Listening to music

[arewethereyet]

Those are great headphones.  I've tried them, but they're not in my price range and my Sony MDR-7506s are more than satisfactory.  I don't need wireless at home.  I just bought a pair of Jabra Elite 45h headphones, which have rave reviews, but I haven't tried them yet.

They were pricey but I have had them about 10 years so I think I got my money's worth out of them. Since I wear glasses, the pads got a little tore up over time but I was able to buy new ones from Amazon that were super easy to install. They aren't wireless...not even sure that was an option when I bought them.

[Spongebob]

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1. I disagree with the real music statement. The last time I went to live show the acoustics were shit, and the music sounded terrible compared to what I am used to listening to at home. I admit things might have been different if the Stones had been playing Carnegie Hall instead of Soldier Field and Mick and the rest of the band were 26 instead of 76, but they weren't. The show in question received pretty good reviews, BTW.

2. My office at work right now.

Reel to reel tape machines work well. The one above is a 45ish year old Pioneer RT-909. We paid about $1200 for it 5 years ago then another $1000 having it rebuilt with fresh caps and transistors and properly biased. It isn't a 16-track 2" Studer A80, but most people don't listen to studio grade equipment at home. It sounds good, but I doubt you or anyone else could tell the difference between the copy of Dark Side of the Moon I recorded from vinyl on this machine and and the 24 bit 192 kHz FLAC file I ripped from the same album in a blind test.

1. That doesn't surprise me, many venues has crap acoustics and often they set up their systems for volume.  I guess I'm saying a good venue with a good system produces far better sound than a recording, which of course is just a sample of reality anyway.  You could argue that studio recordings are more precise and they are because the performers can record all day and pick the best tracks, do multitrack, tinker with the mix.  I just find that to be a manufactured sound.  Live music feels alive.  I attended a performance of the Brian Setzer Orchestra a few years ago and couldn't believe my ears.  That guy is a guitar god.  I've listened to his music on all sorts of systems for 30 years and it doesn't do him justice.  Also, I attended a live chamber music performance in a small venue and it put me in a dream state.  I rushed home to listen to recordings of the same music and it just felt dead, like flat cardboard.
2. I had a neighbor years ago who had a studio R2R and it was amazing.  But when you convert to digital, if you do it right, it's indistinguishable from analog to almost all humans.  Even if it was 20% better, I would not notice it.  I just don't focus on music unless its live.  I'm listening to Helloween's newest album on Youtube on USB speakers and it sounds pretty good.  I just like the mood it puts me in.

[Angrboda]

Yeah, I don't think my ears would notice the difference.

What would make a difference, though, given that I've moved my computer so that it's no longer directly in front of my A/V speakers, is to buy a pair of switchable studio monitors for the computer.  I'm also looking at upgrading my graphics card, but while I wait for prices to come down or be on-sale at the end of the year, the speakers might be a good idea.  I'm just starting to look, but my initial gander suggests something from Klipsch or Edifier in the $300 range.  I don't know much about Edifier, but apparently they're a Chinese firm that is producing some real good shit.

Of course, first I have to commit to my new seating location, which will depend upon whether I can figure out how to clamp my Racing Wheel to my old desk, and other issues which aren't fully settled.

In that price range you should look at a pair of JBL Professional 306P MKII monitors. They only take balanced inputs so you would probably need to a unbalanced to balanced cable somewhere between your source and the monitors, but that won't be an issue.

I'm reading that the amplifiers in the JBL 3 series have a low but audible hiss at idle. One user complains that at 3' it's just loud enough to be annoying. Given that these will sit close and idle a lot, that doesn't sound ideal.

[popeyespappy]

In that price range you should look at a pair of JBL Professional 306P MKII monitors. They only take balanced inputs so you would probably need to a unbalanced to balanced cable somewhere between your source and the monitors, but that won't be an issue.

I'm reading that the amplifiers in the JBL 3 series have a low but audible hiss at idle.  One user complains that at 3' it's just loud enough to be annoying.  Given that these will sit close and idle a lot, that doesn't sound ideal.

We have a pair at work that we use to monitor the audio on our digitization projects. I haven't noticed any appreciable hiss, but most of what we are playing back are old cassettes that hiss anyway so...

Look at some Mackie monitors. They use AB versus the class D amps in the JBLs which should help, but they will probably run hotter.

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1. That doesn't surprise me, many venues has crap acoustics and often they set up their systems for volume.  I guess I'm saying a good venue with a good system produces far better sound than a recording, which of course is just a sample of reality anyway.  You could argue that studio recordings are more precise and they are because the performers can record all day and pick the best tracks, do multitrack, tinker with the mix.  I just find that to be a manufactured sound.  Live music feels alive.  I attended a performance of the Brian Setzer Orchestra a few years ago and couldn't believe my ears.  That guy is a guitar god.  I've listened to his music on all sorts of systems for 30 years and it doesn't do him justice.  Also, I attended a live chamber music performance in a small venue and it put me in a dream state.  I rushed home to listen to recordings of the same music and it just felt dead, like flat cardboard.
2. I had a neighbor years ago who had a studio R2R and it was amazing.  But when you convert to digital, if you do it right, it's indistinguishable from analog to almost all humans.  Even if it was 20% better, I would not notice it.  I just don't focus on music unless its live.  I'm listening to Helloween's newest album on Youtube on USB speakers and it sounds pretty good.  I just like the mood it puts me in.

I'd go as far as to say most venues have shitty acoustics. The good news is we are about to get an 8000 set amphitheater that is being billed as a world-class music venue. I guess time will tell.

[Spongebob]

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1. That doesn't surprise me, many venues has crap acoustics and often they set up their systems for volume.  I guess I'm saying a good venue with a good system produces far better sound than a recording, which of course is just a sample of reality anyway.  You could argue that studio recordings are more precise and they are because the performers can record all day and pick the best tracks, do multitrack, tinker with the mix.  I just find that to be a manufactured sound.  Live music feels alive.  I attended a performance of the Brian Setzer Orchestra a few years ago and couldn't believe my ears.  That guy is a guitar god.  I've listened to his music on all sorts of systems for 30 years and it doesn't do him justice.  Also, I attended a live chamber music performance in a small venue and it put me in a dream state.  I rushed home to listen to recordings of the same music and it just felt dead, like flat cardboard.
2. I had a neighbor years ago who had a studio R2R and it was amazing.  But when you convert to digital, if you do it right, it's indistinguishable from analog to almost all humans.  Even if it was 20% better, I would not notice it.  I just don't focus on music unless its live.  I'm listening to Helloween's newest album on Youtube on USB speakers and it sounds pretty good.  I just like the mood it puts me in.

I'd go as far as to say most venues have shitty acoustics. The good news is we are about to get an 8000 set amphitheater that is being billed as a world-class music venue. I guess time will tell.

That looks pretty amazing, like Greek or Roman architecture.  Where is this being built?

[popeyespappy]

That looks pretty amazing, like Greek or Roman architecture.  Where is this being built?

Huntsville, Alabama