Author Topic: Furry audiophiles?  (Read 3835 times)

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Offline Mr. Apple

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Furry audiophiles?
« on: March 10, 2014, 09:29:31 pm »
I was wondering if there were any furry, fluffy, acoustically treated audiophiles out there. You don't need to have a multi thousand dollar system. Just raise a bark if you're a little more into audio equipment than the average fur.  :)
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Offline Alsek

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2014, 02:10:31 am »
I don't know that I would consider myself an audiophile but I do like high quality audio.

Basic setup is: Grado RS1s buttonlees,   Emu soundcard,  and fiio e9 ampliier.

I've got a pair of grado 225is for when I leave home.


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Offline Mylo

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2014, 06:45:06 pm »
The only audiophillic thing I really do is rip my CDs to lossless format.  I listen to most of my music in FLAC.  In the future though, I'd like to look into investing in some more advanced technology for this stuff.

Offline Ziel

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2014, 07:28:14 pm »
I'd consider myself an aspiring audiophile, I suppose. Like, if/when I have the money, I could totally see myself spending a good chunk on a listening room with high-quality equipment.

At this point, I've fallen pretty heavily in love with Audioengine's line of products. For anybody not familiar with them, they're kind of like an entry-point for high-end audio, while still being (comparatively) affordable.

My setup now consists of their D1 DAC (a USB digital-to-analog converter, used in lieu of a sound card), which feeds a pair of A2 desktop speakers paired with their S8 subwoofer. I'm absolutely in love with the whole system right now. Though I fully admit that it's not nearly as awesome as some of the more expensive sets I've listened to before. But for the price, I don't think this combination can be beat.

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Offline Alsek

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2014, 07:59:16 pm »
The only audiophillic thing I really do is rip my CDs to lossless format.  I listen to most of my music in FLAC.  In the future though, I'd like to look into investing in some more advanced technology for this stuff.

Just a heads up.  CDs only go to 44.1 khz sampling rate,  so if you're ripping them at higher quality than that,  it's just taking up space.  ^^

Flac files when you can get them (and when they're recorded to be at that quality) are amazing!  I picked up an album a while back that was recorded for 96k khz playback which made use of binaural recording.  There are parts of that CD,  if you're listening with headphones,  where it sounds like they're in the room.   ^^  <3

http://www.hdtracks.com/up-close

One of these days i'm going to try a 192khz album

Offline McMajik

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2014, 06:35:49 am »
I guess you'd could call me an audiophile, although I prefer sound engineer. And now, I'm going to make some statements for which the rest of you will hate me. :D

1. Lossy formats are usually fine. There have been a few albums where I've had to go back and rip it as FLAC instead (Cheap trick '97, Enuff Z'nuff's Welcome to Blue Island spring to mind), but well mixed material will ~usually~ translate fine to 320Kb/s MP3. I tend to rip to FLAC more as a matter of principal (I dont want data I've paid for being discarded), but where space is a concern I keep everything in vorbis.

2. Your DAC doesn't matter nearly as much as you think, especially if you're using speakers. There are so many things that make so much more of a difference than the DAC you're using. If you're using speakers, is your room treated? How good are the speakers themselves? You have to spend quite a bit before your DAC becomes the bottleneck in your system >.>

3. Vinyl is not higher fidelity than digital formats. Vinyl can sound "better," since better is subjective, but it is not more accurate and anyone who says it is doesn't know what they're talking about..

One of these days i'm going to try a 192khz album


4. Alsek, I've got some bad news...anything above ~88.2/96Khz is pretty much pointless. Hell, the only benefit of going over 44.1/48Khz is that the hardware can include wider low pass filters (~20-25Khz rather than 2Khz) :p

5. 24 bit audio is pointless. At least, for the end consumer it is. Anyone who says it's "Studio quality" or anything like that doesn't understand why we use 24 bit in the studio. If you listen to music so loud that the peaks are at the threshold of pain and want to hear the faintest whisper in the background too, then by all means, keep pushing for 24 bit albums (Not that you'll be able to appreciate them for long at that volume anyway)

Offline Alsek

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2014, 01:57:17 pm »
I like how you state your contraversial opinion like it's a matter of fact...


Going above 44.1 khz has more implications than you realize.   The easiest to point out is that sine waves interact with each other.  If all you have is headphones that reproduce 20-20,   you're right,   it can be somewhat pointless.   But if they can reproduce higher frequencies,   then even the sane waves that we don't directly hear will create sympathetic harmonic resonance that WILL impact what we hear.   This impacts timbre.   If you don't have a sampling rate fast enough that you acurately hit both ends of the sine wave (no chance of accidentally hitting just before or after the peaks,  which gets harder as frequency goes up) you're impacting quality.  Granted,   you're unlikely to have headphone that would be able to reproduce a sound high enough that 192 would be needed,   but you have a better chance of hitting the peak right on the head.

IF your card supports 192khz playback,   in theory it will affect your experience.

Offline McMajik

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2014, 05:11:16 pm »
I like how you state your contraversial opinion like it's a matter of fact...


Going above 44.1 khz has more implications than you realize.   The easiest to point out is that sine waves interact with each other.  If all you have is headphones that reproduce 20-20,   you're right,   it can be somewhat pointless.   But if they can reproduce higher frequencies,   then even the sane waves that we don't directly hear will create sympathetic harmonic resonance that WILL impact what we hear.   This impacts timbre.   If you don't have a sampling rate fast enough that you acurately hit both ends of the sine wave (no chance of accidentally hitting just before or after the peaks,  which gets harder as frequency goes up) you're impacting quality.  Granted,   you're unlikely to have headphone that would be able to reproduce a sound high enough that 192 would be needed,   but you have a better chance of hitting the peak right on the head.

