[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: What should I fix?
Second, I think most of the folks on this list have mid-level or higher speakers, so they are not likely to think of headphone amps. I know I haven't used headphones for serious listening in at least thirty years. Pat, I think that disqualifies you from comment. ;) Headphone technology and quality today is unrecognisable from that of 30 years ago. It's a commonly held viewpoint that decent headphones can deliver sound quality that you would have to pay 5 to 10 times more on to match with speakers. There are also some stunning headphone amp designs around. SR-80s are excellent headphones for the money. They were my first pair of 'serious' cans and I still use them regularly. My main headphones just now are Sennheiser HD650s which, paired with my WNA HeadAmp Mk2 provide amazing sound quality for the price. I must admit a soft spot for the Grado sound though. My experience is that the SB drives SR-80s surprisingly well, but a decent headphone amp should provide a significant improvement. Spend a bit of time on Head-Fi to get a flavour of what's available. You don't have to spend a fortune to get decent sound with headphones and even less if you can handle a soldering iron. -- Fifer ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: What should I fix?
On Sun, 2005-10-02 at 06:22 -0700, Fifer wrote: . I know I haven't used headphones for serious listening in at least thirty years. Pat, I think that disqualifies you from comment. ;) Headphone technology and quality today is unrecognisable from that of 30 years ago. It's a commonly held viewpoint that decent headphones can deliver sound quality that you would have to pay 5 to 10 times more on to match with speakers. What part is unrecognizable? Good headphones have sounded very good and were lots cheaper than amps and speakers. I see that Koss is still selling the Pro4-AA that I used thirty years ago. The cool part of headphone technology is that you only need a handful of watts to drive any of them. And making a flea powered amp is tons easier (and lots cheaper) than one that puts out hundreds of watts. And if I need only a couple of watts, tubes is the way to go. There are also some stunning headphone amp designs around. No argument from me. I have fifteen or twenty pairs of headphones that I use all the time in my recording studio. I currently prefer the Sennheiser HD-280. There are lots of good ones. But when I listen to music seriously, I don't use headphones. YMMV -- Pat Farrell PRC recording studio http://www.pfarrell.com/PRC ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: What should I fix?
On Sun, 2005-10-02 at 08:51 -0700, Fifer wrote: 'headphone technology and quality have come a long way in 30 years'. The point I was trying to make was that 30 years ago, the choice of high quality headphones was fairly limited and what was available was fairly expensive. There is a much wider selection available now and very good quality to be had for reasonable amounts of money. I'll agree that the quality you can get per dollar today is much better, and there are lots more choices. Driven I think by all the walkmen, diskmen and now iPods. But the technology hasn't changed any at all that I can see. Except that there were no small, in ear systems 30 years ago. And there were no ear-bud styles earlier than about 15 or so years ago. But the drivers are still either dynamic or electrostatic. I don't know if any ribbon drivers, but ribbons are 50+ year old technology. And the electrostatic still are big and expensive and wonderful. What has changed is that the dymanic drivers are lots better at lower price points. And they are more comfortable to wear, lighter, etc. Of course, I'm not sure what technology changes have to be made to change the technology. Do new ways to manufacture a mature design count as new technology? -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: What should I fix?
But the technology hasn't changed any at all that I can see. Except that there were no small, in ear systems 30 years ago. And there were no ear-bud styles earlier than about 15 or so years ago. I suppose you've partly answered your own question, but aside of the miniaturisation that allows Shure and Ety to make their stunning in-ear systems, materials technology has improved with new cone, conductor, magnetic and housing materials being used and manufacturing technology has improved allowing better driver matching, closer tolerances in driver assembly and better ways of making driver housings. These are evolutionary technological improvements rather than revolutionary new technologies I admit, but major improvements nonetheless. -- Fifer ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Squeezebox2 and Tivoli questions
1. The RCA - miniplug cable is what you need. Quality should be OK. 2. There is only one aux input on the Model Two. 3. I don't think so. The Tivoli is great! /Munge -- Munge ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: What should I fix?
Something like a '*PIMETA*' (http://tangentsoft.net/audio/pimeta/) should be more than sufficient. I understand it grew out from the Apheared design (in fact, I further understand that the A in PIMETA is for Apheared). '*JMT Audio*' (http://www.jmtaudio.com/) builds PIMETA amps in Transportable, Portable and Home (probably the best option) versions. On the matter of headphone+amp usage, a DAC-amp seems to do a better job in my view but the analog outs certainly are not a slouch. Frankly speaking, I was seriously surprised at how good even the Sennheiser Orpheus sounded directly from the SB's analog ports. Perhaps it was a case of low expectations, but I was genuinely taken aback at the results. -- pasodoble ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Looking for advice on sound quality
OK, well I set up EAC/FLAC on my PC according to all the instructions, and it seems to be running OK. However, it's still taking somewhere between 5-10 minutes to rip most of my CDs. I've got hundreds of CDs, so it's a major undertaking. Question: What am I losing by not running EAC in secure mode? Doing so substantially cuts down on the ripping time. So how much difference does it really make? Can I use secure mode on those CDs I really care about (about 20% of them) and unsecure mode on the rest of them, or would that present problems? -- Mike Anderson ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
