EPTChef's Pretentious Guide to Enjoying Music - Page 2
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oatboy
United States198 Posts
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stafu
Australia1196 Posts
![[image loading]](http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/audio_technica_ath_ad900.jpg) | ||
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Amnesia
United States3818 Posts
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Chef
10810 Posts
On December 19 2009 14:53 oatboy wrote: I liked your sections on equipment, too many people listen to everything on iPod buds and can't hear shit. I have a question though, how come classical music is always "relaxing"? If you're going to sit and listen critically to music you can get a ton out of doing that with classical, and most good classical music isn't remotely relaxing in any way. It isn't. I meant 'relaxing' to be a qualifier, because sometimes Classical music is brutally distracting and hard to listen to while doing something intensive. | ||
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JohnColtrane
Australia4813 Posts
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Katkishka
United States657 Posts
Most of my albums are produced by artists who don't have access to extremely high quality recording equipment, and since I already own the album and can re-rip it if I ever feel the need (no need for elitist archiving on my hard drive) I don't really see a point to keep them in flac after transcoding to something smaller unless I'm sending the music to someone else. But I guess this doesn't really apply to much mainstream music since I'd guess they can afford to record with high-quality equipment. | ||
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oatboy
United States198 Posts
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CursOr
United States6335 Posts
thanks for the guide. | ||
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Katkishka
United States657 Posts
On December 19 2009 15:12 oatboy wrote: I see, I"m just a little touchy about it becuase I'm a classical musician and most times I tell people that they always say "oh i always listen to classical when i'm studying" which is missing the point entirely. I also have no ability to tune out classical music at all so I can't listen to it at all when I'm attempting something else. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/09/01/108-appearing-to-enjoy-classical-music/ The link's a bit old, but.. this guy hits the nail on the head | ||
Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21244 Posts
On December 19 2009 15:17 Sunny Afternoon wrote: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/09/01/108-appearing-to-enjoy-classical-music/ The link's a bit old, but.. this guy hits the nail on the head I agree with these two posts so much. If you think classical music is nice and relaxing and light, you're doing it wrong :< | ||
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Chef
10810 Posts
On December 19 2009 15:12 oatboy wrote: I see, I"m just a little touchy about it becuase I'm a classical musician and most times I tell people that they always say "oh i always listen to classical when i'm studying" which is missing the point entirely. I also have no ability to tune out classical music at all so I can't listen to it at all when I'm attempting something else. I definitely sympathize. That stuffwhitepeoplelike blog is so true too hahaha. That's why I wrote the qualifier though, because I thought if I just said 'classical' people would be offended T.T | ||
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Nevuk
United States16280 Posts
That I myself listen to hardcore punk while studying is somewhat besides the point, though. | ||
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Chef
10810 Posts
Glenn Gould Edition Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I... Tell me that's not relaxing. | ||
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Wangsta
United States776 Posts
For one thing, your hd650 really do need an (high quality) amplifier and there is very good reason why they do. I'm sure you don't care for a technical explanation, but the short story is that amplifiers change the signal that you feed it. Bad amplifiers will change the signal a lot more than good amplifiers. Headphones also have technical specs based on the properties of their drivers (i.e. resistance), and you need to match those specifications otherwise you are fucking with the power circuit and your sound (and possibly your equipment) will be affected. Low sensitivity headphones need a lot of current to achieve higher volumes. If your amplifier cannot provide enough current, you will get clipping in your sound, which is VERY bad. High resistance headphones need a lot of input voltage swing to effectively move their drivers and achieve high quality detail/dynamics. If your amplifier can't output high enough voltages, then your headphone's drivers wont react properly to small/rapid changes in your sound waveform (i.e. fast or complex music) If you want to ignore the opinions of experts and use hd650s straight out of an ipod, thats fine. What you are doing is the equivalent of putting a $1000 graphics card into a $500 desktop computer. But if that makes you happy, then so be it Also, I won't say that you are wrong about mp3s being just as good as flac, but for audiophile purposes there is a huge difference between the two, especially if you are comparing lower bitrate mp3s. I do believe that there is a difference between even the best mp3s (i.e. LAME encoded 320kbps or VBR-0) and FLAC files. However, the difference is small enough that you can ignore it if you don't listen too critically. The biggest problem I have with mp3s is that not all of them are encoded properly. Poorly encoded mp3s are extremely distracting, and that alone justifies switching to FLAC imo (at very least, so that you can use the flacs to encode mp3s YOURSELF to ensure that they sound good). | ||
