Thad E Ginathom

There has to be a higher-fi answer to this, but although I'm willing to pay more than $15, I'm not willing to pay actual-hifi prices.

There is an hdmi -> hdmi+audio-out box that is still fairly inexpensive, and might butcher sound less than cheap bluetooth. But would the firestick work if not plugged directly into the monitor?

I would expect so. It sounds like the box under consideration is just used to split audio off of the signal. As long as it's HDMI compliant, it'll provide power to the stick, and I'd expect the audio to be Y'd between the audio out and also sent upstream HDMI to the monitor.

Usually monitors have software choices to turn on/off the internal speakers.

My monitor does not have any speakers. Oh... it has an audio out, which seems to do what an hdmi splitter does. I stuck earbuds in the socket: it sounded awful. It would also be cumbersome cable-wise, but then, so would the hdmi splitter.

My monitor is on an Ergotron arm (wonderful) but the cable space is jam-packed.

SQ wise Sennheiser are very decent even surprising for a BT unit. Issues are with quite low volume and subpar pads stitching. While the volume wasn't a concern to me, the stitch threads came off within 2 months of use. But this was for a 4.40 and 450 looks almost the same

@Abhishek Chowdhary I'd describe the inexpensive RHA earbuds I'm using now for bedtime etc as being low-volume, but it is enough for me: maybe the volume would be ok.

Hardly high-end, but... these are still too expensive for lousy build (stitch) quality, though. Did you make a warranty claim?

Didn't bother with warranty claims, gave the 4.4 in family. Bought a philips taph850bk, horrible in every sense. Heavy, creaky , massive bass boost , torturing treble. Glowing reviews though :)

Sounds like a best-case scenario to me!

I think it was @Lyander who said that nobody wishes a cyclone on others, but we can't help hoping it will go somewhere else. Yes, all well here. And elsewhere: more damage to crops, I think, although the I understand it ripped the electricity supply out of the city it hit to the extent that they are going to rebuild it.

... Which is going to take a couple of weeks. But then they'll have underground cables. We had quite a few hours (but not days) of power cut, with our trusty generator running our powerful pump to keep the garden empty and the house safe.

There's more weather systems on the way

Glad I got that sorted out. Thanks, GD!

Haha, that one (I Ching) I want to read. Nice bender for the BWC locial brain.

"All the years combine
They melt into a dream"

Exactly. So many Dead snippets embedded in my consciousness.

And unlike some, they age well too. Every decade it becomes a longer, stranger trip, and I have /never/ thought "what a corny line."

And Wind. And water. And rivers...

Ripple :) Let there be songs to fill the air!

Out of an abundance of caution, everybody in the world should stop what they are doing, right now. Just in case.

Is it perhaps the collective noun, and nobody told me? Like a mumuration of starlings? An abundance of caution.

Today, I shall mostly be alone and palely loitering.

I usually google lyrics or quotes before posting, else I'll be making silly mistakes and... I think I've been misquoting this one, for years, as "sage!"

There we go: https://www.pictr.com/images/2020/09/19/7GYPfj.jpg

https://youtu.be/rKaQzQAlNn4

... So it looks like a few mothers have given this sage warning!

I nearly came here with the question: "What album cover?" But I battled on, brain cells and google, and arrived at the source of my memory: The *booklet* with the album Sunfighter by Jefferson Starship.

https://www.musicaememoria.com/sunfighter_booklet.htm

I'm not an in-ear man, but I wanted something with a mic to use for phone calls, which I have never had before. Maybe occasional music use, but that kind of listening was really for my commuting days....

...Two or three years back, got RHA recommendation here, for low-budget buy. Bought for wife. She's broken the wires, but now got MA390 Universal for this purpose for me. Wow, never realised they are made in Scotland: I got myself some more Brit-fi!

Do I like them? Not that much. They are very clear, with good highs and not too much bass, but the mids/vocal are a little rough at the edges. Will do the job.

Correction. Not made in Scotland, but it is a Scottish company. The earbuds are made in the usual place.

And... How do you guys handle this problem?

Havn't clicked on that bookmark for a very long time.

Yes! It does! Dangerousminds.net. Always something interesting about music, life. And stuff. Stuff to make a person think...

I was reading an article about Bobby Gentry, thus the nudge to listen to Ode to Billie Joe. Article was actually more about the song Fancy, which I hadn't heard before.

I cross referenced Hands with "anus" to find the post in question. I was not surprised to see 3 posts

Different things? Three things that we should avoid then.

Oh, and... one for the "ratings" thread :)

Would be even funnier if they just posted the questions, with no answers.
Less helpful though...

Yes, this called innovation. Keynote 2021. And we are bringing back low travel keyboards. Magic + with less travel.

@spwath... luvit :)

Proper French scrambled eggs should be the consistency of dog slobber, and utterly delicious.

Ou est la poule? On a volé ses oeufs! Ah non...

Don't be silly: voles don't lay eggs!

Then I clicked on the video accompanying a news article I was reading: Buju Banton.

Oh wow... the music, but more: the energy of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzmzKtOaVf4&feature=emb_logo

@Cspirou, I used to be like that. Somehow, the internet spoilt me.

But sometimes, there's a woman with a ukulele...

I thought you were listening to the Benny Hill theme while reading news articles.

Curious that you should come up with that name from the past. I never liked him!

Shouldn't come as a surprise given her age but this is sad regardless. Giving her a listen and raising some tea to her memory. Green, unfortunately.

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Remember how she said that
We would meet again
Some sunny day?
Vera! Vera!
What has become of you?
Does anybody else in here
Feel the way I do?

RIP

I hope that a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.

I'm sure it did. Even if only a few people could hear it.

It's old (hey, yes, firewire audio was once a thing) but a lot better than I remembered.

It was easier to set up in Linux Mint than it was in Ubuntu a decade ago, but still required putting together the right versions of the right bits of software. Not for the non-fiddler.

Was there a difference, or was it just me?

OK, so now I got to listen to the same concert on both. Not even close! Facebook is like listening to the music from outside the door.

If it's this obvious to a deaf old guy, it must be bad! Actually, despite my much diminished frequency response, I do hear differences, and hate bad sound even more than I used to.

I have no data on this (other than my own ears) but that has been my experience as well. Facebook, even with "better" equipment (some of the livestreams are just horrible) doesn't sound quite as good to me.

Facebook sucks for audio and video, it's really just a convenience thing with them.

YouTube videos I believe top out at 126kbps AAC while YouTube *Music* maxes out at 256kbps AAC, which is good enough for me as long as I'm not going full audiophile.

And yes, extremely low bitrates make even my favourite tracks sound blergh. This goes into more detail:
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-video-specs/

Listening again today. Nice concert. But there is that /effect/. It is like it lacks depth. But it is listenable, so hey, perhaps my hearing is worse again today! lol

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation that my anecdotal experience might actually be data!

No, I didn't know either. I recall that there was a song called "My Boy Lollypop," Which I hated. Probably, I only heard it on the radio and had no idea about the singer.

Only today I find that if the 1964 12-yr-old me had seen the 16-yr-old Millie singing it, I would have been utterly smitten. What a beauty :)

And hey, maybe it wasn't such a bad song after all

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/06/millie-small-obituary