Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Audible vs inaudible
ar-t;372401 Wrote: > Rather than tell me I am wrong and/or nuts. Chalk one up for the Lone > Prophet. Nah. You're nuts. ;-) -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=56712 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter versus Duet, trying to decide
brianz;364775 Wrote: > Themis, I currently have an HDMI connection from my Denon player to my > Yamaha receiver - so I guess I'm already using the Yamaha's DAC, right? > If so, then given that I think CDs sound fantastic now, I suppose that > would suggest that the Duet would be on par with my current CD sound... > right? You should get a Duet or Classic. Given that you are using the Yamaha's DAC, the sound from the Duet digital outputs via your Yamaha should be identical that of your current setup. Plugging a Transporter in the same way would also be identical (and heresy to many here I would guess!). Once you get the Duet/Classic, you could try comparing the Duet analog outs to the digital outs via your Yamaha to see which you like better. I don't know your receiver well, but I'd bet the DAC is similar quality to the one in the Duet, so this could go either way. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55672 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Direct to power amp?
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55246 Question: Direct to power amp? - Yes - No Shredder;364082 Wrote: > Endler stepped attenuators fit the bill perfectly. Mine are great. Thanks! They look perfect. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55246 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Direct to power amp?
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55246 Question: Direct to power amp? - Yes - No After reading this thread, I need a recommendation for high quality attenuation. I want something as transparent as possible and preferably variable, though I suppose it wouldn't have to be as I could probably work out what the appropriate attenuation is and use something fixed. Any recommendations? Thanks! -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55246 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter versus SB3 with Beresford DAC
Themis;358913 Wrote: > Because it's a nice, smooth-sounding amp. :) I used to use the amp's dac > before I got the Italian one. The couple SB3/Denon through-coax, was > better than my old 640C CD player. But one day I found someone selling > the North Star for about 500 and I... couldn't resist. I won't go > through the differences between the NS and the 3808, they are subtle > but quite obvious for "heavy" music parts (with plenty of > instruments). > I've had plenty of hi-fi amps (and I still have a Marantz KI and a > Cyrus), but the Denon sounds more than decent. I tried, occasionally, > to upgrade the power-amp section, but none of the power amps that I > listened to (four), below the 1200 price tag, managed to drive my > speakers better than the 3808. Even its phono section is sweet : so, I > stick with it, at the moment. ;) > > I know there are a lot of myths about A/V amps (I owned 4, the AVR-300 > being one of them), some say that A/V amps made by specialized hifi > firms are better sounding... well, I disagree. Today's A/V amps made by > "commercial" firms like Denon, Yamaha, H/K etc have decent transformers, > power sections, very good D/A converter implementations and so much > more. And mostly : they sound musical. > > I have plenty of friends (hifi vendors or enthusiasts) who claim the > contrary, but most of them never listened to a decent A/V amp in good > conditions. And I don't care enough about their beliefs to prove them > the contrary. :) Hi Themis- I have that exact AV receiver in my HT and I agree with you that it has a nice sounding DAC. However, where I disagree with you is with the amp section, which IMO isn't very good at all, for my ears anyway. I use a separate power amp with it and, nothing scientific here, but I prefer the sound immensely with the external amp. I'm sure you have tried other setups, but if you haven't tried it with a separate power amp, I would highly recommend it. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54947 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Whole house Amp
JJZolx;352728 Wrote: > > I think what you're missing (not that anyone can convince you) is that > many people want neat, unobtrusive, whole house audio systems in their > homes. Some nearly invisible ceiling or in-wall speakers and a control > on the wall. Not an entire stereo system in every freaking room of the > house. I don't think anyone is missing that. It's just that if you want neat, unobtrusive and cheap and you don't care much for sound quality, then it doesn't belong here. The implication when you ask a question in the audiophile forum is that you want the best *sound quality* possible. A bunch of us logically reacted to the OP by saying that his solution was compromising sound quality in many ways, which it is. You guys act like unobtrusive requires a central amp with 6 SBs in a box somewhere and speaker wires run around the house. I disagree, and I think there are better solutions. The problem was that the OP didn't want to listen to any suggestions. He seemed instead to be looking for us to support a decision he had already made. I hate the sound of in-wall speakers, but if that's a requirement I can recommend some (I have some, but wouldn't do it again). Once you are installing in-wall speakers, you can easily build an amp into the walls (depending on power requirements). I know some nice sounding amps that are about the size of a sandwich and run cool (virtually no heat). You can also build an SB into the wall if you like, or mount it on a wall. This would be a better solution IMO. You could make it expensive if you want, but I don't think it would have to be. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=53288 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Hypersonic effect: high frequency spectrum listening experience
OK. I skimmed the paper and I'm still skeptical. I'm a scientist but this is not my area. First, this is a very small study with only 10-30 individuals per test. The findings are only marginally statistically significant (I computed the p-values), and in some cases not significant. They don't say how they calculated their statistical tests (their F-stats), but it looks to me like they are treating different samples of the same individual as independent observations, probably a no-no, and treating them otherwise would likely make the results statistically insignificant. It's not clear that it's double blind so it's probably not. (It is stated to be single blind: the listener doesn't know which sample he/she is listening to.) All of this would lead us to think that the results are at best suggestive and definitely not conclusive. Given that there are many other studies that find no effect in similar tests, one would have to still lean toward thinking that it's more likely there is no effect. This is particularly true given the lack of a theory for the effect. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54077 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Hypersonic effect: high frequency spectrum listening experience
I'm jumping in late here, but is there a theory about how exactly these high frequency harmonics make any difference to a human whose ears can't render them? Clearly you can't feel them either as you can with low frequency. Is there meant to be some other "sense" that picks them up? Sounds crazy to me for this simple reason. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54077 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter with power amp?
