Hi-End audiophilia, myths, misinterpretations and...

[Hell Labs]

I'm so glad I'm unable to hear the difference between a bog standard cd changer and some rediculous super duper system. Probably because there isn't one, and you all need a reality check. A twenty quid 3-cd changer/twin tape deck/turntable/radio from a second hand shop is fine.

I'll give you an example. Once I was walking through the local shopping centre (I think the yanks call them "malls"), and there was a woman at a stand showing of some super duper £200 headphones, as compared to some 99p ones. This exchange happened:

"listen to this set of cheap headphones"

I put them on, it was playing some crappy nickleback song or something.

"now listen to this set of ultramegasupersecialawesomethings"

I put these on, same song.

"Now, isn't there a HUGE DIFFERENCE?"

I answer, perfectly honestly:

"no."

And left.

[Hell Labs]

TBH I really, really can't tell the difference between by £20 stereo system and people in the same room as me, actually playing my favorate iron maiden song. I'm not trying to be a dick, I just can't. And there's nothing wrong with my ears, but there is with my eyes - both have been extensively checked.

I'm also tired seeing of people do dumb stuff like spend £££ on monster cables and the like, even after I, and a few others explain to them they are a scam, and this is the kicker : it was a digital stereo in the first place, so by definition you could have used paperclips and it wouldn't make a difference. And then there's those that swair up and down that (i'm not making this up): The first version of the sony playstation (SCPH-1001) is the best sounding cd player ever made, so long as you use it upside down, and let it warm up, valve radio style, for half an hour first. They actually believe this.

There's one thing I will say though, headphones are always better than speakers. Dunno why, but it's like you can hear "more" of the song, or something.:confused:

[Hell Labs]

I wonder if we can combine the audiophile and televangelist markets somehow. Perhaps some $10,000 "miracle monitors" quadraphonic speakers that will "inrease your chances of having god contact you, personally" the more you listen to the televangelist guy hawk his scams. Hell, both audiophiles and fundies will beleave any old crap, so it can't hurt to try.

[Hell Labs]

Oh god, when I refreshed the page and saw all these posts from the other thread I thought I was having another stroke. Not fun at all.:hammer:

And I think headphones sound better than a live performace, atleast all the gigs ive ever been to. For some reason when you go to a rock gig they   almost always have everything up so it's nothing but blurry bass, it sounds shite. In fact the only gig i've ever been to that sounded as good live as on the CD was thunder, and either the singer was REALLY good (he's knocking on a bit) or they were miming. whitesnake and def leppard were playing the same night and they sounded a little bit worse than thunder too.

[Hell Labs]

Not talking about hard rock or heavy metal concerts Hell Labs. Real concerts... orchestras comprised of human beings playing real acoustic instruments.

It can be both.

I don't actually think much good came out after grunge died, and that was a bit iffy. The only most of the talented musicians (apart from well, orchestras but w/e) that have come up in the past decade are all from scandinavian countries, germany, france or eastern europe, and as you can imagine they all have exactly bugger all mainstream attention (playing metal or house will do that too you :angry:).

Bringing it round to topic, have you noticed nobody actually records in stereo any more? I can put a steppenwolf album on from the 60s,listen to each channel sperately and they are completely different. I can listen to nirvana, and hear the guitar move across from left to right (messes with you if you use headphones). With modern music you might as well just save the trouble and chuck your left speaker under a train for all the difference it makes.

Thats if you're daft enough to listern to whatevers popular nowadays (I forget). after that whole late 90s-early 2000s girlband/boyband era I actually superglued my radio tuning dial to the classic rock station. I don't regret this.

[Hell Labs]

*awesome audio stuff*

...Jesus. That is NICE.

Call me an idiot, but if I was gonna drop big money on a sound system?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsSFcHX4F8k

lasonic trc-931, the gen 1 with the square corners from the 80s. I tell you, that ipod dock version is NOTHING compared to this. I've had dreams about it. I want to listen to grandmaster flash and the furious five with it.

But I know If I get one I'd have finished my entire life. After that, I'd just be waiting to die. I don't even care there were better ones back then.

I'm actually saving up for one now, but other stuff gets in the way. I'm also kinda scard to get it shipped across the atlantic.

