|
What type of hobbies do you have?
|
07-04-2018, 09:59 PM
Quote: Which is why I'm not a real one. I'm a fan of my audio not coming out of monitor speakers and out of halfway decent headphones. For using the title audiophile, I'd likely be grilled by my claimed peers, honestly. 
07-04-2018, 10:25 PM
Quote: HOLY HELL! It's a rolling volcano!
07-05-2018, 12:51 AM
Quote: Would this be one you could fuel from the woodpile?  Quote: Yeah, you have to use Windows 8 (because windows 8 has best sound), a sound card made of pure gold and a holy charm in one of your PCIe slots to prevent evil Juju from ruining your sound experience. My rig, by the way: Asus Xonar Essence STX, Beyerdynamic 990 250 Ohm, ASIO output via Foobar2000 [/quote] 
07-05-2018, 05:27 PM
Audiophile - person who seeks good sound reproduction. Sometimes to the point of insanity and illogic. c.f.gran CD edges, etc. Let's be specific - my word means studio monitor(s) not the crap hung off the back of my computer. FWIW a pair of monitor boxes I built with a couple of all range drivers in 1974 stayed in use till the studio was demolished a couple or three years ago.  A friend of mine, some years back, was totally convinced that the walls of his speaker enclosures flexing was causing them to sound "muddy." He tried several different materials by themselves or stacked, but wasn't satisfied. He ended up building the enclosures out of concrete, with the baffles made of a super-fine-grained particle board that was more resin than wood. He insisted that they sounded much better, though I couldn't hear much of a difference. A few years later, he changed jobs and had to move halfway across the country and it was impractical to take the speakers along due to the weight. He removed the baffles, speakers and crossovers, then smashed up the concrete enclosures with a sledge hammer. Of course, he made new ones after reaching his destination. This guy is the quintessential geek, and though some of his ideas are really out there, others actually make sense. One of his favorite statements concerning audio is, "If you love vinyl, you really need a tube amp." (BTW, for our friends outside of North America, read "valves" instead of "tubes." I call them "Glass FETs" myself.) He had his system set up so he could switch between a phono preamp with CMOS instrumentation type op-amps and one built with Russian-made ECC83/12AX7 tubes and I could definitely hear the difference there. The tube one had a "warmer" sound to it and there was some detail to the sound noticeably absent with the CMOS amp. My favorite solid-state preamp is Discrete Class A, but then I'm old school.
07-06-2018, 12:14 PM
You can - and many do - create that 'warm' sound with an Aural Exciter from Aphex, which adds back in some even order harmonics, as do the tube amplifiers. They are actually less accurate regarding the input, but make a pleasing addition. As to vinyl, if you're into hiss and the artifacts of a non-flat response curve being followed to the degree possible, you'll love it. Nothing wrong with either, but as to fidelity, both suffer in a modern environment. At one point, Altec made some theater loudspeakers which had 30 inch drivers and double walled enclosures, the walls were filled with damp sand once they were set in place.
07-06-2018, 04:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-06-2018, 04:39 PM by covfefelake.)
Quote: I could make some kind of joke here, but I am honestly trying to restrain myself, lol. So, serious mode activate! Cool hobby. What’s your favorite specimen? I will say to the audiophiles that I am a bit of a Schiit fanboy. Not their tube gear though. More Asgard 2 paired with decent headphones (AKG K702s)
07-06-2018, 11:31 PM
I recently needed a new pair of headphones. Wasn't in a position to lay out the cash for the AKG K702s, so I spent a bit less than half for the K240s. Meh. They're made in China now, not Austria and they're just OK. Good enough for listening to music when my roomie's asleep, I guess. |
