A bit about your host....

[amirm]

Amir, were you part of the Media Center team by chance? I miss that product so much. I knew a few of those guys were somewhat regular posters on doom9, so I could see the passion there.

No, they were a sister group. My team provided the underlying audio/video pipeline, they provided the user interface.

Yes, they were a good group of people. They got thrown around different parts of Microsoft which led to their demise.

 

[skcheng]

Very impressive specs oh great founder!!

 

[Fone]

Thank you for taking the time to walk through your electronics hobby. I found the story to be really interesting and think it would make a nice book.

 

[LTig]

No doubt. Back in 1980s, software guys were lightweight and real work was done by hardware people.

When my wife (translator) got one of the first PCs in her company to work with (1989) one of the big bosses wondered: "Does she work at all? The whole day I see her just sitting in front of her PC!".

 

[Jimster480]

When my wife (translator) got one of the first PCs in her company to work with (1989) one of the big bosses wondered: "Does she work at all? The whole day I see her just sitting in front of her PC!".

In 2019 I have the same problem with other people not respecting my work time because "I am just on the computer all day".

 

[Soniclife]

It's amazing in an open plan office to study what people are doing on their PC's, occasionally you see someone who isn't on the internet but doing work.

 

[Jimster480]

It's amazing in an open plan office to study what people are doing on their PC's, occasionally you see someone who isn't on the internet but doing work.

I'm usually doing work while I'm at my dekstop. Even if I do often put on tech videos in the background. I just listen to them while I'm doing product support. And I put on music when I'm coding.

 

[blackmetalboon]

It's amazing in an open plan office to study what people are doing on their PC's, occasionally you see someone who isn't on the internet but doing work.

I know work colleagues have bought this up, behind my back, about me. But little do they know that I’m working on stuff that, on a yearly basis, millions of people see.

 

[Bald1]

I knew there was a reason I gravitated here and registered!

 

[Fackernarmee]

Greetings Amir (and everyone else). Just stumbled across this site while I was researching cheap audio DACs and and got sidetracked (as I tend to do). It looked like a friendly place and covers some of my interests and hobbies (audio, video, computers and technology) so I registered. My background is on the lowly hardware side of PCs as a computer technician. I came on at the time of Windows 95 and even worked on 486 PCs with Windows 3.11. When I had built 1000 computers I stopped counting (and that was years ago). I'm retired now and am a carer for my wife and my aim is to spend as little as possible on my hobbies, preferably nothing, as this is a financial necessity for me. I enjoy re-using other peoples discards and I have been fortunate in accumulating a lot of used PCs and other gear. So in my home network I have about 12 working PCs plus some museum pieces, about 8 laptops, 5 tablets and 7 mobile phones (just 1 SIM). And a Raspberry Pi 3 on which I have installed Volumio with a cheap Chinese USB DAC with the Burr-Brown chip which brings me back to this site. I shall go through the threads and I hope to contribute some useful comments and learn even more useful things and thus keep my brain firing on all cylinders.

 

[RayDunzl]

It looked like a friendly place

Does it still?

 

[Fackernarmee]

Does it still?

So far, so good. (little smiley face thing)

 

[Shadrach]

Hello amir.
I like your forum.
The tests, the running of the forum, the expense and of course the time involved is considerable.
I wanted to ask why you do this?

 

[amirm]

Hello amir.
I like your forum.
The tests, the running of the forum, the expense and of course the time involved is considerable.
I wanted to ask why you do this?

Hi there. Thanks for the kind words.

It sort of started because I had an Audio Precision analyzer from years back and got tired of arguing back and forth with someone on what audio products really do. So did some testing and proved the point that way. Then there were some tweak products that people said would improve sound and I thought I would do the same with the gear. One way or the other this led to someone asking me to test desktop DACs. I did that and noticed a lot of interest in that so I decided to continue.

Along the way I realized that this was a good way to keep my mind focused and interested during retirement years and especially in winter time here when we stay in the house most of the time. Testing plays out like a real-world reality show believe it or not. There is a level of anticipation on how a device does and how a story comes together on its overall performance. It is quite satisfying to then share that with the membership.

I used to teach at college/university level. Pay was horrible but there was this great feeling of students appreciating what you did which motivated me to do it for years. It is a similar thing here.

Ultimately though, I am not sure it makes a lot of logical sense. But it is making emotional sense.....

 

[svart-hvitt]

Hi there. Thanks for the kind words.

It sort of started because I had an Audio Precision analyzer from years back and got tired of arguing back and forth with someone on what audio products really do. So did some testing and proved the point that way. Then there were some tweak products that people said would improve sound and I thought I would do the same with the gear. One way or the other this led to someone asking me to test desktop DACs. I did that and noticed a lot of interest in that so I decided to continue.

Along the way I realized that this was a good way to keep my mind focused and interested during retirement years and especially in winter time here when we stay in the house most of the time. Testing plays out like a real-world reality show believe it or not. There is a level of anticipation on how a device does and how a story comes together on its overall performance. It is quite satisfying to then share that with the membership.

I used to teach at college/university level. Pay was horrible but there was this great feeling of students appreciating what you did which motivated me to do it for years. It is a similar thing here.

Ultimately though, I am not sure it makes a lot of logical sense. But it is making emotional sense.....

A very nice answer. Thanks

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for replying.
I think I remember you from Computer Audiophile.
I've been at some truly horrifying forums over the years. It's a pity this forum didn't exist even ten years ago.

 

[MickeyBoy]

I am older than you are, Amir, and far less accomplished. Accept our kudos for having gone through the heroic period of computer automation and thanks for spearheading this great website.

btw, I too was criticized at one job for doing nothing but face a monitor and then the data I produced were disbelieved. Recalls Schopenhauer's three phases of truth:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

I was too stupid to realize what was going on then, but now look back with amusement. Emotional sense, indeed.

 

[Herbert]

Kudos as well from me! What I like very much avout this forum is that it is very science based and laid back.
Not only being an audio enthusiast, I made my money working with the Abekas A-57
and still make it by working with the AVID. The first DAC we had was an Audio Alchemy DAC in the Box.
We used it to transfer the finished sound from the AVID´s Audiomedia III to the BETACAM Editing suite...
I still own the Audiomedia III (in an Power Mac G4) and the DAC-in-The-Box as well...

 

[amirm]

Not only being an audio enthusiast, I made my money working with the Abekas A-57

Gosh, that brings back memories. It has been what, 25 years since the A57 came???

 

[stunta]

And I put on music when I'm coding

I can’t seem to be able to do this. If I like the music, I get distracted and can’t code. If I don’t like the music, I get distracted and can’t code. I’ll have to find some music that is just okay, ha ha.

I do work from home a lot so it’s easier to get focused coding time.