Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[theeclone]

I have to say, I've been playing with HQPlayer on an old NUC 7i5 that I now have lying around (because my Roon core is on a fancy dancy new faster, quieter, lower power consumption $136 "supercomputer" from GMKtec, amazing what a few $ can buy these days). Despite its age, the 7i5 is plenty to upsample to 192k PCM, and though I adore my Yggy LIM, it's been quite fun to bypass the onboard filters and play with it @ 192 on ext2, ext3. I like being able to play with the shapers on some of the old "cruddy" recordings I have of early jazz, field recordings by Alan Lomax & such. In my main home I have my Mac Mini M4 doing HQPlayer duty which can handle pretty much anything in the DSD512 world that I throw at it, and I have a different co's DAC inbound that I'm going to try to pair with Freya+N/dual Aegirs/Devore o/96. But here in my seaside shack, I am playing with Roon->HQPDesktop->Ropieee NAA->Yggy LIM->Freya+->Vidar->KLH Model 5 and it's quite fun. Especially because when I'm here I listen to more "interesting but lower quality recordings".

For instance, this is one of my all time faves, but it's got a grittiness to the way the piano was mic'ed that you can, in fact, tame and bring up the low end with poly-sinc-ext2. Hurray! If people are tiring of this upsampling crap, lmk - I'm just saying it has a real use case for Schiit too!

Nice! When I go the other direction by decimating DSD to PCM, I sometimes choose the filter based on whether some harshness needs taming.

I bet once your Schiit DACs have the 384-capable Unison USB, you'll be able to get even better results when upsampling.

 

[OldRoadToad]

12oz for me. Always feel like I'm being shorted 4ozs.

Perhaps the Sacre Beans are now being measured as close as possible using "Troy Ounces" ( each ounce being roughly 10% heavier than the more plebeian ounce) as the guide of measurement? Caffeine is definitely a precious commodity, my brother!

The ORTacle at Helfi

 

[bcowen]

Same with bags of dog food. 20 years ago we were buying it in 50 lb bags, but now the biggest size offered is only 28 lbs.

So it now costs you even more to feed @Ripper2860 ? That's tough, man.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Hey ACP, if we take a balance control, and don't call it that but instead label it a "flavor" or an "option," do you think we could convince Jason to include that "flavor" on his next pre-amp? Puleezz?

(Or am I just flogging a deceased equine?)

Get two Sys and be done.

 

[cgb3]

Well, I'm a strawberry, so…

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[Bowmoreman]

Or just do the simple thing. If it sounds loud it probably is, so turn it down.

Agreed… but w/o experience hard to determine “loud”… especially for the headphones only cohort…

Even safer?

Play it two channel on speakers. Use a decent SPL meter where you are sitting and listening. *LEARN* what 80 dBA actually IS. (In particular at that level on average, perhaps with a compressed as crap modern recording). I worry about this topic; the potential for so many getting permanent hearing damage is just so imminent - especially given all the compression BS everywhere… Everything LOUD, ALL the time, on average (not peak). Worst possible source material for cans, at least with speakers it will not damage your hearing (your sense of SUCK will kick in long before those levels are reached - if even possible).

News flash: 85 dBA *average* is hearing-damagingly LOUD especially with compressed source material. Thankfully most Jazz, Acoustic, Folk, and (mostly) Classical performances are not yet completely infected with the compression virus. The less the compression the better. Give me zero, please. (Peaks, in music that has NOT been compressed, are a totally different matter. Their peaks are completely worthy of ignoring… unless they are clipping the system… but clipping is usually painfully loud (average, again!) and thus self-policing; hearing preservation-wise).

I have thus always “sized” my entire system on ability to hit the dynamic peaks I desire, on the LEAST compressed, most acoustic music sources I can find and hear. Better still, if I’ve heard them directly live and unamplified.

Reality is built on dynamics as ones ears hear them. Loud is a fuel-altered Drag Race from 100 feet away in the stands. Dynamics is the quietest piccolo to the tympani in full-whack. The whisper of crickets to thunderstorms…

“Loud” is the enemy. Loud is evil (in isolation).

OG Point/query is valid: some sort of dBA monitoring of actual transducer delivery would be a huge boon towards protecting generations of listeners… got nuthin’ re: how to do it IRL As ever, caveat emptor.

PS: No, it doesn’t go as LOUD as I would (upon occasion) desire. I’m cool with that.

 

[classfolkphile]

Happy VH3-less Wednesday (or Thursday if applicable)!!

Well, besides not being a fan of Art Blakey (or any hard bop), another Wednesday without VH3 is not a happy day.

 

[Lavcat]

Yes, lovely spot.

We visited Bute about 30 years ago.

Lots more Scottish Isles to explore, as so far we have only visited a few, including:
Skye
Arran
Harris & Lewis
Islay
Mull
Iona

Love them all !

My favorite Scottish island is Scarp. I spent several days there enjoying hot tea, cookies, and milk warm from the cow.

 

[JohnnyOps]

Scarp

Scarp ftw.

I have a lifetime footwear goal to wear Scarpas on Scarp. I'm not doing so well on my general overarching goal of hiking uninhabited islands, but I have time.

 

[artur9]

Some of the gear I hope to donate, along with a Modi. The Melos SHA-1 may stay since there are already two headphone outputs. A Vali 2 I have is a great alternative. Thanks go out to @artur9 for the amp!

That's some serious company for that little SLA-2.

You're very welcome and let me know if you have any other neophytes to help out.

 

[Lavcat]

@Lavcat surprised that you didn't make your own cables using Canare L-2T2S two conductor version of L-4E6S (or the DA203 110 ohm AES/EBU style cable) along with Neutrik NC3MXX-B & NC3FXX-B connectors, and XXR color-coding rings from Markertek, Redco., etc???.

To my ears, the 1800F is a bit warmer sounding than the Canare L-4E6S. Looking at Ghostcable bulk as well for DIY per some comments on other audio & music production/ audio mastering related sites

@dstrimbu what was the data rate for your source? cd at 16/44.1? or already up-sampled to 88k,96k,192k etc?

I do soldering but I don't have the ultrasonic welder that Bluejeans has.

According to the data sheets 1800F has lower capacitance than Canare.

 

[artur9]

I might have to buy this

Anyone know anything about the artist or the recording company?

 

[jonathan c]

I might have to buy this

Anyone know anything about the artist or the recording company?

.... doppelganger recording? ....

 

[Paladin79]

That's some serious company for that little SLA-2.

You're very welcome and let me know if you have any other neophytes to help out.

Thanks so much, I have a lot of extra gear but occasionally I still need a piece or two.

 

[artur9]

.... doppelganger recording? ....

I think this maybe?