1) In n Out Burger is the best fast food in the world, and Father's Office is the best Burger in LA (thanks BongoFury).
2) Widespread Panic and Arcade Fire are great bands.
3) All Digital is the wave of the future through downloads and analog is dead.
4) Analog is back to audio dominance and will continue to grow, digital is a trend and will die off except for convenience sake.
5) Don't ever say anything derogitory regarding certain types of gear that are defended by thier ______-mafia gangs. Especially___________________________.
6) Expensive Power cords are a still the biggest snake oil in audio.
7) Speakers are the most important place to start building a system.
8) Analog sounds better than digital.
9) Blu Ray is dead in the water, downloads for all media, video and audio is now the standard and will only continue to grow.
10) This is not a hobby, but a terrible affliction/addiction, and I need to change out some more gear.
Translation: I've found dbpoweramp, Picard, and PLEX to be valuable tools for building and maintaining a music library. I learned about dbpoweramp and Picard initially here, PLEX I found on my own actually.
Has more to do with maintaining a large usable music library and less to do with sound quality though dbpoweramp CD ripping does help assure that.
I still need to learn how to correctly use dbpoweramp batch tagger to automatically batch update album art files to my flac music files. Not having album art embedded in teh FLAC file causes problems correctly displaying album art when one moves from one software streamer to another.
I've also learned that auto smart autotagging with PLEX Pass (recognizes music files based on music content not tags, similar to Shazam) works pretty well to get your PLEX music library files tagged automatically but this only works with PLEX and cannot be leveraged with other music servers.
Last year I think I discovered MusicBrainz Picard as a tool for smart autotagging of music files and have gotten a lot of mileage out of the combo of Picard and dbpoweramp together since for both ripping and tagging.
Even with a good way to search the thread archives repeat questions will still be asked and to my surprised answered with minimal venom.
When you list a classified with free shipping to CONUS that buyer will probably live in the farthest city from you across the country.
There are very knowledgeable members here who are very giving with their time to answer questions thoroughly. I've learned a lot from participating in this forum.
Even if you list something at a very fair price there is always a low-baller sending you a very low borderline insulting offer.
When you think your response will be sent for moderator approval it will post immediately to the thread and vice versa.
I learned to NEVER answer the question: "what's your bottom line?" If you reveal the bottom line, that's where many Audiogoners want to start the negotiations. Therefore, when asked for the bottom line, I will always, in the future, answer: "make me your best offer and we'll go from there."
That won't help you, their instruments are out of tune and they cannot hear it.
LOL. True, but I can. Still helps me know when any particular system change is closer or farther from reality. If the local reality is less than ideal, oh well. All tuning schemes are relative anyway...
Recorded music through a stereo sounds better than a live concert
Surely that depends on the recording, and the concert.
1) Recorded music through a stereo sounds better than a live concert
2a) A $3k coax cable on a $300 MF V-DAC is a great match
2b) The $300 MF V-DAC sounds better than anything under $10k, especially CDPs
3) Moving speaker cables (not disconnecting or moving them away from other cables) makes a difference
4) There's no such thing as too many acoustic panels
5) Sound quality of an album is far more improtant than the music itself
Those were the most enlightning posts for me this year. No idea how I survived in this hobby before I learned all this. Can't wait to learn more this year!!!
That not reading A'gon forums makes my system sound better and I listen more. Reading A'gon makes my system sound worse and I listen less. Come to think of it, the same can be said for some other audio rags.
Nice post Elizabeth. I especially liked number 10 "that endless debates NEVER solve anything, that listening for ten minutes DOES solve." Happy New Year!
Mickeyf and Inna - of course a fantastic copy of a master tape which was recorded well (!!!) is unbeatable. I like listening to well recorded master tape copies pretty much - and yes you get some software but good tapes are limited. We have to be aware that vinyl carries the biggest music resource on this planet and there are exceptional good old recordings and pressings out which transferred by the right analogue chain makes your heart beat, or... not.
