Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 23, 2023 12:43:53 GMT
You can only think people like us are sufficiently small edge cases that companies dont prioritise or even bother fixing things like that. Like, for me, the lack of high res music makes spotify feel expensive compared to the same price sub of its peers who do provide it but, given the sub numbers, most people obviously dont care or care more about the overall user experience*.
*not podcasts
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kal
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Post by kal on Jan 23, 2023 13:01:55 GMT
You can only think people like us are sufficiently small edge cases that companies dont prioritise or even bother fixing things like that. Like, for me, the lack of high res music makes spotify feel expensive compared to the same price sub of its peers who do provide it but, given the sub numbers, most people obviously dont care or care more about the overall user experience*. *not podcasts Absolutely that’s the case. But then that means they’re making a big deal of being the only sub that includes high res at no extra cost, secretly knowing that the vast majority of people (including myself despite owning a shit load of gear) won’t have the right technology to experience it. |
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 23, 2023 13:26:46 GMT
Its like how they are half-heartedly re-launching the homepods and still fuckheadedly insisting you can only play tv through apple TV and not supporting WiSA, despite a lack of interoperability being the thing that killed them last time
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Fake_Blood
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Post by Fake_Blood on Jan 23, 2023 13:35:51 GMT
Yeah, its curation and community playlists are much worse, which is a shame. Spotify is, technically, the best service and I probably would have swallowed the unfathomable lack of HQ music but them shutting off the API to third party apps killed it dead, for me. I use my DDJs quite a lot and having all the music to play was fantastic so it was one of the biggest considerations when migrating away from it. But tidal does the connect thing pretty well and for most other things it matches or isnt a million miles away from spotify so I am happy with it for the time being. And Daniel Ek seems kind of evil. I was in the same boat regarding dj-ing using the spotify api, so after a long while decided to use spytify, which plays and records your entire library in real time. So after a week I had about 30GB of 320kbps mp3s. I know it goes against everything this thread stands for, but meh, good enough quality. |
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kal
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Post by kal on Jan 25, 2023 10:13:44 GMT
This thread really needs more hifi porn. It’s a bit shameful to be honest. At the moment I am fully lusting after this absolute beauty from Luxman. It’s also not in the realms of stupidly expensive in the wider scheme of things and even though I definitely shouldn’t be buying it, I do find myself making a savings plan… www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=33 |
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Post by gamingdave on Jan 25, 2023 12:05:09 GMT
It's definitely a looker! It is pricey, but like you say not insane money relative to other options. I really like the limited edition NAD amp that got released recently. Completely different direction to a valve amp, instead being designed around more modern listening methods, but with (IMO) stunning looks.  |
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kal
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Post by kal on Jan 25, 2023 12:16:58 GMT
I’m still not sure how I feel about wood finish (apart from speakers) but it’s certainly a strong look there. The old school LEDs are very cool.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 25, 2023 13:37:28 GMT
My plan this year is to get rid of most of my gear and replace pretty much every with the Buchardt a500 (or similar).
I don’t really care about atmos or 5/7/10.1 anymore so I’m going to rejig the living room and consolidate everything down into one set of good speakers. .
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kal
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Post by kal on Jan 25, 2023 13:42:21 GMT
Funnily enough I was looking at those. I’ve got a vague plan to go WiSA with my AV set up. They’re very nice looking indeed. Probably one that will have to wait for a far future date.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 25, 2023 17:32:01 GMT
That’s the dream pair but budget will scale up and down with the other work being done. The LS50 wireless is option two and ‘damn, that got expensive’ is LSX2 with the sub at some point later in the year.
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Post by jimnastics on Feb 17, 2023 9:05:38 GMT
I feel like I'm dirtying this thread with budget talk, but I need some advice. I'm dragging my B&W 601s out of the loft to hook up to my PC (using a Dragonfly USB DAC), so I guess I need some kind of amp in between. I don't want to spend a ton as this is literally all I'll be using it for (I'll be playing FLAC mostly), are there small but decent stereo hifi amps out there for this kind of thing? For example this (or similar), or am I throwing money at junk here? Maybe the clue is in the brand name.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 17, 2023 9:40:42 GMT
never tried nobsound but I do have quite a few dacs. If you could push the budget a bit, you could try the new ifi uno or the ifi zen air dac. Ive got the 'full fat' zen dac and its really good and the cheaper versions are supposed to be excellent. You cant go wrong with Fiio, either. That price range would get you a BTR3k or an Olympus, both of which are great for the money.
Ive also got a monoprice one which is pretty good but I dont know if they sell it anymore.
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Post by jimnastics on Feb 17, 2023 9:46:29 GMT
never tried nobsound but I do have quite a few dacs. If you could push the budget a bit, you could try the new ifi uno or the ifi zen air dac. Ive got the 'full fat' zen dac and its really good and the cheaper versions are supposed to be excellent. You cant go wrong with Fiio, either. That price range would get you a BTR3k or an Olympus, both of which are great for the money. Ive also got a monoprice one which is pretty good but I dont know if they sell it anymore.
