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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?

#241

Post by smileysteve »

notacoward wrote: post #29

Interesting point buried in here: since Android is open source, you could go in and fix the bug, but then because you're not running an official Android version you'd lose access to the Play Store and other services. Something's not really free if there's a penalty for doing it. Since freedom to run a modified version of software yourself is one of the four freedoms of free software, this highlights the difference be…

This is a poor example because Play is its own set up apps licensed by Google (paid for by manufacturers) and not core to the os itself.

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

#242

Post by alanpage »

anotheryou wrote: post #201
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…

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)

Test your system (and your room) with this audio quality quiz, comparing lossless audio with several compressed bit rate streams [1]. With my 50-year old ears, and an outboard DAC/amp and audiophile magnetic planar headphones, I could only score 50%.

That said, switching between Spotify and Tidal on the same track, I hear a pretty big difference. The lossless music has a depth that just isn't there on the compressed streams

[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/...

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

#243

Post by mindslight »

snovv_crash wrote: post #223
mindslight wrote: post #215

IMHO your circuit topology looks wacky. Perhaps there's a goal to making your amplifier ground ride in the middle of the waveform, but it could just as well be unintentional. So my immediate thoughts - You've already got a real split supply with 2x 9v batteries. If you use that instead of deriving a virtual ground, you will save 9mA of quiescent current. How purposeful is that whole low side duplicated circuit and wh…

This way you don't increase the BOM complexity, just a second of the same chip and the same resistors. Technically, also your THD+N adds in parallel instead of being chained, although I'm not sure there will be a discernable difference unless you uave some kind of phase delay issue (in which case you should fix that first...)

You must be thinking of some other common headphone amp design? The changes I'm talking about would just get rid of like half the components.

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

#244

Post by jjeaff »

bitwize wrote: post #192
chaosite wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You never owned the copyright on the content, but you did own the thing. Not a "single-use license". Owning a CD is exactly like owning a book, in that way.

Grandparent was correct. Copyright law only allowed for private home exhibition of the music/movie. VHS tapes even came with a warning from the FBI. As in, the people who might show up at your house if you copied the movie or showed it to a large group of people.

Not only is it legal to resell media, but that FBI warning is not from the FBI at all, at least up until 2003. The FBI had nothing to do with that message before. They did finally authorize the use of their seal in 2003. Before that, just typical Hollywood trickery to scare people.

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

#245

Post by [deleted] »

thanatropism wrote: post #51
kgwxd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people perfer to own instead of lease, even in 2018.

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…

[deleted]

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

#246

Post by kgwxd »

thanatropism wrote: post #51
kgwxd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people perfer to own instead of lease, even in 2018.

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…

I still use streaming to discover but buy to own for disconnected times, which are usually intentional. For example, I don't want touch interface or internet connected anything while driving.

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

#247

Post by rvense »

acabal wrote: post #213
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…

Re. flac downloads, Bandcamp (almost?) always offers a flac download option. You'd be surprised how many bands have a Bandcamp page, even if they're signed to labels. The option is not well advertised. After you purchase a digital download, there's a tiny arrow next to the 'download' link that allows you to switch the download to flac. I always download flac and consequently spend a lot of money at Bandcamp!

OGG too.

I love Bandcamp.

They also have an app that offers streaming and a bunch of social features so you can make a page for yourself where you show off the music you like and make playlists and interact with others. It's probably a great feature, but the thing that really sets Bandcamp apart is that you can just ignore the fuck out of it and pay money for some files that you can download using a browser and put on your own drives and devices.

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

#248

Post by jjeaff »

jstanley wrote: post #154
icebraining wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I make a proprietary application that only runs on, say, Ubuntu, does that mean GNU/Linux is no longer really free, since you can't replace your distro with Arch without losing access to my application?

If your application is an intrinsic part of pretty much every GNU/Linux system, then yeah, pretty much. It's not GNU/Linux that's not free, but it makes it hard to use a GNU/Linux system that is free.

Play store is not a requirement. You can use f-droid or something similar and it has most everything you might need.

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

#249

Post by joecool1029 »

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.

Its going to sound crazy but stick a paperclip into the lightning port and scrape along the top. I bet a small amount of dirt will come out.

These ports pick up some lint and dust after a few months and it packs in pretty hard. Eventually it will give you connection issues.

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

#250

Post by edoo »

blattimwind wrote: post #197
edoo wrote: post #103

Pro tip: There are enough PCB shops now that small designs like this can just be done in free EDA software in minutes, 10 boards in your hand with a stencil 9 real days later for less than $50 shipped. The stencil lets you paste the board all at once, you place parts and hit it with a heat gun until everything sets. For audio stuff you get the advantage of keeping everything nice and tight with lower noise. I barely…

> 10 boards in your hand with a stencil 9 real days later for less than $50 shipped Or I take my perfboard or solid copper base material and be done with it in one afternoon, without waiting 10 days and spending less than $50 shipped. > For audio stuff you get the advantage of keeping everything nice and tight with lower noise. IME it is way easier to do low noise / high bandwidth circuits on base material compared t…

I hate to admit I only got into this after the EDA software and PCB fab services and Youtube soldering demos really hit the scene. I am a long time software engineer and it took the current ease of things to surpass my laziness barrier. I wouldn't be doing this at all if I was etching myself. Typical PCB prices are $5 per 10 two layer boards and an extra $15 per stencil. Most the price is shipping so if you order multiple projects at the same time the cost really goes down.

You make a good point about noise. If you are going to have a mixed board you better maintain separate digital and analog ground planes and perhaps even test a couple different layouts.

His pure analog schematics would be well suited to a 2 layer with one side being a ground plane and if any traces did have to be routed on the ground plane side it would be easy enough to ensure they were out of the way of any return paths.

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