StigErik;351447 Wrote: > A good idea, or what? I'm thinking of modding my Transporter with a > class-D power amp. There will be some shielding issues of course, but > there is plenty of space inside the Transporter to put in a low-power > amp! It seems to me that the main issue is the power supply. Otherwise you might even be able to fit a UCD180 in there. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=53986 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Whole house Amp
pfarrell;348533 Wrote: > Please, no morons or personal attacks. > > A lot of audiophiles seem to think long speaker wires are bad. Folks > do > things like each monoblock speaker next to the speaker and run long > interconnects. Of course, running long RCA cables kinda of defeats the > purpose, but who can tell an audiophile anything. > > Hey Pfarrell, I often agree with your posts, but not this one, especially the name calling. Long speaker runs are bad (not 5', but 50'). Try it. It's easily A/B blind test noticeable even on a crappy system. Pretty much anyone could tell the difference . Also, it doesn't matter what cables you use. It's just the run that's bad. Based on this, the bottom line is the OP doesn't belong in the audiophile forum as the setup is as un-audiophile as it gets. The whole thought of that system just turns me off. Will the amp make a difference? The difference will be small compared to the suck that is the rest of the system IMO. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=53288 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] 320kbps Mp3's on a hi-fi system....
DeVerm;338004 Wrote: > > If you like the violin, it matters more compared to let's say Mark > Knopfler playing his electric guitar. The reason is that Mark is > actually trying to distort the sound from his guitar to make it sound > "just right". He might have ended up doing it just a little different > than he had in mind while your lossy replay changes it into exactly > what he had in mind, who knows!!? ;-) But the person playing the violin > in a classical piece will most certainly try to play pure and exact > notes without any distortion... just as perfect as possible on the > instrument. Lossy formats can never make it sound closer to the > original sound of the violin. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I often see people write things like the above and it's a myth. Purer tones are in fact much simpler to record and reproduce than distorted tones. As a result, it is much easier to hear the differences between, e.g., 320kbps MP3 and flac using things like guitar, drums, or cymbals, than it is with violin. If you don't believe me, go over to the hydrogenaudio forums where they test and develop encoders and you will see that they need to use noisy music to hear the differences. Noisier music pushes the encoders much harder because there's much more information there and the encoder has to choose what to throw away. Also you can look at your own library and see that flac compressed violin music is much lower bitrate (smaller file size) relative to noisy rock music. Same reason. In fact, some simple classical music can be compressed by flac to (an average of) 320kbps and still remain "lossless"! -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51021 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Is Boom good enough for audiophile use
My $0.02. It sounds very good for the form factor, and I love it. It also looks fantastic and seems very well designed and well made. The dac and amps are also very good (based partly on knowledge of them from elsewhere). That said, I'm going to state the obvious: the speakers are just too small to create audiophile sound. I'm convinced SD did the best that was possible given the form factor, and they even exceeded my high expectations, but there is simply a limit to what you can do with 3" speakers. It sounds great, but will not keep up with even great bookshelf speakers. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51624 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] HD Music Downloads from iTrax
mschiff;235629 Wrote: > Can you direct me to instructions on how to accomplish that? > > -- Martin Look at this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19260 -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34870 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] HD Music Downloads from iTrax
Dr. AIX;198303 Wrote: > My only hope is that Slim Devices will expand their offering to include > 5.1 surround boxes in the near future. Many of us do use the current SB3 to wireless stream DD or DTS to a decoder. It's not automatic, but it's not too hard to setup. Of course it would be even better if it was supported directly. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34870 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Here is why no FF/RW
Thanks to Sean for the detailed explanation as to why ff/rw can't be implemented as it is in a CD player. However, add me to the list of people that thinks ff/rw should be done differently than it is currently. The current implementation essentially doesn't work (at least not for me -- I use mostly FLAC). I would much prefer a solution that does the following: ff: jump forward about 30 seconds (it doesn't matter if it's not exactly 30 seconds), rwd: jump backward about 10 seconds. This would be very useful and I'm guessing it could be implemented easily. Right now I use songscanner plugin and I'm reasonably happy with that. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=36446 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] A virgin writes
Whenever someone asks this question I suggest the following: - Sonic Super T-amp (~$150) - Onyx XL-S speakers (~$220) I have exactly this combination in my bedroom. The Super T is not very powerful, only about 8 watts per channel, but it is still loud enough for most listening, just not if you really want to shake the house. Many people compare its sound favorably to much more expensive amps. The XL-S speakers can't be beat for the price. They are available at www.av123.com. Once they had some cosmetic seconds for $179, which was a great deal! Anyway, there are lots of options but this one is particularly good in bang for the buck. Lanier -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33546 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Best drive for highest quality CD ripping?
