this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 114 points 3 months ago (17 children)

I know this is meant as a joke, but I have to say, it's incredibly hard to get proper audio equipment without paying idiot tax like crazy.

I want neither China crap, nor overengineered German CD shavers (those really exist, BTW), but just decent audio. If you look for reviews, everything under 2000€ is utter garbage, apparently, and you should be sterilized for even thinking about spending less than that. Or you go on Amazon and even a brick wall will have stellar reviews, because it sounds really awesome and even has Bluetooth!

Extremely frustrating. No middle ground.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Once I reported a listing, because it was initially selling something like hair clips, got great reviews, and then somehow changed everything to a BBQ Grill whilst keeping all the old reviews.

The listing was still up a couple of months later. Half five star reviews about some random product, half bad reviews about how the grill would randomly collapse or something.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago

I often see products with multiple different model options (for example, monitors) but most of the reviews are about the old models, essentially boosting their review count on day one with reviews from the past.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (9 children)

That's if you buy the marketing. You can find very good headphones in the 200-500 range. Hell, for portable audio you can get an akg k361 and a Qudelix 5k for $230 and that'd be a pretty good setup.

I personally use either that akg headphone or the Moondrop Aria hooked up to my phone and I think it's decent enough.

For a home setup I have a Topping DX3 Pro+ and the Hifiman Edition XS. In total that would cost around 550 I think and the quality (to my ears) is phenomenal.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (3 children)

And that's already a whole lot of money for next to no value for 99% of the people.

Let's be honest, most people listen to Spotify in a room that's not ideal for listening. And I'm also very very certain that most of the higher end stuff (and I'm counting everything over 200€) is esoteric. You can't hear a difference in quality. Maybe a difference, but not objectively better or worse.

Problem is, where exactly is the line? It's almost impossible to tell whether this one speaker is garbage with a markup or actually high quality.

And more fundamentally: I can buy a brand new smartphone, with absolute top notch technology for 200€, but speakers and amplifiers, technologies that existed for decades and should be out-scienced by now still cost that much without any guarantees for quality? Sound should be a solved problem.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I've yet to meet a person that isn't blown away by how much better my headphones or iems sound compared to their earbuds/laptop speakers. However, I do have to admit that several just don't really care that much. And some of the ones that do care, can't afford it or justify the cost.

Your comparison doesn't make much sense and I honestly don't even know where to begin explaining exactly how different they are. From design to production process, to shipping differences and market size. Lifespan is wildly different as well. Headphones can last you 20+ years whereas a smartphone will need to be replaced after 3 or 4.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It is such a blessing to have unrefined taste. My brother is an audiophile and has fallen into this hole. I can't tell the difference. I got cheap bookshelf speaks for the TV and that's good enough for me as an upgrade from the TV built in speaker. My 15 year old PC Logitech speakers are doing great. Anker earphones had good enough reviews from soundguys.com. I listen to my brother's speakers with his lossless music and it really makes no difference to me. It has been great for my wallet. I mostly listen to podcasts anyway.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I hear ya. I’ve got enough expensive hobbies as is, so I’m glad I dodged that one. I listen to YouTube music on Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, I’ve got cheap Creative Pebble Pro PC speakers and it’s PERFECTLY FINE to my ears. Sure, I could spend 500 bucks on headphones and another 500 on speakers, but they just don’t give me that ‘wow’ factor to where it seems like a good investment. I’ve tried them; it wasn’t for me.

I’m also not the guy you should take to a fancy restaurant. A Domino’s pizza tastes just fine to me, so a five star Michelin restaurant would just be completely wasted on me. I’ve got exquisite taste and refinement in other areas, but I’m wholly a basic bitch in these two.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I could say a lot on this, as I've been in the whole premium audio/audiophile thing for a little while (I don't buy the hype, I just want something that sounds good but doesn't break the bank).

What I want to mention is that cd shavers have a purpose, but it's not necessarily good for audio/audio quality. To put it simply, if a disc is unbalanced and wobbles in the reader/player, it's prone to errors. With audio, most of these errors are correctable, and at most generate artifacts in the sound (like ticks or pops), but with faster readers, usually with data storage (like 48x or 52x cd/dvd readers) those errors can cause some significant issues where the disc needs to be re-read. The wobble of the disc due to balance issues can be a significant factor at high speeds.

Shaving a disc, which is really just trimming excess material until the disc is circularly uniform, can reduce errors and increase access speeds.

While all of this is possible, in practice, it doesn't really matter all that much.

