Attitude and knowledge certainly play a part. You sit there, jaw set, determined that you're right (as I'm sure you did) and you could hear two different songs and call it the same. Further, many people mistake bass volume for fidelity. Preconceptions play a part as well, as the Bose example shows us. Your speakers aren't audiophile grade or close. Last, how exactly did you go about enabling KS?
I'm sensing a comment in reply about "mega-nerd audiophiles" and $50,000 audiophile setups
So I'll preempt it by stating that for about $25 US you can get an excellent sound card in the Chaintech av710. For $65-$80 you can get excellent entry-level headphones; Shure ec2s, Grado sr60s, Sennheiser hd280s... For $175, a great set of 2.0 speakers - Swans m200s.
For sure, I'm not an audiophile, but I certainly appreciate sound quality, especially when it's free, such as with ASIO or kernel streaming. If I seem a bit link-happy, it's because I know people here tend to take anything without a supporting link with a grain of salt. The relation between specs such as snr or thd to sound quality is a lot like the relation between cpu mhz and actual capability; not the only factor, but an important one. How's Bubba?
I'm sensing a comment in reply about "mega-nerd audiophiles" and $50,000 audiophile setups
So I'll preempt it by stating that for about $25 US you can get an excellent sound card in the Chaintech av710. For $65-$80 you can get excellent entry-level headphones; Shure ec2s, Grado sr60s, Sennheiser hd280s... For $175, a great set of 2.0 speakers - Swans m200s. For sure, I'm not an audiophile, but I certainly appreciate sound quality, especially when it's free, such as with ASIO or kernel streaming. If I seem a bit link-happy, it's because I know people here tend to take anything without a supporting link with a grain of salt. The relation between specs such as snr or thd to sound quality is a lot like the relation between cpu mhz and actual capability; not the only factor, but an important one. How's Bubba?
I agree about the people needing a link to accept any form of information. The sound quality debate is endless, and at most times pointless. The difference in quality between songs plaed without ASIO or krnl steaming is really nominal when it comes down to it. Of course these differences are amplified as the quality of your sound reproduction equipment increases.
The whole krnl streaming debate is so closely related to debates about differences in quality between different bit rates that I basically write it off.
Very much like the placebo effect I mentioned earlier when sensing an improvement in audio quality
Seriously gurck, I was genuinely interested to hear a difference between the players. I really did give them a fair test and I would admit if I had noticed any difference, but I didn't.
As for setting up KS I first tried with just KS enabled, then I went to some audiophile page that suggested the following setup:
Output data format:24/32bit fixed-point
Dither: strong ATH noise shaped
DSP manger added: resampler(ssrc) & advanced limiter
I tried with different combinations of the above.
Out of interest, what would you suggest as the best setup?
Cheers for your opinions on decent budget audio setups, maybe in 5 years I'll ask you when I'm looking for a replacement setup! As I said I'm happy with the sound produced by my current setup. I find the treble to be seriously crisp with a nice full midrange too. With the fat sub there's the option to have stupid amounts of bass, but it's not really my thing, the sub is turned pretty low much of the time.
Things have changed. If you like a small form factor iTunes has the mini player: like this
Which can go even smaller: like this
Also, you can now have it minimize to the system tray: like this!
No excuses now!
I just switched to iTunes recently, and I'm pretty impressed. I like party shuffle mode as well as the fact that the Audioscrobbler plugin actually works.
I just recently switched to iTunes as I moved my main usage to the Mac mini I just picked up (nice machine by the way). Before I was using J-River Media Center 10 to securely rip and encode to ape, but I transcoded those files to WMA lossless then imported them into ALAC. End result - same file, slightly different file size. ITunes is less powerful than the J-River program is, but unfortunately the J-River program isn't available in a Mac version (many rippers, encoders, and players, especially those that do lossless aren't available for the Macs). Itunes did screw up my directory structure when transcoding the WMA lossless files from multi-artist albums, which irked me. I tried numerous options and work arounds, but I couldn't get it to keep the standard of going with the Album and then tracks rather than splitting up the directory into multiple artists. And I haven't been able to use either tag and rename or Media Center to fix the directory structure, but frankly it doesn't bother me too much, as I can easily go back through and dig out the individual files by hand, putting them in their respective directories if needed. And iTunes database and UI integration, while not as powerful as J-River's, is a fair bit easier/simpler to use. I will miss the great secure ripping of Media Center (and the other choices for the PC, such as EAC), but I'll just rip with my PC if I come across a fairly scratched disk.
