Audiophile Corner
 

No, not pedophile, lol. Audiophile.

You know, people who enjoy listening to really good recordings.

Although my ears aren't what they used to be, I can still hear the differences between a K-Tel recording and a direct to disc recording.

Being a musician, I really enjoy live performances. Nothing beats a live performance, but when it is next to impossible, listening to a good recording on decent equipment is a good compromise.

Discuss your favourite recordings, whether it be vinyl, tape, or disc of some kind. 8 Track? Kid you not, it was a pretty good format.

A lot of recent re-releases are remastered and most of the time it is never as good as the original, but, when done right, it is simply amazing.

Vinyl has, or is making, a come back. I've taken my old Technics turntable and brought it back to life. I've spent oodles of money on cleaning equipment (dirty, filthy vinyl). To the point, I've nearly given up. Don't get me wrong, the sound is amazing. Nothing like the sound of vinyl, but even the slightest of pop bothers the hell out of me.

I've turned to digital sources........... DVD-Audio, SACD, Gold CD's, etc. Again, the recordings are at the hands of people who have put their "mark" on the recording. Right now, I am listening to Modest Mussorgsky's Great Gate of Kiev from "Pictures at an Exhibition." Performed by The Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Fritz Reiner. The recording was made in 1957. The SACD was created using the original 2 and 3 channel recordings - thanks to the great insight of the people over at RCA Victor who, back in the 50's, decided to record in stereo for the first time ever. I must hand it to whoever engineered the re-release. Holy, jumping jiminy crickets, the presence and precision............


Back to the recordings.........

There are lots of really good recordings out there. One of my recommendations is KODO - Heartbeat Drummers of Japan. Sheffield Labs Live Studio Recordings. Warning. Your speakers might get destroyed, if you listen to this recording at moderate to high levels. The large drum "Odaiko" can span up to ten feet wide! Not sure what size of Odaiko these guys used in the recording, but when it hits, look out!

If anyone wants to talk playback equipment, totally fine. as long as you don't get into types of cable............ then you know you need some serious help, lol.

J/K, I know they make a helluva difference, but spending a few thousand dollars on 10 feet of cable, just doesn't make sense to us mere mortals.

i was just thinking why we dont have an audiophile thread or something like that on RS.

though i was not expecting your post to be about recordings, but more about audio equipment LOL.

im not a true audiophile. my ears cant tell a diff between 320kbps and FLAC.

i used to not believe my audiophile friends about cables and even amplifiers.

but i am a true believer now hearing the diff on my own setup when i switched out different components.

the thing is i feel like its still super subjective to what kind of "sound" you like.

im a very bass orientated guy. my loud speakers have 15 inch woofers in them that go down to 24hz at -3db.

but its not enough. lol. im looking into getting sub 20hz subwoofer(s), for movies and those organ tracks that go down to like 16hz or something.

as for types of cable talk.... i aint talking about cheap 12 gauge copper vs some branded one.

like thin shitty computer speaker wires, vs 12 gauge copper LOL it makes a diff esp when u are running them over longer distances.

that being said, i adopted an older receiver that had no bluetooth built in (yeah yeah i know bluetooth aint very audiophile)... but i tried 3 diff bluetooth receivers, some with cheap DAC's built in, some with no DAC's and i have a higher quality one coming in.

so far... it makes a huge diff which DAC you use. some of the shitty DAC's reduce the volume and bass dramatically, and add significant noise to the audio (if i jack the volume up on silent, u can hear so much noise vs a good one).

that being said I just got into this "audiophile" game. i aint big on tweaking and spending tens of thousands of dollars on on stuff that marginally improves the system. lol. I'm more of a set and forget guy. as long as it was a good deal and sounds "good" to my ears, im happy. im also like 1/5th deaf so i duno if that contributes to anything.

over the years i've realised im a bass type guy. i like to "color" my music with heavy bass even if its classical LOL. i like those low lows.

oh and for sure, horn speakers are a must. i didnt believe that shit either until i heard it.

my place isnt big enough for anything other than horn tweeters. but if i could have horn mids and lows, that would be awesome. but i'd need like 1000sq feet listening room LOL. which i dont have... at all...

I talked to some guys that have a shit load of money but are half audiophiles. they wont spend a trillion hours tinkering with different cables and stuff. but they said the biggest improvement u can do is to fix the acoustics in the room. And I don't mean just getting a few of those spiky foam things LOL. but for sure things get reflected off walls. my bass is uneven, if i stand in the corners of the room or some area's its way heavier than others.

that being said, do you ever listen to your music in surround? i upgraded from a shitty 5.1 all in one sony crap system (it must have only been like 300w total power lol, and like a 5inch woofer or something lame)... to two big ass standing 3 way speakers, but only 2.0 for now. maybe 2.1 or 2.2 later.

i dont really miss surround for movies or games really. but i would think if you could send music to all the speakers say in a 4.0-4.2 setup or even a 5 speaker setup, it would really fill the room up a lot more, especially if one is walking around or not in the "optimal" listening position all the time.

