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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?

#401

Post by zanny »

mirkules wrote: post #167
zanny wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes okay, its about having the choice and the option. Its rooted in the fundamental instinct to cling to freedom and seek it out. Even if you don't make a choice, having the option to is still empowering, because the absence of a choice tells you someone else made it for you. For many, that could be the same choice they would have made. That doesn't give any condolence to those who would have made a different one, bu…

I understand the need for people to feel like they have a choice by using free software (the choice to modify it if they want to), but at this point it is just an illusion unless you are prepared to dedicate a huge amount of time. If you practically couldn’t do it even if you wanted to, does it still mean you have a choice? It’s a different time today than it was 40 years ago when RMS modified printer drivers, and so…

Theres a degree of philanthropy to free software contribution. Yes, there are often hacks and workarounds for problems in code that don't require dedicating the substantial time to learn a codebase and fix the problem forever, but if you do fix it you aren't fixing it only for yourself, but for everyone else who encounters that problem.

I've made dozens of contributions to esoteric projects - from music players to game emulators to HTML template libraries. It does take a ridiculous amount of upfront reading of code to become comfortable enough with the environment to make the change, but I at least only try to fix problems I see as impacting more people than just myself.

Sometimes I wish it were easier to just sit down, take the highest rated bug on a project, and spend all the time it would take to fix it. Its a shame I wasn't lucky enough to be born into wealth so I could just do that all the time. So instead I hope to get there sooner rather than later, where I can amass enough wealth to stop wasting my time on CRUD apps for some business interest and actually do something meaningful.

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

#402

Post by justtopost »

sneak wrote: post #239
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Everyone gives this pitch, but I alwast spot the teltale digitl diatortion immediately. It affects the transients. We are training ourselves to hear worse.

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

#403

Post by JadeNB »

rvense wrote: post #247
acabal wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

> OGG too.

Of course there's no need for a separate OGG download; no matter how transparent the MP3 encoding is, one thing at which MP3s suck and lossless codecs, by definition, excel is re-encodeability. If you've got FLAC, you're not far from OGG, AAC, and any other format you like.

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

#404

Post by ohithereyou »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #366
Declanomous wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ripped all my CDs at one point, realized it was a pain in the ass, deleted all of them, and then redownloaded them from Oink.cd/What.cd. I stopped buying albums for a while, because I have a Google play music subscription, but a couple albums I really liked were deleted from the service recently. I had "added them to my library", understanding that I didn't own them, but I never expected them to get pulled from the…

Not sure if it will last, but Google Play Music does allow you to upload your music to the service. It does not matter if those songs get removed from Google’s licensing or if they never existed on Google in the first place: they are streamed independently.

I already give everything but a bloody DNA sample to Google. I'm not giving them neatly tagged music files of music that I like that is not on their service that they can then combine with the music I listen to from their service so they can advertise to me over a music bed that they think is to my liking.

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

#405

Post by kakarot »

fb03 wrote: post #389
kakarot wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checked out the AG06 but it has internal DSP and other things I don't really need, plus it seemed like more of an audio interface than a sound card, do you have any recommendations for balanced audio usb external cards without all of the extra stuff?

Sadly, I don't. A replier said something about a brand called "Schiit Audio", but I've researched them and they only offer stuff with RCA outputs which are sadly not balanced at all. If you're on a budget you could get the AG03 which is the same interface, but with less input channels. Also, the DSP is totally optional on those, If you don't use it you'll bypass it totally, not coloring or changing your signal in any…

The Mackie guy was another poster, I don't have any balanced speakers so I would need to purchase them in tandem with a card.

> make yourself some nice XLR cables

Intriguing. How difficult is this?

