19 public posts in this discussion.
http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/ces2001/accessories/image_014.shtml
[Image: http://www.audioreview.com/Channels/AudioReview/images/products/product_118014.jpg]
Retails for about "3,000 USD. That's $26,000 AUS.
For headphones.
The one's I'm wearing now cost $20 AUS and play sound, clearly, as loud as my ears can handle. I really, really must ask... why?
I agree. Why?! I could think of many more better things to spend the money on.
like an actual computer system!
it's got a fucking valve amp...
it WILL be expensive...
Yeah, valve amps create arguably the best quality sound :D
Quote from Wolfspirit:
The one's I'm wearing now cost $20 AUS and play sound, clearly, as loud as my ears can handle. I really, really must ask... why?
Because somebody, somewhere, believes they're worth paying "3,000 for.
In economics you come to realise that things do not have objective value - they are worth what people think they are worth - things have subjective value. Someone values the difference between these headphones and yours at many thousands of dollars. What's to worry about?
Oh, and it does make a difference. A good CD to test the quality of your earphones is the Evangelion: Death soundtrack, which has some very subtle, very difficult-to-reproduce sounds. And you can buy equipment testing CDs as well. Trust me, there's a big difference between $20 earphones and closed, fully-insulated, full-cup headphones.
bleh i knew about those headphones ages ago, they are senheisser headphones and that is their top of the line, and it aint 13,000 more like 16,000... i wouldnt mind their surround sound gaming headphones.. *drool*
Valve amps can suck my balls
Silicon produces exactly the same sound with the same 'character' and costs about 20c to manufacture
Hence why I put in "arguably" :D
Quote from Eater_Of_Souls:
Valve amps can suck my balls
Silicon produces exactly the same sound with the same 'character' and costs about 20c to manufacture
you are wrong teh eater.
it comes down to this.
silicon amps are current amps, producing harmonics on the 3th, 5th and 7th harmonic. These are dissonant frequencies and can make audio sound harsh, and hard.
valve amps are voltage controlled, thus produce harmonics on the 2th, 4th, and 6th harmonic. These are melodious frequencies and sound better. thus the "warmth" that valve amp freaks talk about.
HOWEVER, this is where all the valve amp freaks forget.... valve amps DISTORT the sound much more then silicon amps do. OK, they distort it so it sounds GOOD, but its still distortion.
the lowest distorting amps are FET amps, expensive, but worth it. If you want accurate reproduction, you get a FET amp. If you want it to sound good to your ears you get valve.
it depends on what you really want.
accuracy or "warmth" which by the way is a nearly pure subjective measurement.
however the final factor is that to HEAR any difference you need to spend fuck loads on speakers/headphones.
its no use spending a shit load on a valve amp and then putting it through a 10 dollar set of speakers.
it comes down to how stupid you are, how rich you are, and how you like your music.
VALVE AMPS ARE DA BEST MY DAD IS AUDIO ENGINEER, OWNING AN AUDIO COMPANY SO HE KNOWS!!! :D
Rainwulf, do you have a life?
Or do you spend all your time reading about useless shit?
Quote from Milenko:
Rainwulf, do you have a life?
Or do you spend all your time reading about useless shit?
*laughs bitterly*
You think he spends a lot of time reading stuff? What do you think I've been doing for the last few weeks?
Right now I'm reading up on MARC, because the ULC Librarian wants us to buy some super-duper library software and a data-service subscription. Now I'm guessing the treasurer will freak out when he finds how much it costs, because the answer to that question is "lots and lots, any which way you slice it".
Myself, I'm trying to see if we can't just shave off a few thousand dollars by taking a digital wrench to some of the open-source MARC/ILS systems floating around to suit our needs. And to integrate with the rest of our database.
I may be completely wrong of course. There's about fifty kerjillion ways to:
a) Create a library catalogue database
b) Get the data to populate said database
c) Let people access that database.
Of these, we (read: I) can adapt and write stuff to do a) and c) ourselves (read: myself).
But b) is a right bastard. All this lovey-dovey crap that the MARC website gives about "sharing" and "saving effort" evaporates when you try to find out how one actually obtains MARC data. And the answer is: one spends money. Lots and lots of money. In Australia the National Library has a MARC data service called "Kinetica", which as far as I can make out charges you " per search of their database. Oh, and that's on top of a monthly fee. Who do they think we are? I mean, freaking honestly, I'm not Mr-bags-of-cash here.
Nevertheless our librarian has her heart set on a MARC system, for which I don't blame her. 70 years from now somebody will thank her (maybe not the extant treasurer, but somebody) for making us go through this. In the short term, however, we may just need to stick with "Cataloging in Publication" data, which is the one-page library blurt you can find near the front of most books.
There. I feel better now.
Quote from Milenko:
Rainwulf, do you have a life?
Or do you spend all your time reading about useless shit?
my whole life is about useless shit.. what do you expect :D
yeah nice cut and paste rainwulf
might as well have put a link
Have you ever sat there and listened to ANYTHING with a valva amp next to a chipped amp (for arguments sake ill call em that)?
The "unique" sound of a valve amp is a grating jarring assault on my ears.
I went out with a channel eight (when it was channel 8 ) sound technician and recorded several sound fields and specific sounds from around Darwin.
We then went back to his studio and mixed cut and edited the sounds onto a test cd for me to use in tesing stereos at work. He happened to mention and demostrate his valve amp setup that he purchased and installed at his home. While the music he listened to certainly did use and enhance the valve amps "unique" properties, when we played the sounds recorded earlier that day, it sounded like crap. Thinking it was just the recording, we went to work and played the sounds there. Sounded fine to both of us.
So in conclusion i would just like to say to MY ears the valve amps suk my balls and there is no sound or "unique" sound like property that a valve amp can make that a processed chip amp cant reproduce. But seeing as you mr rain have much better ears and can hear the difference between 4th 5th 8th and the 121st battalion harmonicas, i must assume that YOU would hear things different to me.
Quote from Wolfspirit:
The one's I'm wearing now cost $20 AUS and play sound, clearly, as loud as my ears can handle. I really, really must ask... why?
Depends on personal taste. However I'm guessing you haven't tried out real head gear for listening. It is a little bit much - but provided you have the money, you're an audiophile or you're in the professional industry it's not so crazy.
Myself I can't stand the sound of headphones cheaper than say $50 - Right now I'm using HP890's in the meantime I'm saving up for a Creek Headphone Amp and Beyer DT531's or even Etymonic earphones to bring with me. While also working on getting Klipsch ProMedia speakers or similar.
There is a reason why someone would pay that much.
Sennheiser make the best audio gear and this is a hand made and hand tuned(Iwouldn't want to guess how many valves were not up to spec for these), plus high quality valve amps are damn expensive.
What rain said about harmonic is right and it is great for music.
In musical terms the 2nd harmonic is a perfect octave which sound good to the ear the 3rd is a 13th wich doesn't sound as good. For thing like electric guiturs and keyboard a valve amp is good cause it gives them a more natuaral sound. For your average computer game and random recordings on the street as EOS noted you would get a much different sound from a valve amp.
One of my other lifes is a sound tech and we use valve amp for guitur and a low distortion FET amp with our desk mostly because Valve don't transport as well.
eater it wasnt cut and paste.
out of my head buddy.
sorry.....
like i said, its a subjective thing.
personally i think its snake oil.
lol..
CAN 'O' WORMS.