lol that being said, what subwoofer do you have? i was looking into velodyne but fuck those are like almost 8g canadian new. SVS has "comparable" cheap ones at 2000-2500USD. a requirement for my subwoofer is it must be at least 16-18inches and go down to at least 15hz or so.

been doing a lot of research on sealed and ported... I realised ive never owned or heard a sealed sub (or i didnt know it was sealed). every sub i see is always ported somehow... i have noticed on every measurement, the ported subs have a way more dramatic drop off in db's beyond the response range, where as the sealed ones kinda curve down more gently and therefore give higher db's at the very very low hz's.

side question... have you tried bi-amping? my current speakers allow it but im not sure it'll do anything LOL. i dont think my shitty ears will be able to hear any difference. although im secretly hoping the bass can be increased on the woofers in my standing speakers, but ... i have a feeling it'll make zero difference.

I haven't been the head-fi guy that I used to be for quite a few years now, but for any audiophile who hasn't tried head-fi, I'd strongly recommend you to give it a look. I don't have the space nor the money to do any full fledge hi-fi stuff, but head-fi is easily within reach on both accounts. In particular, I'd say that to get the same quality of sound, you'd probably have to spend at least 10x as much on hi-fi equipment over head-fi.

Man... I wish I can go back to my carefree head-fi days where I can just literally bury my head between a pair of cans for hours on end... :(

While it’s not the highest end stuff I’m fairly invested in Sonos products now and have been very happy with their system.

Punkwax here sold me some in ceiling speakers years back now when I was doing renovations and I ended up using 4 of them in my living room, recently finally acquired a means of powering them, the Sonos Amp which is essentially a 2 channel amp but can be used for 4 in ceiling speakers in parallel The amp has an optical in, HDMI, as well as analog, so currently I’ve got my audio technica record player hooked into the analog input

What I love about Sonos is I can play my records either strictly on the hardwired in-ceiling speakers, which sound fantastic, OR I can play them on every Sonos speaker in the house, so I’m playing original vinyl and it’s being wirelessly played on 6 different speakers seemlessly through my living room, dining room, and kitchen. Love it

In terms of vinyl (and I’ll preface this by saying I’m by no means a big Beatles guy) but imo, sgt peppers lonely hearts club band is the greatest album front to back that ever was.

In terms of the quality of songs, variation, and pure ability and uniqueness I don’t think I’ve ever listened to another album that even comes close

In the future looking to get the Sonos playbar, id love to get the sub to add that next dimension of boom but our living room with our TV setup is right above the bedroom of our suite so that’s out of the question for now lol

I hate the term Audiophile. Way too much snake oil, not enough science/facts.

Bi-amping without using an active cross over will do nothing.

Ported subs drop off after whatever the ports are tuned to but play loader. Companies like SVS tune their subs pretty low. In my HT I use a 21-inch sub in a sealed box I built with a 2000 watt pa amp.

I run a pair of BW 685 S2's and a Dayton Sub 1200 hooked up to a Sonos amp and 70's Kenwood turntable. I plug the ports in the BW's and run the sub.

5.1 audio is my thing now... DVDA, SACD, DTS-CD and Bluray Audio... I rip them to FLAC without compression so I can play through my home theater and I compile my own DVDA discs for the car.

A lot of classic bands sound great in 5.1... The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Bryan Adams, Dire Straits, GnR... hell, even Bjork and Britney sound great. It's a shame that a lot of today's music in high res formats is only stereo but I don't listen to that crap anyways... lol

I'm running KEF Q100 speakers powered by a Denon receiver (I forget which model.) I play CDs off of a Panasonic DMPBDT460 Blu-Ray player.

Popped in some older CDs for my collection over the years and they sound great. Some of the best recorded albums (for what I consider the gold standard) are CDs from 90s HK canto pop singers. There are still a handful of recording artists who use live bands and recorded and mastered by amazing engineers, but they are far and few these days. :okay:

If audiophile grade Cantopop is your thing, certainly you must have heard of Bianca Wu? Her singing is hit and miss for me, but her recordings are all done with almost a no-expenses-spared type of mentality, and it is an absolute joy to listen to them with high quality equipment.

Yes, Bianca Wu is on my Spotify playlist, but I do not own any of her records. I do appreciate her recordings - they are excellent! (And agreed about her singing.) :D

Bump........

I'm listening to music more and more on my laptop and iPhone. I have two decent over the ear cans and iPods, but thinking of going high end earpieces and a high end DAC. I already have the Red Dragonfly, but this just came in my email........ very affordable.


https://headphonebar.com/collections...eid=76fb470ee4


Dragonfly
https://headphonebar.com/collections...-dragonfly-red


I wish...........

https://headphonebar.com/collections...-audio-equinox

If any of you are on a budget and/or want to get into audio, may I suggest these.

https://www.kantoaudio.com/powered-speakers/yu6/

They are affordable and the best part is, they are self powered. Which means no amplifier needed. I have a pair hooked up to the television in the living room (not the media room). For the price, they are a bargain. I have an old turntable hooked up to it. It has all kinds of inputs. Everything from a built-in phono pre-amp to RCA line level input, two Toslink inputs, 3.5 mini input, and Blutooth 4.0. Plus a freaking remote that is very useful and full of wAnderful features. It comes in many finishes and are designed right here in Coquitlam, BC,

I have a powered sub hooked up to it. Yes, it even has output for that. The sound is decent for the price and size. I was so impressed, I shelled out more money for the matching stands (black, of course). The YU6 is the largest size in the line up. They also have other neat models.

