Computer Audiophile on the Cheap

[Balder]

Hi!

Nice with a topic i can relate to! I live in Sweden, we have a "local" forum, whenever you claim to "prefer" a, lets call it "budget item", you get "jumpt" on by "trendsetters" - who uses all kind of arguments to, sometimes bluntly, but mosltly "polite" tell you that you did something wrong when you came to the conclusion that the cheaper item sound very close, if not as god as the expensive item in "fashion".

 

Now, for me personaly, the reward of working with what you have, with small, well informed, investments and achiving a very high level of performance/money is enormous. For me it started with a dropp in inkome, that forced me to rethink the "uppgrade carousel". Instead of just bying a higher level of perfomance, i had to learn, and learn, and work within my ekonomical reality. I found myselfs with a lot of time on my hands to focus on that, not everybody has that, of course.

 

I have today a sound system of old and/or second hand parts that i have spent about $1000 in total - computerbased. That outperforms previus systems i have had over the years up to $10000, or more...

 

I have a 8 years old laptop, 3TB HDD, a 8 year A/V amp (high-End back then) - 2008 it cost 13000 SEK( ca $1100), i paid 2000 SEK( ca $200), a pair of Boston Acustics A26 "demo-shop" as god as new för 2500 SEK(ca $240), and the "icing on the cake" in february they had a  short sale, online, a USB-DAC: Korg DS-DAC100m for 695 SEK($70). I have not owned a better system. By spending endless hours learning to configure foobar2k, with the right components bla, bla... i can now play back native PCM 24/192 and DSD128 to a level i am happy with and never thought i could ever afford, and insn't that what realy counts? I don't try to build a system others would approve of, or have the "latest in fashion"! One very helpful factor has been my "totaly HiFi-blond wife" - she has no expectations about how god sound is supposed to sound, so when i make a small change - I may have specific expectations, and may experiense "placebo" effect! She can simply say "i like that better...", and, most of the time she is spot on. I have had HiFi as a hobby 40 years, yes you learn a lot, but is there a possibility to focus on the tech so much, focus on tiny details bordering on OCD, and forget why you started the hobby - to enjoy the music experiense to the maximum...so - as a paradox of loosing some inkome, in my case, gaining time and energi, to learn a lot, but moreover- The feeling you can't buy(?) - I did this!

[Balder]

So True...

 

I have reached "the end of the line" as far as "room" audio is concerned, the way forward for me is going to be a headphone system "best bang/buck", i have Shure SRH940 from 2013 -like them, but they can be "to honest" ie sound harsh on some material, so going to look for some "non neutral", fun - phones...

 

And you would not belive the prices we have in Sweden, when i look at things on Amozon US - 9 sek/$ then times 2, thats our price!

Some try to sneak by custums, they don't check every parsel, but if you are done - 50% extra + penalty fees.... 

 

I guess there are pros and cons everyvere...

[Balder]

yeah- we all have them,holes...

 

I don't have anything against people who work f-g hard, earn loads of money and spend them on whatever, but i can be lets say "litle uppset" with folks who look down on HiFi nerds with less "expensive" equipment, and "dare" claim "cheap" stuff to be OK. We all have different ekonmise, and it can vary a bit over a lifetime...(parden my "english" - Swed, trying to type english fast - bad idee....

[Balder]

Thanks bigbob, guess i have to reaktivate my fb account....

[Balder]

You too silly goose...

 

You know, sometimes my mouth is ahed of my brain :-)

But i'm just a blond "Viking".... k-l first... think later, if at all... so what do i know...lol!

 

By the way: On my dads side my family has lived on an island as far back as the records goes, back to 1450. I own a big piece of land there, but guess what? Market value = zero! Illigal to build on it - "N-y" security zone/enviromental protected zone....So - i am stinking rich-not!

[Balder]

Back to topic:

 

I found very little info, when i googled on the Korg DS-DAC100m, i finaly got - with a free- return policy.(695 SEK($70)). Probably the best Upgr/money i ever done!