[Hell Labs]

Yes, recording techniques are in the shitter today. While even George Martin would argue that separating instruments like that is kind of a "no-no", it does make for a more compelling sound. Recording with minimal mic'ing (a microphone should be abbreviated MIC, not MIKE, as unfortunately some hi-end journalists mistakingly do), say two to four, enables a much more realistic sound stage image to be recorded and played back. This over-engineered Pro-Tools computer file crap that's been plaguing modern recordings for the last 15 or so years is for the frickin' birds! Music industry needs to wake up, but they're never going to. They're literally killing themselves slowly but surely and that's okay kind of. Not much music coming out today worth marketing or purchasing  

Yet ironically It was the atari ST and amiga that started the modern method of music production...

I'll get my coat.:roflmao:

I wouldn't worry about the music industry either, they're so slow to adapt to the modern world you might as well start your own record label. Its easy now too, any mug with a laptop and some mics can crank out audio cds. A mate of mine actually does this, he's got a cd label machine-type-thing (don't know what to call it), a high end colour printer, and he bulk buys cd-rs. The attitude of his is roughly "if it gets on the internet, good for them. It's not like I can take it back down again."

[Hell Labs]

LOL! I totally grew up with some really nice 'ghetto blasters' in my day. That thing looks like a modern rip-off of one though. Don't know much about it, but it looks too thin and cheap compared to the ones we had. Our stuff was usually grey, NEVER black and they had analogue VU meters, NOT LED's. Too many red flags for that thing to be taken seriously - even though we're just talking boom boxes. lol  If that's all that exists now though, I guess it's kinda cool for what it is. Wouldn't pay more than $150-$200 for it though (Assuming it's worth that much to begin with)... what's your definition of "big money"?

And yeah... if you're that tickled over a boom-box, ever read any Jules Verne? I hear 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is a real good read... lmao

Actually, that IS an 80s boombox. Quite a popular one too, they go for about $200 in okay condition. They actually brought it back twice, once in the 90s with rounded corners, and a terrible iPod dock that breaks constantly and everything on it is just stickers. the TRC-975 is a higher end version.

TRC-931:



TRC-975:



Little children have teddy bears. I have these buggers. Or would, if I could buy one easily enough. The only one on ebay is over $100 shipping, and broken.

[Hell Labs]

MY stereo is this:

http://uk.shopping.com/xPO-Bush-3810B



It's a pretty good stereo. I bought the alba brand one from argos about, ten years ago now, cost a hundred quid. I just wish it had a graphic equalizer. Actually, I wish it was a 80s or early 90s model like my old one,as they tended to have a lot more features and looked a lot cooler.

How come you can't buy this kind of unit any more? Slap an iPod dock on it, job done, go home. They were already getting phased out when I got this, so sad.

[Hell Labs]

Oh dear it's Bush.

2 x 5 Watt RMS.

Holy shit.  Speechless.

:cool:

[Hell Labs]

...i really dont care about audio quality. i have an aureal vortex2 sound card in my pc from 1998 that i have had in every pc ive put together in the last 10 years because it gets the job done.
monitors on the other hand are a totally different thing. i use crts. my hdtv is crt because i specifically went out looking for one after comparing all the crts lcds dlps and plasmas. i perfer crt. i havent found an lcd i like because the color is wrong and the purity is terrible...

High five, I agree with everying you just said. LCDs suck. I never know they marketed CRTs as hdtvs, but I only watch tv shows downloaded from the internet to my pc, and whatever I still have on vhs.

[Hell Labs]

Of course LCDs look crap. They don't put gold plated fuses in the power supplies of the units or use monster cables to connect up the matrix.
LOL.

Are you seriously trying to say lcds look as good as crts?

lets use photoshop magic to add an "lcd like" quality to this picture. Before:



After:



Note the very visible gap between the pixels, giving the appearence of a black grid. Note the lack of contrast, and how the backlighting is uneven.

Lets look at the lcd again, but at a slighty different angle:



wheee! and wait untill you play a game at lower than "native" resolution! it's lego time!

[Hell Labs]

You need newer games or a better video card!

Nope.