kalel wrote:hehe. but you have WIRES. going in. you have WIRES coming out |
Audiophiles unite
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THFourteen 51,909 posts
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Registered 14 years ago -
fiery_jackass 1,134 posts
Seen 9 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoI still love my ageing set-up: a Pioneer a400 amp (still great if paired with warm speakers), Marantz 63 signature CD player, Kef Q1 speakers and, after a series of single blind tests, more-expensive-than-I'd-have-liked inter-connects and cables. My true love is my Castle Windsor (I think) floor-standers. Just lovely, beautifully made etc. Sadly they now live in my brother's house as the London flat just can't cope with their Castle-sized proportions.
These days, however, I mostly just plug my laptop into the amp and have at it. Convenience has beaten fidelity. Then again, my tastes generally run to rougher recordings anyway, so it's not like I'm listening out for a stifled burp from the third violinist.
I know the world of audiophilia is chock-full of bullshit. The audiophile-denying inverse, hugely popular view, seems like reactionary stupidity to me.
Edited by fiery_jackass at 09:47:44 11-06-2014 -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
Seen 28 minutes ago
Registered 7 years agoTHFourteen wrote:
Not sure you're getting this audiophile thing.
kalel wrote:
hehe.
THFourteen wrote:
I've had those headphones. Sorry to be a snob but they have no place in a audiophile thread.
Headphones wise, i still love my Sennheiser bluetooth mmx 550s i know people hate on bluetooth, but the convenience is amazing, and with apt-x they sound fine with my galaxy s5
Actually fuck that, I'm not sorry to be a snob. That was the whole point of the thread!
but you have WIRES. going in. you have WIRES coming out
/Shows door -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agofiery_jackass wrote:
Your CD Player and amp were pretty much the go-to models at a certain price point back in the day
I still love my ageing set-up: a Pioneer a400 amp (still great if paired with warm speakers), Marantz 63 signature CD player, Kef Q1 speakers and, after a series of single blind tests, more-expensive-than-I'd-have-liked inter-connects and cables. My true love is my Castle Windsor (I think) floor-standers. Just lovely, beautifully made etc. Sadly they now live in my brother's house as the London flat just can't cope with their Castle-sized proportions.
These days, however, I mostly just plug my laptop into the amp and have at it. Convenience has beaten fidelity. Then again, my tastes generally run to rougher recordings anyway, so it's not like I'm listening out for a stifled burp from the third violinist.
I know the world of audiophilia is chock-full of bullshit. The audiophile-denying inverse, hugely popular view, seems like reactionary stupidity to me..gif)
Your last point is certainly true. -
phAge 25,487 posts
Seen 11 months ago
Registered 16 years agofiery_jackass wrote:
I realise that my track record on the topic is somewhat... burdened... but I recently replaced my somewhat expensive cables with a thicker but MUCH less costly run of no-name copper, and if anything it has made my setup sound better. I'm never spending big bucks on cables again.
I still love my ageing set-up: a Pioneer a400 amp (still great if paired with warm speakers), Marantz 67 signature CD player, Kef Q1 speakers and, after a series of single blind tests, more-expensive-than-I'd-have-liked inter-connects and cables. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agoTrue? It barely makes sense. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agophAge wrote:
Cables do make a difference but it's not as simple as paying more. There's a lot of insanely overpriced shit out there, trying out different ones is definitely worth doing.
fiery_jackass wrote:
I realise that my track record on the topic is somewhat... burdened... but I recently replaced my somewhat expensive cables with a thicker but MUCH less costly run of no-name copper, and if anything it has made my setup sound better. I'm never spending big bucks on cables again.
I still love my ageing set-up: a Pioneer a400 amp (still great if paired with warm speakers), Marantz 67 signature CD player, Kef Q1 speakers and, after a series of single blind tests, more-expensive-than-I'd-have-liked inter-connects and cables. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
Seen 28 minutes ago
Registered 7 years agonickthegun wrote:
It makes perfect sense to me.
True? It barely makes sense.
