I prefer that my speaker setup recreates the audio aesthetic of a Sony boombox w/cd player circa 1992
some people are "chasing the dragon", I am "looking for Mega Bass (tm)"
― mh, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 19:14 (seven years ago) link
i guess i can kind of see that
i only have a few mid-priced headphones i've ever used (even in studios), but choosing the right headphones or speakers to me sounds more subjective
for me, the point of a running shoe is to relieve foot stress and give me better stability/grip for quite probably X amount of time, whether i'm doing short or long runs. it's more pragmatic/practical
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 19:20 (seven years ago) link
i don't see how listening to a pair of speakers and trying on a pair of shoes is that different i guess
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 19:26 (seven years ago) link
both have very definable physical characteristics, can be measured and quantified in different ways (maximum volume and response to different frequencies versus things like durability and material response to impact) but how those things relate to our personal preferences and comfort vary
if you're an olympic sprinter materials definitely matter, or if you run a lot and your arches are crap
― mh, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 19:31 (seven years ago) link
I honestly am sad about the state of materials science research in north america. All the stock speculation has led to research drying up. I can buy kevlar headphone cables, but where is the kevlar of tomorrow? Not in the USA, I'll tell you that.
― mh, Wednesday, August 24, 2016 12:09 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lots of good (opto)electronic materials science here, though
― veggie sticks potato snacks (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 23:35 (seven years ago) link
yeah but how much of it is connected to my 401k? not enough!
― mh 😏, Thursday, 25 August 2016 01:52 (seven years ago) link
I have a friend of who is always talking about how great his stereo is -- so much so that i rarely engage in an discussions about it with him. He swears by his Adcom amp, CV passive radiator speakers his sub, etc, but i've never been overly impressed because he always plays everything WAY TOO LOUD. Also, his speaker-placement renders the concept of stereo separation mute. When watching a movie a couple years ago i noticed that he didn't have his left and right channels oriented properly - so the "vision" of an object moving left-to-right "sounded" like an object moving right-to-left.
So, even without any apparent snake oil, self-deception can justify just about anything.
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 25 August 2016 16:46 (seven years ago) link
lol at the left/right speaker thing. that's not really a big deal with a lot of music, but if he uses the same setup for movie audio and doesn't notice it... hmm.
― mh 😏, Thursday, 25 August 2016 16:51 (seven years ago) link
being clueless is probably a priceless audiophile accessory if you can manage to stop buying stuff
― veggie sticks potato snacks (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 25 August 2016 17:28 (seven years ago) link
I have saved a good $10k by going to too many shows that shaved off the high end of my hearing.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 25 August 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, August 25, 2016 9:46 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
don't mean to go on about this, because don't mind that i disagree with people in this thread but this is what i was suggesting yesterday
there are so many variables and audio people have all these deeply personal ideas about audio, it starts to look like producing sound is voodoo magic. then there's the "feels right/wrong" scenario. i've seen people get fancy monitors only to place it down in their untreated concrete-wall basement
i guess i can kind of see that type of thing happening with runners, but in my experience, it didn't happen often with those i spoke with
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 25 August 2016 18:20 (seven years ago) link
agreed -- also, like lots of other gear, i just want something that's of a certain quality and that it's reliable. I don't camp/backpack nearly as much as i used to, but i can tell you for certain that my pack/sack/shack are nearly equivalent to stuff you can buy today - same with power and hand tools -- buy the best you can afford, take good care of it, and it should last a good long time.
As for the people putting fancy monitors in an unfinished basement -- i'm ok with that if the idea is that they plan to keep it "forever" -- not the same as runners where the "tech" as well as your foot volume changes over the years -- a pure stereo amp that's 40 years old may be better than one you'll buy 40 years from now.
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 25 August 2016 23:44 (seven years ago) link
my feet are 24/192
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 16:39 (seven years ago) link
the best headphones are sony eggos mdr-d77 don't @ me
― mh 😏, Monday, 29 August 2016 16:40 (seven years ago) link
there's def a reason these are in every studio or radio station in the world, not many better values than these sonys in terms of sound, build quality for sub-100 cans
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-Professional-Diaphragm-Headphone/dp/B000AJIF4E
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 16:48 (seven years ago) link
in general though i feel like sony's one of the last big electronics companies to give a shit about making good consumer stuff
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 16:49 (seven years ago) link
Sony, really? I had such poor experiences with their gear from the 90s and oughts that i swore off their nameplate completely. Glad you have luck with them, tho.
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, 29 August 2016 19:45 (seven years ago) link
my go-to for flatest sound are maestro's gmp 8.35d's
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Monday, 29 August 2016 19:56 (seven years ago) link
i guess i feel like their TVs are still good and the baby monitors we bought were the first ones that worked after 2 tries and their headphones still seem goodbut i don't have like an amp of theirs, old CD player of theirs i had was a champ
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 19:57 (seven years ago) link
depends what i'm doing tho
the only thing that is still tricky for me is monitoring vocals when i'm the one singing
tried a few and couldn't even use the studio's standard headphones they use for monitoring vocals -- forget which ones we were using, but it was a nightmare that basically ruined the entire ep
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Monday, 29 August 2016 19:59 (seven years ago) link
I am in possession of samples of both the foil & the cream
update to follow
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 29 August 2016 20:27 (seven years ago) link
Also, his speaker-placement renders the concept of stereo separation mute.
