Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   fiona (vidister@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 19:12:48 JST fiona

   I wonder if linux audiophiles are a thing.

   "plain ALSA sounds warmer than pipewire"

   "linux kernel compiled with ALSR makes for a more chaotic high end"

   "ext2 sounds better than ext4"

   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: like this.
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 19:13:30 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to
     @vidister Well at least files becoming lossy on ext4 would be true :P
   • Embed this notice
     miauz genyau (mia@movsw.0x0.st)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 19:51:10 JST miauz genyau

     in reply to

     • q66

     @q66 @vidister the OSS thing might not even be wrong because some distros don't install libasound plugins so it'll do linear interpolation resampling instead of speexrate by default 🙃

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     q66 (q66@blahaj.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 19:51:11 JST q66

     in reply to

     @vidister i've seen people argue that oss sounds better than alsa soooooo

     (and i've seen audiophiles talk about sound differences with ssds and ethernet cables so...)

   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:27:02 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     @lanodan @vidister I wonder how filesystem affects audio quality. Because hearing the difference now isn't the reason to encode to FLAC. FLAC uses lossless compression, while MP3 is 'lossy'. What this means is that for each year the MP3 sits on your hard drive, it will lose roughly 12kbps, assuming you have SATA - it's about 15kbps on IDE, but only 7kbps on SCSI, due to rotational velocidensity. You don't want to know how much worse it is on CD-ROM or other optical media. I started collecting MP3s in about 2001, and if I try to play any of the tracks I downloaded back then, even the stuff I grabbed at 320kbps, they just sound like crap. The bass is terrible, the midrange...well don't get me started. Some of those albums have degraded down to 32 or even 16kbps. FLAC rips from the same period still sound great, even if they weren't stored correctly, in a cool, dry place. Seriously, stick to FLAC, you may not be able to hear the difference now, but in a year or two, you'll be glad you did.
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:29:37 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @warmbeverageenjoyer @vidister @newt It's a copypasta.
   • Embed this notice
     Vinnewed Goblin (warmbeverageenjoyer@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:29:38 JST Vinnewed Goblin

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     @newt @lanodan @vidister is this really how it works? How does that work when it comes to torrent trackers/long term seeding of mp3s?
   • Embed this notice
     miauz genyau (mia@movsw.0x0.st)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:31:22 JST miauz genyau

     in reply to

     • q66
     • Hans-Cees 🍋

     @q66 @hanscees @vidister audiophile bs makes a lot more sense once you understand that it's all men going through a midlife crisis

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Hans-Cees 🍋 (hanscees@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:31:23 JST Hans-Cees 🍋

     in reply to

     • q66

     @q66 @vidister you need a sata drive with 5200 spinning for good sounds for sure

   • Embed this notice
     q66 (q66@blahaj.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:31:23 JST q66

     in reply to

     • Hans-Cees 🍋

     @hanscees @vidister audiophiles are so funny because you can make up literally whatever nonsense and still be sure some of them will unironically claim it's true

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:32:02 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @warmbeverageenjoyer @vidister @lanodan you should use only audiophile graded ethernet cables to prevent distortions from those torrents. Also, make sure your seedbox only seed classical music. Having Taylor Swift on the same ethernet link would ruin your sound forever!
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:32:30 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @newt @vidister @warmbeverageenjoyer
     > Having Taylor Swift on the same ethernet link would ruin your sound forever!
     
     I think that one is kind of true but for a non-technical reason :D
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:39:48 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • miauz genyau
     • q66
     @q66 @mia @vidister Heh reminds me that ototoy.jp sells "Hi-Res" albums (24bit@96 kHz), also got similar stuff from bandcamp.
     Kind of feels like bloat to me, specially the higher than 44.1 kHz part.
   • Embed this notice
     q66 (q66@blahaj.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:39:49 JST q66

     in reply to

     • miauz genyau

     @mia @vidister in a typical setup you are not resampling, because it's all 44.1k, unless you have an extensive opus collection or something (and most people don't)

   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:48:34 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • miauz genyau
     • q66
     @q66 @vidister @mia Yeah, I just have no idea how the bit depth part works, so only claimed bloat on the sampling rate as I know about nyquist-shannon.
   • Embed this notice
     q66 (q66@blahaj.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:48:35 JST q66

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • miauz genyau

     @lanodan @vidister @mia both 24bit and high sample rate are, you don't get to reach the limitations of either in practice (e.g. my upper hearing limit is ~19500 which is still well below the nyquist frequency for 44.1k, and that's unusual for a person my age, a lot of people don't even get to reach 17k)

     if anything if your audio *does* contain frequencies above those ~22k, it's probably pretty bad because audio gear is flawed and it's a lot easier to turn that kinda thing into distortion

   • Embed this notice
     q66 (q66@blahaj.social)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 20:56:23 JST q66

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • miauz genyau

     @lanodan @vidister @mia the bit depth determines the dynamic range (i.e. difference between loudest and quietest sound), traditionally calculated as `6 * nbits` which for 16 bits amounts to 96dB, but in practice that measurement is wrong and it's a lot more than that

     old, but always good reading: https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Vinnewed Goblin (warmbeverageenjoyer@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 22:22:36 JST Vinnewed Goblin

