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By wearing them I assume you mean with no music playing i.e. isolated from outside sound? That's all pretty normal, I can't remember a time when my ears didn't ring in a quiet room. Sometimes it seems louder than others but no real rhyme or reason to it. You probably just noticed it and now that youre paying attention to it you're noticing it when you would have subconsciously tuned it out. If the ringing is loud enough and constant enough that it interferes with your ability to hear normally, then you have hearing damage, but having your ears ring when it's quiet isn't indicative of anything.
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Nov 5, 2019 00:13
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LRADIKAL posted:Simple, what's a good, cheap cd player with RCA outputs? Just want it to plug into the stereo in my mom's tv room. Probably not the most popular option, but definitely the most fun (unless you need a remote control); Get a CDJ or something similar. I've got a CDJ-1000 MKII in my living room and a MKIII in the loft. Being able to play SD cards is a fun bonus and it looks hilarious to have DJ gear just sort of strewn about the house.
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Nov 5, 2019 19:40
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Is this a decent place to ask for recommendations for portable battery powered Bluetooth speakers? I don't need mega great quality, just okay volume and battery life, not huge, and good bang for my buck. I know a lot of the real cheap ones are not much louder or less tinny than my phone's speaker.
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Nov 6, 2019 17:00
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alnilam posted:Is this a decent place to ask for recommendations for portable battery powered Bluetooth speakers? I don't need mega great quality, just okay volume and battery life, not huge, and good bang for my buck. I know a lot of the real cheap ones are not much louder or less tinny than my phone's speaker. I've got this Anker Soundcore 2 speaker and it's really fantastic. Plenty loud, great sound quality, long battery life, and waterproof. My only complaint is it uses micro USB to charge rather than USB-C.
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Nov 6, 2019 17:09
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Yeah I have the older Soundcore, and 3 years on its still working pretty good. The USB micro socket sucks (as does USB micro on pretty much every device) and last week the tabs for the back rubber cover that keeps it waterproof snapped off (but it still holds in place, it's just for when you're charging it and don't want to lose the cover). Sound is good, price was good. Typical Anker stuff.
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Nov 6, 2019 17:12
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I like the JBL ones, but they're pricy.
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Nov 6, 2019 17:16
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My wife's aunt dropped this stuff on us, and all seems to be in good to great condition. I managed to get the amplifier and tuner hooked up to our television last night and it sounded good. Is this like, "hey that's a nifty gift," or "holy poo poo you lucky son of a bitch?" Kenwood KD-3070 Kenwood KA-6100 Kenwood KX-630 Kenwood KT-6500 Two 3' tall speakers (didn't catch the model numbers)
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Nov 6, 2019 18:30
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The Wonder Weapon posted:My wife's aunt dropped this stuff on us, and all seems to be in good to great condition. I managed to get the amplifier and tuner hooked up to our television last night and it sounded good. Is this like, "hey that's a nifty gift," or "holy poo poo you lucky son of a bitch?" You should probably ask in the vintage thread but that looks like quality gear if it's all still working. Old speakers haven't held up as well as newer ones from an accuracy perspective but if you like them enjoy them.
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Nov 6, 2019 19:45
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alnilam posted:Is this a decent place to ask for recommendations for portable battery powered Bluetooth speakers? I don't need mega great quality, just okay volume and battery life, not huge, and good bang for my buck. I know a lot of the real cheap ones are not much louder or less tinny than my phone's speaker. I've had the UE Roll for years and love it. The Wonderboom is the newer/upgraded version and it's like $40 on Amazon because there is now a Wonderboom 2. Anyway, highly recommend it. I use it in the shower mostly.
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Nov 6, 2019 20:15
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alnilam posted:Is this a decent place to ask for recommendations for portable battery powered Bluetooth speakers? I don't need mega great quality, just okay volume and battery life, not huge, and good bang for my buck. I know a lot of the real cheap ones are not much louder or less tinny than my phone's speaker. But check the tests and see what they have to say.
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Nov 6, 2019 20:30
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qirex posted:You should probably ask in the vintage thread but that looks like quality gear if it's all still working. Old speakers haven't held up as well as newer ones from an accuracy perspective but if you like them enjoy them. Nifty. Even if old speakers aren't particularly impressive by today's standards, that's fine, since they still sound much better than the built-in speakers on my eight year old television.
