Are you an Audiophile?

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Cause I'm not.

But I do like me-self a good sound system. Right now I have bought for myself a new Denon X2000 receiver with a Denon blu-ray player. The picture and sound are phenomenal. I recently bought a Velodyne Impact 10 subwoofer. I also ordered a new Samsung LED TV. The last component I have yet to order or purchase is a new set of speakers. Right now I have my old Paradigm Monitor 5's hooked up to my receiver. I'm still deciding if I should try some new brand like Monitor Audio or Energy

So, any amateur audiophiles here? What kind of system do you run your movies and music on?

[KUAN]

I am.... If you really want to get to the crux of what works for you....
do some listening of various brands of every component you buy in the listening room of your audio shop by asking them to switch between them for you. Take a cd along that you know well and listen to part of just one track repeatedly, monitoring the various instruments..
and you could also ask them to allow you to take the winners home to test.
This all probably sounds excessive but doing some or all of the above really does allow clear winners to emerge

Happy hunting..

[DrEvil]

Sort of. I don't have a fancy receiver or anything, just a dedicated stereo sound-card for my PC (Asus xonar essence ST) and a good headset (Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, comfiest headset I've owned so far, including with glasses).
The sound is magnificent, assuming the source is good of course (Bluray or loss-less audio). MP3's and such is pointless. I actually haven't tried it with a CD yet, I went all digital several years ago.

[IanEye]

I hope no one minds if I jump on this Wonderful thread to ask a digital audio question.

Let's say I buy an album from Boomkat in the FLAC format, but then at some point I want to listen to it in iTunes.

Is there any software that converts a flac file into an Apple Lossless file "better" than any other software?
Or is that trancoding process going to be the same with any old software?

[DrEvil]

If you have a Mac I think you can import and convert in itunes automagically. If you're on windows this might work:
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

Or just use vlc media player, it plays pretty much everything.

[IanEye]

thank you Doctor.
When I am at home I use vlc on my Mac for flac files (iTunes doesn't support flac).

but I spend most of my work day in a various loud server rooms, so i use an iPod there.

it would be so much easier if iTunes and iPods supported flac files.

i feel like i tried dragging and dropping flacs into iTunes before and it didn't work.

i use both macs and PCs at work, so i will look into dBpoweramp.

thanks again,
Ian

[DrEvil]

You're welcome.
Btw - if you have an ipod touch there should be a Flac player for sale in the App store, otherwise dBpoweramp seems to be the alternative that pops up most.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I was talking to a co-worker about lossless audio. He said when it comes to MP3's and FLAC, you're splitting hairs. I guess it depends on the source and quality of equipment you're using. I've heard some crappy MP3's in my day, but the iTunes music I've downloaded doesn't sound too bad.

[DrEvil]

Depends on your equipment, but I can definitely hear the difference with my setup.
If I turn the volume to max with a Flac song the sound is still pristine. MP3's, not so much..

Also remember that MP3's come in different bit-rates. 128Kb/s sounds a lot worse than 320Kb/s (obviously), while VBR (Variable Bit-Rate) can be pretty hit and miss.

If you want to go completely overboard you can of course go for the raw Wav files (Bleep.com has that option), if you have the space for it. Those should be just the raw-data off the CD, with no compression whatsoever.

Edit: A small aside. Sound quality used to be better in the old days. Not because of vinyl or anything, but because the studios today have a bad habit of cranking up the volume on their recordings, which in turn means that the music is already compressed before it gets on the disc, since they just cut off the highs and lows in the waveform. See Metallica, St. Anger (I think, one of their latest anyway) for a horrible example. In those cases it doesn't really matter what file format you use. The quality is already crap before you rip it.

[Lord Balto]

Cause I'm not.

But I do like me-self a good sound system. Right now I have bought for myself a new Denon X2000 receiver with a Denon blu-ray player. The picture and sound are phenomenal. I recently bought a Velodyne Impact 10 subwoofer. I also ordered a new Samsung LED TV. The last component I have yet to order or purchase is a new set of speakers. Right now I have my old Paradigm Monitor 5's hooked up to my receiver. I'm still deciding if I should try some new brand like Monitor Audio or Energy

So, any amateur audiophiles here? What kind of system do you run your movies and music on?

Audio:

Harman/Kardon HK 3490 receiver
Palomar AM loop antenna
Sangean ATS-909X for FM reception
Marantz CD6004 CD player
Sony TC-WE475 cassette deck
Audio Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive turntable with AT440MLa cartridge
Drake R8 communications (shortwave) receiver
Audio Technica ATH-M50s monitor headphones
Klipsch RB-81 II reference speakers
JBL 4313B control monitors


Video:

Sharp LC-37HV6U LCD monitor
Niro 1.1 Pro/800 (hybrid) home theater audio system
Sharp BD-HP20U blu-ray disc player

I have my DVD player and monitor downstairs in a separate room and my audio equipment upstairs. I use the audio equipment for the computer as well as listening to music.

The Niro system gives decent surround sound with only two enclosures, a five driver unit in front and a subwoofer on the floor, so there aren't a bunch of speakers and wires running everywhere. I normally don't play music through this system.

I have no subwoofer upstairs. I run both the Klipsches and JBLs when I'm listening to serious recordings, both CDs and vinyl. The horns from the Klipsches give good voice clarity and the 10" woofers from the JBLs have enough bass so that I don't need a subwoofer.

I should point out that good thick speaker cables can be the difference between a poor system and an excellent one.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Lord Balto:

Nice receiver. My place is too small to have a separate system for music. I must admit, my CD's sound flat compared to playing music from my ipod thru my receiver. I wouldn't mind a dedicated system though. I thought about a Yamaha micro system, maybe hook up some Energy CB-5's with an 8 inch sub.

I use Sennheiser HD-429 headphones, very nice.

[DrEvil]

If you have a really old PS1 laying around you might want to have a look at it.

http://www.destructoid.com/playstation- ... 2269.phtml

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I should point out that good thick speaker cables can be the difference between a poor system and an excellent one.

I just received some 16 AWG speaker wire from Monoprice.com, you think this is adequate, or should I have bought a thicker gauge?

[Lord Balto]

I should point out that good thick speaker cables can be the difference between a poor system and an excellent one.

I just received some 16 AWG speaker wire from Monoprice.com, you think this is adequate, or should I have bought a thicker gauge?

The 16s should be fine as long as your runs are 20 feet or shorter:

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

I'm using 12s for 25-foot runs, but that's just me. These brought my JBLs back from the dead.

[Belligerent Savant]

.

I also use 12 gauge for my speaker wire, with banana clips.

I sent my setup to Handsome via PM, but may as well throw it down here as well:

Been slowly building it over time...

KEF R series speakers: R500 floorstanders, R100s in the rear, and R200c Center Channel (5.1 arrangement). These KEFs sound pristine and pure.

Have the same record player as Lord Balto (Audio Technica LP1240 with the included AT cartridge) and coincidentally, later purchased the same AT440MLa cartridge, though I've yet to remove it from its box as I'll be upgrading to a Rega turntable at some point

Onkyo NR-818 Receiver.

For subwoofer I have an HSU VTF-2 MK4, though I haven't connected it yet as it just came in...