Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

asia.nikkei.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 297 posts

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#181

Post by _carbyau_ »

initplus wrote: post #132
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Compressing your track to hell in an effort to get it to sound louder doesn't work anymore because every streaming service will just normalize it anyway. This is a bit of confused remark. "Normalization" means applying some constant gain factor to the signal so that the loudest level is 0dBFS. Compression applies a varying gain factor to the signal to meet some parameters. Normalizing audio will generally make it l…

Modern volume normalization isn't done based on the highest peak of the track. Instead they normalize based on the average perceived loudness of the whole track (to a level below 0 so there is headroom for peaks). It's intentionally designed to avoid the exact issue you describe. If this was not done users of streaming services would have to be constantly adjusting the volume to deal with perceived volume differences…

I don't have to change the volume between shows. But for a while, every action show required I down volume the noisy bits and up volume the talking bits.

I understand dynamic range is a thing and people with reasonable stereos and a place to use them should enjoy. But in an apartment with a sleeping toddler I simply want to hear it without waking my kid.

I now run: Windows Loudness Equalisation, Clear Voice on the sound bar, every show is subtitles on.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#182

Post by KerrAvon »

gog wrote: post #148
Gordonjcp wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any of those compact speaker systems that actually sound good, though?

Sony HT-A9 (+ a sub) has been praised, but it is not cheap.

Sony’s speaker quality isn’t great. Had to replace an HT-5000 sound bar last year because the center began distorting.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#183

Post by KerrAvon »

adra wrote: post #67
codefreeordie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has been talking about the "Japan [central bank] Model" as a model of success for much longer than two years. This meme first got really big in central-banking circles after the 2008 crash. Japan has been following this model for 35-40 years of managed-decline. The US has been toying with the same model for more like 10-15 years than 2-3 suggested above. The US so far has managed its decline better, but not fo…

The US has a healthy immigration system that brings in a consistent stream of workers and tax payers to support all the old people about to clog social assistance channels for decades. That's the strong trap that Japan has been stuck in for decades, and the one that'll start befalling China in a decade or so. It'll be interesting to see if Japan can escape the population deflation or if this is a constant shrinking p…

Healthy immigration isn’t going to last much longer if the cons get back into power in 2023-2024, as seems likely at this point. Closing the borders will be a fantastic way to curry favor with the MAGA base, and the cons will have no excuse not to do it with Democrats completely out of power in every part of the government.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#184

Post by Waterluvian »

I have one from about 8 years ago. It’s good. But it has one infuriating issue: nothing tells you anywhere that your Component input (my Wii) will not EVER output to HDMI for the TV. I killed countless hours troubleshooting why I’d never get picture.

(yes there are technical excuses. This is a product design failure)

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#185

Post by christoph »

jIyajbe wrote: post #172
christoph wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. 100%. Last night we turned the “stereo” up really loud after Eurovision to listen to Mikas album for the first time in years - Full height Revel fronts, monitor audio rear effect speakers, dual subs, blasted it. I spent hours tuning curves on the Denon amp with an external microphone last year… Anyone that thinks a sound bar would sound anything like what we hear is honestly deluded. But, I also wouldn’t…

Same. The only thing I miss about owning my own home is that I can't set up a home theater. The last house I owned had a bare-to-the-studs basement when we bought it. I built a home theater to die for there: ran every wire you could think of, built the walls and ceiling where and how I wanted for optimum sound, acoustically treated everything, researched all the audio and video equipment, installed a projector, built…

Sounds like bliss. Not just the end result, the process as well. I think that’s what people who haven’t gone down the audio highway don’t understand. The constant tweaking and adjusting is sometimes a very cathartic experience. You really do get to enjoy the fruits of your labour like very few other endeavours.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#186

Post by danachow »

garyfirestorm wrote: post #129
danachow wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s entirely limitations of Apple Airplay that are known and not new. Whether it’s Apples fault - I mean Airplay does what it says it does. Anybody that cares about would simply not use Airplay. If you want to use Apple Music then the best bet is an Apple TV which can stream it over HDMI to the receiver. But it’s not like there aren’t alternative music providers - Spotify, qobuz, tidal, your own pick your poison DLN…

exactly! despite spending money on a receiver, TV (smart OLED), nVidia Shield and a bunch of speakers - i now have to buy yet another device (AppleTV) to be able to maximize my experience.

And? This is Apples business MO for nearly 40 years.

I don’t see any piece of Apple hardware there. The Shield in your setup is superfluous, no? Apple is a hardware company - they need you to buy at least something for that HT setup.

I mean use Apple Music or don’t, but this sounds a bit leopards ate my face.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#187

Post by unfocused »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #62
rixrax wrote: post #59

I feel that the AV-receiver market has gone the way of the DSLR market. Compact speaker systems like Sonos (that don't need a separate AVR) simply got good enough. Thus the need for buying a separate AVR to drive your Dolby / DTS / etc. setup has all but vanished except maybe for the most determined audiophiles (and even most of these would do well to simply get a compact wireless speaker setup instead of some monstr…

Are there any of those compact speaker systems that actually sound good, though?

I have a pair of ($30) Yamaha NS-BP200 and a 48 year old Sony STR-7045 ($50) and an Onko CP1200A (free).

They sound really good to me as the amp is really good at driving these speakers, and my Onkyo turntable benefits from excellent phono from the amp.

Of course, I can help you drop $50,000 easily on a system and you may still be unsatisfied.

I recommend setting a budget and just getting what you can. Also, the used market has amazing stuff. Have a look as well at NAD as they have some very small amps with phono and even subwoofer like D 3020 v2 or D 3045. Those are are very compact.

I also have an Onkyo TX-18 from 1990 that still works great.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#188

Post by batiudrami »

cookingrobot wrote: post #159
christoph wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weirdly in the last couple of weeks we’ve been clearing out our house and I found three(!) Onkyo home cinema amp boxes in the attic. I don’t own a single Onkyo amplifier anymore. Every single one got returned due to a serious fault (from suddenly producing no sound, to literal smoke coming out of it) within a year or 18 months, and typically swapped for another, slightly newer model Onkyo amp - rinse & repeat yearly.…

I bought an Onkyo 5.1 receiver at a garage sale yesterday for $5. This house I moved into has prewired surround speakers and I felt like I should take advantage. What a hassle though, I can’t get audio flowing from the tv, can’t get it to drive all the speakers, it runs super hot. It really seems like a hardware hobby more than a way to enjoy movies so far.

Unfortunately a modern receiver is worth the money.

A modern one will have Bluetooth and Wifi connection, so you can stream and control music direct from your phone or computer in another room.

On the TV side, a modern receiver probably has built in chromecast. It will support eArc so your TV can control the receiver directly - when watching TV you don't need to use the receiver remote at all, it will switch sources and be able to change volume with the TV.

The good thing about this kind of setup, if you're interested in it, is that you can buy some speakers that you really like, and they will never be obsolete; but you will need to replace the receiver occasionally (maybe every 10 years).

The UX on all AVRs is always the same and always dreadful though. People who buy them buy them for featureset not UX, which I guess is why it hasn't really improved.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#189

Post by ListenLinda »

nl wrote: post #168
leokennis wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait Sonos is 2.4Ghz only? Even my cheapo digital photo frame and my “need to make it cheap to turn a profit” ereader work on 5Ghz…

This isn't true. I have Sonos running on 5GHz right now, from a setup including the Ikea Sonos speakers. Maybe the OP is using an old, v1 Sonos setup or something?

It might be SonosNet only supports 2.4ghz. I run SonosNet, I find WiFi to be problematic.
Post reply on HN