Hifi is full of bullshit and snake oil but the "you're all fools, all amps sound the same" retards are, well retards. -
fiery_jackass wrote:
More and more laptops are becoming the heart of audiophile set-ups. It's just the reality of where things are going. Get yourself a DAC and start buying lossless and you can have the best of both worlds. It's what I do.
These days, however, I mostly just plug my laptop into the amp and have at it. Convenience has beaten fidelity. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agoA mate of mine with a very nice system (high end PMC speakers, bryston pre-amp and monoblocks etc.) has stopped using CDs as he bought a Bryston Digital Player which sounds better than his previous cd player in a similar price range. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
Seen 57 minutes ago
Registered 13 years agoYou must be on the same wavelength then.
Tangentially, it is interesting (notsomuch) that while not actively saying 'it sounds the same', people are more and more willing to sacrifice quality for convenience.
Like TH14s bluetooth headphones or all the Sonos streaming around my house.
I used to be quite the audiophile with a reasonably mighty setup but now I just CBA with the wires and the versatility of sonos and streaming tech far outweighs pissing around with a CD. -
fiery_jackass 1,134 posts
Seen 9 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoyep, the speaker cables I bought weren't the most expensive ones tested, but they certainly weren't the cheapest. They just seemed to work better with the slightly harsh sound that the Pioneer tends to produce. More money certainly doesn't make "objective betterness". Lovely marketing trick though, Beats and Monster laughing all the way to the bank etc -
phAge 25,487 posts
Seen 11 months ago
Registered 16 years ago@Armoured_Bear
In this case I think it is mainly down to the gauge used. My previous cables weren't exactly thin, but the new stuff is some pretty serious shit - could barely fit it in the terminals on the XTZ floorstanders. Bought 30 metres for 40 quid - bargain. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agokalel wrote:
The beginning of the end for me was getting a Rio Karma (the best portable music device evar). It supported OGG and FLAC and when paired with a dac, it replaced my CD player.
fiery_jackass wrote:
More and more laptops are becoming the heart of audiophile set-ups. It's just the reality of where things are going. Get yourself a DAC and start buying lossless and you can have the best of both worlds. It's what I do.
These days, however, I mostly just plug my laptop into the amp and have at it. Convenience has beaten fidelity.
From there it was just a matter of time. -
Armoured_Bear wrote:
And of course, high res files are far higher quality than CDs.
A mate of mine with a very nice system (high end PMC speakers, bryston pre-amp and monoblocks etc.) has stopped using CDs as he bought a Bryston Digital Player which sounds better than his previous cd player in a similar price range. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
Seen 28 minutes ago
Registered 7 years agonickthegun wrote:
Audiophiles aren't sacrificing quality for convenience, that's the while point.
You must be on the same wavelength then.
Tangentially, it is interesting (notsomuch) that while not actively saying 'it sounds the same', people are more and more willing to sacrifice quality for convenience.
Like TH14s bluetooth headphones or all the Sonos streaming around my house.
I used to be quite the audiophile with a reasonably mighty setup but now I just CBA with the wires and the versatility of sonos and streaming tech far outweighs pissing around with a CD.
Some are, finding out that you may not need to sacrifice quality for convenience but that's not the same.
You getting older and NBA with the effort it takes to get the best sound quality doesn't have much to do with "audiophiles" -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agokalel wrote:
He's just using his ripped CDs so far but find that they sound better, probably down to the lack of moving parts, no jitter etc.
Armoured_Bear wrote:
And of course, high res files are far higher quality than CDs.
A mate of mine with a very nice system (high end PMC speakers, bryston pre-amp and monoblocks etc.) has stopped using CDs as he bought a Bryston Digital Player which sounds better than his previous cd player in a similar price range. -
RE: Sonos, I have a load of them round my house as like nick, I just choose convenience for my home stuff.
That said, it does piss me off that it doesn't support 24bit. I assume that will change once the whole HD music thing really kicks off, and again, it seems like the whole world is just waiting for Apple to get on board. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agoI choose convenience and quality.
For background music I have all my music lossless and streamed via Airplay to my hi-fi.
