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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?

#91

Post by andrepd »

gcp123 wrote: post #64

I’ll happily pay the “apple tax” so I can live my life and not have to deal with all the bullshit you did just to listen to some music. Good lord. I’d rather experience the world then mess around with the tech that’s supposed to be helping me live better.

That's such a straw-man it hurts. You're concluding, from the fact that a user has found one obscure bug, that android is a broken mess that only Arch Linux types should dare mess with, while Apple products are bastions of stability. The reality is that Apple products are (it appears) no more bug-free than the rest.

Have you tried testing this very same thing on an iPhone? Maybe it even has the same bug!

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

#92

Post by andrepd »

pdimitar wrote: post #74
thanatropism wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apple premium has gone so damn high though. I got my first Mac when the Mac mini came up. It was a little more expensive than same-generation PCs but besides being OSX it was a PowerPC that never made any fan noise, and was small . I've subsequently had three Macbooks and two iPhones - but I can't afford this somewhat-better-somewhat-more-expensive racket anymore. Prices have risen too much; to boot, the quality…

Disclaimer: not trying to convince you, just sharing an anecdote like you did. - I agree Apple pricing has gone out of control. I should not have to shell out 1500 EUR for a 256GB phone with a bigger display no matter what (XS Max). I mean okay, it's probably the best phone out there but come on. It's a mobile computing device, not a life's insurance bill. - I fully agree MacBooks and desktop Macs haven't had good ye…

>But I still don't trust Google's binary blobs and the general baseband processor stuff so I stay away from Android.

Why do you trust the Apple ones then? At least on android you can get rid of most Google code with Lineage + microg

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

#93

Post by danw1979 »

klipt wrote: post #57
agumonkey wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I blame free market dynamics ? It's been a quite obvious trend since the 2000s. Audio components became commodities to reach bottom prices, no more middle class, good functionality is high end (which is now pushed to higher prices with branding like beats or devialet)

Is Beats even good functionality? I heard they used mediocre components and spent most of their money on marketing...

The audio quality on my £110 wireless Beats X neckbuds is abysmal compared to a set of £30 wired Sony earbuds.

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

#94

Post by jowsie »

shaan7 wrote: post #78
baxtr wrote: post #2

> Right now I'm absolutely astonished at how difficult it appears to be to just listen to music with a good pair of headphones. Is it not 2018? The media is full of talk about preposterously ambitious ideas such as AI and self-driving cars and yet I can't even listen to a fuck-damn music track? O_o I enjoyed reading this. The whole time I thought however: that’s not an issue on my Apple devices. Then I read: > If any…

Its not an issue on Android devices as well, I've no idea whats broken on OP's setup.

It's a well documented issue. Maybe your headphones and/or ears just aren't sensitive enough to notice the issue. Plenty of people don't see the difference between flac and 240p youtube uploads, after all.

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

#95

Post by amelius »

ikeboy wrote: post #40
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…

You can run the play store just fine on lineageos, which has modifications and isn't official. https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/ just need to register here as of earlier this year apparently

Yes, but for how long?

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

#96

Post by jpindar »

klipt wrote: post #57
agumonkey wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I blame free market dynamics ? It's been a quite obvious trend since the 2000s. Audio components became commodities to reach bottom prices, no more middle class, good functionality is high end (which is now pushed to higher prices with branding like beats or devialet)

Is Beats even good functionality? I heard they used mediocre components and spent most of their money on marketing...

That depends on your definition of functionality. Don't assume the purpose of Beats is to produce accurate audio. If the purpose is to make people feel good because they own the same headphones they saw some celebrity wear, they are apparently quite functional.

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

#97

Post by makecheck »

I saw similar problems creating music and sounds: having “good” audio hardware means that every sound flaw you have is now obvious and annoying. I had to be much more careful. Frankly, good sound production and programming are both underrated, they are not trivial.

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

#98

Post by pdimitar »

I'll allow myself some generalization here.

I know several very smart and creative hardware technicians and system administrators. I admire them. I truly do. They are more independently thinking than most other programmers I know, are much more resistant to trends and fashion in technology, and rarely complain about the tech they must use. Throw Python, Perl, PHP, bash and what not at them, they can and will curse but will get the job done every time.

In that regard, they are hard-working and resourceful. And I have a lot of respect for them.

That being said, I cannot help but notice things common among all of those that I know or used to know:

- Apple hate without any regard for the advantages it gives you.

- They use 80-100% of their leisure time to tinker and work outside their main work hours. One of them recently got divorced by his wife. She said the guy barely spent any time with her. I don't know if their relationship wasn't sour before but still, it's partially indicative.

- Obliviousness how Android is not the end-all-be-all of free software -- because it's not; Android is PARTIALLY open-source and comes with a lot of strings attached. Flash a ROM and your warranty is voided. But to them, if you can tinker with your tech then you absolutely, factually, practically, and for all intents and purposes, are using free tech. Details like warranties and hours-long sessions to make basic functions work again be damned in the process.

- Complete disregard for convenience and utter lack of respect for others' time. As mentioned above, they usually spend most of their free time working, are not stressed out or burned out, are in good health shape, and find it mysterious that people might be exhausted and would just want to lie on the couch reading a favourite book -- or napping.

---

I am somewhat saddened to say the OP's article confirms my bias towards hardware technicians. He's undoubtedly smart and good at what he does but also heavily biased and lacks perspective.

I believe such resourceful people should be more open-minded. If he's reading this, I hope he takes it as a constructive feedback from the sidelines and not bashing. All I am saying is that their attitude is not helping them being taken more seriously. If you turn a blind eye to nuances (case in point: Apple hate from his side) then you are not objective in your discussions.

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

#99

Post by mikeash »

notacoward wrote: post #42
ikeboy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can run the play store just fine on lineageos, which has modifications and isn't official. https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/ just need to register here as of earlier this year apparently

Apparently Play Store is unaffected, but some other apps - banking, streaming, even Pokemon Go - will break. And your warranty (including hardware) is voided. So I stand corrected, and thank you, but I don't think the correction affects the main point.

It’s not legal to void your warranty because you changed some software, unless the software change actually caused the problem you’re trying to get fixed under warranty.

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

#100

Post by shittyadmin »

dextersgenius wrote: post #35

> _It turns out that all music players on Android actually play music using the Android-media-player-service._ This is inaccurate. Neutron music player bypasses Android's Media Player APIs and talks directly to your DAC and plays music without resampling (if the DAC supports it). Never had any audio popping or explosions using Neutron, and I've tried it on 6 different devices so far without any issues (LG G3, Nexus 6…

I've never had any problems with "explosions" using standard media players, even when plugged into my HD650s - anyone else have that happen?

HN is mostly engineering types, the poster clearly has that mindset, we should be filing or looking for a proper bug report for this instead of crafting hacks or talking about alternative products altogether right off the bat.

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