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    Fun with vinyl measurements

    Well - it looks like I'm having some trouble with getting the RIAA-removal plug-ins shared by USER to work. After extracting the files to the Audacity plugin folder and opening Audacity, I get a message showing the new files but saying they are an incompatible file type. Trying to go into both...
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    Fun with vinyl measurements

    Thank you so much! I'll spend some time reading through more of that thread soon. Couple of quick questions for now if I may? 1. You mention using 24/96 or 24/192 sampling rates for capturing harmonic distortion, but I notice the script calls for 16-bit .wav files to work. Do you mean the...
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    Fun with vinyl measurements

    Hey all, So I almost started a thread, but might (am hoping to) find the answers I seek in here. I'm looking to measure the frequency response of phono cartridges at home with test records/Audacity. I've read of a few programs that can plot the frequency graph from an audio file, but I've also...
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    Why has the loudness war not ended yet?

    I think things have actually gotten better in recent years, and seem to be heading in the right direction. There are some great sounding modern recordings I've come across, at least in some electronic, pop, and indie rock styles. But as others have said, with the masses more likely to be...
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    The Loudness Wars has invaded the streaming services.

    Not only that, but it's probably more fair to blame the record labels/rights owners than Amazon (or whichever streaming service being used) - they're the ones that provide the masters after all. My experience has been that more popular releases are more likely to be a remaster of some sort, and...
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    The case for pricier DACs...is there one?

    Thanks everyone, So then if DACs essentially boil down to "how much do you want to spend/what features other than SQ are you after?", I'm left with a couple more questions. The Cambridge Audio DACMagic Plus is actually an integrated unit (DAC + pre-amp & headphone amp in one). I'm considering...
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    The case for pricier DACs...is there one?

    Hey all, So from reading I've done on here (and elsewhere) about DACs, there seems to be a general consensus that DACs are among the more transparent components in audio, and there shouldn't be much, if any audible difference in audio quality between a $30 USB DAC, and DACs well past $1K in...
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    1982 video introducing the CD ...

    My sentiments as well. And a reason I enjoy sharing this video with others.
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    The Loudness Wars has invaded the streaming services.

    This is one big reason (aside from liking having physical media) I don't rely solely on streaming for music. The vast majority of what I stream is stuff I already own a physical version of, and a lot of the time I use streaming to discover new music - and I'll buy a physical copy of new...
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    Used equipment that’s too bad to sell

    With one exception, I'm happy to say I've never bought anything I really considered "junk", as I tend to do pretty extensive research on gear before I buy it. The only thing I've owned in the past which I would consider "junk" (in the objective sense, at least) would be my old Ion USB turntable...
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    How much power do you need?

    AFAIK, power needs ultimately come down to choice of speakers (higher sensitivity = less power needed, and vice-versa), as well as how loud one wishes to listen (i.e - you want lots of power to listen to less efficient speakers at high volumes, but you don't need much at all to drive efficient...
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    The Loudness Wars has invaded the streaming services.

    The thing with streaming is that you're at the mercy of whichever masters the record labels send to the streaming services. Sometimes it's the original master (more likely from a less popular release/something never reissued in my experience), but there are also some crappy loudness war style...
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    Environmental impact of our hobby

    I've always been under the impression that the true environmental impacts of things we use is complicated. In audio, I'm guessing most of the impacts come from manufacturing, and the disposal of old equipment and media. I mostly tend to be into the old school side of the audio hobby, so it's...
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    What to trust ear or measurement?

    Well to be fair, I agree that Pro-Ject and such do offer reasonably good performance at the lower price points (I used to have a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon, but it had the infamous hum issues), and I'm mainly referring to more reputable/sought after vintage models in good working order. When in good...
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    What to trust ear or measurement?

    I answered "if it has acceptable measurements", as that is the closest answer for me here - but truthfully, I wish there was an answer option along the lines of "the measurements matter, but I do ultimately care about liking how it sounds". I think even for folks who lean a bit subjectivist...
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    adding VU-meters in the audio chain?

    Reviving this thread to share a recent addition to my desktop setup/a possible option anyone still wanting a VU meter box might consider... This is another Little Bear/Douk model (the VU2). This one has considerably bigger meters than the other, smaller Little Bear model mentioned here. It...
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    The Vinyl Frontier

    This is the reason I've had a difficult time actually pulling the trigger on a R2R machine. Vintage pre-recorded media is suspect at best due to the aforementioned issues (and in many cases, the tapes can fetch more money than the LP equivalents! Look at Discogs...). And the cost of pre-recorded...
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    Coloration in a DAC - better to get from the DAC itself, or other means?

    So then what I'm getting out of this so far... If a DAC doesn't measure well, it's not necessarily because it's colored on purpose, but because it's just...not as good?
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    Coloration in a DAC - better to get from the DAC itself, or other means?

    Hey all, So, I'm thinking of adding a some things/making a couple of changes to a simple PC/desktop audio system I'm running (currently, the main components consist of a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus, Canton Chronos speakers, and a vintage Akai receiver), and one part I'm considering is the DAC...
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    The Vinyl Frontier

    Reminds me of this one -
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