The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[drftr]

I can't even imagine the developments to come.

In that case, my dear friend, we may need to replace you with AI...

drftr

 

[phiemon]

In that case, my dear friend, we may need to replace you with AI...

drftr

Well, I wouldn't be surprised. As a philosopher, I have spent a long time studying the subject of freedom and determinism. In philosophy, the deterministic neurobiological view is already considered a foregone conclusion. In my opinion, we just have to wait until all the essential variables can be formulated, entered and elaborated in order to generate AIs that can perform human tasks.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but we are nothing more than the result of some reactions, of which we only have the illusion of control

 

[drftr]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised. As a philosopher, I have spent a long time studying the subject of freedom and determinism. In philosophy, the deterministic neurobiological view is already considered a foregone conclusion. In my opinion, we just have to wait until all the essential variables can be formulated, entered and elaborated in order to generate AIs that can perform human tasks.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but we are nothing more than the result of some reactions, of which we only have the illusion of control

Wouldn't that be heaven for IEM manufacturers? They finally get rid of us whiners and tell AI to adjust itself if it doesn't like the sound. It's a pretty good business case.

drftr

 

[warrenpchi]

There seems to be some variance on what people consider shouty or V/W shaped. I wonder if those might be due to how we define those labels? So here's a general question for everybody: What frequencies would you personally assign to the following labels?

• Sub-Bass
• Bass
• Midrange
  
  • Lower Mids
  • Upper Mids
• Highs

Spoiler: For me, those would be...

• Sub-Bass = 0 Hz - 60 Hz
• Bass = 60 Hz - 250 Hz
• Midrange = 250 Hz - 6 kHz
  
  • Lower Mids = 250 Hz - 2 kHz
  • Upper Mids = 2 kHz - 6 kHz
• Highs = 6 kHz - 20 kHz

 

[emdeevee]

Looks like an awesome unit man, seriously. Just wish they used swappable real tubes instead. Gonna not give up on this one though, looks good. Does it have a mode that sounds almost identical to actual tubes or are Nutubes still not there or may never be.

I have not actually tried this new portable amp. I have the ibasso PB5 which would also be worth a look, but like all portables, the tubes can't be rolled.

If you want something small (it's a little delicate, so not portable, but easy to move around) and cheap and tube rollable, meet this little beauty, my $120 Apos Gremlin! Can't say enough about this little beast, and fear it will take me deeper down a different branch of the rabbit hole !

 

[phiemon]

Wouldn't that be heaven for IEM manufacturers? They finally get rid of us whiners and tell AI to adjust itself if it doesn't like the sound. It's a pretty good business case.

drftr

If you ask me, to a certain extent this is already happening: see what TikTok and the like do to children.

 

[drftr]

I have not actually tried this new portable amp. I have the ibasso PB5 which would also be worth a look, but like all portables, the tubes can't be rolled.

If you want something small (it's a little delicate, so not portable, but easy to move around) and cheap and tube rollable, meet this little beauty, my $120 Apos Gremlin! Can't say enough about this little beast, and fear it will take me deeper down a different branch of the rabbit hole !

Fantastic and thoroughly appreciating you post this. Now I can have a sound sleep.

drftr

 

[mikaik]

The reason why AI will not replace human being is that: As a human race, we have a purpose of living (or do we ). But AI up until now does not have a purpose of its own. Therefore, human will be able to ask AI to help, but only human will ask strategic questions and set goals.

I don't know man, sometimes I have the feeling that my aim in life is to make my brief existence on this planet more pleasant while also trying to help others to same effect, whereas some people are more interested in accumulating wealth. You'd think that with AI easing the burden a bit, there's enough for everybody, but I have the impression the disparity is only going to increase. I'm not saying we should all be equal, far from it, but this ever growing demand for more productivity, more money, more profit, more everything is driving me crazy.

I have entered in ChatGPT about the difference in audio quality between low and high gain:

Interesting topic, I am trying to put AI to good use, but so far it only managed to find me coupons to buy stuff online for less money.

High-gain can become uncomfortable during extended listening sessions, as the volume can quickly become too high, which can lead to fatigue or even hearing damage.
Low gain is generally more comfortable for the ear as the volume is more controlled and less intense."

Maybe I am particularly pessimistic tonight, but sorry, it is just a bunch of banalities. I'm surprised it didn't also say too much power can damage the equipment. It did mention the hearing though...
Are we supposed to be happy it didn't say something plainly wrong? At least in this field we can check immediately if something is true or not, but I pity the school children learning their stuff from Chat GPT or other AI and not from books (which, btw, can also be wrong).

And actually, it is my understanding that because of the high gain (on the recording side) modern day CDs have the dynamic range of a limp noodle. That is why we love vinyl, right?! So it says high gain can offer increased dynamics, then it goes on to say softer sounds are lost...so less dynamics, right? I am no expert though, I am always happy to learn more about this, if anyone cares to explain.

I posted my example of how Claude AI messed some simple sin/cos/phytagorean calculations in another thread, I am not going to bother you with details, my point is: use it with caution and always check the results.

I am no reviewer, but I sort of made a promise to the good folks on the sister thread I will do a comparison between the Camerton Binom and Meze Empyrean 2, since Camerton is not so widely spread and Empy is well known. It is difficult, as I have no experience and I always get lost listening to music with either of the two HPs. What if I use AI to help me? To me it feels like cheating...so I will eventually put together something that will most probably be boring and not very informative, but at least it won't feel like cheating. Writing articles for scientific journals was character building, after all
I will let you know so that we can all prey for them watercooler HPs when I have managed to put that comparison together.

 

[Echo42987]

… that Novus seems to be more v-shaped and have a higher tendency to be shouty in the upper-mids, which is also reinforced by the fact that Novus is brighter, more neutral in timbre.