But, in all honesty, I think I'm going to like using iTunes once I fully get the hang of it. Apple lossless is a decent codec, and thanks to air tunes, lossless audio can be streamed anywhere I need it to, if I decide to eventually go that route (no need right now, as my receiver is near at hand). Frankly, the program does a great job at letting you access your music as you need it. And that's what matters in the end to most people. We can debate audio quality to no end, and critical listening has its place (and can be fun). But one of the major benefits of using a computer to listen to music is that it has a convenience that surpasses always having to dig out a CD you want to listen to. And I find that that convenience is greatly enhanced by using a program that has library functionality.
What I can't wait to do is try out my fathers new HTPC. He has recently picked up a Cambridge receiver and some Paradigm Studio 40s, along with an SVS sub (IIRC). He is still debating whether to get a stand alone audio cd player on top of the DVD player he'll be purchasing. What I want to do is set him up with an airtunes setup streaming lossless to the receiver, allowing a comparison in quality between the stand alone optical player and the lossless audio from the HTPC. The only thing that should vary between the 2 setups is the post processing done, and the DACs in the receiver (used for the lossless) and the stand alone player (used for the CDs).
Audio is fun!
But, in all honesty, I think I'm going to like using iTunes once I fully get the hang of it. Apple lossless is a decent codec, and thanks to air tunes, lossless audio can be streamed anywhere I need it to, if I decide to eventually go that route (no need right now, as my receiver is near at hand). Frankly, the program does a great job at letting you access your music as you need it. And that's what matters in the end to most people. We can debate audio quality to no end, and critical listening has its place (and can be fun). But one of the major benefits of using a computer to listen to music is that it has a convenience that surpasses always having to dig out a CD you want to listen to. And I find that that convenience is greatly enhanced by using a program that has library functionality.
What I can't wait to do is try out my fathers new HTPC. He has recently picked up a Cambridge receiver and some Paradigm Studio 40s, along with an SVS sub (IIRC). He is still debating whether to get a stand alone audio cd player on top of the DVD player he'll be purchasing. What I want to do is set him up with an airtunes setup streaming lossless to the receiver, allowing a comparison in quality between the stand alone optical player and the lossless audio from the HTPC. The only thing that should vary between the 2 setups is the post processing done, and the DACs in the receiver (used for the lossless) and the stand alone player (used for the CDs).
Audio is fun!
Originally posted by: loic2003
Things have changed. If you like a small form factor iTunes has the mini player: like this
Which can go even smaller: like this
Also, you can now have it minimize to the system tray: like this!
No excuses now!
Thats all well and good but WMP10 mini mode owns that.....
http://www.xvsxp.com/images/wmp-mini2.gif
POLL!
personally i like itunes when i iten to music for a while
winamp is good if i just want to listen to a paticular file
personally i like itunes when i iten to music for a while
winamp is good if i just want to listen to a paticular file
I tried iTunes about a year ago. It felt bloated.
Does the iTunes shuffle REALLY shuffle?? I know winamp 2.9 doesnt... I keep hearing the same songs.
Does the iTunes shuffle REALLY shuffle?? I know winamp 2.9 doesnt... I keep hearing the same songs.
this thread is totally subjective....people need to start respecting eachother's oppinions more and stop crusading around trying to convert people to be clones of them.
some people find the itunes interface bloated, and it kind of is. its huge; takes up 3/4 of my screen at 12x10. but to me it dosnt matter...as long as firefox and MSN are the windows of focus, itunes just hangs around in the back.
to guy with >100GB: how many songs do you have? i mean, i could probably have 70GB if my files were lossless... its the ammount of songs you have that counts.
Nick
some people find the itunes interface bloated, and it kind of is. its huge; takes up 3/4 of my screen at 12x10. but to me it dosnt matter...as long as firefox and MSN are the windows of focus, itunes just hangs around in the back.
to guy with >100GB: how many songs do you have? i mean, i could probably have 70GB if my files were lossless... its the ammount of songs you have that counts.
Nick
Did you try checking the "Part of a compilation" box? It'll then put them in a folder called Compilations, then in a folder for the CD.
Thanks a ton! I didn't realize that that was what they meant by compilations. Sort of odd that they don't use the standard denominations of 'multiple artists' or 'various' or 'various artists'. Those seem to be much more common than compilations.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter