The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Back when I had a mac I used Ecoute for a while, not bad. VLC is free and not bad on android. Easy enough to try.

    I'll let the fanboys chime in I never used an apple phone, everything else just not the phone.
     
  2. aamefford

    aamefford Nothing like chamberpot coffee

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    I used to use Onkyo HF player for locally stored files. As I recall, an acceptable EQ and will play hi sexy (wow, should have been high Rez, but I’ll leave sexy ‘cause it’s funny) files if you need that. I think it’s $10 or so. Not that much in scheme of things. I don’t recall how well the interface works. The regular Rez version may even be free. Worth a look st the App Store page anyway.

    Crap, just read @bixby’s quote. Guess that makes me a fanboy....
     
  3. evanft

    evanft Acquaintance

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    I actually just had the opportunity to check out the Clears.

    You are 100% right. They have a weird, almost artificial sound to them. Don't like the sound signature at all.
     
  4. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Quick cable question...

    Just ordered a Gungnir Multibit, and figure I might as well use the balanced outs to my Freya. Looking at XLR cables online. Cables marketed as audio interconnects tend to be expensive - I have no intention of spending $500 CDN on Audioquest or similar cables. My question is, are balanced XLR microphone cables the same thing?

    These are much more friendly price wise

    https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00L91ASKQ...colid=TVP04IKGRX4C&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

    From my reading I think digital and analog cables are different though. Anyone have any other suggestions? I'm aware of Blue Jean cables and am considering those. Would prefer to find something in Canada though to save on exchange and shipping.
     
  5. Griffon

    Griffon 2nd biggest asshole on SBAF

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    Put Your Schiit Together?
     
  6. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    https://www.markertek.com/product/s...cable-3-pin-xlr-male-to-female-1-5-foot-black
     
  7. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I'm a PowerAMP fanboy. It was the first app I'd ever paid for myself I think, and it's served me well for a few years now. I'm an alpha-build user but have had no problems with usability or performance, which is smooth even on a less beefy chipset. The stock UX is nice, and you get a crap ton of settings you can tinker with, the 100-step DVC being one of my faves— sound quality is more to my liking than Neutrino to boot, which I recall was something lots of people in local audio circles shilled to hell (equally if not more resolving, less "sharp/bright", presumably with all DSP off unless I missed something).

    Also pretty inexpensive. 200 pesos on iOS here, which is $3.75?
     
  8. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    @Kernel Kurtz

    @atomicbob is on point. Canare makes very nice and well priced stuff. I have wound down from uber priced cables to Canare for speakers and am very happy. I also use Markertek (great seller) and use some analog cables for my desktop daily driver. I have not been impressed with BJ LC ICs for example.

    Another great cable is one you can have made by PRO Audio LA using Grimm TPR. I had a custom cable made using Grimm TPR, best IC I have used in decades and under $75 a pair delivered.

    A standard cable using the Grimm is very reasonable.
    https://www.proaudiola.com/product-p/1-gtpr-xlrf-xlrm-1.htm

    Never tried the Gotham but many folks like their stuff as well. Good luck!
     
  9. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    I assumed you looked on CAM? You can get some pretty good XLR cables for a significant discount from retail on there - lots of options.

    On the cheap/new side, the only Monoprice cables that I've ever purchased that I actually liked were a couple of these:

    https://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-104...oprice+xlr&dpPl=1&dpID=31iqPqt1seL&ref=plSrch

    Btw, not sure exactly what you meant regarding digital vs. analog cables, but you are not looking for digital cables in this case, even though it's coming from Gungnir Multibit, it's been converted to analog already. Sorry if I'm misreading.
     
  10. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Thanks for the replies. Looks like microphone cables will work fine.

    I use Poweramp on Android occasionally to stream via bluetooth to my car audio system and it works well. One of the few paid apps I've found worthwhile.
     
  11. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Dunno about BT functionality since the only time I've ever actually used it was when I was trying my friend's Bose QC35 out, same friend who really liked the sound of the HD650s when she demoed it out of my lappy>Micro iDSD (I may be close to turning her onto the hobby... hah!). Glad to know it works well there, though, in the event I ever find myself needing it.

    Sorry I couldn't help with cables, by the by, I'm totally useless when it comes to those, haha. Good luck though!
     
  12. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Nope, but I will have a look. Thanks.

    Yeah, I did not phrase that well. Just was implying there are cables of varying impedance/capacitance available and I'm guessing it is important to use the correct ones.
     
  13. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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  14. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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  15. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    So I enjoy the dark signature of the LCD2Cs that I have. I'm curious, what are other Dark In the Highs Headphones that are around $600 to like over $1k? This is for my research if that make sense.
     
  16. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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  17. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    The Hooka works a charm. I'm pretty sure much better than a nail and a piece of PVC pipe would have.
    [​IMG]
     
  18. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    I'm going to buy a dac to hook up to my TV. It will be used 100% with my TV. Are there any dacs that are geared more towards watching movies, or should I just buy something cheap because it won't matter much?

    I did use my mojo a couple of years back for this purpose, but the plastic door broke for the toslink input and the optical cable doesn't stay in play any longer unfortunately. It did sound great (also used it for video games). I hooked it up with my Soundblaster portable dac/amp and was pretty impressed overall with the experience. I could get the Mojo repaired...but I wanted another dac to try out for watching movies. Tried searching but can't search for TV and couldn't think of a good phrase to use in the search engine without reading a million posts. I also could use the Soundblaster thing too, but not really a fan of it by itself, plus it's just a plasticky piece of shit that I hate using.
     
  19. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I did that before by hooking up a Schiit Modi 2 Uber via toslink out from my tv to the Schiit. Was very impressed with the results if running real speaker or headphones in this single path. Personally I wouldn't spend too much money on a DAC for tv purposes, but if using real headphones or speakers for tv/video games then even a simple Schiit DAC will be a good step up.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2018
  20. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    I've used many different dacs with my tv, including the on board dac in my Peachtree integrated (which is an es9023-based implementation that, while listenable, especially for tv, is the worst dac I own) thinking I didn't care for tv. Then one day I was using my Gungnir Multibit while watching golf (I know, I have no life) and started looking around the room for the bird that had obviously somehow gotten into my room. Haven't gone back to my amp's dac. Ymmv.
     
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