 

OK -the retail price on Amazon UK is £ 211(!) - that's to much for me, haven' t checked Amazon US, so, no idea how expensive it would be compared with ex Shiit? Shiit Modi 2 Uber would sett me back 2500 SEK(about $250) from US(Shiit-direkt) to Sweden(No retail here)(!). So that was not an option...

 

This is my first USB-DAC: but it sounds amazing to me...

 

I do have a "spdf" DAC: LiTe DAC-AH from 2007, modified 2008, but total "red book".

Has an interesting design: in stead of one god expensive chip, it has 4 cheap Philips old school chip/channel parallell, the idea is that diferenses in specs "evens out", and the resulting analog output signal is strong - no need for a ampchip! Sounds realy "sweet" - some folks may say it sounds "analog"(as oposit to "digital") OK?

[Balder]

So true...i have roots that can be traced more than 600 years back....

 

I guess that's rare in the US?

 

In light of that, what's money?

[Balder]

Yeah right....

Infestations...

To that i have only one response: Donald Trump!

 

I complained about the high prices in Sweden....

 

....Trump intends to bring "work" back to US....

 

Custums fee on imported stuff  was mentioned...

 

I wooonder....is imported electronics(mainly made in China/look behand nearly every gear....) going to be cheaper? More expensive?

 

Well i to stupiddd, can't figure that out mmmmm.

 

[Balder]

Green Day(punk-rock-band)

 

Have done a nice song from 2004....Don't remember the titel....

[Balder]

Silly goose: Well on that i totaly agree....

 

We had a enormous industriell base, shipyards, volvo saab, asea- who built all our nukler plants(considered to be among the safest in the world)..

 

and so on... they all where outcompeted by "Asian" industri, without the strong uniun - we always had here. I have seen BBC dukumetarys abuot the workers conditions there - lets just say they don't have a long life expectensy...

 

My new DAC states:made in Japan, sounds god, if it's true?

 

We, all of us; have been spoiled by cheap styff from Asia. not many think about why they are so cheap? Must be magic? And usualy: momey talks! But i suspect that a lot of that money made in Asia ends up in pockets belonging to "western bussiness men"?

 

 

[Balder]

To be Honest:

 

The image we are presented by in media:

 

And these are NOT my words:

 

He makes one "crazy" statement after the other, reforms/changes he tries to implement are "blocked" by the "legal" system, he says "reckless" things on twitter, ignor if a line is safe or not, giving top jobbs to relatives....

 

To sum it up: He is portraid as a pompus man with grandiosa "illussions", some even comperes his "body" language with Mussolini(!). Claiming a thing like that - is to me, really crossing the line...if they can throw that kind of "insults", to anybody. where are we going?

 

I like to think that i make my own oppinoin based on fact, not roumers, but do I really, how infuensed are we by media, without knowing it?

 

My personol oppinion is that he won the election, not becouse he is so brilliant, but becouse the "career" politicians - had failed to see the huge gaps in the ekonomi "classes", they had no contact with real peoples lifes, and how it had changed so much during 20 years...

 

People wanted changes, things to be more "fair" - Trump gave you that hope, but will/can he deliver?

 

In other words: Anything was better than the sitting "concrete butts"!

 

Hence: Nobady in the political arena tok him seriously!

When he won - they just stod there with their "####" in their hands - What now.....

[Balder]

I appologise if i got caried away, and induced others to participate - I just like a god debate, wont happen again!

[Balder]

Morning Guys(8 am here)

 

We have a saying that translate: If brute force don't work - use moore...

 

And my dad(RIP) - who was a very good mekanic, always had ducktape and a type of thin steel wire, with that he could fix just about anything "on the go". I remember when i was a kid, and the old saab (2-stroke(!)), lost the exhoust pipe - he fixed it on site, with that steel wire and heatresistant ducktape...

 

WD-40 has resently been introduced here, before that we had a similar thing named "5-56", the fumes from that spray....well i would not light a cigarette any where near... and in the old days, on a cold(-20 C) winter morning, i used to spray it into the carborator of my old volvo - started with a good "bang" - workt every time... that 5-56 spray has dissapeared from the market... 

