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Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

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Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#41

Post by anotheryou »

brandonmenc wrote: post #38
anotheryou wrote: post #15

I'm using the commercial https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference and it's amazing. I'd say the worse your setup (especially your room) the more magic it does. I did it without an individually calibrated mic though (but with a decent measuring one), wonder how much better it could be.

I'm also using this. The results are very good. I have studio monitors and a crappy room setup, and the calibrated sound is much better. I purchased the kit with the supplied mic. That said, the software is unstable. To the point of uselessness. It caused so many system crashes that I - very sadly, because the results are so good - just don't use it anymore. Hoping they fix stability in later versions so I can go bac…

I think a lot happened shortly before the rebranding to "SoundID Reference". If you tested before that, maybe give it another go.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#42

Post by analog31 »

amelius wrote: post #34

How does this compare to just buying a good headphone?

A good headphone can probably still outperform a speaker system. The tradeoff is that you have to wear a headphone. In my case, I just hate them. It's just more pleasant for me to listen from speakers, despite the fidelity tradeoff.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#43

Post by tpict »

LeSaucy wrote: post #14

How does this compare to dirac?

I'm finding the "this is a horrible idea" responses amusing. I don't know if there's something fundamentally different about the way this project works versus Dirac/XT32 or if the naysayers aren't familiar with it. Or maybe there's an anti-room correction sect of audiophiles that have remained hidden to me.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#44

Post by solardev »

Asking because I'm not smart enough: Is this kinda similar to what the Sonos Trueplay feature does? (Where you move your phone, and/or a mic-enabled speaker itself, around the room so that it plays and measures various frequencies to calibrate)

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3251?language=en_US

https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3531714A2/

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#45

Post by vladvasiliu »

analog31 wrote: post #42
amelius wrote: post #34

How does this compare to just buying a good headphone?

A good headphone can probably still outperform a speaker system. The tradeoff is that you have to wear a headphone. In my case, I just hate them. It's just more pleasant for me to listen from speakers, despite the fidelity tradeoff.

There's also the fact that when you really get "into" the music and start moving your head, there are basically two scenarios: you either get the "hum" of the headphones moving on your ears, or the headphones stay put but the clamp is so tight that you can't stand them for more than 10 minutes.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#46

Post by vladvasiliu »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #21

I'm not an audiophile in the obsessive-compulsive sense, but I've been recording music in my home studio for 20 years and I know my way around it. This sort of calibration is not ideal. Not only are you measuring with a device that has an imperfect response curve, but you are also measuring the room at a single monophonic point in space. The way that sound interacts with the room and your ears is far more complex tha…

> you're far better off learning how to treat the room properly

Would you have some pointers on this?

I've been looking into this and while I've found pointers on "what to do", what's missing is where to actually find the necessary panels and how to figure if they're actually worth anything.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#47

Post by zihotki »

solardev wrote: post #44

Asking because I'm not smart enough: Is this kinda similar to what the Sonos Trueplay feature does? (Where you move your phone, and/or a mic-enabled speaker itself, around the room so that it plays and measures various frequencies to calibrate) https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3251?language=en_US https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3531714A2/

That one is an automatic room equalization, it's different from speaker equalization and it probably should be done after speaker equalization. But it's more useful for the end user.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#48

Post by solardev »

zihotki wrote: post #47
solardev wrote: post #44

Asking because I'm not smart enough: Is this kinda similar to what the Sonos Trueplay feature does? (Where you move your phone, and/or a mic-enabled speaker itself, around the room so that it plays and measures various frequencies to calibrate) https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3251?language=en_US https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3531714A2/

That one is an automatic room equalization, it's different from speaker equalization and it probably should be done after speaker equalization. But it's more useful for the end user.

Sorry, I might've linked the wrong patent then. (I meant to, but failed to, find the one that handles speaker equalization for a single speaker).

By room equalization, do you mean normalizing volumes between different rooms, or...?

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#49

Post by stdbrouw »

ttpphd wrote: post #28

I'm a psychoacoustician and this is not the way, very sorry to report. Others have touched on the acoustic issues already, so let me touch on the psychological ones: your perception of sound from loudspeakers doesn't just depend on the acoustic waves hitting your ears. It also depends on your personality and expectations. If you genuinely believe that doing a seance to drive out the poltergeist from your speaker set…

"Frequency response does not matter because other things also matter and I have a PhD in these other things." This is a complete non-argument.

Re: Show HN: HiFiScan, a Python app to optimize your loudspeakers

#50

Post by tomduncalf »

Cool project! I recently bought a set of iLoud MTM monitor speakers which come with a special mic which they use to analyse the room and correct for it in a similar way to this.

It makes a good difference to the sound - highly recommend the speakers if you are looking for a smallish set of monitor speakers that sound great and can be used very near field so you can use lower volumes.

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