Welcome New Members to ASR, introduce yourself here.

[left.ear]

Hi everyone! I'm new here. I'm a lifelong amateur musician who, despite being into music, never quite got into gear. So get ready for me to ask some questions as I get my first DAC/Amp stack and nice pair of headphones!

I live in the Seattle area (my dad has lived here since the early 00's, so I've been around the area for a while without being a local for very long). I also like cars, guitars, and old video games.

I was attracted to ASR due to the lack of snake oil in favor of measurable data, in addition to Amir's amazing data-driven reviews!

Thanks for having me, pleasure to meet everyone.

Alright, I'm not the newest newbie now. Ha. Guitars, Cars and old video games are my jam too. Very cool. I'm new to all of this gear as well. I've already been flooded with great information and am excited to start this journey (later than most I suppose). Like I said earlier in my intro, I have a rich man's taste and a poor man's wallet. My poor man's porsche, (though I'd love a GT3) WRX wagon was retired when my third child came along, oops. I wouldn't trade her for the world though, but maybe a porsche is in my future once she decides to make her own money. Lol. She's only 12 though, I've got a while. I also have my eye on a fender pro ii strat, but it's taken a back seat since I'm here looking for guidance on my stereo build. I have a wonderful G&L from the late 80's that tickles my itch, so I'll wait on that fender. As for old video games, I can remember PONG...that dates me. I have a PS4 that my 13 year old son kills me at, but I'm dominate at Frogger and Donkey Kong.
Anyway, stoked to be here. I have family in Seattle, beautiful city. Have you ever been to the Experience music project? One of the architects I really like did it.

Welcome from a newbie to another newbie.

 

[WaveBird]

Alright, I'm not the newest newbie now. Ha. Guitars, Cars and old video games are my jam too. Very cool. I'm new to all of this gear as well. I've already been flooded with great information and am excited to start this journey (later than most I suppose). Like I said earlier in my intro, I have a rich man's taste and a poor man's wallet. My poor man's porsche, (though I'd love a GT3) WRX wagon was retired when my third child came along, oops. I wouldn't trade her for the world though, but maybe a porsche is in my future once she decides to make her own money. Lol. She's only 12 though, I've got a while. I also have my eye on a fender pro ii strat, but it's taken a back seat since I'm here looking for guidance on my stereo build. I have a wonderful G&L from the late 80's that tickles my itch, so I'll wait on that fender. As for old video games, I can remember PONG...that dates me. I have a PS4 that my 13 year old son kills me at, but I'm dominate at Frogger and Donkey Kong.
Anyway, stoked to be here. I have family in Seattle, beautiful city. Have you ever been to the Experience music project? One of the architects I really like did it.

Welcome from a newbie to another newbie.

For some reason it doesn't surprise me that there might be other audio folks into guitars, cars, and old video games.

I also have a poor man's porsche with a boxer engine, but mine eschews the Subaru badge for a Toyota one. Love the little thing.

Those G&L guitars are absolutely gorgeous. I have a made-in-Japan Ibanez RG that makes me look like I can shred better than I actually can.

Sega Genesis was my introduction to video games, so I'm not quite Pong old (though I did have a friend with an Atari growing up that we played quite a bit)! I have a particular nostalgia for the PlayStation 1/ PlayStation 2 era of games. I feel like the the following eras relied too much on incremental monetization that compromised the art form.

I have been to the EMP! And the first time I went there it was still called that! They've since renamed it "MoPOP" (Museum of Pop Culture). Very cool building.

Thank you for the kind welcome, fellow newbie!

 

[AdamG]

I was attracted to ASR due to the lack of snake oil in favor of measurable data, in addition to Amir's amazing data-driven reviews!

Oh we have our share of that particular Oil here. However, as soon as we identify a spill we will clean up the mess and recycle it into a teaching moment.

 

[neilbardsley]

Hi from London.

 

[Ropeburn]

Hi from London. I'm trying to build up a new system and I have been reading lots of posts on here so I thought I would create an account.

My knowledge is low so forgive me if I ask silly questions.

Im a cheapskate so always looking for quality v cost.

A bit about my current systems. I'm lucky or unlucky to be in a flat in London during the week and on the weekends in a house in the country.