My present car is computericed to a redicules level, cant't do a thing yourself with it?! The idiotic thing even slams on the breaks if i get "close" to an "object" - when i tried to disable that feature, by going into the cars "computer-settings" i got annoing warning messeges  - "warning: safty compromiced, beep, beep" - and it would not stop! So i had to enable it - makes me wonder sometimes who is driving, me or the onboard computer.... and if i really need my drivers licence anymore? Further more: It tells me "shift gear" (most cars over here has manual gearbox), if i happen to run on to high/low revs, and when i like to drive a little more "fun(sport-like)", then, of cource, "beep, beep - fuel consumtion unusual high!"...Feel like i am back in driving school-with a nagging instructor! It is a 3 year lease, i don't think i would like to buy that car....Skoda Fabia(Turbo) built in the "Tjeck-Republik" - now owned by the big "wolkswagen" group! (Remember the "scandal" when they had "fiddled" with the "emission figures" in US?).

 

I use duoble "sided" 1 mm thick, 10 cm wide, tape all the time, used it to fix my Boston speakers to their stands - nearly "impossible" to get them of now!

So, my "standardtools"(In the car) - swiss armyknife(old original-in pocket), ducktape"heatresistant", steelwire and a "mother of an axe"- blade on one side, sledge hammer on the other side.

 

The most usefull tool at home is my old "multimeter" - I make some of my audio wires DIY, and learned the "expensive" way to measure them for resistance, "short-circuit" etc - BEFORE connecting them(!), and my soldering kit, old but good, is essential to me... and my "Dremmel" - soo usefull...

[Balder]

Now Cheap Audio:

 

My next investment is an "alternative" sett of headphones:

 

I have: Shure SRH940(2013: 2000 SEK($ 150.200)) - my "reference" phones,(the best phones i had, second only to The legendary AKG 340"dynamik-elektristatic, hybrid" i owned '82-'95, when they"died", better than the HD600 i had for only some months)The "tests" on Shure vary from "High-End" to "booring", many have had BQ problems- they break easy. I love them, 42ohm, closedback, soft earpads(+replacement pair), i can sitt for 4-5 hours, playing really loud-with a good recording/gear, the mid and high is amasing, without any discomfort, the objections i, sometimes, have: They are to "honest", to neutral. They go deep in the bass, but without the "punch-slam" i would like from drums in heavier music(Industrial, Metal...), and, if the recording is low Q, they are unforgiving - sounds crap. Feeding them with "wrong"(not necesarely cheap) equipment makes them sound "flat, booring", even harsh. I have not have any BQ problems in the 4 years i owned them?

 

Also have a pair of Creative Aurvana X-Fi :(2008:1500SEK($150) Repaired them countless times, BQ = rubbish. You can run them "passive" = muffled "bass" dominate, blaha sound. "Aktive", multiple settings: NC, "3D", X-Fi cristalizer(bas-treble- boost) Eats batteries!, Not good SQ, but OK i guess as "portable" - I nearly never use them.... If i go by public transport - i prefer my old KossPortaPro(got them '97(?)). But i suppose on a flight, the NC would be useful...

 

So, I am after a pair of "low Budget" cans, prefer open ones, since those i have are all closed. I want phones that are more fun than correct - more rock'n roll, drive,nerv, drums! I want punchy bass, but with OK mid, high, absolutely not harsh...

I am in the early "search" stage...

 

So far i have found these Sony:

 

https://www.sony.se/electronics/horlurar-med-huvudband/mdr-xb950ap/specifications#features

 

(Noticed that it is in swedish, maybe somebody can check them out on a US site?)

For 499 SEK($50) online. Thats spot on my budget!

Anybody know/heard them? Read that they are "very" bas heavy, but with smooth mid and top(there is a "bas-port", can be covered to "tame" the bas if needed).

 

What else is out there? I would like some good advise?Know little to nothing about that price range($50-80).But the price in sweden may be very different: speciall offer - cheaper. ordinary price in $, probably double here, so i am "flexible"....

 

Am also member on "head-fi" forum, going to ask for advise there to...