Yeah I like my Dragonfly DAC so that bit's fine, what I need is the amp to power the 601s... which I think is what that Nobsound is?
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 17, 2023 9:55:18 GMT
Ah, ok. All the ones I mentioned are dac amps, i dont have any straight headphone amps. If its just going to be for your PC, I would get a dac amp to minimise the amount of crap on my desk but that nobsound and your dragonfly should chain.
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 17, 2023 13:45:48 GMT
I feel like I'm dirtying this thread with budget talk, but I need some advice. I'm dragging my B&W 601s out of the loft to hook up to my PC (using a Dragonfly USB DAC), so I guess I need some kind of amp in between. I don't want to spend a ton as this is literally all I'll be using it for (I'll be playing FLAC mostly), are there small but decent stereo hifi amps out there for this kind of thing? For example this (or similar), or am I throwing money at junk here? Maybe the clue is in the brand name.
I wouldn’t buy any nobsound stuff. Bought a couple of cheap switches and preamps off them just to serve a simple purpose and every time ended up buying something better soon after. It’s cheap tat that will give you buzz and distortion and all just isn’t worth it. 601s are really nice speakers and are worth investing a bit in the amp to drive them properly. You won’t have to spend much but I wouldn’t spend under £100 or you might as well just use your pc speakers. Something like this at least I think. www.audioaffair.co.uk/tangent-ampster-bt-ii-amplifier |
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 17, 2023 14:04:27 GMT
Sorry, for some reason, I thought you were just trying to drive headphones. Ignore literally everything I said.
Dont give advice before coffee.
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 17, 2023 14:11:54 GMT
To be fair running passive bookshelf speakers from a PC is a relatively unusual use case. Headphones are generally where DACs and amps are needed.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 17, 2023 14:13:54 GMT
Yah. back to the 'crap on the desk' point, powered all the way.
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Post by jimnastics on Feb 17, 2023 16:01:35 GMT
Sorry, for some reason, I thought you were just trying to drive headphones. Ignore literally everything I said. Dont give advice before coffee. It's ok mate, I thought maybe I was just getting confused  To be fair running passive bookshelf speakers from a PC is a relatively unusual use case. Headphones are generally where DACs and amps are needed. I haven't kept up to date with hifi stuff for about 15 years or so, I would have thought in this day and age, playing digital libraries (especially lossless) from a PC / Mac would be quite a common thing no? Or do people use dedicated digital players for that kind of thing? Or cast from a mobile device I guess? Christ I feel old. |
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 17, 2023 16:24:50 GMT
Nearly all PC set ups will use active speakers of some kind.
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Post by username on Feb 17, 2023 16:35:47 GMT
I’ve got the Tangent Ampster - it is class. The associated CD player is less good.
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Feb 20, 2023 17:58:38 GMT
I really want a Beoplay A9... which is pretty irrational. Heard one in Selfridges when we were there and it was pretty ridiculous. Such a thing of beauty and so stupid and the same time, given the price.
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 20, 2023 18:54:59 GMT
I really want a Beoplay A9... which is pretty irrational. Heard one in Selfridges when we were there and it was pretty ridiculous. Such a thing of beauty and so stupid and the same time, given the price. Honestly, you could get the same sound quality or better for well under £1k. You’re paying for the design and the brand with B&O. It does sound nice but it’s nothing special. |
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 20, 2023 19:15:48 GMT
You could get the devialet phantom for that if you don’t like having glass in your windows anymore.
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Feb 21, 2023 11:22:48 GMT
You could get the devialet phantom for that if you don’t like having glass in your windows anymore. It's so ugly, which is precisely what the A9 is not. Currently down to 1900 on Amazon... Less if get Warehouse one. |
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 21, 2023 11:31:30 GMT
Seriously. If you’ve got £2k to spend you can get something far more beautiful and better sounding than any of that wanky hotel lobby bullshit. What kind of system do you want? Just streaming?
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Post by beastmaster on Apr 18, 2023 19:53:24 GMT
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kal
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Post by kal on Apr 18, 2023 19:56:50 GMT
As always do a demo, especially with Grados. Their sound signature is very bright and not for everyone. Also be sure the sound leakage isn’t a problem as they are basically like wearing like speakers on your head.
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Apr 18, 2023 20:34:28 GMT
I had a pair of SR80s and they were super uncomfortable. Like wearing a pair of crochet hooks on your head. Ultimately realised I wouldn't use them much and sold them on. Lovely sound though.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Apr 18, 2023 20:37:02 GMT
They are hard work. To wear mine for any length of time I’ve changed the ear pads to those cup style ones and EQ 2K down but when they click, they click.
They are decent to just plug into a pad, too. Decent sound stage and they don’t take much driving.
I do love the look of the reference series but, like you say, for that money I want something I could sit in all day and I don’t think I could with a pair of grados.
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