In London I have bits of a system I bought over 20 years when I worked in NYC.

amp : Yamaha ax 592
Speakers : Chario Syntax 100 bookshelf (bgt these in the UK so they have crossed the Atlantic twice)
CD : Sony A20ES
record player : yamaha P220

in the house we just have a home cinema system. Which started as a Jamo DvD to 5.1 speaker then I added a Yamaha Rec RV v383. Still running the Jamo speaker but I recently changed centre speak to a yamaha.

Most of the kids have left home so I now have an offices upstairs which I would like to build another system in without breaking the bank. Partly also because I think the home cinema speakers don't cope very well with good stereo music and I can't really put larges speakers in the front room because it wouldn't be signed off by Mrs B.

If I can use a crude allegory. I used race a bit of Duathlon and spent hours lusting after expensive bike wheels and other high end gear. Turns out that I should of just worn a helmet with no vents on it, and longer socks, which cost a faction of the price but had a much bigger aero benefit!

I've starting collecting bits in London and I'm swapping them in component by component to see if I can hear the difference. I fear that my ears and brain my be the weak link. I also want to think about how I can improve my component positioning and room. Tinkering is most of the fun. The added benefit of doing it in London is that Mrs B does see what is happening!

Unfortunately, it's appears that I started in reverse. I thought that I should select the source components first and work forwards but perhaps I should of started with the speaker and gone back.

Anyway in London I now have

amp : NAD c 316bee
Speakers : Chario Syntax 100 bookshelf (bgt these in the UK so they have cross the Atlantic twice)
CD : Sony A20ES
DAC : ifi zen v2

Previously I was using the headphone output from the TV to feed the amp.

On the first night my son, and I, listen to 4 tracks feeding via the TV or new DAC and we thought it was pretty marginal but the DAC was cleaner and more responsive. Both feeding from Spotify. Hence, my concern about us being the weakness link.

Then I changed to the NAD and I thought that was an improve but the Yamaha needs from cleaning as the pre amp and some of the switches are noisy.

After adding the NAD I tried to compare a CD to the v Spotify DAC. Again pretty marginal but Verdi's Aida was better on the CD.

My first question is that I'm currently feeding the DAC from a laptop but want to connect a Chromecast into or connect the HDMI from the TV. I've bgt a USB C to HDMI but do I actually need a extractor.

thank you and sorry this was too long an introduction.

May I suggest r/budgetaudiophile on Reddit at this point. Really a level-headed bunch of people, with a good amount of realism and just as opposed to pseudo-audiophile bullshit as ASR is. As a newbie, you'll get good and realistic advice there as you will on this forum.

 

[antcollinet]

Hi from London. I'm trying to build up a new system and I have been reading lots of posts on here so I thought I would create an account.

My knowledge is low so forgive me if I ask silly questions.

Im a cheapskate so always looking for quality v cost.

A bit about my current systems. I'm lucky or unlucky to be in a flat in London during the week and on the weekends in a house in the country.

In London I have bits of a system I bought over 20 years when I worked in NYC.

amp : Yamaha ax 592
Speakers : Chario Syntax 100 bookshelf (bgt these in the UK so they have crossed the Atlantic twice)
CD : Sony A20ES
record player : yamaha P220

in the house we just have a home cinema system. Which started as a Jamo DvD to 5.1 speaker then I added a Yamaha Rec RV v383. Still running the Jamo speaker but I recently changed centre speak to a yamaha.

Most of the kids have left home so I now have an offices upstairs which I would like to build another system in without breaking the bank. Partly also because I think the home cinema speakers don't cope very well with good stereo music and I can't really put larges speakers in the front room because it wouldn't be signed off by Mrs B.

If I can use a crude allegory. I used race a bit of Duathlon and spent hours lusting after expensive bike wheels and other high end gear. Turns out that I should of just worn a helmet with no vents on it, and longer socks, which cost a faction of the price but had a much bigger aero benefit!

I've starting collecting bits in London and I'm swapping them in component by component to see if I can hear the difference. I fear that my ears and brain my be the weak link. I also want to think about how I can improve my component positioning and room. Tinkering is most of the fun. The added benefit of doing it in London is that Mrs B does see what is happening!

Unfortunately, it's appears that I started in reverse. I thought that I should select the source components first and work forwards but perhaps I should of started with the speaker and gone back.

Anyway in London I now have

amp : NAD c 316bee
Speakers : Chario Syntax 100 bookshelf (bgt these in the UK so they have cross the Atlantic twice)
CD : Sony A20ES
DAC : ifi zen v2

Previously I was using the headphone output from the TV to feed the amp.