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎
     @pesekcuy @lanodan @newt @vidister tbh though, I absolutely should. I'm sick of other people's music
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎 (pesekcuy@pesekcuy.my.id)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 22:22:37 JST we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @warmbeverageenjoyer @vidister @lanodan @newt it's possible if you take full control of your playlists instead of letting a random algorithm doing it for you. Just hoard any music you'd like to your device and cue your earphone
   • Embed this notice
     Vinnewed Goblin (warmbeverageenjoyer@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 22:22:38 JST Vinnewed Goblin

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     @newt @lanodan @vidister I'm sure you have against your will
     There are so many songs that you hear just existing outside in the world that all sound like shit, which happen to be hers
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 22:22:39 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @warmbeverageenjoyer @vidister @lanodan I wouldn't know. I've never actually heard any of her songs.
   • Embed this notice
     Vinnewed Goblin (warmbeverageenjoyer@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 22:22:40 JST Vinnewed Goblin

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     @newt @lanodan @vidister wait I think that last part is empirically true
   • Embed this notice
     Vinnewed Goblin (warmbeverageenjoyer@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:10:15 JST Vinnewed Goblin

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎
     @pesekcuy @lanodan @newt @vidister I do, but I also don't have earbuds/headphones on 24/7
     Walking around stores etc you will hear swiftslop
   • Embed this notice
     we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎 (pesekcuy@pesekcuy.my.id)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:10:15 JST we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • Vinnewed Goblin
     @warmbeverageenjoyer @vidister @lanodan @newt avg people here (a third world country) seems don't care of their ears, almost all of the soundsystems used in public space are ear rapes. Therefore my $10 iem always come in handy
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Wolf480pl (wolf480pl@mstdn.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:54:29 JST Wolf480pl

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:

     @newt @vidister @lanodan
     you know what's the worst?

     That I can't outright rule out there being a difference. There's so much stuff going on a CPU with all kinds of interactions...

     Although...

     Ok maybe we can figure out some rules:

     As long as there is no XRUN, can the soundcard be affected by the stuff going on on the CPU?

   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:54:29 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     @wolf480pl @newt @vidister Eeeeh well CPU/PSU/… noise is a thing, and it's part of why I love SPDIF.
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:54:31 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     @lanodan @vidister also I was reminded that there is "audiophile memcpy". Yes, really.
     
     https://www.audioasylum.com/messages/pcaudio/119979/
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:57:13 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     @wolf480pl @vidister @newt Yeah, although still digital when non-optical so I guess noise would still be reduced. (I always used the optical variant)
   • Embed this notice
     Wolf480pl (wolf480pl@mstdn.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Sep-2024 23:57:14 JST Wolf480pl

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:

     @lanodan @vidister @newt
     Optical SPDIF of course to avoid grounding issues?

   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 00:01:18 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     @newt @vidister @wolf480pl Also had it on an HP Papillion dv6 when using headphones, kind of a shame for a multimedia-oriented laptop with pretty good speakers.
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 00:01:19 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • Wolf480pl
     @wolf480pl @vidister @lanodan oh lmao I had this problem with my old XPS 15 that the sound chip wasn't properly shielded, so I got this weird very much audible tinnitus-like pitch in my IEMs during high CPU loads. Never had this problem with other laptops tho, glad I sold that one.
     
     But this is one reason to prefer external DACs.
   • Embed this notice
     Wolf480pl (wolf480pl@mstdn.io)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 00:04:07 JST Wolf480pl

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:

     @lanodan @vidister @newt
     until your computer's ground is capacitively coupled to 115V AC (half of mains) and your signal cable's shield is the only thing connecting it to actual ground...

     (had that happen with a raspi and a USB cable, to the point the USB device would keep disconecting...)

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 00:12:45 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     @wolf480pl @vidister @newt True but for amps I'd expect something like galvanic isolation (and one type I'm aware of is optical-based), specially as SPDIF is purely signal.
     While with USB you're stuck with providing power, so isolation would be more complex and I guess not worth it when it's intended for peripherals.
     Ethernet on the other hand should have isolation.
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 00:20:24 JST :suya:

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • Wolf480pl
     @lanodan @vidister @wolf480pl yeah. But again, this is the territory where you literally have no idea whether deranged audiophile forum posts actually have a point or if it's just total lunacy.
     
     Like, I remember there was a post claiming that flashing Japanese firmware instead of EU into Sony DAPs makes them sound better. And what do you know?! IT DOES! Because EU places limitations on max power output into headphones, thus gimping sound quality (also loudness, but lower freqs are perceived as more quiet given the same power output, hence quality stuff) especially with high-impedance drivers.
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Wolf480pl (wolf480pl@mstdn.io)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 02:21:55 JST Wolf480pl

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸
     • we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎

     @Natanox @pesekcuy @vidister @lanodan @newt
     I'm guessing at some point it figured out it's spending too much money on treating people who damaged their hearing by listening to music too loud.

     Or it found a study saying how headphones mess with peoples' perception of volume, such that people are unable to notice they've set it too loud before damaging their hearing.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸 (natanox@chaos.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 02:21:56 JST Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     • we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎

     @pesekcuy @vidister @wolf480pl @lanodan @newt Okay, now I'm curious why the EU would implement something stupid like this.

   • Embed this notice
     we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎 (pesekcuy@pesekcuy.my.id)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Sep-2024 02:21:57 JST we have pesekcuy at home🗿🐎

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     • :suya:
     • Wolf480pl
     @newt @vidister @wolf480pl @lanodan afaik apple DAC dongles also suffer from said limitations