The diary entries of a little girl who is now 30! ~ Part 2 - Page 297

 

But they're extremely ugly.

Go with Gentle Typhoons or Silverstone AP120  or Corsair SP120 for Radiators or Air Coolers.

Noise Blockers or Gelid Wings for silent case fans.

Edited by VortexBlast - 1/6/13 at 1:44am

 

I'm no expert, but I suppose there are severe limitations to this.

 

First of all, binaural recordings are exclusively targeted at headphone listeners, whereas conventional recordings are mixed to work for all kinds of listeners.

Second, afaik binaural recordings are always stereo live recordings, whereas most conventional recordings are done one sound-track at a time, which leaves a lot more options for subsequent mixing than stereo live recordings.

And last not least, I'd think binaural recordings are limited to acoustic instruments, as I don't see a practical way to add instruments to the mix that require electronic amplification.

 

That said, I must confess that the few I've heard didn't turn me into a binaural fan. They were impressive from a technical point of view, but carried an odd air of sterility, as if too much perfectionism stifled their soul.

 

 

I assume so, partly because currently studios are set up for speaker-based stereo production, and engineers are trained to make the sound favor speakers.

 

The main problems (like james444 says) are that there hasn't been much point to mainstreaming binaural audio -- until very recently, the majority of people listened on speakers, and speaker-based audio still drives the hi-fi and professional recording worlds, whether or not it's representative of the majority listener demographic of the 2010s, or even the majority hi-fi listener demographic.

 

Also it's easier to get decent acoustic space out of speaker-based production with a simple crossfeed box. You can do even better with spacial simulators like the Smyth Realizer, if you're looking for fiddly high-end solutions. Some headphones, IMO, don't need additional hardware at all.

 

The acoustic space on binaural recordings sounds odd on speakers, and it can't be corrected in the same way that crossfeed can help fill in the middle space on headphones. So there's that, too.

 

 

This is kind of a tangential matter. It's not unlike saying that audiophile audio recordings are bad because the productions are impeccable and the musicianship is stiff. It's true (mostly, in my opinion), but not proof that audiophile productions are by necessity sterile; it's mostly that the focus of the production is on the production -- rather than on getting a good synergy of musicians and material and catching them on a night when everybody's in the pocket.

 

When it works, like on the Bhatt/Cooder A Meeting By the River, it really works. Although that brings up another point; you have to be into that kind of music. Part of the problem with rock is that the acoustic space is defined by the positions of the amps, not the performers, so to some extent a natural-space recording of, say, heavy metal will sound less natural than a studio production: You'll have a singer dead center, the drums directly behind him/her, and all the guitar/bass sounds will come from indeterminate surfaces behind and on either side of the drums. So having an engineer do an artificial simulation of instrument position to make it sound like the guitar and bass have pinpoint locations on the stage similar to how an acoustic ensemble would be arranged is arguably a good thing.

 

Now, for my ears (literally, my own ears), audio space is problematic anyway. I'm one of those people for whom acoustic space inverts when wearing headphones* -- the sound tends to come from behind me rather than in front of me -- and binaural recordings exacerbate that. So I'd just as soon do without, it distracts from the music.

 

( * Only headphones that did a really good job of putting the acoustic space in front of me where it belongs was the HD800, which is part of why they remain on my short list of things I'd like to have some day. Some headphones, like the CD 3000 and A03, kind of get halfway there, but it mostly means that the acoustic space starts somewhere along a line through the middle of my head and projects in front of me slightly.)

Edited by ardgedee - 1/6/13 at 4:11am

Me too. But I just don't care anymore.

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In other news, from Japanese obscurity (well, looks like a Minato-san from Kobe): http://www.minato-hochouki.com/iem/minatofon & http://ameblo.jp/minato-hochouki/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=fH5JIIqq5M4 (can't embed for some reason)

 

Looks a little amateurish, TBH, especially when you compare it to something like this (yes, the AF sound is distracting, silly Sony):

 

Edited by tomscy2000 - 1/6/13 at 5:44am

 

The first thing the center console reminded me of was K.I.T.T.

A throwback to the days when more glowing lights meant more QUALITY!

 

(I kid. I actually like watching VU meters. Maybe if VU meters were more common we wouldn't have so many recordings that are so compressed that the lights are fixed at -1 dB and flicker slightly on drumhits; people would be demanding better light shows.)

