settings and menus, which I'd always given up on previously. Thanks! This is something I'd been fiddling with for a long time and hadn't solved. I've now got everything running at 75 fps at 4096x2048 with 5.1 when before I was capped at around 60 fps at 3480x 2160. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Sep 12, 2025 |
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Sep 12, 2025 11:52
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Ihmemies posted:Does it make any sense to try to replace an integrated AV amplifier with separate parts?
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Sep 12, 2025 22:39
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I want to see a speaker/soundbar/home theater reviewer who's gimmick is all about cranking the volume and/or bass, and seeing how many walls/floors it can be heard through 
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Sep 22, 2025 17:14
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My upstairs neighbor has a soundbar and the subwoofer basically sounds like someone opening a file cabinet [instead of bass noises].
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Sep 22, 2025 17:47
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Is there a goon approved workhouse 3.1 for movies? I have a Samsung 65" Class OLED S90C For different topics (tvs, monitors, etc.) there was a clear goonsensus on different tiers and best values. I’m also curious about whether or not there’s a noticeable increase in experience between a 3.1 for the tv or if a 2.0 will get most of the way there. E: tv is mounted over the mantle because it’s an old dwelling unit and that was the only spot for the tv. Does that make a difference? Ornery and Hornery fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Sep 23, 2025 |
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Sep 23, 2025 05:47
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If you put the speakers in a good spot where they sound best your brain will usually do a decent job making it seem like it's coming from the TV. For an amp for 3.0/3.1 you need an AVR [get a refub from AC4L] and some speakers [or the very expensive new Bluesound Powernode]. For stereo/2.1 you have more options for the electronics at various levels of price and complexity, like a Wiim amp, a Fosi ZD3 plus amps, etc. There is no tier list or anything for speakers, it depends on your budget, the room and how much flexibility you have for positioning. I mean I'm sure someone has made one but there's too many models and too many variables for me to take one seriously. The tariffs have hit subwoofers hard, what was a $400-600 model from Hsu, Rythmik, SVS, etc. a few years ago are largely $700-1k now. You can still get a RSL Speedwoofer for $500 or a refurb Polk or Klipsch though.
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Sep 23, 2025 07:00
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I bought a cheap 3.0 setup to start, the center channel was not great and when I upgraded to a really nice pair of speakers it was markedly improved. Moved the original front pair to rears for surround sound, added a subwoofer and do not feel the need at all to get an updated center, I'm perfectly fine with 4.1.
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Sep 23, 2025 07:40
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TV being mounted high makes it awkward to get a nice looking setup but doesn't stop you from having a good sounding one. I suppose it depends on how you feel about wall mounted speakers. Though some tall floorstanders would work tbh. 2.0 vs 3.1 you'll definitely notice the lack of a sub with the 2.0, like yeah you can get some nice big floorstanders that do a solid job of providing low end but a sub really shines digging deep for films etc. Personally I've never thought a centre was essential but then I've always had semi-decent L/Rs and was happy with their performance. Olympic Mathlete fucked around with this message at 09:47 on Sep 23, 2025 |
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Sep 23, 2025 08:13
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Ornery and Hornery posted:
put the tv in front of the fireplace you're never going to use so you don't have to pay someone to fix your neck in 20 years
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Sep 23, 2025 15:33
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HKR posted:put the tv in front of the fireplace you're never going to use so you don't have to pay someone to fix your neck in 20 years Comrade, we are of the same mindset. We had the TV on a console in front of the fireplace that we never, ever, ever used. My partner hated how it looked. So it's mounted above the fireplace for now with a Mantel Mount. It's still not as low as I want, but at least it's not a bajillion feet in the air.
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Sep 23, 2025 16:26
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Hey qirex, how are you liking the WiiM amp ultra? Ive been hovering over the buy button for a couple of days now. Any issues coming up?
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Sep 23, 2025 16:38
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qirex posted:If you put the speakers in a good spot where they sound best your brain will usually do a decent job making it seem like it's coming from the TV. Listerine posted:I bought a cheap 3.0 setup to start, the center channel was not great and when I upgraded to a really nice pair of speakers it was markedly improved. Moved the original front pair to rears for surround sound, added a subwoofer and do not feel the need at all to get an updated center, I'm perfectly fine with 4.1. Olympic Mathlete posted:TV being mounted high makes it awkward to get a nice looking setup but doesn't stop you from having a good sounding one. I suppose it depends on how you feel about wall mounted speakers. Though some tall floorstanders would work tbh. Hmmm okay, sounds like given the space considerations of my room, that a 2.0 system is a good place to start. Recommendations on $400-$600 2.0 L/R brands/models? Also a 101 resource on system setups on 2.0 system considerations? Will the speakers themselves need a direct wire connection to the TV?
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Sep 23, 2025 16:51
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Passive speakers that will work great now and also function well in other systems in the future: KEF Q1 Metas (upgraded version of the old Q150s) are on sale for $400/pair at all the major retailers right now ($300 off MSRP). That leaves you $200 for your amp/preamp. I'm an AVR guy myself because I like more options, but they are large and more than you'd need to run 2.0/2.1. Other posters will have better advice on other options. How you set things up will depend on what you end up with, but there's 2 major ways to do it with your TV, which appears to only have HDMI for audio out. RCA and optical outs seem to be getting rare these days. 1. Run your media sources (console, BR player, fire stick, etc.) into your TV and then send the audio from there to your sound system via HDMI (your sound system is some combo of DAC/preamp, active speakers, amp + passive speakers). 2. Run your media sources into your AVR and then send the video to your TV via HDMI and the audio to passive speakers via speaker wire/RCA/etc. aparmenideanmonad fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Sep 23, 2025 |
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Sep 23, 2025 21:15
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aparmenideanmonad posted:Passive speakers that will work great now and also function well in other systems in the future: KEF Q1 Metas (upgraded version of the old Q150s) are on sale for $400/pair at all the major retailers right now ($300 off MSRP). Thank you for the effort post, I will reflect and strategize.
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Sep 24, 2025 06:59
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IMO, buy an AVR and start with a 2.0/2.1 system. You can always add more speakers to an AVR.
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Sep 24, 2025 12:17
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mariooncrack posted:IMO, buy an AVR and start with a 2.0/2.1 system. You can always add more speakers to an AVR. this. 2.0 and 2.1 can sound really good and movies yea the surround is cool and all, but a good 2.1 setup emulates it pretty well these days too. I have a good 2.1 setup and will be eventually going up to 5 or 7.1 when i move into a bigger house. A good sub really makes the theatre experience at home much closer to being in a theatre with cheaper popcorn and snacks.
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Sep 24, 2025 12:20
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A good sub is one of those things that once you've got it, you can't believe you ever lived without. If you can ever get your hands on one of these, don't hesitate: https://www.klipsch.com/products/rp-1600sw-subwoofer I grabbed one at like half off, for some reason I don't have the order email anymore so I can't remember. Might have been adorama? Anyway it's fantastic, highly recommend.
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Sep 26, 2025 05:54
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