I just looked at their website and noticed their latest product. So cool. It has built in DAC.

https://www.kantoaudio.com/powered-speakers/tuk/

A very good deal on some great Pioneer speakers. Pick up a used receiver with HDMI for $100, a cheap sub for $100 and you have a great system for under $400.

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/amaz...29-90-2369734/

Let me know how you like the Dragonfly.

I purchased the version created and sold by the OE manufacturer and the internals, including the DAC chipset, is exactly the same, but never knew anyone to compare. There was a website that did a review but I lost the link and couldn't find it anymore before I could read it. I got lucky and found the OE version from Canada Computers for $50.

You can try mine out. Now that I use the AirPods, it just sits there on my desk looking pretty It’s the candy apple red one. PM if interested. Try it out for a week or two. It’s in the leather pouch that came with it and I haven’t touched it in almost a year, so Corona free. Gulolol.

Curious about the Dragonfly vs my FiiO E10K. I have super high impedance cans (Audio-Technica R70x) and the FiiO can't really drive them properly. Any idea if the Dragonfly is better?

Caveat: My personal opinion only

I don't think the Dragonfly can power your cans to its full potential (see edit below.) Unfortunately, your FiiO is not cut out to do the job just based on specs on paper. I could be wrong, however. Best you try MG1's unit. I'm using my OE Dragonfly (let's just call it a white label knock off) with my KEF M500 headphones but I'm not looking to have my ears and audio senses caressed by harps played by heaven's angels or anything. For what it's worth, my KEF M500s are rated at 32-ohms ±15%.

Edit: I see your headphones are rated for 470 ohms. Jesus haha Both the Dragonfly and FiiO won't cut it :lol The Dragonfly is good up to 300ohms, which you may hear a difference, but your headphones won't reach its potential. On the flip side, I don't know how loud you listen to your music, so it won't really matter. Nonetheless, you may want to consider the IFI Audio XCAN to take full advantage of your headphones, and coincidentally sold at the same store MG1 posted, and is on sale!

@MG1 - thanks for the offer, but I'm in Toronto (Centre of the Universe.) Given that we both grew up in the same neighbourhood and its reputation, I probably won't send it back to you :troll:

Yeah, the FiiO does an OK job but at 470ohms (wtf, AT? These are supposed to be studio reference headphones) I really need to turn up the amp to have good volume.

The DAC from Headphone Bar that I posted earlier has a built in amp with volume control for preamp and headphone amp. Pretty sure not possible because up Covid, but call and see if you can bring your headphones and try it out.

Earmen TR-Amp.

https://www.headphone.guru/earmen-do...tr-amp-review/

Without digging into the specs of your headphones, they are likely professional/studio grade headphones, hence the high impedance and related specifications. They're meant to hear every little pin drop and a specific range of frequencies, and used to edit/manipulate studio recordings.

Edifier having a sale right now on bookshelf speakers and headphones.

Ordered R1850db bookshelf speakers for my PC. $150 is an amazing deal for quality speakers.

https://www.edifier.com/ca/en/deals

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Was into audio back in the day, both home audio and headphones. Less time and interest nowadays.

My main setup is a vintage 80's Pioneer amp, with Athena AS-B2's that were all the rage back in the 00's: https://www.goodsound.com/equipment/athena_asb2_2.htm

I recently bought a set of KEF Q150 on deep discount that were supposed to be very well reviewed (https://www.digitaltrends.com/speake...f-q150-review/), however in a side-by-side found that my old Athenas actually had way better highs. Vocals on the KEF sounded like they were behind an N95 mask when compared next to the Athenas.

In terms of sources, it is mostly Chromecast Audio & Spotify, or my vintage Sony Direct Drive turntable.

Since working from Home, my Headphone interest has picked back up; not shown is a FiiO E10K headphone Amp/DAC.

https://i.imgur.com/FJgXa1a.jpg

Not a bad price.

The main thing I dislike is the lack of a 3.5mm output as I can imagine many would love to be able to plug in a set of headphones while at my PC when not running the speakers (I know I would).

As a result I constructed my own 2.1 system with a mini tube amp, a self amplified sub (which fits neatly under the desk with it's own controller), and a set of Polk Signature S10 speakers to handle the mids and highs.

Sure, this setup is pricier than the self amplified offerings, but the sound quality is incomparable.

Haven't had set of speakers in a while for my PC. Thinking of picking up a set of speakers.

I was looking at these guys. Kanto YU2 Powered Desktop Speakers

Look here.