I would think if you had those connections, you could make a pretty good sideline here outta selling rtr machines and those bootlegs. wtf , my wife would love for me to add another guargantuan piece of 'memorabalia' to our living space.
You just have to have connections in the industry to get those magic tapes. Some audiophiles never even bothered with vinyl. Other than that, yeah, it's tough shit.
Just outta curiosity, since, prerecorded reel to reel is about as common as flying pigs and predated digital, I wonder where all those magic tracks come from?? Surely not those junk catridges on multi-distorting turntables???
All turntables of the same class sound different though they should sound similar. That means that they all distort big time in different ways. There is no such thing as neutral sound reproduction or production. MM cartridges have more substance and MC more resolution; both sound like junk compared to reel to reel. People who can hear best never become audiophiles. Tube amplification will always be superior. Cleaning records with anything but pure triple distilled water changes the chemistry of vinyl and should be avoided at all cost. It is impossible to get a clean and stable current. Many audiophiles who are in their fifties still listen to Beatles. No room is good enough for listening even a concert hall because it is still a box. Japanese can do midrande better than anyone else but have no clue about bass.
That a lot of 'philes caint spel. Deelers too. Kace in point today. A deeler sez he did a comparison of subs and this one here fer sail 'one out'. Sheesh, just sezzin'.....
From the ad's I've learned that folks don't use their stuff much. Funny, after all that expense you'd think they would use the hell out of it.
From the questions posed I learned that a lot of folks don't understand the function of Google or other search engines, including A-Gon's.
The most enthusiastic supporters of a particular piece of equipment are often novices who really haven't heard much else, or so it seems.
That tube based systems are a substitute for Advil. That SS systems are the cause of the need for Advil. That most folks want tube sound but don't want the 'hassle'. That SS manufacturers tend to declare that their component has a 'tube like' sound (as do some end users and reviewers). That no one proclaims that their Tubed devise sounds like SS. And, lastly No one ever sez their analogue sounds like digital.
Though the goal of the buyer is often to get better sound, like most things, a lot of the perceived value of hi end audio gear clearly has to do with its appearance, rarity or value as a collector's item or status symbol.
i learned that hi-rez files on the internet are the latest and greatest thing, but i am still confused on how to get them to come out of MY speakers. trying a search on the forums doesn't come up with much of anything. SO, do i get a Mac Mini, a Squeezbox, a sound card, a specialized DAC, a router, an IPOD, etc...? I already have a macbook pro, a preamp, an EMM CDP, and an Airport Extreme. SO where do i go from here? i am looking for the simplest and (yet) the best sounding arrangement possible. thanks for your help.
the only platform in High-End Audio where serious discussions about gear but also about philosophy etc. is possible. Congratulation!
as we always tend to be very critical where else do we get valuable side information, in the glossy magazines? from sales, marketing and distribution people?
in most cases whenever some distribution guys or gurus who defend their own products appear on the scenery the discussion appears to become very narrow minded. Hopefully this will change a little in 2011.
1) A'gon is a great place to learn about audio. :-D 2) A'gon is kind of like a virtual 12-step meeting for people who are addicted to system tinkering. ;-) 3) Selling and buying from fellow A'gon'ers is generally a very pleasant experience. :-X 4) There's a chance that somebody on A'gon will fail to mention that they've affixed 4 enormous patches of velcro onto the bottom of each of the monitors they're selling you. :-/
" Night and Day " subjective improvement from fanbois often mean more subtle difference. And other thing like explosion from pitch black background... Whatever.
1. More often than not, when you're involved in a transaction, the other party is a terrible communicator - as if they never even got your e-mails, etc. Then, they never even let you know if the stuff got there.
2. Some people truly do not have a sense of humor around here.
3. Disliking jazz is a big no-no - you can't possibly know a lot about music or have the same insight, deep appreciation, etc. if you don't spend much time listening to Miles, Coltrane, etc.
4. There are still a lot of quality folks around here. So amen to that.
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