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The whole audiophile industry is built on stuff which doesn't make any sense My favourite: "audiophile-grade" audio players which allocate a single continuous

The whole audiophile industry is built on stuff which doesn't make any sense My favourite: "audiophile-grade" audio players which allocate a single continuous buffer of RAM into which they load/decode the whole .WAV/.FLAC file, because supposedly the CPU "jumping" between "fragmented audio" causes audible "jitter". Of course, they don't know that what looks like continuous memory to user-code is probably discontinuous in kernel/physical RAM. Didn't check in many years, I wonder if they created kernel level players to account for that, to have "true continuous memory"

bellowsgulch 4mo ago
The latter is probably true, but the former does actually happen, and it's easy to accidentally do--lossless or not.
lmc 4mo ago
> My favourite: "audiophile-grade" audio players which allocate a single contignuous buffer of RAM into which they load/decode the whole .WAV/.FLAC file, because supposedly the CPU "jumping" between "fragmented memory" causes audible "jitter". Thanks for the laugh... this is absolutely bonkers. In case anyone is wondering, before sound hits our ears it has to go through a digital to analog conversion, which takes place on hardware independent of the CPU, operating with its own clock and buffers etc.
- wat10000 4mo ago
  In addition to that, while it is possible to hit a delay and run out of buffer because memory access is slow (the most obvious would be if the input got swapped to disk at an inopportune moment), but the audible effect is really obvious. This isn't some subtle "oh my music sounds ineffably worse" effect, it's "my computer is glitching and my music is unlistenable."
- justsomehnguy 4mo ago
  Am486DX/100 was enough to decode and listen an MP3 at 22KHz (and maybe mono?) and was more than enough to listen for 44/16/2 PCM. It's 31 y.o. today.
  - Sohcahtoa82 4mo ago
    I remember playing 44khz 16-bit stereo MP3s encoded at 128 kbit/sec on a 133 Mhz 486. It gobbled like 90% of the CPU and I had to make sure I gave it a pretty large buffer so it didn't stutter when an app claimed CPU for more than a second, but it worked.
    - justsomehnguy 4mo ago
      Depends on the vendor and a cache amount. But yes, 22KHz was a thing for a simple Notepad activities at best and at 11KHz you didn't care much 'cuz it wasn't that different from the usual.
platinumrad 4mo ago
Don't forget: "most players use malloc to get memory while new is the c++ method and sounds better."[1] [1] https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/pcaudio/119979/ https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/pcaudio/119979/
billyjobob 4mo ago
I can tell when my CPU usage spikes because it causes a hum through my speakers, so this does not seem that far-fetched.
- justsomehnguy 4mo ago
  It's just means you have a shitty audio tract with not enough shielding. Move to SPDIF/TOSLINK.
  - codedokode 4mo ago
    I have an external audio card, if I put it on a laptop I can hear the modem-like sounds. I wonder why it is so sensitive, should not DAC produce strong signal that cannot be easily affected by radio waves? Also my headphones are extremely sensitive. I can touch the ring and sleeve of a jack with a finger, and touch a metal bed frame with a tip and I hear quiet clicks as I move the tip along the metal. Sometimes I do not even need to touch the jack with a finger. It doesn't work with small objects like a knife though.
    - nok22kon 4mo ago
      the radio waves could be interfeering with the signal before it gets amplified
    - PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
      Bad grounding everywhere. This is insanely basic stuff.
    - justsomehnguy 4mo ago
      Assumption: it's a USB one so it's not a good one in the first place and it shares the common ground with the the whole laptop. And this is not the case of 'stronger than', it's 'strong enough to be caught up by anything resembling an antenna'. You hear the interference because some analogue tract of your system: Do transmit the radio waves everywhere Does receive the inference from the all electric things around. And now I'm skipping 'cuz I'm inna a bar and it's more interesting.
emtel 4mo ago
audiophiles (https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/turntables-with-pace.1150775/ https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/turntables-with-pace....) also claim that turntables can be rated on "timing, rhythm, and pace" in which supposedly the timing of the music can be affected by the turntable's mass and other properties. How this would occur without also producing grossly audible pitch distortion never seems to be discussed.

bellowsgulch 4mo ago

The latter is probably true, but the former does actually happen, and it's easy to accidentally do--lossless or not.

lmc 4mo ago

> My favourite: "audiophile-grade" audio players which allocate a single contignuous buffer of RAM into which they load/decode the whole .WAV/.FLAC file, because supposedly the CPU "jumping" between "fragmented memory" causes audible "jitter". Thanks for the laugh... this is absolutely bonkers. In case anyone is wondering, before sound hits our ears it has to go through a digital to analog conversion, which takes place on hardware independent of the CPU, operating with its own clock and buffers etc.

wat10000 4mo ago
In addition to that, while it is possible to hit a delay and run out of buffer because memory access is slow (the most obvious would be if the input got swapped to disk at an inopportune moment), but the audible effect is really obvious. This isn't some subtle "oh my music sounds ineffably worse" effect, it's "my computer is glitching and my music is unlistenable."
justsomehnguy 4mo ago
Am486DX/100 was enough to decode and listen an MP3 at 22KHz (and maybe mono?) and was more than enough to listen for 44/16/2 PCM. It's 31 y.o. today.
- Sohcahtoa82 4mo ago
  I remember playing 44khz 16-bit stereo MP3s encoded at 128 kbit/sec on a 133 Mhz 486. It gobbled like 90% of the CPU and I had to make sure I gave it a pretty large buffer so it didn't stutter when an app claimed CPU for more than a second, but it worked.
  - justsomehnguy 4mo ago
    Depends on the vendor and a cache amount. But yes, 22KHz was a thing for a simple Notepad activities at best and at 11KHz you didn't care much 'cuz it wasn't that different from the usual.

platinumrad 4mo ago

Don't forget: "most players use malloc to get memory while new is the c++ method and sounds better."[1] [1] https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/pcaudio/119979/ https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/pcaudio/119979/

billyjobob 4mo ago

I can tell when my CPU usage spikes because it causes a hum through my speakers, so this does not seem that far-fetched.

justsomehnguy 4mo ago
It's just means you have a shitty audio tract with not enough shielding. Move to SPDIF/TOSLINK.
- codedokode 4mo ago
  I have an external audio card, if I put it on a laptop I can hear the modem-like sounds. I wonder why it is so sensitive, should not DAC produce strong signal that cannot be easily affected by radio waves? Also my headphones are extremely sensitive. I can touch the ring and sleeve of a jack with a finger, and touch a metal bed frame with a tip and I hear quiet clicks as I move the tip along the metal. Sometimes I do not even need to touch the jack with a finger. It doesn't work with small objects like a knife though.
  - nok22kon 4mo ago
    the radio waves could be interfeering with the signal before it gets amplified
  - PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
    Bad grounding everywhere. This is insanely basic stuff.
  - justsomehnguy 4mo ago
    Assumption: it's a USB one so it's not a good one in the first place and it shares the common ground with the the whole laptop. And this is not the case of 'stronger than', it's 'strong enough to be caught up by anything resembling an antenna'. You hear the interference because some analogue tract of your system: Do transmit the radio waves everywhere Does receive the inference from the all electric things around. And now I'm skipping 'cuz I'm inna a bar and it's more interesting.

emtel 4mo ago

audiophiles (https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/turntables-with-pace.1150775/ https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/turntables-with-pace....) also claim that turntables can be rated on "timing, rhythm, and pace" in which supposedly the timing of the music can be affected by the turntable's mass and other properties. How this would occur without also producing grossly audible pitch distortion never seems to be discussed.