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A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

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Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#351

Post by iggldiggl »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #251
Tao3300 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cymbals always sound like bubbling shit in mp3.

MP3 is not monolithic, and has changed drastically since it was released. You're going to get a pretty terrible experience with MP3 128kbps, whereas modern variable bit rate schemes can actually be quite decent. Personally I prefer to always go lossless, but for most people on most systems, the difference isn't noticeable. (Moreso the better the system gets, ofc)

> MP3 is not monolithic, and has changed drastically since it was released.

To some extent certainly, though I think that e.g. the handling of short sharp transient remains somewhat of a fundamental problem of MP3 no matter how much bitrate and encoding brain power you throw at it, and was only really improved upon in the subsequent generation of codecs, i.e. like AAC, Vorbis or Opus.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#352

Post by Night_Thastus »

iggldiggl wrote: post #351
Night_Thastus wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MP3 is not monolithic, and has changed drastically since it was released. You're going to get a pretty terrible experience with MP3 128kbps, whereas modern variable bit rate schemes can actually be quite decent. Personally I prefer to always go lossless, but for most people on most systems, the difference isn't noticeable. (Moreso the better the system gets, ofc)

> MP3 is not monolithic, and has changed drastically since it was released. To some extent certainly, though I think that e.g. the handling of short sharp transient remains somewhat of a fundamental problem of MP3 no matter how much bitrate and encoding brain power you throw at it, and was only really improved upon in the subsequent generation of codecs, i.e. like AAC, Vorbis or Opus.

True, though I think variable bit rate MP3 is fine enough for most.

But the main reason is that it's so ubiquitous. If you're buying music, it's almost always MP3 unless you go to a source like Qobuz which serves FLAC. Same with devices - basically everything supports MP3. Vorbis and Opus support is far patchier.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#353

Post by ryukoposting »

hbn wrote: post #161
ryukoposting wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely despise most of the vinyl community. Don't get me wrong, I love my records. I have hundreds of them and I play them regularly. For some reason, almost everyone I come by has this delusion that vinyl is objectively better than a good digital recording. Anyone who dissents from that narrative gets gaslit: "oh what kind of turntable do you have? oh that's not good enough, there's your problem right there."…

I recently got a record player and have been amassing a small collection of my favourite albums. Including the reasons you gave, my excuse for buying/listening to records is I like having a physical representation of albums I like, and something that won't disappear because a contract expired with a streaming service.

Stick with it. I discovered some great music buying random stuff from the <$5 section. You'll meet fun people at the right record stores (if you're in Minneapolis, I have some suggestions). Every once in a while one of your LPs will turn into a nice investment piece. If you haven't tried repairing/restoring your own turntable, I recommend it. The engineering inside all the little mechanisms in an old turntable are fun to tinker with.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#354

Post by yencabulator »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #142
bambax wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YES! The article says this: > But a few specialty houses (...) have long advocated for the warmth of analog. “Not that you can’t make good records with digital, but it just isn’t as natural as when you use the original tape,” says Bernie Grundman which is absurd. "Warmth" is a kind of distortion, and if a signal is distorted then it's less accurate or "natural"! They can't claim "fidelity" and "warmth" at the same ti…

But if analog is what you knew, that wasn't "distortion". That was "natural", because it was what you grew up with. That was the way things were supposed to be. So "fidelity" means "fidelity to the way I remember" (and like).

Not "natural", "familiar".

Just like people buying yellow lightbulbs because that's how incandescent bulbs used to always be -- actual natural sunlight isn't that yellow. Good LEDs are more "natural", but less "familiar" to people.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#355

Post by Nav_Panel »

notRobot wrote: post #347
Nav_Panel wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest one was country. Lots of impossible to find stuff from the 50s thru the 70s. I'd learn about it by digging at the record shop near where I went to college. There's not much of an audience for it anymore, so the labels have no incentive to dig through their catalogs. Here's a country album I've never find a proper digital version of, only bad vinyl rips: https://www.discogs.com/master/402577-Mike-Auldridge-Dob…

Thank you so much for your response! This is fascinating to me (I'm really into stuff like city pop and dance music), and makes me really sad that there's only a tiny overpriced market for vinyl where I live, really no place where I can go and 'dig through bins' to find gems :(

You're welcome! And yeah, City Pop is really annoying to collect. I used to go to BOOKOFF in Manhattan where they had a huge selection of $2 Japanese CDs, but they totally removed that section several years ago. Almost impossible to find now except online or in Japan. Well, there's a massive City Pop record store in Brooklyn but the prices are insane. Most records upwards of $50.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#356

Post by iggldiggl »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #352
iggldiggl wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MP3 is not monolithic, and has changed drastically since it was released. To some extent certainly, though I think that e.g. the handling of short sharp transient remains somewhat of a fundamental problem of MP3 no matter how much bitrate and encoding brain power you throw at it, and was only really improved upon in the subsequent generation of codecs, i.e. like AAC, Vorbis or Opus.