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Chef
10810 Posts
Show me the abx studies that prove otherwise. Those don't exist either. Trust me. I spent fucking months looking for them. mp3s only have trouble on rare occasion with some songs. Those songs are mentioned on hydrogenaudio.org and have been abx tested. | ||
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Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21244 Posts
On December 19 2009 15:46 Chef wrote: I find Glenn Gould pretty relaxing... But I don't want to be suddenly labeled one of those white people who pretends to know what they're talking about, so he refers to a relatively recent work! So pretend I didn't tell you that. Glenn Gould Edition Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I... Tell me that's not relaxing. I do not approve, in general, of Gould's unorthodox tempos. >_> | ||
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R04R
United States1631 Posts
On December 19 2009 12:01 Chef wrote: Not only this, but you will miss out on any genre with long slow songs, because YOU'RE LIVING YOUR STUPID FAST PACED LIFE AND AREN'T STOPPING TO SMELL THE FLOWERS! GOD YOU'RE SUCH A NOOB AT LIFE! No! I don't gotta skate you fucker! Slow down! Hahaha, love this passage! Chef you're awesome. I've been looking for my first pair of headphones, so nothing high-end. My budget is at most $40 and I want closed headphones. So far I've narrowed it down to JVC HA-RX700, Sennheiser HD202, or Sennheiser HD201. Any other suggestions someone? | ||
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Wangsta
United States776 Posts
On December 19 2009 16:03 Chef wrote: No, I do care for the technical explanation. The problem is it doesn't exist because it's not true. Show me the abx studies that prove otherwise. Those don't exist either. mp3s only have trouble on rare occasion with some songs. Those songs are mentioned on hydrogenaudio.org and have been abx tested. ABx studies for amplifers http://www.provide.net/~djcarlst/abx_pwr.htm mp3s I really shouldnt need to prove anything. Take any flac file that you have and compress it to 128kbps mp3. now compare it to the original | ||
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ZeroDPX
United States392 Posts
Not _everyone_ on head-fi.org is an idiot. There are a lot of people with a lot of experience there. Mixed in are people with no experience and violent opinions, and people who don't realize that the placebo effect is what's making their $10,000 amp sound amazing. If you are good at critical thinking, it can be a valuable forum. Cables aren't _completely_ irrelevant, but they don't matter in every circumstance, and they're definitely not worth paying snake-oil salesmen insane amounts of money. That said, replacing my stock HD580 cable with a $60 cable that was a much heavier gauge increased the bass response, which makes sense, because the super-fine gauge of the old wire has different electrical characteristics than the much heavier gauge wire in the new cable. I would not, however, expect to hear a difference between my cable and one of the same gauge but made with oxygen-free copper and nitrogen injected teflon-coated doohickywhatevers. There's a reason those don't sound better in double-blind tests, it's called "buzzwords for gullible people". Headphone amps are also not irrelevant, but their effects depend greatly on source, headphone, volume, and musical style. If you put high-impedance headphones on a low-powered portable device and play hard bass hits at high volumes, you will probably be able to hear some distortion. As your ear becomes more finely tuned, you can probably hear more things in more circumstances. But most headphones can be very enjoyable on most sources with most music, and an amp can be anywhere from a nice improvement to not really discernable. The final rule, which you don't mention, is that in the end, what's best is what sounds right _to you_, not what someone else tells you is better. If you don't hear any difference, it's not better. Of course, it's definitely possible to train your ear to hear more precisely, and thus notice stuff. And most people would be able to hear the difference a nice pair of headphones makes over their $10 earbuds, and be surprised at how much they've been missing. But in the end, the best thing is what makes you happy. P.S. If you're claiming to be pretentious, why are you recommending OGG? Recommend MPC, for heavens' sake. Faster to compress, sounds better at lower bitrates, open standard.  | ||
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Chef
10810 Posts
On December 19 2009 16:08 Wangsta wrote: ABx studies for amplifers http://www.provide.net/~djcarlst/abx_pwr.htm mp3s I really shouldnt need to prove anything. Take any flac file that you have and compress it to 128kbps mp3. now compare it to the original In spec talk it might be called flat +/- 0.9 dB over the 20 Hz to 20 kHz range. Passable, but this is not good enough to pass an ABX test. And the other tests give out 50% results. I said in my OP 128 kb/s is not good enough. Zero, this sort of golden ears shit is the stuff you hear on head-fi all the time. "Oh, you don't hear it? That must mean you don't have as good hearing." All it does is make people imagine differences because they don't want to be the guy without a golden ear. | ||
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