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Nov 6, 2019 22:21
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Nifty. Even if old speakers aren't particularly impressive by today's standards, that's fine, since they still sound much better than the built-in speakers on my eight year old television. They might need some servicing, but there's nothing fundamentally different about speaker design that'll make a brand new set sound distinctly better than good vintage ones.
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Nov 6, 2019 22:23
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Is this the right place to ask about wireless earbuds? I have an Android phone (Galaxy S8) and want some wireless earbuds; I'd like them to be semi-stealthy (no huge ugly logos, bright colors, over-the-ear type things), have decent battery life, work well for phone calls, and preferably have good touch controls (just for volume/switching songs/answering calls) and decent bass. I've read like a million reviews and right now I'm looking at: Beoplay E8 Motion Klipsch T5 True Wireless Sony WF-1000MX3 ...but I really don't know much about audio or electronics these days, so what should I buy goons? Also sorry I've not looked at this thread for 5 months but this was funny when it happened: DoesNotCompute posted:Record them to cassette tapes.
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Nov 7, 2019 19:58
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You should also look at the Galaxy Buds!
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Nov 7, 2019 20:34
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Feels like a somewhat dumb question, but anyone know if there’s any danger to putting speakers a foot or so above a steam radiator? I have a set of Elac b6.2s & was planning to pick up the center for Black Friday (used maybe 70/30 for movies/gaming), which got me thinking about picking up a cheap set of something small as side channels (no sub since it’s an apartment). Problem is my current room would require mounting those on the wall (directly L/R of the couch), where there happens to be said radiator. Also not particularly great separation on the front channels, but don’t have a way to work around that for now.
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Nov 8, 2019 16:54
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Maybe get some cheap outdoor speakers? Humidity and electronics are not great friends. side note edit: I saw my exact speakers are on sale for $279. I paid $360 for them 2 years ago and am super happy so if you're looking for new bookshelves maybe check the Chronos out (but not to sit above a radiator) qirex fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Nov 8, 2019 |
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Nov 8, 2019 17:16
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qirex posted:Maybe get some cheap outdoor speakers? Humidity and electronics are not great friends. I have $30 speakers outside in the Florida summer for the last few years and they still work fine, along with a cheap TV. It's quite surprising as I thought I'd have to replace at least one by now.
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Nov 8, 2019 17:19
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Do steam radiators even put off appreciable moisture (assuming they’re not failing)? None of the places I’ve lived with steam radiators have been all that moist. I really doubt it makes a difference.
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Nov 8, 2019 17:21
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powderific posted:Do steam radiators even put off appreciable moisture (assuming they’re not failing)? None of the places I’ve lived with steam radiators have been all that moist. I really doubt it makes a difference. Don't believe so, just heat really. Probably fine
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Nov 8, 2019 18:00
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Is it definitely a steam radiator and not hot water? Do you know that it releases steam/moisture?
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Nov 8, 2019 19:43
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I just got the "Massdrop x Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee" headphones with 150 ohm drivers. I'm going to use them for gaming and music on my PC - I have a few flac albums, but mostly mp3s, and I am used to my HD558s. The comments say that I can use it without an amp, but I won't get all the quality I could. Should I get an amp for average 320 kbps mp3s and video games? I'm using a cheapish USB audio DAC I got years ago already. If an amp would make a detectable difference, what's the cheapest one that would help?
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Nov 9, 2019 02:28
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If your headphones are loud enough, you don't need an amp.
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Nov 9, 2019 02:48
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Cool, thanks! I guess the "need an amp to keep your relative percentage low for better sound quality" or whatever is just audiophile woo?
