6 ms·

Overkill is the perfect amount of kill for audiophiles.

by millzlane 5y ago

dwighttk 5y ago
Might not be enough. Have you seen the gold plated overkill?
- Hamuko 5y ago
  Gold plated is far from overkill. Maybe not even cable risers (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/fb/05/3cfb059ec7fde97d409068ba867e83a3.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/fb/05/3cfb059ec7fde97d4090...) are overkill in the audiophile community. Maybe not even your personal electricity pylon (https://thevinylfactory.com/news/japanese-audiophiles-personal-utility-pole/ https://thevinylfactory.com/news/japanese-audiophiles-person...) is overkill.
  - jolux 5y ago
    You joke but I wouldn't want to risk dirtying $10,000 cables by putting them on the floor.
  - zbuf 5y ago
    I hope Apple are using an audiophile-optimised memcpy() function: https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/11/119979.html https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/11/11997... > found that a function called memcpy was the culprit, most memory players use memcpy and this is one of the reasons why memory play sounds worse ie digital sounding. Fortunately there is an optimised version of memcpy from http://www.agner.org/optimize/ http://www.agner.org/optimize/, using this version removes the hard edge produced by memcpy.
    - paradygm 5y ago
      Or making sure they are using literals instead of variables, and using gotos: https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/12/120502.html https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/12/12050...
      - zbuf 5y ago
        The trouble with this threads is they straddle a gaping chasm between complete delusion, or amazing trolling. Just imagine if stuff was like this though and computing were more 'analogue' -- each of those 15 layers of JavaScript transpiling just degraded the quality of the end result slightly.
      - spookthesunset 5y ago
        I have such a hard time imagining that thread being serious. Poe's law is in effect. Like seriously. What is going on with that thread?
        detaro 5y ago
        Really weird things happen with half-knowledge and fixed ideas built on it. If you "know" it'll sound different, it will sound different to you. Combine that with actual, unrelated variations and maybe a bug that fits the pattern at some point...
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - thescriptkiddie 5y ago
    This shit always gets me. I don't care how much you spend on electrostatic speakers, granite slabs, acoustic treatments, and magic speaker wire — your room will never, ever sound as good as a decent pair of headphones. That said there absolutely is a case for high-bitrate, losslessly-compressed, DRM-free, watermark-free audio as the standard, and that is sampling and remixing. Slowing down a 320 kbps mp3 by just 50% sounds like shit.
    - Mediterraneo10 5y ago
      Some of the people concerned about room response are listening to surround-sound classical recordings. In works that involve a spatial element -- for example an orchestra in front and players that move around the hall (or are embedded within the audience), creating a 360° soundstage -- headphones just don't preserve that as well as actual speakers.
      - kuschku 5y ago
        Headphones with a proper HRTF preserve that perfectly fine better than any actual speaker setup ever can. The typical demo for this functionality is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA
        Mediterraneo10 5y ago
        Recordings have to be specially recorded and processed for that. There are however many older recordings that were made without the use of such technology and are expected to be played on speakers in 5.0.
        kuschku 5y ago
        You can apply the same virtually as well: simulate a raytraced environment with 5.0 speakers and furniture, simulate an HRTF, and generate the resulting 2.0 audio. It's possible to do this in a way that's not in any way distinguishable from a real 5.0 setup
- devNoise 5y ago
  The gold really lets you hear how much over the kill can be.
toomanybeersies 5y ago
Audiophiles generally don't use Bluetooth, it's balanced cables all the way.
- oneplane 5y ago
  Even "Directional" cables, and "Oxygen-free" and "Cryo" HDMI as well, because you know, that's what your digital signal cares about.
  - ziml77 5y ago
    Don't forget gold plated toslink connectors!

Overkill is the perfect amount of kill for audiophiles.

dwighttk 5y ago

Might not be enough. Have you seen the gold plated overkill?

Hamuko 5y ago
Gold plated is far from overkill. Maybe not even cable risers (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/fb/05/3cfb059ec7fde97d409068ba867e83a3.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/fb/05/3cfb059ec7fde97d4090...) are overkill in the audiophile community. Maybe not even your personal electricity pylon (https://thevinylfactory.com/news/japanese-audiophiles-personal-utility-pole/ https://thevinylfactory.com/news/japanese-audiophiles-person...) is overkill.
- jolux 5y ago
  You joke but I wouldn't want to risk dirtying $10,000 cables by putting them on the floor.
- zbuf 5y ago
  I hope Apple are using an audiophile-optimised memcpy() function: https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/11/119979.html https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/11/11997... > found that a function called memcpy was the culprit, most memory players use memcpy and this is one of the reasons why memory play sounds worse ie digital sounding. Fortunately there is an optimised version of memcpy from http://www.agner.org/optimize/ http://www.agner.org/optimize/, using this version removes the hard edge produced by memcpy.
  - paradygm 5y ago
    Or making sure they are using literals instead of variables, and using gotos: https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/12/120502.html https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/12/12050...
    - zbuf 5y ago
      The trouble with this threads is they straddle a gaping chasm between complete delusion, or amazing trolling. Just imagine if stuff was like this though and computing were more 'analogue' -- each of those 15 layers of JavaScript transpiling just degraded the quality of the end result slightly.
    - spookthesunset 5y ago
      I have such a hard time imagining that thread being serious. Poe's law is in effect. Like seriously. What is going on with that thread?
      - detaro 5y ago
        Really weird things happen with half-knowledge and fixed ideas built on it. If you "know" it'll sound different, it will sound different to you. Combine that with actual, unrelated variations and maybe a bug that fits the pattern at some point...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- thescriptkiddie 5y ago
  This shit always gets me. I don't care how much you spend on electrostatic speakers, granite slabs, acoustic treatments, and magic speaker wire — your room will never, ever sound as good as a decent pair of headphones. That said there absolutely is a case for high-bitrate, losslessly-compressed, DRM-free, watermark-free audio as the standard, and that is sampling and remixing. Slowing down a 320 kbps mp3 by just 50% sounds like shit.
  - Mediterraneo10 5y ago
    Some of the people concerned about room response are listening to surround-sound classical recordings. In works that involve a spatial element -- for example an orchestra in front and players that move around the hall (or are embedded within the audience), creating a 360° soundstage -- headphones just don't preserve that as well as actual speakers.
    - kuschku 5y ago
      Headphones with a proper HRTF preserve that perfectly fine better than any actual speaker setup ever can. The typical demo for this functionality is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA
      - Mediterraneo10 5y ago
        Recordings have to be specially recorded and processed for that. There are however many older recordings that were made without the use of such technology and are expected to be played on speakers in 5.0.
        kuschku 5y ago
        You can apply the same virtually as well: simulate a raytraced environment with 5.0 speakers and furniture, simulate an HRTF, and generate the resulting 2.0 audio. It's possible to do this in a way that's not in any way distinguishable from a real 5.0 setup
devNoise 5y ago
The gold really lets you hear how much over the kill can be.

toomanybeersies 5y ago

Audiophiles generally don't use Bluetooth, it's balanced cables all the way.

oneplane 5y ago
Even "Directional" cables, and "Oxygen-free" and "Cryo" HDMI as well, because you know, that's what your digital signal cares about.
- ziml77 5y ago
  Don't forget gold plated toslink connectors!