>From what I've read none of the newer DVD-RW drives are very good at DAE. EAC (or dbpoweramp) with Accuraterip is your answer because Accuraterip will tell you if you got it right or not. If not, simply redo that track. In my experience I don't think I've ever had to rip a track three times to get it right. (If accuraterip doesn't have the disk in its database you can use EAC's "test and copy" feature instead. If there are no reported errors and the two checksum's match you should be good.) Also, for those recommending Plextor, I think there was just one Plextor drive that everyone liked for DAE. I'm pretty sure that the current Plextor drives are no better than other brands for DAE. As for what drive I currently use: Optiarc AD7170. It's very fast (I frequently rip CDs at 20x in EAC with error correction ON) and it also writes DVD-R's very very well, but I realize that's not what you were asking. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32725 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 256 kBits vs. Flac
My view: the MP3 format was a good temporary solution to a lack of cheap storage, but its days are numbered and you should definitely rip everything to FLAC: 1) Hard disks and flash memory continue to rapidly drop in price. Already the average music fan could store their entire collection in FLAC on a hard drive costing around $300. Three years from now that will be $150 and you'll have your whole 1000 CD collection in FLAC on your $300 ipod. 2) MP3 has some minor shortcomings -- hard to play it gapless, no widely accepted replaygain standard, differing quality of decoders, etc. 3) When it does finally die, MP3 isn't that great a source for transcoding. If you have FLAC files, when and if something better comes along transcoding will be easy and perfect. When you transcode your MP3 you'll likely get something that either takes much more storage than the source MP3 and sounds no better, or takes the same amount of storage and sounds worse. Bottom line: it's affordable to use FLAC now, so you may as well do it right once, know you're getting the best quality, and save yourself the future hassles. Lanier -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30263 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Active Speakers for Conservatory
davidmoore2607;154748 Wrote: > Hi All, > > Thanks for the info so far. All very enlightening. A number of thes > speakers have been past the wife test and failed. Current least > despised option from her are a pair of B&W LM1, which though not active > could be paired up with a Sonic Impact T Amp. Any views on that combo? I would urge you to get the Sonic Impact Super T Amp instead of the regular T Amp. It's about $150 (power supply included) versus $50 (once you add a power supply), but well worth it. The regular T-amp is very bass-shy (easily measured and obvious to the ears). I have both. The super T is awesome. Another option on speakers is the Onix XLS speakers from www.avs123.com (currently $219). I don't think you can get a better speaker for the price. Together they would be $370+shipping, well below your budget. -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29665 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Yet another amplifier question.
If it were me I would go with Class D. Many people (including me) love the sound, and it's really efficient (small/light/no heat) and powerful (easy to find up to 1000w/ch). If you look around you should be able to find something well within your (expanded) budget, and maybe even within your original budget. Save the rest of the money for future additions/new speakers/whatever. As for specific suggestions, I personally would look at anything based on the UCD or icepower modules. People will argue this point, but you should know that most of the options out there are based on the *exact* same OEM internal modules so its arguable that you should go for the cheapest option for a given module (a few companies modify the modules but most don't so main differences are case & connectors, and rarely, the power supply). For icepower some brands are Bel Canto, Rowland, H20, Red Dragon and Rotel (cheapest). For UCD I'm not sure if there are any OEM products yet, but if you know even a small amount about DIY you can build one yourself (see kits at diycable.com or modules at hypex.nl). Lanier -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29411 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Dual File Formats?
Transcoding during the ipod download could potentially take a very long time, depending on the size of your download (figure an average of at least 5 minutes per CD downloaded). My guess is you would get sick of this pretty much right away. What many (including myself) do is: 1) rip and encode on the fly to FLAC (I use EAC). 2) Use "flac2mp3.pl", a perl script available on the web, to maintain a second mirrored music directory with MP3 files. This is simple to maintain and you only have to do the transcoding for updated/newly ripped files. This way your SB3 uses the lossless flac files and you can download the MP3s to your favorite devices (ipod etc) any time you like without having to transcode. Also, I'm not particularly tech savvy so if I can do it you can too. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail/ask. Lanier -- lanierb lanierb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5566 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24098 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
