Is it a GIMMICK?

Love Margo and the Cowboy Junkies. Trinity is my favorite

Trinity is their best album, almost too good for anything afterwards. Itā€™s high on my list of ā€˜headphoneā€™ music
as the recording is good, get a real sense of placement of musicians. It really helps that the songs are so
good, canā€™t think of a weak track on the entire LP.

If you like cowboy music, I am fond of Leningrad Cowboys.

I hope I have directed you to the glorious mix.

I agree that binaural recordings arenā€™t a gimmick. If you havenā€™t already heard it Iā€™d recommend this binaural album if you enjoy percussion:

http://www.hdtracks.com/explorations-in-space-and-time-176-24-binaural

Itā€™s a high quality recording and the binaural version sounds amazing in headphones; really get a sense of depth and separation and it almost feels like youā€™re experiencing a live performance rather than listening to a recording.

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While I agree the LED is just a gimmick, it still looks pretty cool. I have the NZXT Hue Ambient strips on my PC monitors, and while most of the time I have it turned just static colors, I sometimes turn the ambiance effect on and it is pretty mesmerizing.

As for curved screens, they actually do very well in smaller screen sizes more than larger screen sizes. Take ultrawide gaming monitors. These are still being produced with slight curve do the the size of the monitor and how close most people will sit to them, where you can rarely find large screens with curve anymore. I have used the curved ultrawides, and if I had the money I would actually pick one up because they are more immersive.

Iā€™m guessing you wouldnā€™t like this?

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Wanted to ask a technical question but dunno how to post new thread but it fits hereā€¦

So Creative Technology just started taking orders for the new ā€œsuper x fiā€ dongle which claims to DSP the headphone sound based on the shape of your outer ear (which it creates a model of via taking photos) in order to replicate the ā€œnot-headphoneā€ sound.

No doubt there are many ways the headphone sound is different from in-room sound, and no doubt that review comments like ā€œin same room as music producerā€ are obviously overdramatic, but my question is

How much does the shape of the outer ear affects the sound?

Figured people who measure headphones with mannequin heads would have some info

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Just got the new WH-1000XM3ā€™s and they are a HUGE difference to the 1000XM2ā€™s. Closer to Bose in comfort and the sound quality is fantastic. They added an analogue amplifier in their new chip and it really makes a difference. Comparing to the 1000XM2ā€™s is like lifting a veil on the sound, on a really good quality source itā€™s really shines. The noise cancelling a better as well.

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Color me green with envy! The older MDR1000X are still my most comfortable headphones. Maybe i will have to think about trading them in for these latest ones,

Depends, that does.

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I donā€™t know why this didnā€™t occur to me earlier, but I just listened to Amber Rubarthā€™s Sessions from the 17th Ward on some IEMs and the binarual effect works better for me now. Itā€™s neither overly wide nor does it sound like everyone is behind me. I guess taking my HRTF out of the equation did the trick!

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Expensive power cables!

  • Definitely make a difference!
  • Make a difference if your equipment is transparent enough
  • LOL, no way: 5000 miles of crappy copper wire before your 1m of $1000 copper?

0 voters

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Iā€™ve done some wiring. I know whatā€™s in the wall. The only thing I can think that might make a difference is shielding where a lot of wires are close together. Not convinced that I need Oxygen Free power cords. I might need reasonably shielded ones.

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Iā€™m a believer in reasonable cables, depending on the level of your system.

For me, I live in a condo building in a major downtown thatā€™s full of EMI. When I first set up my Eitr, Mimby, Jot I was getting a lot of feedback and noise - after some measuring and experimenting, I ended up replacing the power cord with a shielded pangea (~$50) which solved of a decent chunk of problems (amp hum, especially when I touched it) and some Audio Quest cables (RCA interconnects & USB) fixed the rest.

In short I think a few of the key layman principles are (1.) an unshielded power cable is throwing off tons of EMI and is usually about 2 inches from your RCA inputs, and (2.) your wall powered gear sits in THE CENTER of an A/C circuit, not at the end of one.