IF your card supports 192khz playback,   in theory it will affect your experience.

Except that you don't need to accurately hit both ends with the samples because the samples aren't points with straight lines between them. Thats what the low pass filter is for, the corners where those change would contain frequencies higher than 22,050Hz (The highest that can be accurately reproduced at 44.1khz). At 44.1khz, every wave below 22.5Khz will have at least two sampling points on it, and the only wave that will fit through both of those sampling points without containing frequencies higher than 22.5Khz is the original wave. As for sympathetic harmonic resonance, what? Harmonics are multiples of a frequency, a harmonic is a number of shorter waves that will fit perfectly in the space of one longer wave, how does something that can only go higher impact what we hear?

Edit: Found something that goes into some detail on the subject: http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
« Last Edit: March 12, 2014, 06:00:58 pm by McMajik »

Offline Mr. Apple

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2014, 12:45:03 pm »
I don't know that I would consider myself an audiophile but I do like high quality audio.

Basic setup is: Grado RS1s buttonlees,   Emu soundcard,  and fiio e9 ampliier.

I've got a pair of grado 225is for when I leave home.


Good to see you again apple!   ^^

Interesting choice using grados for walk around headphones. Don't they let in a lot of ambient noise?
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Offline Mr. Apple

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2014, 01:15:01 pm »
I guess I should give a little peek at what I got going on too.
No real good headphone amps yet though it is on my shopping list. But as far as headphones go, I've had a pair of beyerdynamic dt880s for a while and more recently picked up a pair of vmoda crossfade lp2s which color the sound a lot, but are my number one pick right now. I want to step up my game in the near future and invest in some lcd2s and a woo audio wa7. Haven't done all my homework yet so it's still up in the air but its definitely something I'm looking into.

On the other side of the spectrum, I've built a home theater from scratch a couple months ago that's driven by a Yamaha Rx v675 powering two definitive technology super towers (basically floor speakers with built in subwoofers) and also their pro cinema 600 series speakers that I use as satellites and my center. So all together, that pretty much fills up the back of my 7.2 channel receiver.
And it sounds incredible xD

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Offline Alsek

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2014, 03:23:40 am »
Interesting choice using grados for walk around headphones. Don't they let in a lot of ambient noise?

They let in some sound,  but honestly if i'm not at home,  i'd prefer to have some idea what's going on around me.  They let me enjoy the music whilst not suddenly becoming completely and entirely oblivious to what's happening around me.  Only really loud noises tend to get through unless you're listing to something with a LOT of dynamic range like classical music.

Offline Mr. Apple

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2014, 01:06:34 pm »
Interesting choice using grados for walk around headphones. Don't they let in a lot of ambient noise?

They let in some sound,  but honestly if i'm not at home,  i'd prefer to have some idea what's going on around me.  They let me enjoy the music whilst not suddenly becoming completely and entirely oblivious to what's happening around me.  Only really loud noises tend to get through unless you're listing to something with a LOT of dynamic range like classical music.

That makes sense. I was actually thinking of getting a pair or grados for a walkaround headphone but instead went with the Vmoda Crossfades since I like a lot of bass.
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Offline Alsek

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2014, 02:18:09 pm »
Grados are a bit bass heavy,  but they're not overwhelmingly so.  Mostly, they focus on clarity and getting a well-rounded sound.  Most people tend to either swear by them or despise them,  so maybe it would be best to try them out before buying if you can?  :)

I didn't really intend to get them as a, "Walk around," set as you put it.  Originally my SR225is were my main headphones. When i upgraded to the RS1s I started using the 225is in places i would be way too worried to take the RS1s.  Like,  for example,  while camping,  public transit,  airplanes, doing housework,  or work.  However, they seem to work pretty well.  I don't hear things i don't need to, and I do hear things i probably should like cars,  my office door opening and someone talking to me,  etc.

Because of the way grado's sound,  typically,  it sounds like the music is coming from all around you rather than inside your head.  So addition sounds do not break that effect.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2014, 02:21:37 pm by Alsek »

Offline Mr. Apple

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2014, 04:55:46 pm »
Grados are a bit bass heavy,  but they're not overwhelmingly so.  Mostly, they focus on clarity and getting a well-rounded sound.  Most people tend to either swear by them or despise them,  so maybe it would be best to try them out before buying if you can?  :)

I didn't really intend to get them as a, "Walk around," set as you put it.  Originally my SR225is were my main headphones. When i upgraded to the RS1s I started using the 225is in places i would be way too worried to take the RS1s.  Like,  for example,  while camping,  public transit,  airplanes, doing housework,  or work.  However, they seem to work pretty well.  I don't hear things i don't need to, and I do hear things i probably should like cars,  my office door opening and someone talking to me,  etc.

Because of the way grado's sound,  typically,  it sounds like the music is coming from all around you rather than inside your head.  So addition sounds do not break that effect.

I'd really like to try a pair out someday. There is supposed to be a head-fi meetup somewhere around where I live and someone might have a pair there.
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Offline Hesper Scott

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2014, 09:53:18 pm »
I'm not an audiophile per se, but I cringe at crummy iHome/iPod sound and always purchase CDs or records in favor of digital downloads. For listening to music on my computer, I just got a pair of decent headphones so I don't have to deal with those shoddy in-the-ear ones.
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Offline BassCreator

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2014, 05:19:09 pm »
Personally, I prefer any bose products, and audio technica ath-m50s's.

Offline xXRaina-the-FoxXx

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #16 on: May 22, 2014, 05:27:14 pm »
hmmmmmmmm i have no idea what your talking about! :D
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Offline BassCreator

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Re: Furry audiophiles?
« Reply #17 on: May 22, 2014, 06:33:06 pm »
Headphone companies, we are arguing civilly about which are the best.