[TimSchirmer]

Wow... you actually got them to work?


I find linux to be a huge pain in the ass. I can't even get my Audiophile 2496 to work in redhat 9.

I'll probably have to take it to someone who knows more about what they are doing.

I still shouldn't have to though

 

[soleblaze]

Yeah I'm also a gentoo user. it spoils you once you get up and running ;D what kind of sound cards do those of you who use alsa ru? I have a sound-link that i use with the usb-audio drivers.. was wondering if anyone runs any of the higher end cards through linux and if so, how the drivers compare to their windows counterparts.

 

[gsferrari]

Ok here is the latest update :-
--------------------------------------

This just takes the cake and EATS IT TOO!!!

XMMS has a tone generator...its not a big deal but its there!! I am breaking in my Senn HD580 right now...I will time it for 5 hours on 20Hz, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2k, 5k, 8k, 10k, 12k, 14k, 15k, 18k, 20k

For a total of 95 - 100 hours

To generate a tone do this :-
------------------------------------

In the playlist editor pree the ADD and select the URL option without releasing. In the URL entry field type :-

tone://freq1;freq2;freq3....

You can simultaneously generate multiple frequencies but I am gonna stick to one at a time.

After you set your frequency - put on the phones and raise the volume until you hear distortion - and then back up a tad.

Leave it like this for 5 hours until the next tone.

What I did so far :-
-----------------------

Before I found out all this I was using Windblows Media Player 9.0 and playing mp3's and wav's that I had dloaded from the web.

A google for "Audio Test Tones Sounds" will give you plenty of sounds to work with.

I have a compilation of All the types of noise - WHite, Blue, PInk, Violet etc. and sweeping tones, square waves, and solid tones each for 20 seconds. I was running this continuously for the past 72 hours and I will now begin the break in using the XMMS technique.

Oddly :-
----------

Since I got the phones i've only used it for listening to music for around 2 or 3 hours MAX!!! I've had the headphone for 5 days now and all those other hours it has either been sitting still or undergone sonic torture with my break in routine...

Results:-
------------

It sounded like sh!t when I first got it. Now its sounding much better - in fact it sounds great!! Perhaps this will become even better after I do the 100 hour break in...

Its already unrer way...im some 2 hours into 20Hz. Will change to 40Hz and then hit the sack...5 or 8 hours wont make much difference

 

[CEO Matt]

yeah linux has HUGE annoyances attached to it, most of the time you have to shop with drivers in mind, and unfortunately most high end products DON'T have nay support on linux, mainly because the developers don't want to open source the drivers because they contain data that they don't want shared, such as propriatry and patented code. Stuff they don't want their compeditors to get a hold of.

Most of the work so far has been from reverse engineering, which is a long, slow and arduious process.

Anyone trying to run a VIA EPIA-M on linux knows what a pain the drivers are, but i'm not sure how widespread that crowd is...

I've gotten quite a few 2.6.x kernels going, it's not too hard, but i have made sacrafices on my hardware just to sleep knowing linux will like them. one example is my soundcard, a SB PCI128, real low tech and a terrible source, but at the same time bad sound beats no sound, and i'm not a big windows fan anymore.

bought a USB speedtouch modem for the same reason, but alas i'm drifting offtopic.

I'm hoping to find a high-end card that'll work with linux, but i think the best bet at the moment is a generic card with digital out to an external DAC.

 

[Mallow005]

I'm a gentoo user... never thought to compare windows to linux in terms of sound. We have a completely vintage setup in our living room, except for our CD player/mp3 player/movie player we have a laptop with linux installed. Unfortunately ALSA doesn't have recording support for Maestro 3 drivers, so I'm stuck with OSS on that one.

But I'm using a SBLive!

 

[jim]

Quote:

Originally posted by CEO Matt I'll take it you haven't compiled the 2.6.x series test kernels yet then... They've moved from OSS to ALSA as the kernel sound system. Real nice latency tweaks too, if you can gentoo you should be able to upgrade that kernel ^^

I've tried the 2.6.x kernels on my desktop, because I wanted to try the enhanced hyperthreading support. However, I quickly found it was slowing down my matlab stuff, so I went back to my 2.4.x-ck non-HT kernels. (also, low latency is actually undesireable in my situation) Anyway, I didn't even bother trying to configure the sound card on that machine, because really all I'd hear would be the two stock xeon fans+6 other fans.