I'm always skeptical of things that do that much stuff, but no one's said anything bad about it, so iuno.

apparently my aqvox usb power supply came yesterday, but usps didn't bother to ring the doorbell, so I have to go pick it up tomorrow.

God jul min vän 

 

Yeah, I decided against it. Going for better performance is a lot cheaper when you start digging through desktop gear instead of laptops. That is one of the reasons, and another one is because of the mere fact that I couldn't really decide upon any particular model, which I later came to interpret to me not having any favorite, or any model that I really, really wanted. If I'm about to put down that kind of money, the least I can expect is for me to really, really want it, or to be sure that I want that particular model. Perhaps I just wasn't ready for it. However, I've been glancing at a particular cheaper Lenovo model (Y500 with 650m SLI) which seems to me as one of the best laptops in that particular price range. Obviously there seems to be some driver related problems according to Swedish computer forums, however, I expect Nvidia to solve them. Anyway, my first plan is to upgrade my desktop, and buy an iPad. Then we'll see what kinds of laptops that are out there.

 

Seems like you bought some good stuff for that desktop of yours. Have you tried RAM caching or RAM disking yet? With all that RAM I'd definitely experiment with those sort of things.

 

The 6870 is at around $120-140 on sale, about the same price as a 7770 in Sweden, right now. But I've been thinking about it, and yeah, the 9500 will have to do for a few more months until I can invest in a really good gpu instead. Something like the 7950/7970/680 or something along those lines (the 780's are to be delayed, right?). Anyway, I can wait a few more months. It'd be economically better to buy a better gpu in a few months and use my current merde until then. Now that I'm back on Linux again I won't be doing any gaming either.

Yeah, fractals seem pretty good and I also like the sound isolating nature of the case. 

Me three.

 

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I've been thinking about something since I saw the latest Resident Evil movie:

 

Is Milla still hot? I can't decide whether I think she really was all that to begin with, or if I have been guilty of mixing her up with her characters, which includes some traits that makes her hotter than she really is.

Eh. I personally think she's one of those women that are pretty at first sight, but when you finally look at her overall, 

 

 

So I've been eyeballing ways to enjoy desktop music without being on my desktop. Since I already have a decent DAP, I'm obviously looking for something like a small desktop music server that would accept a DAC. Then I stumbled upon this: http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135341370451

 

It has a big brother that has more USB ports and some other doohickeys. But this could potentially be awesome. A super small net top with enough ports (with expander) for my needs and an external HDD. I suppose I could get the bigger model simply because of 6 native USB ports, but that will be under the TBD section. Also, the big version doesn't have the same rad heatsink/case!

 

 

It can run Ubuntu which will obviously accept DACs. It also runs ICS, which may be a hit or miss. I suppose someone could build an Arch port for it. I swear though, nothing makes me feel like a Linux dunce quite like Arch. I still can't get a successful install :P

 

I find it depends as much on the amps as the headphones; the 4.A doesn't have a whole lot of space through the UHA-6 and a lot of space through the SR 71 B. The NT 6 Pro's apparent space doesn't change much through either of those amps, but does through the Porta Corda III. I would try seeing how the 4.A's space is through the Porta Corda III except the combination is too muddy for me to care. Both IEMs are better yet through the home system with the crossfeed box engaged.

 

I've mostly gotten acclimated to the linear headspace/no-space sense, except when I'm listening to superseparated or super-clear stereo recordings from the 60s and 70s, where instrument position is pin-point, and if there's no crossfeed it pretty much dumps all of the piano in the left ear and all of the trumpet in the right ear, or something like that, and the whole acoustic space seems unbalanced to the left or right momentarily and I start worrying if one of the channels is cutting out or something.

I could never get used to the taste of coffee.

 

I was about to put up an FS for the desktop amps I'm trying to get rid of when I noticed a fairly recent WTB in America for the WA22, which I'd like to sell more than anything else.  I'll give that guy a day or two to respond to my PM before going public with it, I guess.

 

My HA160-D has more knicks in it than I originally thought :/

 

I don't suppose anyone in here would want a WA22, HA160-D (after that wonderful appraisal I've just given it), a Lyr, or a Cute Beyond?

Edited by driver 8 - 1/6/13 at 11:21am

 

So restore the balance with the Piano Fortes...