Evshrug's "If I knew then what I know now" discussion journal. - Page 4

Wiskaz,
I actually went to college at a small liberal arts college in the city of Greensburg. I bet if I'd gone to to the Art Institute, which is basically like a vocational school, I'd actually have had more immediate opportunities upon graduation. My education was good, but the program was pretty small (there were only like 10 people that graduated in GD with me), and there weren't many internship opportunities in Greensburg (and none that had room for taking me on as an employee upon graduation). Time will tell if the degree (which doesn't look as nice as my high school diploma from a graphic design standpoint, lol!) will end up clearing some future glass ceilings for me. I plan to make a little money and take some more classes at the Art Institute anyway, maybe get a masters, but honestly I'd mostly be doing it for the networking connections and keeping abreast of new techniques.

Nameless,
It's like the classic example of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." There's probably a lot of kickback against such a move by the higher ups, you know, change is scary and not guaranteed. They may also not believe it would be possible to get their brand name on other manufacturer's electronics, perhaps even tried a few times and only received unfavorable deals. I think their biggest fear would be they could spread their assets out too thin if they farm out their software separate from their hardware... but then Asus' cards, and most computer DAC accessories, are hardware upgrades with other's software or very little software. But they gotta keep trying, and in the meantime they need better marketing for their business.

Rosbife,
I'm sorry to hear that... But perhaps it was for the best? You never know where life will take you! I forgot which headphones you ended up choosing though XD

I'll tell you what, with a lot of amps, I wonder if I'm just imagining things regarding "improvement." I like a more gripping, engaging sound, but I hate when the sounds are so "hard" my ears get irritated. And then some sound almost exactly the same, especially between solid state amplifiers. I suspect the difference or improvement made by a more expensive DAC may not be detectable, but I've tried to keep an open mind about it. I actually got to borrow an ODAC, but I haven't been able to get the darn thing to work! I had another whole "article" planned out to open for discussion too.

Last thing I wanna say, it's OK you didn't reply straight away. You don't owe me anything, but I appreciate that you did reply. I like to think I have cyber friends out there.

Oh. My god.
Gonna go off topic for a sec guys, but I just drove a stick-shift for the first time. With a turbo, no less. And it wasn't just me and my dad's car or something, it was at a car dealership 35 minutes from home and "learning" from a dealer who, bless his patience, probably expected me to already be familiar with the process and feel.

It was like learning to drive for the first time all over again, for the first ten minutes I couldn't get into first gear and just stalled again and again. The salesman kept saying I needed to be gentler with the clutch release, but I realized that the real problem (cuz I was being as soft as I could easing the clutch back on) was that I wasn't using the gas almost at all. So, I had to be "brave" and use some gas (2000 rpm) before beginning to release the clutch, kinda just go for it to get it to work. When I finally got it for the first time (and not just a little "yay! We got past 11mph this time, it's a record!") I was very pleased – hello sense of accomplishment! – but I didn't realize that I would stall again at the end of the parking lot (an empty church where the dealer took me to "play" a little bit) when I stopped.

After about 20 minutes of an impromptu driving lesson, a couple times reaching 2nd, 3rd, and shifting down (starting into 1st gear is the hardest part!), and achieving like a 2:3 success rate, I was ready to drive back to the dealership for now. I almost made it back to the dealership, but I stalled again across the street at a stop sign. I traded driver's seats so I wouldn't roll backwards into the car behind me (she was actually pretty understanding, though grateful I was giving the wheel back to the dealer too, of course), and pretty much that was the end of my first stick driving. I felt a little better when the dealer stalled trying to reverse from the garage door (manuals are a lost art).

I don't know if I'll end up choosing the manual, because I'm torn. Of course I was a bit embarrassed after 10 years of getting better and better and smoother at driving (automatic), but my main worry is that I'll always be a bit stressed trying to drive (even once I "get the feel" and instinct of it). On the other hand, I think it's good to know how to drive stick and really keeps you aware of your car, and I also want to master the challenge. Damn though, it felt sporty! I do know I definitely need to thank the very patient salesman somehow, and he pretty much has my loyalty because of that.
Edited by Evshrug - 6/16/13 at 5:38pm

Regarding EQ:
I've had good experiences with moderate EQ, but over time I've learned that EQ applied to the analogue stage is much less destructive than EQ from software. That still wouldn't stop me from enjoying software/digital EQ, the bass EQ built into the Recon3D USB was pretty impressive, and with certain headphones I often turn on treble reducer on my iPod. Another rule of thumb, it's generally better to reduce frequencies via EQ to balance the overall tone rather than boost one, because you run the risk of pushing that freq into a point where you'll experience clipping.

Life experience: I got the FiiO E12 at the beginning of the year (limited first release), it has a very targeted bass boost which I really like. It's not a particularly narrow boost, but it's 6 dB peak is centered around 20hz and rolls off into flat before the mids get started. The boost reaches so low into the sub-sub bass, where headphones tend to roll off their response and could use a boost the most, and yet it doesn't bleed over into the rest of the sound and doesn't result in midbass bloat (by stacking up more bass where many headphones are already more "bass-boosted" than neutral). Frankly, I leave it on basically all the time, it doesn't hurt anything on a delicate classic track or song that isn't supposed to have a lot of bass, but the deeper a song digs, the more the amp backs it up. However, since all of us who were getting the first units talked about how we enjoyed it but noted that the effect wasn't very pronounced on most songs (cuz they don't have notes that low), there were a handful of people who didn't have the amp, read our reviews, and expressed that the bass boost wasn't enough, which caused FiiO to tweak the boost so that it peaks at a higher frequency and affects the midbass more, making the effect more noticeable on more songs. Head-Fi'ers started calling the revised model "V2," that's what you can buy today AFAIK. I haven't convinced myself to let my E12 go, because I think that it's analogue – stage EQ is unique.

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I'm thinking about picking up an external DAC for music, I'm thinking a FiiO E07k, Schiit Modi, Audioengine D1, or a Creative SoundBlaster Z for my computer and games. The thing about the Z though, I mostly use Mac OS X, and since Creative hasn't made Mac-native drivers for the card I worry that the computer won't boot into Mac if I have the soundcard plugged in. If not for that issue, I would probably have a Z already. Anyone have thoughts?