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

#406

Post by mirkules »

zanny wrote: post #401
mirkules wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the need for people to feel like they have a choice by using free software (the choice to modify it if they want to), but at this point it is just an illusion unless you are prepared to dedicate a huge amount of time. If you practically couldn’t do it even if you wanted to, does it still mean you have a choice? It’s a different time today than it was 40 years ago when RMS modified printer drivers, and so…

Theres a degree of philanthropy to free software contribution. Yes, there are often hacks and workarounds for problems in code that don't require dedicating the substantial time to learn a codebase and fix the problem forever, but if you do fix it you aren't fixing it only for yourself, but for everyone else who encounters that problem. I've made dozens of contributions to esoteric projects - from music players to ga…

> Sometimes I wish it were easier to just sit down, take the highest rated bug on a project, and spend all the time it would take to fix it. Its a shame I wasn't lucky enough to be born into wealth so I could just do that all the time. So instead I hope to get there sooner rather than later, where I can amass enough wealth to stop wasting my time on CRUD apps for some business interest and actually do something meaningful.

This really hits the nail on the head.

Since I became a father of three, my time priorities have shifted quite a lot, and I’d rather spend it with my kids than nose in code that should work but isn’t.

A perfect example is trying to get Nextcloud or Lychee working. After literaly days trying to get it working right, I just gave up. All I want is to share pictures of my kids with my family, but due to bugs or config, I have to wade through someone else’s code?

Philantropy is for someone else’s benefit. If it was just at my expense, that would be one thing, but it’s at the expense of my kids too. And that’s something I can’t justify.

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

#407

Post by kazinator »

> Battery life is only a few hours unfortunately because the circuit draws an enormous idle current of 23mA :o

This is because the device is silly. Firstly, there is an unnecessary voltage divider for generating a reference voltage. It is too stiff (resistors are too low-valued at 1K + 1K). This provides a reference voltage that is conveyed to high impedance destinations. 18V into 2Kohms means this consumes 9 milliamps!

Secondly, the device contains a bizarre circuit that tries to amplify the GND-GND path, using two op-amps in parallel.

The numbers check out: 9 mA for the voltage divider, plus around 8 mA x 2 IC-s (typical value from datasheet): 25 mA.

Here is how we can fix things.

1. We have two batteries! That is a true dual voltage supply! We can just take the center reference voltage between the two batteries. By doing that we lose the voltage divider entirely, and save 9mA of supply current.

2. We can lose the GND-GND amplifier, and just provide a proper end-to-end galvanic ground connection. We eliminate a pair of op-amps, and thus an entire IC chip.

We're now down to the current draw for a single NE5532.

3. Use a different op-amp. The NE5532 isn't great for driving low impedances like headphones. There are op-amps that are better suited for this, and draw less quiescent current.

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

#408

Post by sho_nuff »

thirdsun wrote: post #395
baroffoos wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bandcamp is pretty much single-handedly keeping high quality audio alive. I exclusively buy music from them and then load it on to my own music streaming server.

While Bandcamp is indeed a great service you might want to add Boomkat, Qobuz and Bleep to that list.

Thank you for the extra sources.

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

#409

Post by kazinator »

jacquesm wrote: post #276
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…

I think the trick here is that the resistors are much more precise than two batteries of unknown origin will be at providing a symmetric supply voltage without further stabilization. So they serve as a 50/50 voltage divider whatever the input voltage is, 7+9 or 6+8 on half full (or half empty, depending on your mental make-up) batteries, it would still work just fine. Binding the central line between the two 9V batte…

You do not need an absolutely precise dead-centre reference voltage for this application! It just has to be far enough from the either rail to avoid clipping.

If the batteries have gone that far south, they need replacing.

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

#410

Post by kazinator »

korethr wrote: post #355
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…

What I'm wondering is why the 1k resistors in the power supply. Wouldn't 100k, 1M or 10M resistors drastically cut the idle current consumption? Or would that compromise the performance of the opamps by choking them off from the current they need?

What's more, the silly GND-GND circuit could be preserved, but using just one op-amp for it

The liberated op-amp could be used to provide a stiff voltage reference from a 100K:100K voltage divider!

Of course, all that is unnecessary.

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