Yep, $1,200 for a Sony Walkman!!!

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Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,284
3,905
75
There is a limited (but growing) market for lossless/"HD" audio. While it is certainly a niche device there is some precedent for releasing halo devices that sell in small numbers. Certainly, Sony has done this for decades with home audio/video components. I mean, how many $5k DVD players did they (expect to) sell?

Slashdot has a post that explains the HD Audio mess:

AmiMoJo said:
That's the genius of Hi-Res Audio, the same company can both create the problem and sell you the solution.

Sony Music releases extremely loud, clipped and generally crap sounding CDs. Then they release a Hi-Res version that also happens to be properly mixed, but you need an expensive player to listen to it.

Their plan is working. In Japan Hi-Res Audio is a big deal at the moment, but many people don't realise that it is more to do with the recordings being properly mixed and not insanely loud than it is the higher sample rate and bit depth.
 

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,210
1,080
126
So if you buy this, I presume you should be spenidng equally luxurious/high quality headphones to go with it yes?

So $2400 for a portable audiophile music player? lol.
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
:thumbsup: you win this thread

When I saw the amazon link I thought they forgot to add a additional zero after the 9. Only dis for me is it's a windows phone and you can't put android on it. I would like to play around with it and see what it does.
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,616
3,470
136
It makes a big deal of a audio format called FLAC. Which I've heard of, but never used. Of course MP3 is a lossy media format, maybe FLAC isn't. I wouldn't mind listening to it to hear how it "actually" sounds. They should put a Ipod 5 and this side by side playing the same FLAC and have people tell the difference..

Can people actually tell the difference between flac and mp3? Like in actual blind tests?

When you see phrases like "compromise the purity of the original signal" you know to run far away.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
When I saw the amazon link I thought they forgot to add a additional zero after the 9. Only dis for me is it's a windows phone and you can't put android on it. I would like to play around with it and see what it does.

this is a thread about walkmans.

And for 30 bucks thats an extremely nice walkman.
 

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
When I saw the amazon link I thought they forgot to add a additional zero after the 9. Only dis for me is it's a windows phone and you can't put android on it. I would like to play around with it and see what it does.

Just for playing music, Windows is not bad, it has pretty good players
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
Can people actually tell the difference between flac and mp3? Like in actual blind tests?

When you see phrases like "compromise the purity of the original signal" you know to run far away.

That's kind of where I was trying to get with my last post. I would think most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the diff. Unless they are adding "loudness" or other audio artifacts into the audio to give it the "impression" of higher quality, but no real change.
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
Just for playing music, Windows is not bad, it has pretty good players

LOL,

My last MP3 player was a Ipod Nano. The battery went bad and i had it exchanged at the genius bar... After a year of using the new one, the shuffle button on the side got jammed inward (no warranty).

To replace is overpriced junk, I got a Wal-mart brand Eclipse MP3 player for $14.00. Has worked very well for years!!! No touch screen, no nothing, just a few buttons for music selection and a shitty pixelated postage stamped sized screen.
 

Rakehellion

Lifer
Jan 15, 2013
12,182
35
91
Can people actually tell the difference between flac and mp3? Like in actual blind tests?

When you see phrases like "compromise the purity of the original signal" you know to run far away.

I can tell the difference, but I don't care enough to spend extra money on headphones or waste space on lossless audio.

I'm not trying to get lost in an endless field of immersion while the homeless guy vomits next to me on the subway, I just want to listen to some music.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,036
548
126
Can people actually tell the difference between flac and mp3? Like in actual blind tests?

When you see phrases like "compromise the purity of the original signal" you know to run far away.
Too many variables but generally speaking yes. In many ways it's like the difference between SD and HD video.
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
I can tell the difference, but I don't care enough to spend extra money on headphones or waste space on lossless audio.

I'm not trying to get lost in an endless field of immersion while the homeless guy vomits next to me on the subway, I just want to listen to some music.

Apparently Android can support up to 48Khz FLAC. I'm not sure about the other audio specs it's indicating ("no dither applied for 24-bit")

http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
I can tell the difference between cheap earbuds and quality earbuds. Not so much audio formats.
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
hahahahahaha no. Unless you're comparing FLAC to 128kbps or something.

From my memory in courses I've taken regarding file compression etc.., lossy MP3 is so small because a general microphone can record frequencies of sounds that can't be heard by the human ear. One of the processes the audio goes through to become a Mp3 is to take those frequencies away. This is where most of the space saving happens.

So who here has dog ears?
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,414
1,574
126
From my memory in courses I've taken regarding file compression etc.., lossy MP3 is so small because a general microphone can record frequencies of sounds that can't be heard by the human ear. One of the processes the audio goes through to become a Mp3 is to take those frequencies away. This is where most of the space saving happens.

So who here has dog ears?

if you have a sound system the audio quality matters tremendously. if you have $19.99 apple ear buds, probably not so much.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,740
452
126
Meh, my vinyls still sound better.

It's warmer, but it's further from the original recording than most people realize.

I read a pretty good article about the problems with vinyl, and what some people consider "good quality" is just a completely different way of producing which they prefer. The gist of it is that to save space and fit the music onto vinyl records, you have to reduce the amount of low frequency sounds which take up a lot of physical space (low frequency makes thicker grooves). Places that stamp records usually put a low cut filter at around 40Hz to control this.

On the flip side, high frequency notes can cause distortion if they force the needle to move too quickly. So there's usually a high cut filter at around 16kHz. They recommend that producers/sound engineers de-ess their vocal tracks and cymbals so they don't run into issues.

After all that processing to account for the physical limitations of carving physical grooves into a medium, you end up with a recording that has lost a lot of high end and some of the "oomph" from the low end. This results in a warmer sound because you're not hearing a lot of sibilance from the cymbals and such. Some people like it, but it's still nowhere near what was originally recorded... and it's FAR less accurate than any digital medium because of it.

So, when it comes to discussing vinyl with people they usually fall into two categories:

1.) People who say "vinyl SOUNDS better". This is perfect, because what "sounds better" is entirely personal preference. If the warmth of how vinyl is recorded sounds good to you, that's great. BTW, you should be able to get that same warmth with an equalizer on your digital music.

2.) People who say "vinyl has better sound quality". Sound quality as judged by how close the playback sounds vs. the source means it's physically impossible for vinyl to replicate the instruments as recorded. So no, it really can't have better sound quality. It may sound better to you, but what you're listening to isn't what was recorded.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,740
452
126
If the same song is played in 128k and 384k, I can easily tell the difference.

128k is about my limit. I can tell when something is 128k, but if it's 192k I have a hard time discerning that from FLAC.
 
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