On the first night my son, and I, listen to 4 tracks feeding via the TV or new DAC and we thought it was pretty marginal but the DAC was cleaner and more responsive. Both feeding from Spotify. Hence, my concern about us being the weakness link.

Then I changed to the NAD and I thought that was an improve but the Yamaha needs from cleaning as the pre amp and some of the switches are noisy.

After adding the NAD I tried to compare a CD to the v Spotify DAC. Again pretty marginal but Verdi's Aida was better on the CD.

My first question is that I'm currently feeding the DAC from a laptop but want to connect a Chromecast into or connect the HDMI from the TV. I've bgt a USB C to HDMI but do I actually need a extractor.

thank you and sorry this was too long an introduction.

Welcome to ASR - This is the new members welcome thread, not really the right place for asking this question. I"d suggest reposting at the link below, and editing this one down to a "Hi, Here I am, this is me"

DACs, Streamers, Servers, Players, Audio Interface

Review, measurements and discussion of the science behind digital audio and its performance.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Settembrini]

Hi from Madrid, new here and after reading for a while decided to create an account.
Mainly looking for help to understand some basic audio concepts and improving my living-room setup with REW
I really like the ASR's approach to audio and look forward to have quite a bit of fun reading on it

 

[Jim Taylor]

Hi from Madrid, new here and after reading for a while decided to create an account.
Mainly looking for help to understand some basic audio concepts and improving my living-room setup with REW
I really like the ASR's approach to audio and look forward to have quite a bit of fun reading on it

Hello, @Settembrini ! I sent a few things your way via personal message ... they were far too bulky to include here. In the top margin next to your username, there is an icon of an envelope. Click on it and a new window will open.

Welcome to ASR!

 

[neilbardsley]

Hi from Madrid, new here and after reading for a while decided to create an account.
Mainly looking for help to understand some basic audio concepts and improving my living-room setup with REW
I really like the ASR's approach to audio and look forward to have quite a bit of fun reading on it

Welcome. Madrid is an amazing city with fantastic food

 

[Sicride]

Hello all! I’m an ignorant audiophile joining because I watched Joe N Tell’s interview with @amirm and learned he worked at Microsoft. I have always been intrigued by the science behind sound and how our minds perceive sound.

I’ve begun to get my pre-teen son interested in the field by telling him about a research project I worked on while getting my Bachelors in Psychology. We trying to find a correlation between synthetic voices matching our expectations based on the “speakers” appearance. We were looking to improve disabled individuals efficacy in communicating with synthetic speech.

The reason Amir working at Microsoft was so interesting to me, is because my son recently went on his Make-A-Wish trip to Microsoft Headquarters. He has Muscular Dystrophy and uses computer games, specifically Minecraft and Forza, to fit in with others and not be perceived as disabled in that community. We had the honor of visiting both Mojang (Minecraft creators) and Turn10 (Forza Motorsports) offices. Yet my son was MOST excited to visit the anechoic chamber inside building B87! Apparently, that tour was by far the largest ask from my son’s Wish and we were SO honored to have been allowed to tour their entire R&D facility.

Amir, did you happen to have anything to do with the building of the Quietest Room in the World?? I recall you mentioning in your video “Understanding Speaker Measurements” about the effort that goes into not only eliminating the sound reflections but also the overall noise produced in an anechoic chamber. They spoke about this during our tour, and let us experience the sound that their specially designed light bulbs STILL makes! Simple experiment, how quiet is this room? Turn off the light, now how quiet is it? We also loved that someone in the room with us was very hungry… and when their stomach grumbled across the room with the lights off, it sounded like my ear was pressed up against their stomach!

Anyways, thank you for organizing this forum. I look forward to learning a ton and sharing some of that knowledge with my son.

 

[JSmith]

The reason Amir working at Microsoft was so interesting to me, is because my son recently went on his Make-A-Wish trip to Microsoft Headquarters. He has Muscular Dystrophy and uses computer games, specifically Minecraft and Forza, to fit in with others and not be perceived as disabled in that community. We had the honor of visiting both Mojang (Minecraft creators) and Turn10 (Forza Motorsports) offices. Yet my son was MOST excited to visit the anechoic chamber inside building B87! Apparently, that tour was by far the largest ask from my son’s Wish and we were SO honored to have been allowed to tour their entire R&D facility.

This is great to hear about and welcome to ASR!


JSmith