If you’ve got any questions related to audio, gear, software, headphones, anything at all, submit them here!
Watch the first episode of ‘Audio Support’ here:
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GoldenSound’s how-tos and tips on headphone preset equalization in Linux.
I’d like to get into tube amps a bit and would appreciate seeing a bit of a tech explanation of tube amp technology and some recommendations for use case scenarios, ie, recommended pre-amp tube amps, low end, midrange, high-end tube amps. Maybe include a footnote of YOUR favorite tubes for tube rolling.
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Voltage and current, how to tell an amp is good at current or voltage, is there a type of amp that does both (current and voltage).
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I’ve always been interested in how multi-driver IEMs are designed. I’m familiar with the idea of passive crossover circuits to divide up the frequency band into different areas of responsibility, but I’d like to learn more about how that is done, plus other methods designers use to sculpt the sound. Thanks in advance
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I’m a steady user of PulseEffects, or EasyEffects if the distribution uses pipewire instead of pulseaudio. I’ve also use JamesDSP, but prefer the others.
I’d second the question about iem Tuning. Also the crossover design in such limited space is interesting to me
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@mauaudio beat me to it. It would be great to hear about current and voltage, as well as impedance.
Thanks : )
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Because ease of use, I mostly use HeSuVi on Windows. All presets instantly in one shebang. However, I would like to ween off of Microsoft eventually.
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PulseEffects on my iMac running Linux Mint 21.1 is working okay. Switching outputs doesn’t always work immediate. Setup is time consuming for each preset. Perhaps I need to investigate further into EasyEffects.
What are convolution filters and how are they different from parametric EQ?
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Your long awaited and deferred impressions of Schiit Audio Yggdrasil OG vs LIM- or at least a post to provide the same.
Interactions between ear and canal physiology and how they affect headphone or IEM sound and how this differs from speakers or live performance. Along with thoughts about recent attempts to use tech to modify this.
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The one I always come back to even years into the hobby and WAY down the rabbit hole is “what exactly is timbre and where does it live?”
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I just leave my output set to the analog out of my DAC/Amp.
Hello,
I am trying to create a new post in technical discussions and I keep getting ‘Error - access denied’ - anyone any idea why that’s happening?
Thank you
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The audio science community claims that there should be no audible difference between quality DACs; I would like some clarification on whether this is true or not.
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I’ve often thought the only good way to know is if the source is identical in every way, except for the DAC. That would level the playing field for any comparison.
I think Shanling made two different versions of their M8 digital audio player which differed only in the DAC implementation. One had the AKM AK4499 and the other had an ESS ES9038PRO. This was because of the fire that destroyed AKM’s factory a few years ago, so Shanling had to switch on the fly to ESS chips, without adversely affecting their “house sound.”
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Clearly, that would be the case of inane ignoramuses to misrepresent “audible” as to listen with their eyeballs by looking at graphs instead of using their ears to listen to and compare DACs.
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To paraphrase Leonard Nimoy, " Measurements are the beginning of Audio, not the end. "
There are expensive DACs that sound very much alike, there are expensive DACs that very muchly don’t.
Mark Gosdin
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C’mon, @hottyson tell us what you really think!
I must, however concur that in the real world a statement such as the one you point out from ‘audio science’ is indistinguishable from solid material emerging from the area just below the tail attachment of equine mammals.
What @InvisibleInk is getting at is that inevitably there is some implementation around a DAC chip, and that implementation can profoundly change the sound you hear. His example of the Shanling is one of the closest there is to holding everything else (but the DAC chip) constant.
In practice, all of the ancillary circuitry will make a difference. Your ears are NOT HEARING the output of a DAC (chip). They are hearing a chip and all of the surrounding circuitry, the effect of choices with impedence, amplification, etc.
Further “Quality DAC” is it’s own can of worms. There are various types of DACs, many of high quality. A chip that uses a Delta-Sigma style DAC is quite different from a Ladder DAC. They will not create identical output. Why should you expect them to sound the same.
Hell, audiophiles disagree on whether a 3 foot high quality copper CABLE sounds the same as a different 3 foot high quality copper cable. And while I doubt that I could tell the difference, there are a few trained ears that can probably reliably tell the difference in an AB test.
So no, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. Unless you define SC by the graphable red suit.
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