We need physical audio kill switches

Post by YarickR2 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

amiga-workbench wrote: post #24

onion-soup wrote: post #11

Nothing will ever come close to convenience of analogue volume knobs. They give both immediate action and infinite granular control. Same goes for kitchen stoves. All the modern touch controls with step-based control is the absolute nightmare in terms of UI.

My Topping DAC/Amp has an optical rotary encoder for volume control and it is awful, it will randomly jump 10x the amount of steps you have rotated it, sometimes even in the opposite direction. There's something to be said for a good old fashioned potentiometer.

Post by amiga-workbench » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:41 PM UTC

lopmotr wrote: post #42

amiga-workbench wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Topping DAC/Amp has an optical rotary encoder for volume control and it is awful, it will randomly jump 10x the amount of steps you have rotated it, sometimes even in the opposite direction. There's something to be said for a good old fashioned potentiometer.

Potentiometers have that problem too when they get worn, which they always do if they also double as on/off switch like on most cheap radios.

Post by puranjay » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:43 PM UTC

brandon272 wrote: post #29

I let my spouse, who likes the novelty of a touchscreen, talk me into a Whirlpool oven a couple years ago that is controlled by touchscreen. I had no idea it was possible to hate an oven so much. The only saving grace is that the stovetop elements are still controlled by knobs.

Post by formerly_proven » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:44 PM UTC

woofie11 wrote: post #23

GistNoesis wrote: post #15

I have encountered the opposite problem. Some speakers turn themselves off automatically when they don't detect any sound on the line for a certain amount of time. So when you want to have your monitoring application ring the alarm on the speaker, you need to be aware of it so you don't miss it. Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turni…

> Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turning off. Standard is very high frequency -- outside of audible range. It's a good hack. Especially helpful for disabling automatic gain control.

Post by YarickR2 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

onion-soup wrote: post #20

bzb5 wrote: post #3

I’ve got a microphone with a physical kill switch and when turned off it still leaks like a sieve. Be careful with those switches.

I always wondered if these physical switches are actually reliable and now reading your comment actually terrifies me. This behavior can cause irreversible social damage in say during high steak business meetings. One could absolutely sue the microphone manufacturer for this.