I might give 2.6.x a whirl on my laptop eventually though, as that can always be more snappy. Not that fluxbox isn't snappy enough.

Oh, and I'm not using OSS drivers either. The stock linux kernel (even vanilla, iirc) has a kernel driver specifically for my laptop's card (maestro3).

mallow005, why are you using oss? The kernel has it's own support for this card, you don't need oss or alsa. You can record with this driver too.

 

[ADS]

Quote:

Originally posted by jim I've tried the 2.6.x kernels on my desktop, because I wanted to try the enhanced hyperthreading support. However, I quickly found it was slowing down my matlab stuff, so I went back to my 2.4.x-ck non-HT kernels. (also, low latency is actually undesireable in my situation) Anyway, I didn't even bother trying to configure the sound card on that machine, because really all I'd hear would be the two stock xeon fans+6 other fans. I might give 2.6.x a whirl on my laptop eventually though, as that can always be more snappy. Not that fluxbox isn't snappy enough. Oh, and I'm not using OSS drivers either. The stock linux kernel (even vanilla, iirc) has a kernel driver specifically for my laptop's card (maestro3). mallow005, why are you using oss? The kernel has it's own support for this card, you don't need oss or alsa. You can record with this driver too.

The drivers included in the kernel are the OSS drivers. You're using OSS, even if you don't know it.

 

[CEO Matt]

Quote:

Originally posted by ADS The drivers included in the kernel are the OSS drivers.

I think there's two different implementations of OSS... one and two

Annoyingly both are the OSS (Open sound system). the first one is a commercial system by 4front technologies while the second is the system found implemented in current 2.2.x and 2.4.x kernels.

 

[jim]

Ah, I see. The maestro driver was never under the OSS driver headings in the kernel options, so I just assumed it was a seperate entity. Also, in the Sound-howto, it mentions a bunch of different cards as supported under "the linux kernel sound driver", and then "OSS/4front" listed below that as alternate drivers. Seems sort of confusing if those are indeed OSS. Anyway, thanks for correcting my ignorant ways.

 

[CEO Matt]

no problem

i personally can't wait for 2.6.x to take mainstream, so at least OSS will revert back to the commercial sound system, with ALSA the free implementation.

 

[ProtoCat]

I'm going to steer pretty clear of the OS conversation, with a brief mention of being partial to OpenBSD, 2k/XP and formerly BeOS. I believe all OSes have their drawbacks. That being said, I'll also dodge evangelizing players. Some crash more than others, but I've had all I've used crash at some point, on some OS. Since we got all of that out of the way...

A properly written MP3 decoder, as in one that follows the specs and doesn't do any weird EQing or deviations from what should be considered a straight path for decoding, will sound the same when compared to other proper MP3 decoders. WinAMP (now) uses a proper decoder, XMMS, etc. Foobar has one that operates with more exact math (I'm simplifying this a bit, yes) that supposedly, on some level may assist in sound quality on a very theoretical level. However, none really sound 'better' than the other, unless there's something in the DSP chain... OR..

In this situation, there may be something occuring in the drivers or in the mixer, as this situation is where two different OSes are being used. With that, my suggestion to you when you're using Windows is to use Foobar2000 or WinAMP using Kernel Streaming as the output. Foobar2000 supports this mode out of the box, I believe its a third party plug for WinAMP.

The only risk is that depending on the hardware and such, it has a chance of either not functioning or locking your machine up. FB2k will also WARN you that this is a potential risk. However, if it plays after switching, it will continue to do so without issue. On the off chance something goes wrong, you can always switch it back. No real harm, no foul. Just a waste of your time.

The end result is that you're basically bypassing almost all the variables that could be present in Windows. I've noticed on some setups that this will result in things being louder and in one odd case, clearer. This is often mistaken for 'better' by some. However, seeing as the original post here mentioned Windows having a lower output, I figured this bit of info would be very relevant.

Hope that helps! Have fun, man!

 

[MichaelFranks]

NO WINDOWS ON MY COMPUTERS, NO WAY!

GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GENTOO GETNOO

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Geek]

My friends are into linux. I'm currently downloading the latest full build of KNOPPIX and will report back to you guys if I have any problems running it and configuring it properly.

I have previously configured Redhat 7 and Debian 3.0r1 (woody).

I am excited to see if this will squeeze out some more life from my .mp3s.

Cheers,
Geek