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Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

naughtycomputer.uk

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Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#231

Post by squarefoot »

Sidnicious wrote: post #72
squarefoot wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a: I had a similar issue on my Sandisk player and it was due to corrupt data on the SD. Formatting it then copying back the files from a backup solved the problem. the author's problem is different though; it seems his player doesn't like some files although they appear to be undamaged. I agree it's probably a bug in the decoder. b: a voltage divider would attenuate everything so the listener would end up raising the…

a: Interesting! b: Good point, but I just meant quieting the hiss that the author ended up solving with the op-amp circuit, not the 'explosions'.

Ah, I missed the hissing part. Apparently he gets that noise only from a CD player, and that noise is constant through all song and unaffected by volume settings. That would mean the audio section of that player is really noisy and/or possibly the volume control has been put in the wrong place, for example too far (circuit wise, not distance) from the power amplifier section. When connecting multiple stages together care must be taken to minimize noise. Besides careful design and choosing low noise parts, some practices can at least reduce the perceived noise even on noisy devices, for example by putting the volume control just before the power amplifier. This ensures that when the user lowers the volume the noise generated by previous stages gets also lowered along the signal.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#232

Post by PascLeRasc »

icebraining wrote: post #180
thanatropism wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fine if you're "stuck in your ways" (I want to use a less loaded term but can't come up with one) and have a collection of music you enjoy and have stopped keeping up. It's not even keeping up with current music; as I go from my early to my late 30s, the pop landscape has gone from parseable to alien. But there's still good music coming out and older good music you didn't know about. Hell, I only discovered t…

From what I can tell, the streaming catalog is still a small subset of the CD catalog, so if you're into discovering new music, you're restricting yourself by only using the former.

Good news - you can do both! I use Spotify for regular everyday listening and finding new artists/new albums by artists I like, and I collect vinyl for fun and to support artists more directly.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#233

Post by jjeaff »

woah wrote: post #216
anotheryou wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you do a blind test on spotify's high quality vs lossless? At least with 320mp3s I could only get it right with certain songs and not too consistently. I'd say my room treatment has a far bigger impact. (but regarding hardware I'm totally with you and haven't found the source of my rather high noise floor either)

It all really depends on the gold plating of your cables

Gold plating? Ridiculous. All my cables are mineral water shielded.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#234

Post by jjeaff »

thinkmassive wrote: post #218
013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

Any advice on a quality Lightning to 3.5mm adapter? The official Apple one is so flimsy that one or both channels cut out anytime I move the phone. My workaround is to heatshrink the cable and both ends, so it’s rigid enough not to cut out. But it’s ugly and probably won’t last more than a few months.

Sounds like a defective connector. Mine doesn't cut out at all that I have noticed.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#235

Post by snvzz »

013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

aliexpress, topping dx3 pro, solved.

Motherboard audio and soundcards are just terrible.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#236

Post by mindslight »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #199
013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

Except you’re leaving out all the positives and only focusing on the negatives. Sure, Google can revoke my access to a movie at any time but I can watch on any of my devices and I dont have to worry about finding it in stock at the local store. I can carry literally thousands of books with me in a device smaller than a paperback. I can’t stream lossless music from Spotify but I can stream high enough quality that mos…

The "positives" you've listed were basically the case for the standard 00's setup. You just had to undertake some deliberate action to adopt it as your setup, rather than going along with that period's sharecropper option.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#237

Post by mhh__ »

With all "high quality" audio matters like this - and compressed music - I genuinely don't understand what the point is. I listen to a lot of different music (Pop, Jazz, Metal, Microtonal stuff etc.) through a lot of different mediums (Good preamps into really expensive amps etc., cheap headphones, overpriced headphones) an I honestly think the point of diminishing returns is at about £30.

For the price that some people spend on their audio gear, you could buy several musical instruments: A far more fulfilling (and sociable) use of too much money IMO.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#238

Post by [deleted] »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #199
013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

Except you’re leaving out all the positives and only focusing on the negatives. Sure, Google can revoke my access to a movie at any time but I can watch on any of my devices and I dont have to worry about finding it in stock at the local store. I can carry literally thousands of books with me in a device smaller than a paperback. I can’t stream lossless music from Spotify but I can stream high enough quality that mos…

[deleted]

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#239

Post by sneak »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #199
013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

Except you’re leaving out all the positives and only focusing on the negatives. Sure, Google can revoke my access to a movie at any time but I can watch on any of my devices and I dont have to worry about finding it in stock at the local store. I can carry literally thousands of books with me in a device smaller than a paperback. I can’t stream lossless music from Spotify but I can stream high enough quality that mos…

Not “most people” - pros on high end equipment cannot pass an ABX on 256kbps MP3. Spotify’s “extreme” quality setting is 320kbps.

This isn’t some “normies”/“audiophiles” thing. 256kbps mp3 is acoustically transparent to human beings in ideal listening situations.

The bad rap mp3 got was from 128kbps that was more common pre-broadband.

Also, using lossy compressed sources (even 256-320kbps) in derivative works (eg dj mixes, samples, et c) that will be later lossy recompressed (podcast, satellite radio, spotify, et c) is a good way to make your production sound crappy, which is why lossless is important. Any audiophile who tells you they need lossless for final listening simply hasn’t tested it. It is religion, not engineering.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#240

Post by leshow »

pard68 wrote: post #222
andrepd wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's such a straw-man it hurts. You're concluding, from the fact that a user has found one obscure bug, that android is a broken mess that only Arch Linux types should dare mess with, while Apple products are bastions of stability. The reality is that Apple products are (it appears) no more bug-free than the rest. Have you tried testing this very same thing on an iPhone? Maybe it even has the same bug!

Hey now! I had been using Arch and Debian om different machines. All non-prod machines have since been moved to Arch because I was having more issues with Debian. Granted I require running the newest stable software, but the act of getting that software onto my Debian machines was breaking other things. Arch? Never had to mess with anything I didn't want to mess with (I use i3 and write most of my own utilities)!

> (I use i3 and write most of my own utilities)

You're kind of confirming his/her point here.

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