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Nov 9, 2019 03:05
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Amplifiers will distort or "clip" if you ask them to output more power than their circuit can properly handle. You'll know it because it will sound like the speakers at a drunk frat party. If this happens at levels you regularly listen to, buy an amp. Edit: If you've never listened to music on a decent setup before, you might not realize what clean audio sounds like. Many people are used to listening to distorted music because distorted music sounds louder to our ears than clean music. In general, if you listen to a piece of acoustic music and some music with built-in distortion on the same volume level, the acoustic music should sound quieter. If they sound the same, you're probably clipping and distorting the music beyond what's on the track. With a good pair of headphones and a powerful amp, undistorted music will not sound "loud," even at dangerously high volume levels. You'll just keep turning the volume up until you wonder why you have a headache. KillHour fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Nov 9, 2019 |
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Nov 9, 2019 03:58
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KillHour posted:Amplifiers will distort or "clip" if you ask them to output more power than their circuit can properly handle. You'll know it because it will sound like the speakers at a drunk frat party. If this happens at levels you regularly listen to, buy an amp. This is very, VERY true. An anecdotal example would be when I had a rotel integrated amp that was developing distortion in the amplifier circuit. I'd plug my headphones in and listen at a level that I thought was "loud." When I replaced it with a brand new Teac, I found myself turning it up and up and up to reach that same 'loudness' until my wife would come down from upstairs and say something about how she could hear my music from my headphones. For giggles, I set the TEAC to a reasonable listening level, and walked away from my headphones. The music was in fact very loud, not only across the room, but also audible on other floors as well. So I plugged the rotel back in, cranked it, and walked away. I couldn't hear the music hardly at all from just across the room. I also remember when I got my Sennheiser HDxx, my first pair of real "good" headphones. You could just keep turning the amp up and it would never hurt your ears like lovely headphones would. It would just sound better and better and leave you wanting more.
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Nov 9, 2019 06:05
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On the distortion thing, I set up my soundsystem in a venue, tuned it to the room and used the RTA mic to know how loud it was. I had a friend come up to me during the gig and say it needed to be turned up. I point to the RTA mic at the back of the room and the meter on the rack saying 116dba. Clean audio doesn't sound loud. poo poo audio is the loudest thing in the world. It's honestly a shame people very rarely hear good loud audio because it's just like a hi-fi but capable of filling a huge room. You leave the venue with no ringing in your ears, it's the strangest thing. I was at a gig last night and didn't take earplugs. Mistake. The system sounded so incredibly top heavy, the treble shredding your eardrums. It was so distorted you couldn't hear anything, the vocals just disappeared into the mud of everything else and it was all so incredibly loud. I heard a guy talking to the sound guy afterwards and he said it sounded great. I'm stood there with my ears bleeding like that dude must be loving deaf. Good audio doesn't hurt.
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Nov 9, 2019 12:00
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Olympic Mathlete posted:
Not to be confused with "doesn't make you deaf" because my wife and I forgot to bring earplugs to the Godsmack concert we went to a couple months ago and it was the best sounding large rock concert I've ever been to and we still came out of there almost completely deaf.
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Nov 9, 2019 14:51
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Good audio doesn't hurt. Maybe not right away, but it still causes hearing damage. Wear ear plugs.
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Nov 9, 2019 18:55
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The Wonder Weapon posted:My wife's aunt dropped this stuff on us, and all seems to be in good to great condition. I managed to get the amplifier and tuner hooked up to our television last night and it sounded good. Is this like, "hey that's a nifty gift," or "holy poo poo you lucky son of a bitch?" Three days ago I posted that I got all this stuff dumped in my lap. Cool. I rearranged my living room, hooked all this up, and now the speakers (Kenwood LS-770 MKII) don't sound too hot when they're hooked up to my TV. There's a 1/8" stereo plugged into the tv, that terminates in two RCA plugs connected to the receiver. Then the receiver to the speakers is just plain speaker wire. When the source is TV audio, the speakers sound bad. Like, damaged bad. But when I switch to the analog FM tuner that came with the package, they sound fine. Is there something I need to do to get the audio source from my television to play well with these old speakers? Or is there some other trick to improving the fidelity? Are power cables too close to the speaker wires or something?
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Nov 9, 2019 20:13
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Have you tried plugging the TV into the tuner input instead of the tuner? It may just be one of the inputs having issues. Or perhaps the output from the TV is doing weird things, if it's a headphone output, make sure all sort of fake 3D sound stuff is turned off. If it's on the back of the TV, make 100% sure it's an output, not an input. And how does it sound bad? Like noisy or missing treble/bass or distorted?
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Nov 9, 2019 20:22
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Is the TV's audio output volume controllable? Try adjusting the volume if so. Is the TV in a Dolby mode? Change it to stereo. Are the TV's speakers on at the same time? Turn them off.
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Nov 9, 2019 21:06
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And make sure the tv isn't plugged into the phono input on the receiver. Use AUX.
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Nov 10, 2019 01:01
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KillHour posted:Maybe not right away, but it still causes hearing damage. Wear ear plugs. That's the one thing I don't understand. You assume people who go to gigs like music, right? So wearing earplugs to ensure your hearing remains in good condition so you can enjoy music seems like a no brainer.
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Nov 10, 2019 03:11
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Worth noting that you want "fancy" earplugs, for lack of a better term, that attenuate all frequencies more or less evenly, i.e. not the foam ones for instance. I forget what they are called though.
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Nov 11, 2019 01:56
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Hipster_Doofus posted:Worth noting that you want "fancy" earplugs, for lack of a better term, that attenuate all frequencies more or less evenly, i.e. not the foam ones for instance. I forget what they are called though. Musicians earplugs. Etymotics Ety-plugs are the popular ones and great for like $15. I love them so much that I had customs made at the same time as my CIEMs. They were like $100 made from the same impression. Absolutely worth it. They feel like nothing, and you can get inserts for 9, 15 or 25dB. 
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Nov 11, 2019 02:41
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Three days ago I posted that I got all this stuff dumped in my lap. Cool. I rearranged my living room, hooked all this up, and now the speakers (Kenwood LS-770 MKII) don't sound too hot when they're hooked up to my TV. There's a 1/8" stereo plugged into the tv, that terminates in two RCA plugs connected to the receiver. Then the receiver to the speakers is just plain speaker wire. Most likely you are using a headphone output and not a line level output. I don't even know if TVs have line level outputs these days. It's a good chance your TV has optical out, so buy a $25 optical to analog converter to put between your TV and receiver, and you should get much better results.
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Nov 11, 2019 09:07
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This is almost certainly the wrong thread but can someone recommend me a cheap-ish amp with balanced inputs? Preferably 2 channel, preferably ready to plug in and play. I'm not excluding the option of DIY with some amp chips, but I'm not trying to spend $300 on a pair of IcePower AX125BTL amps either. I just need something cheap to power my lovely desk speakers at work from my Focusrite Scarlett's line outs.
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Nov 12, 2019 17:43
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:This is almost certainly the wrong thread but can someone recommend me a cheap-ish amp with balanced inputs? Preferably 2 channel, preferably ready to plug in and play. ART SLA-1’s are my go-to 1RU amp. They hold up well to being beaten up on the road, so I imagine one would last forever at a desk. My only complaint is the stupid blue LED. $240ish. Reminder that within arms reach working distances, just feeding balanced into an unbalanced input is perfectly fine if you find an amp you like without XLRs.
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Nov 12, 2019 21:06
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eddiewalker posted:ART SLA-1’s are my go-to 1RU amp. They hold up well to being beaten up on the road, so I imagine one would last forever at a desk. My only complaint is the stupid blue LED. $240ish. I have nothing currently and don't even need anything fancy. Literally just a box that's a line + gain. Hell I don't even need a volume knob, the monitor knob on the Focusrite will take care of that for me. I consider TS to RCA cables sacrilegious and TRS to RCA is just downright a terrible idea. XLR or TRS inputs are preferred really just for simplicity sake. But, if it comes down to it I could build an amp out of a spare 50ASX2SE module I've got lying around, and give it 2 TS inputs. I'll take your recommendation and check out ART SLA-1's. I like things with BIG FUCKOFF toroidal transformers, so it definitely looks right up my alley. Thanks! E; for reference I've got a Teac AX-501 that does this job BEAUTIFULLY, but that is already spoken for, as it handles my DJ duty at home. GnarlyCharlie4u fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Nov 12, 2019 |
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Nov 12, 2019 21:53
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Chill a little. Balanced-to-unbalanced is literally just disregarding the upside-down signal. You have a perfectly good unbalanced line at that point, usable at any distances where unbalanced would be suitable.
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Nov 12, 2019 21:58
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