True, though I think variable bit rate MP3 is fine enough for most. But the main reason is that it's so ubiquitous. If you're buying music, it's almost always MP3 unless you go to a source like Qobuz which serves FLAC. Same with devices - basically everything supports MP3. Vorbis and Opus support is far patchier.

> unless you go to a source like Qobuz which serves FLAC.

Apple is another odd one out there by only selling music as AAC, and Bandcamp gives you a comprehensive choice of all sorts of formats.

> Same with devices - basically everything supports MP3. Vorbis and Opus support is far patchier.

True that, though AAC support might also be somewhat reasonably common-ish these days. (Though I've found that apart from also having a relatively low folder count limit in general, my car radio also has some difficulties with reading the metadata in some files, and as far as I can tell I think the affected files are all MPEG-4 files. It's only some MPEG-4 files that are affected, though, but I haven't yet bothered to find out what exactly else they might have in common.)

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#357

Post by Night_Thastus »

iggldiggl wrote: post #356
Night_Thastus wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, though I think variable bit rate MP3 is fine enough for most. But the main reason is that it's so ubiquitous. If you're buying music, it's almost always MP3 unless you go to a source like Qobuz which serves FLAC. Same with devices - basically everything supports MP3. Vorbis and Opus support is far patchier.

> unless you go to a source like Qobuz which serves FLAC. Apple is another odd one out there by only selling music as AAC, and Bandcamp gives you a comprehensive choice of all sorts of formats. > Same with devices - basically everything supports MP3. Vorbis and Opus support is far patchier. True that, though AAC support might also be somewhat reasonably common-ish these days. (Though I've found that apart from also h…

I wish everyone was on Bandcamp. It's such a great service. It's so flexible. And unlike Qobuz, it's website is actually decent.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#358

Post by wolrah »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #195
wolrah wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong in the general "audiophile" world where fools and their money are parted over snake oil magical cables claiming benefits only those with the most golden of ears can enjoy. Where you're getting pushback is that this thread is talking about vinyl records and tube amps, things where the noise and distortions introduced by their operation are well known, well documented, audible to anyone with normally f…

It's relevant to the article, where a digital source made from a tape should sound the same as the tape.

Right, but this subthread is about it being fine for people to prefer the sound of less accurate systems, just not to claim those systems are objectively superior.

The poster I'm replying to is then acting like it's some weird audiophile belief that records sound different from other media.

On the topic of the overall article, of course the people who believe a digital processing step makes things inherently worse are absolutely off their rockers.

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#359

Post by user_7832 »

bambax wrote: post #179
user_7832 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If superstition is always bad, I take it you're also annoyed/angry at Wayne Gretzky or Serena Williams? Or any athlete engaging in superstition? ( https://thevarsity.ca/2022/03/20/athletes-superstition/ )

I have never heard of Wayne Gretzky; Google tells me he's a hockey player. I don't think I have ever seen a match of hockey in my entire life. I'm not annoyed by what I don't know. But the "superstitions" that the linked article mentions, are rituals, lucky charms. They're much less dangerous than going around pretending that something exists, that provably isn't there. Audiophiles are moon-landing deniers. Some migh…

> Audiophiles are moon-landing deniers.

Sorry, but I do not follow how you came to this conclusion, could you explain it?

> They're much less dangerous than going around pretending that something exists, that provably isn't there.

By your definition is every person in the world who believes in god therefore dangerous?

Re: A Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire

#360

Post by user_7832 »

conradfr wrote: post #284
conradfr wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not. https://abx.funkybits.fr/test/the-eagles-hell-freezes-over-h... (obviously there's a bug on the tracks display after round 1)

(fixed)

Thanks, I’ll try and take the test asap. (I need to find my earphones and usb c to 3.5mm adapter first). Is there any way I can contact you after taking the test, perhaps email?
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