When I sit down to listen I put vinyl (or occasionally a CD on). -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
Seen 57 minutes ago
Registered 13 years agoArmoured_Bear wrote:
nickthegun wrote:
Audiophiles aren't sacrificing quality for convenience, that's the while point.
You must be on the same wavelength then.
Tangentially, it is interesting (notsomuch) that while not actively saying 'it sounds the same', people are more and more willing to sacrifice quality for convenience.
Like TH14s bluetooth headphones or all the Sonos streaming around my house.
I used to be quite the audiophile with a reasonably mighty setup but now I just CBA with the wires and the versatility of sonos and streaming tech far outweighs pissing around with a CD.
Some are, finding out that you may not need to sacrifice quality for convenience but that's not the same.
You getting older and NBA with the effort it takes to get the best sound quality doesn't have much to do with "audiophiles"
A lot of people are lapsing is the point im trying to make. Its perfectly possible to be into something and accept convenience over quality. -
Out of interest, how do you have all your music lossless? -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
Seen 28 minutes ago
Registered 7 years agonickthegun wrote:
Of course, plenty of people are into music and hi-fi and especially as they get older move towards convenience and compromise more on quality.
Armoured_Bear wrote:
nickthegun wrote:
Audiophiles aren't sacrificing quality for convenience, that's the while point.
You must be on the same wavelength then.
Tangentially, it is interesting (notsomuch) that while not actively saying 'it sounds the same', people are more and more willing to sacrifice quality for convenience.
Like TH14s bluetooth headphones or all the Sonos streaming around my house.
I used to be quite the audiophile with a reasonably mighty setup but now I just CBA with the wires and the versatility of sonos and streaming tech far outweighs pissing around with a CD.
Some are, finding out that you may not need to sacrifice quality for convenience but that's not the same.
You getting older and NBA with the effort it takes to get the best sound quality doesn't have much to do with "audiophiles"
A lot of people are lapsing is the point im trying to make. Its perfectly possible to be into something and accept convenience over quality.
My point was that audiophiles, by definition, do not. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agokalel wrote:
I download lossless versions of my vinyl lps (well most of it), I'm still consolidating some stuff.
Out of interest, how do you have all your music lossless?
LPs always have either a download code (albeit sometimes lossy) or (thankfully more and more often) the cd in a sleeve. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agoIm assuming he rips them to FLAC and onto a nas of somesort, but then I didnt think airplay supported flac. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agonickthegun wrote:
It's all ALAC which airplay supports.
Im assuming he rips them to FLAC and onto a nas of somesort, but then I didnt think airplay supported flac.
All on my iMac which is always running.
I should switch to a NAS at some point.
Edited by Armoured_Bear at 10:23:47 11-06-2014 -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agoArmoured_Bear wrote:
I think its perfectly possible to be a lapsed audiophile, but then we are getting into the realms of annoying nit-picking.
My point was that audiophiles, by definition, do not. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agoI wouldnt be hugely happy about ripping everything to ALAC but then I suppose its hobsons choice.
Apple dont support FLAC and not a lot else supports ALAC. -
nickthegun 77,782 posts
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Registered 13 years agoAlthough, having said that, more and more hardware companies are getting onboard with airplay. -
Armoured_Bear 26,662 posts
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Registered 7 years agonickthegun wrote:
I have the benefit of the iTunes -> iPhone onthefly ripping to 256kbps from ALAC and some of the high end music streamers that I'm likely to use seem to support ALAC.
I wouldnt be hugely happy about ripping everything to ALAC but then I suppose its hobsons choice.
Apple dont support FLAC and not a lot else supports ALAC.
Otherwise I could convert all to FLAC at some point if really necessary. -
Right, so you're getting lossless files but probably not hi-res ones, in which case you are indeed compromising for convenience.
@nickthegun ALAC is more and more becoming universally supported. I think everyone has just accepted that Apple control the music download market so there's little choice in the matter.
Again, once Apple push the button their HD store or whatever's in the works, I'd be amazed if the likes of Sonos didn't start supporting 24bit ALAC. They'd be stupid not to.
.gif)
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