Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: Going Large

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  • Mark Thomas, in reply to TracyMac,

    I’ve been using whatever’s bundled into Media Monkey, which I suspect is FFmpeg

    If you're using Mediamonkey Gold, it'll be using the latest LAME codec, which is a good thing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to bob daktari,

    all this talk of sound stuff is why the public tune out of giving a crap about audio quality…. they just wanna hear the music, cue off the shelf consumer friendly (i anyone) devices that have taken off and them that haven’t

    There's a scene in the film '24 hour party people' where Tony Wilson and one of the bands (Joy Division I think) are in a car, listening to their single on the car stereo to get an idea of what it will sound like to the average punter. I mentioned this in conversation to a friend who works producing software for high-end mixing desks for recording studios, and he told me that recording studios do much the same thing - they'll have a set of fairly low-end speakers and gear set up in parallel with all the fancy stuff, to make sure that their mix actually comes out alright on average gear.

    The moral of the story is to write better songs with better hooks. I've been in situations where I've heard tunes played over high-end gear that sound fucking amazing, but not so much when you actually get them on your home set-up. All mouth, no trousers.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Peter Johnston,

    And re the whole Neil Young thing – amazed he can hear anything after four decades of Crazy Horse…

    Probably thinks the high-pitched nasal whining noise in his ears is just his own voice.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • John Morton, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    When I was re-encoding my CDs to FLAC and trying to figure out what quality level to use for the vorbis encode to go on my phone, I tested out FLAC->vorbis versus FLAC->LAME mp3 320kbps->vorbis using ABX testing software.

    Couldn't tell the difference.

    Which isn't to say that transcoding artifacts don't exist, just that I'm unlikely to own equipment in a portable context good enough to pick them up any time soon, and am now much more comfortable buying 320kbps MP3 when FLAC or ALAC is unavailable.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2014 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Peter Darlington,

    We don’t have enough Skrillex on the PAS music pages.

    Not bad. For Skrillex.

    Knife Party and Excision FTW.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Samuel Scott,

    I'll check out Pono. I reckon I'd be keen on 88/24 files. Why not? Also I don't think there should be any issue with a mini headphone jack, as long as you have good connectors. Maybe it's all nonsense, but I'm quite happy to pursue the nonsense.

    And good stuff posting that Conrad clip!

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan Ganley, in reply to Rich Lock,

    And re the whole Neil Young thing – amazed he can hear anything after four decades of Crazy Horse…

    Probably thinks the high-pitched nasal whining noise in his ears is just his own voice.

    Which brings us back to Pono, and Young's quest for better quality sound. In his book 'Waging Heavy Peace' he states (if I recall correctly) that his tinnitus came about as a result of the long period of mixing Weld in 1991, in a studio with 'low quality 16 bit' sound playing back at huge volume.

    Since Dec 2006 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    Weather and John Cale. Has to be done.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Barry,

    Really enjoyed the tech talk and have set aside some of those articles for later reading but, more importantly, the Windsor Castle! It started in 1846 but even if we count its second start in 1850 after the fire, why is it not a contender for the oldest pub in New Zealand? 1850 is when the Moutere Inn started (and it was not even licensed for another 7 years after that, apparently) and the Thistle Inn, while licensed earlier, changed premises.

    Oh, and Puddle the Clown really nailed Royals - more feeling than the original.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • Moz, in reply to Peter Johnston,

    Man, so many responses about the format and so few on the music! At a certain age, does one start meaning more than the other?

    Why complain that people are discussing the major selling point of something?

    Sure, you may buy a Lambourghini for the great resale value and Penthouse for the articles, but the other 99% buy them because they're fast.

    If we're lucky what we'll get is the choice to buy decent quality recordings from more artists online, rather than having to buy more plastic crap, ship it round the world, then bin it. Hooray for the consumer society! At the extreme, we might even see this become a standard option from some of their competition - that's where having some big names involved might make all the difference.

    Sydney, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 1233 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Lipscombe, in reply to Simon Bennett,

    Ah, vinyl. It's why I still have a good quality functioning turntable. My complete stereo setup (Linn, Naim, Yamaha, Wharfedale) is pretty much a 1988 reference system.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2011 • 19 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Johnston,

    Why complain that people are discussing the major selling point of something?

    Fair point, sorry more of an observation than a complaint really, it certainly seems to be a topic that resonates (no pun intended).
    Agree with Moz that anything that leads to less shitty plastic (i.e. CDs) is worthy of support…

    Wellington • Since Sep 2013 • 25 posts Report Reply

  • Alec Morgan,

    I have a Paul Money ‘top of Dominion Rd’ not halfway down, Yamaha and solid speakers. All you do is link an Apple TV to a DAC to the amp and everything works.
    Bypass the HD TV too for audio only.

    $100 usb turntable helps too. Vinyl rules!

    Tokerau Beach • Since Nov 2006 • 124 posts Report Reply

  • Moz,

    The backstory for us is slightly amusing. I bought $500 headphones ($500 in a sale!) and my partner made the usual scoffing noises that people do when they see audiophile prices. Being a bit of a bastard, I let her use them for a couple of weeks, hooked up to the DAC and playing my FLAC rather than her "whatever I found on PirateBay" mp3s through the earbuds that came with her phone.

    When I took them away we discovered that she could hear the difference, and it did matter to her.

    So I bought a couple of sets of cheaper headphones ($200 each), one for me at work and one for her at home. Which has worked out nicely, partly because she already had a half-decent phone (in terms of sound quality), so adding a 64GB uSD card let her copy my ogg music files on and she was away.

    The real problem is that now I get given lists of random pop albums that she wants in FLAC, and no amount of "it's k-pop, nothing will make it sound decent" stops the whining.

    Sydney, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 1233 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac, in reply to Mark Thomas,

    If you're using Mediamonkey Gold, it'll be using the latest LAME codec, which is a good thing.

    Yes, I am using MM Gold, but I thought LAME was MP3s only? Damn it, I am tempted to switch to MP3 with VBR 320 kbps. I was already getting the hump with Vorbis not being able to embed album art (apparently it's available in the specification, but no encoder's implemented it yet).

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Alec Morgan,

    I have a Paul Money ‘top of Dominion Rd’ not halfway down, Yamaha and solid speakers. All you do is link an Apple TV to a DAC to the amp and everything works.

    As per discussion above, I'm happy enough to trust the DAC in my Onkyo amp.

    $100 usb turntable helps too. Vinyl rules!

    Oh. Where'd you buy that?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Pete McDowell, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Those "More Barn" Northwest TAD speakers still go on tour as Neil's own onstage monitor system.

    Since Mar 2014 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Moz,

    “it’s k-pop, nothing will make it sound decent”

    Yes, but she needs the more expensive headphone because it's all about the Gangnam style, innit? Keeping up with the Parks, and all that.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    I spent a fair while researching Wireless/DAC/Speaker combos when I wanted to set up something simpler for home than the old behemoths (legacy of a university-era hifi job). Interestingly found that Airplay effectively resamples everything to (IIRC) 48khz - I assume above that generates bandwidth requirements beyond what a standard congested home Wifi network would handle.

    Very nearly picked up one of the few DAC/tube-amp combos (ooh eer) just because the idea appealed. But landed on Sonos in the end - the wireless streaming network is dramatically more stable than Airplay/Bluetooth and the quality of their components is surprisingly high for the price. Cleverly, they have a Line-In that you can set to auto-play whenever it detects audio on the line - an Airport plugged into that gives you an on-demand (no powering up, switching channels...) Airplay speaker for when Sonos doesn't have the music service you want (Soundcloud usually for me).

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

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