I will finish by saying: you won't notice if a CD/DVD/BluRay is in balance, but you will definitely notice if it's significantly out of balance.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

https://www.rtings.com/headphones

I have used this site to buy monitors and displays. They are generally pretty objective and provide thorough data and they often document their methodology.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

You can get good quality headphones for not that much money. Linsoul KZ ZS10s are surprisingly good for only $40. Grados SR-80s and Hifiman HE400s are both audiophile quality for a bit over $100.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Moondrop Chu is a $20 earphone that has audiophile-tier sound according to many audiophile reviewers. Don’t bother with the built-in microphone though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

You might find some DankPods videos on YouTube helpful. He does a lot of silly videos about e-junk, but he is also a musician who, in some videos, points out good and affordable headphones. Sorry I can’t recall off the top of head what those are, though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yep, it's a big problem in audio and other subjective areas, because you have no way of knowing what the anonymous reviewer's point of reference is, and most professional reviewers' reference points are not suitable. It's worse too, because purchaser-reviewers self-select into their category, so you expect most people to be satisfied with the subjective aspects of a product they've purchased, even though most people would not be satisfied with a random cheap product. This is all not helped by the fact that, in audio when differences are so minute, virtually no-one is conducting blind reviews so confirmation bias probably accounts for huge amounts of the final score. Sure, any professional reviewer is going to be able to identify a bum product that costs thousands, but I bet most of them will rate an identical product more highly if they're told it costs 10x as much and comes from a fancier brand.

I've ended up crowdsourcing my recommendations from places like reddit where people tend to make tiered recommendation lists so you at least know they have the goal of producing the best products at each price level.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This exact thing happened in the wine world in 1976 during the "Judgment of Paris" wine-tasting event. The top wine critics in the world did a blind taste test of the best French wines and a bunch of unknown California wines. Naturally, everyone, including the critics, thought France would win hands-down. California won, shocking everyone. Before revealing the results, the judges were asked whether they thought the California or French wines had won. They all assumed that the wines they rated the highest were French, claiming they could tell which was which even while blinded. The interesting thing isn't so much that California wines were good, but rather that the professional judges couldn't tell the difference in a blind taste test.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

The Judgement of Paris should be required study for every High School student as part of political/sociology/psychology courses (whatever they have).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I've seen the same pattern with knives. If you just want a decent kitchen knife, you'll find tons of people who are absolutely certain, that it's physically impossible to cut anything unless the blade has been sharpened by a Japanese virgin under moonlight.

I assume, the value for money curve is a sigmoidal, where at a certain, relatively low price you get almost all the value and afterwards it only gets more expensive, but not better. But you never know, when you've reached the plateau.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Lots of middle ground out there.

Marantz, NAD, Cambridge Audio, and others all can put together great semi-audiophole systems. If a shop tries to upsell you on cables etc., judt tell them 'you're already covered.'

Meanwhile, small speakers for under $500 have never sounded better.

Or you can step up a notch and by used. I've got Rotel and Rega gear, which is way over-value.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is how Arch Linux users look when they tell me they use Arch (they use Arch BTW).

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 83 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I use Arch btw.

⚫➖🤓➖⚫

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 months ago

I think he's just cosplaying as carbon dioxide.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

Looks like one of the Boys of Silence from BioShock Infinite

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Now I'm curious, what is this?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Assuming this is not entirely a joke, I would guess that those are resonant chambers which are meant to amplify bassier frequencies.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Wow.

And here I am trying to find good earbuds and headphones that don't have so much freaking bass, so I can hear the rest of the instruments...

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Check out studio headphones. They have a "flat" frequency resoponse and they arent neccessarily expensive. (eg. AKG k240)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Yeah I have one pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990, 250 Ohm, as well as a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 at work. They sound great. Nice and flat sound. Letting the music decide how it should sound.

But it's harder to find earbuds that aren't bass-heavy, in my experience. I'm currently using a pair of Jaybird Vista 2. They are both pretty comfortable and provide good sound, which is rare for me (I have very open ears that buds easily slip out of.)

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (3 children)

This image came from a post on Reddit. The user who posted it (on Reddit) said they're headphones with a 60Hz Helmholtz Resonator. In other words: more bass

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (5 children)

The real question is what does his DAC look like?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago

No unsolicited DAC-pics, please!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

no DAC, he streams the digital signal directly to his consciousness.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

"I don't even see the code anymore"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Looks like a stand user...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

With the power of my「WORLD'S END RHAPSODY」I'll show the true quality of music to all the lowlifes using airpods! As they hear the crystal clear sound, they'll become free of their shackles and expand their mind to a new dimension of entertainment!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Steve Jobs's younger brother, Odd.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Was that the Apple Jesus before he died?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

My first impression was the US knockoff of John Oliver

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Hey guys! The Steve Jobs your looking at here is the owner of the website: www.pud.com where you can see al lthe fun mods the guy did to a headphone to make it sound different. The following text is from mister Pud here explaining what this headphone is:

A "Helmholtz resonator"is that thing when you blow on a Coke bottle and it plays a low pitch.

The pitch can be tuned by adjusting its dimensions. Ol'Thumby (The headset on the photo -Kyoyeou) has a resonator tuned to 60hz (Bass territory -Kyoyeou) with the "neck" radius of 50mm (same as the driver I'm using).

If you're interested in trying something like this yourself, there are Helmholtz resonator calculators online, or ask ChatGPT to help you calculate. Here's the calculator I used: www.omnicalculator.com/physics/helmholtz-resonator

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (9 children)

I would be afraid of wearing any high-end headphones in public, as they can be stolen so easily off of one’s head.

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