I see what you did there
― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Monday, 29 August 2016 20:34 (seven years ago) link
But, nevertheless, subconsciously, we are still attempting to resolve these energy patterns and anything we cannot resolve causes us to remain under tension. Or, we are actually interpreting these (new, strange) energy patterns to mean, ‘danger’, ‘predator’, ‘intruder’ and we therefore remain under tension because we can never resolve them.
the next stage in extreme audiophila is going to be self-help, that is, you can't really expect all your expensive audio components to function well unless you have harmony within yourself. so first you need to start paying for this expensive new-age therapy, and once all of your inner anxieties and neuroses are resolved, we can get to work on your stereo system.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 August 2016 20:59 (seven years ago) link
i mean, your brain (and ears) are really the most essential part of any audio set-up, so why would you spend $30,000 on a turntable but any less than that on inner harmony? doesn't make sense, does it?
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:00 (seven years ago) link
gotta lube up your brain with the audiophile cream
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:08 (seven years ago) link
...or, some good reefer.
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, 29 August 2016 21:10 (seven years ago) link
you should probably just ram an electrical pole right through your brain, that should do it
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:11 (seven years ago) link
i can totally see audiophiles getting fancy ear cleanses just so they can hear sound in its more 'purer form'
this discussion has to have already been brought up on one of the hifi message boards
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:12 (seven years ago) link
i mean the biggest impediment to enjoying listening to music is inner distraction... that should really be every audiophile's priority.
perhaps they are being distracted by obsessing over their audio systems, and that is keeping them from hearing the music to its fullest. what then?
http://rob.conery.io/img/2015/09/recursion_title.jpg
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:14 (seven years ago) link
imo a lot of this is self-help through retail therapy or externalizing mental anxiety in external phenomena that you then spend time controlling through tweaking
― mh 😏, Monday, 29 August 2016 21:31 (seven years ago) link
that was my implicit point...
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:35 (seven years ago) link
but if you just fix your brain you don't end up with cool speakers
― mh 😏, Monday, 29 August 2016 21:36 (seven years ago) link
Non believers get slathered in cream and covered with stickers
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:36 (seven years ago) link
sign me up
― Sean, let me be clear (silby), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:44 (seven years ago) link
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, August 29, 2016 1:27 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
hyped for this
― slathered in cream and covered with stickers (silby), Monday, 29 August 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
no doubt
― goole, Monday, 29 August 2016 22:05 (seven years ago) link
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, August 29, 2016 8:45 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Had a terrible midi system from them in the early 90s, and have stayed away from most of their stuff ever since, but they were the only make of walkman-related stuff I'd ever have considered, and I swore by their earphones for years as well.
But yeah. That midi-system, with the shitty turntable and the tape deck that ran too slow. Fuck Sony.
― beer say hi to me (stevie), Tuesday, 30 August 2016 07:39 (seven years ago) link
Was in the market for a new set of headphones for in the house so ordered a pair of those Sony 7506's.
― michaellambert, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 10:22 (seven years ago) link
The internal grille is in the shape of the Fibonacci pattern, supposedly to ensure minimal sound colouration
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/sony-celebrates-70th-anniversary-by-releasing-high-end-signature-series#y2xHBH0p0qfFIUvD.99
― just sayin, Sunday, 4 September 2016 10:04 (seven years ago) link
supposedly
― Austin, Sunday, 4 September 2016 19:50 (seven years ago) link
who really knows
― ǂbait (seandalai), Sunday, 4 September 2016 22:05 (seven years ago) link
We don't know that's exactly why it would be irresponsible NOT to make internal grilles in the shape of the Fibonacci pattern
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 4 September 2016 22:32 (seven years ago) link
i prefer true fractals to the fibonacci sequence. fibonacci is a little muddy in the midrange
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Sunday, 4 September 2016 23:23 (seven years ago) link
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/28/13088070/mrspeakers-ether-flow-review-planar-magnetic-headphones
If the recording is perfect, like my copy of Renaud Garcia-Fons’ Mediterranees, you can just sit back and relax, but most modern music isn’t purely acoustic and has a bunch of imperfections and little pieces of aural grit — and the Ether Flows expose every last one of them.
― schwantz, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 17:55 (seven years ago) link
A friend of mine is DJing at this place in a couple of weeks...
http://spiritland.com/
Kuzma turntable, Atelier du Triode monoblocs, Living Voice horn speakers. I hope she doesn't mash the stylus.
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 18:01 (seven years ago) link
I hope she just plugs her iPod shuffle in with an aux cord
― slathered in cream and covered with stickers (silby), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 18:02 (seven years ago) link
stand behind the mixing desk playing through her iphone speaker imo
― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 18:13 (seven years ago) link
Ha ha. "I'm off for a piss, just keep skipping the ads on Spotify, yeah?"
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 18:39 (seven years ago) link
I started a related thread:The musical taste of tech reviewers S/D
― schwantz, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 01:15 (seven years ago) link
https://audiobacon.net/2017/03/16/sotm-dcbl-cat7-review/
This review of a $600 "audiophile Ethernet cable" is fucking incredible. "If you aren’t a complete neophyte to high-end audio, you’ll know that quantitative measurements could only go so far."
― the portentous pepper (govern yourself accordingly), Thursday, 1 June 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link