Got ya. Yeah the graph does lean in that direction. But I think people who have heard them would say they’re not that bright. The Raven had a sparkle on the top end that stood out more than the Novus. There is barely any top end fatigue with the Novus. I love graphs, because they give you an idea. Like I was saying, I didn’t like the Novus at first and I believe that was because of the tips/environment of CanJam. But the Raven, like others have stated have a very shouty nature that the Novus does not have, even though the graph says otherwise.

 

[phiemon]

Got ya. Yeah the graph does lean in that direction. But I think people who have heard them would say they’re not that bright. The Raven had a sparkle on the top end that stood out more than the Novus. There is barely any top end fatigue with the Novus. I love graphs, because they give you an idea. Like I was saying, I didn’t like the Novus at first and I believe that was because of the tips/environment of CanJam. But the Raven, like others have stated have a very shouty nature that the Novus does not have, even though the graph says otherwise.

Be that as it may, I've been listening Raven this morning and now all evening (with the DX320MaxTi, low-gain, and Divinus Velvet), and as far as I'm concerned, I hear it as smooth on top, I haven't noticed any shoutnesses, it is unnoticeable there, but maybe also the tips will certainly help in this case. The Velvets sound to me with a pronounced sub-bass and relatively smooth on top, as the bore is on the narrow side and the noozle is not too close to the ear, in contrast, for example, to the AZLA Crystals, Xelatec and Short/Light where I pratically ear shoutness in all my iems. After all, I am also the one who, unlike (many?) others here, does not notice any shoutness with Mentor and the Rn6, but then again with Trifecta (and APX Se and Macbeth, as I wrote before), which I find on some tracks just unbearable (although Macbeth was much better here, ultimately unproblematic). So I'm not really surprised that my opinion is different.

 

[gLer]

The problem with this shouty/not shouty, bright/not bright, harsh/smooth debate is that the underlying assumption is the same music is being listened to in the comparisons being made. I'd argue it's almost impossible to come to a collective agreement here unless you're comparing the same (or at least very similar) music, and even then, hearing differences, volume differences and chain differences will skew the outcome. One of you may be listening to mostly metal all day, while the other is into girl/guitar music, and yet another into jazz, and you're all trying to argue your point without any reference back to the subject (i.e. the music). Good luck with that.

 

[phiemon]

The problem with this shouty/not shouty, bright/not bright, harsh/smooth debate is that the underlying assumption is the same music is being listened to in the comparisons being made. I'd argue it's almost impossible to come to a collective agreement here unless you're comparing the same (or at least very similar) music, and even then, hearing differences, volume differences and chain differences will skew the outcome. One of you may be listening to mostly metal all day, while the other is into girl/guitar music, and yet another into jazz, and you're all trying to argue your point without any reference back to the subject (i.e. the music). Good luck with that.

I was just about to write something similar. But of course I would never have formulated it as well as you did.

Quintessence of the whole discussion: in the end, everything revolves around the fact that it has to be relativized and subjectivized. This is also my basic conviction in this hobby, which is why I respect all opinions and do not presume to make any judgments.

 

[Echo42987]

Be that as it may, I've been listening Raven this morning and now all evening (with the DX320MaxTi, low-gain, and Divinus Velvet), and as far as I'm concerned, I hear it as smooth on top, I haven't noticed any shoutnesses, it is unnoticeable there, but maybe also the tips will certainly help in this case. The Velvets sound to me with a pronounced sub-bass and relatively smooth on top, as the bore is on the narrow side and the noozle is not too close to the ear, in contrast, for example, to the AZLA Crystals, Xelatec and Short/Light where I pratically ear shoutness in all my iems. After all, I am also the one who, unlike (many?) others here, does not notice any shoutness with Mentor and the Rn6, but then again with Trifecta (and APX Se and Macbeth, as I wrote before), which I find on some tracks just unbearable (although Macbeth was much better here, ultimately unproblematic). So I'm not really surprised that my opinion is different.

I love that you have them and love them. The genre I listen to mainly is rock and EDM. It’s funny your write that though, I found the RN6 to be WAY too treble heavy for me. A symbol hit would almost make my face twitch every time. The Mentor I’m ok with though. I respect your opinion as that’s what it is. Also why I love this Hobby. I’m not trying to prove your opinion wrong in any way. I love that you love them (Raven). The raven was without question my favorite IEM for the longest time. Then got the Novus and think they do all of it just a little bit better. Have you tried the Novus yet, I can’t remember if you said you have/n’t? I just sold the MacBeth because even with all the tips I tried had a slight peak that over time would catch up to me. But like you stated too some tracks with was worse on vs others it was fine on.

 

[mikaik]

The problem with this shouty/not shouty, bright/not bright, harsh/smooth debate is that the underlying assumption is the same music is being listened to in the comparisons being made. I'd argue it's almost impossible to come to a collective agreement here unless you're comparing the same (or at least very similar) music, and even then, hearing differences, volume differences and chain differences will skew the outcome. One of you may be listening to mostly metal all day, while the other is into girl/guitar music, and yet another into jazz, and you're all trying to argue your point without any reference back to the subject (i.e. the music). Good luck with that.

Fully agree. And I'm glad IEMs for all tastes and genres exist. From time to time there's one that brings people with different musical tastes together. That is when you know you have an all-rounder In my case it's the Traillii. (Either that or people are too polite to tell me they don't like it).

 

[szabb27]

Mids to die for!
The combination of the 1-bit Discrete DAC with the natural mids and the Mecha for its amazing mids tuning is outstanding!!!

Any impressions/comparison with Dita Perpetua?!
Surprisingly did not see any mention of Perpetua while reading reviews of Mecha