Paul of PS Audio has a decent write-up here: https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/cables-matter/

At the end of the day, my 2 cents, there are those who believe they fully understand and can manipulate all electrical phenomena, and those who understand they donā€™t and canā€™t. After that, there are those who believe all experienced phenomana can be proven with scopes and bing-bong devices, and those who realize they canā€™t. And finally there are those who must believe they understand the science before they can try something new, and those who donā€™t give a crap about the why and go for it.

Personally, iā€™m on the side of hey-strange-things-happen-Iā€™ll-try-it-if-itā€™s-free, and any reputable cable company gives you at least 14 days to try their cables and many, like AQ, give you 60 days.

All of that said, expensive cables (and anything else for that matter) have to be in-line with your other equipment or, yeah, you wonā€™t hear anything.

Finally, Iā€™m not as cynical of human nature as some; I donā€™t believe cable vendors wake up every morning intending to de-fraud customers any more than I believe the Lissimore brothers do (which has been suggested here and there).

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Iā€™ve been in the LOL category for a long time, but I do know folks with better ears then me that say the difference can be stark in blind A/B tests. Certainly willing to have my mind changed.

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I have no experience at all with upmarket power cables and little to no electrical knowledge. So my vote is just supposition and guess work. Given that though I would have thought that I would make a slight difference but I wouldnā€™t pay more than $40-50 eitherway. So the point is probably mute. I wouldnā€™t think you could get high end anything for $50. In all fairness I would have to defer judgment to you tech gurus. As itā€™s you who I would seek such advice from in the first place should the need arise. :slightly_smiling_face:.

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Well, my shielded cable did fix my interference problems but Iā€™d be surprised if, on my system, I could hear a sound quality difference between my $50 and a $500 cable so itā€™s also a moot point for me because Iā€™m going to spend that $500 on a new amp or DAC way before I buy spendy cables.

Although if I get a new >$1000 amp, iā€™ll likely buy a Dectet and a bit spendier of a power cable. Then Iā€™ll definitely a/b and see I can hear anything ā€¦

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That makes a lot of sense to me. I think youā€™d have to own some pretty sensitive gear to need to spend thousand on power cables for it to matter that much. Or at least some commercial stuff for whatever boffins use it for.:slightly_smiling_face:

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I agree with the notion that cables affect quality, but not with the options in the survey (so I didnā€™t answer).

I used to live near an above ground subway/train station with a high voltage 3rd rail. This caused weird inexplicable cable TV glitches, where the image would freeze momentarily every 15 minutes or less.

The repairman came out and tested the wiring. The repairman got out a senior technician and a manager. They swapped the coax lines, box, and everything. We all concluded that there was no possible solution due to 7,000,000,000 volts surging nearby and zapping the whole building. Problem never resolved. I moved.

Bad cables surely cause issues, but anything beyond ā€œgoodā€ isnā€™t very meaningful (and certainly not cost effective). Way back when I used CD players, I had one cheap interconnect that worked better than anything I tried. This particular CD player had a noticeable channel imbalance, and only this cable masked the difference (and it played louder too).

There may well be subtle differences with high-end cables, but these are vastly outweighed by the decisions made during recording and mastering. Most cable differences boil down to a preference for charcoal, near-black, dark gray, or midnight blue. The differences may be noticeable with focus, but just noticeable.

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I also could not answer with the poll option. I wish I had .05 for every post Iā€™ve heard of on this topic. As always the only answer is the one in each of our ears.
For me there is definitely a difference. I have cheap, middle an end cables. Although there are more expensive there comes a point of diminishing returns.
High end for me has been about $800 3 meter paid speak cables and $250 interconnects.
One of the biggest improvements was an expensive power line conditioner. I had and never had heard a system so black. All that is yestedayā€™s newspaper snce I sold it all off.
On my headphone system when I bought my Audeze LCD 4s, I first tried a couple of Audeze cables made by different cable companies and thought Hmm! I then put the Audeze cables that came with it and ā€œWowā€. Other cable including originals from my Lcd 2s. The Lcd 4 cables list $599 To my ears they are worth every dime.
No matter any one elseā€™s ears there yours and they are mine. We all are in different parts of the audio journey. Whatā€™s right for one is not necessarily for another.

ā€œAlways trust your earsā€

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