radioactive28

Standard message to the big corporations: be on your toes or we consumers will be out to rip you for every cent you're worth. And remember: we're always right. These class action suits are ridiculous.

On IEMs, I normally listen at 10% volume, no external noise heard. The one time I tried open cans on the MRT, the volume was about 70% and I could barely hear the music above people's chatter and the train's rumble. My guide for safe outdoors listening volume: it should be the same volume used at home for listening comfortably for 6 to 8 hours straight. On the issue of louder MRT noise: thanks to more passengers and trains that are going faster.

Alternatively, if there's some universal that you already like, you could just have a custom tip made for that model. Advantages: - costs a lot less - same sound that you already like, no chance of being disappointed by a sound you've never tried before (of course, it's not like full customs can be disappointing, but some people can be very picky about their sound) - you can still sell the universal later on - isolation should be just as good Disadvantages: - universal + custom tip will never be as compact or flush-fitting as a full custom (ER4 or sf5/tf10 with custom tips are huge asses that stick out of your ears)

Just one thing: did you wash the comply before stuffing it in? Don't let the ear-stuff keep rotting in there

What heady meant is to use the voltmeter on the 3.5mm connector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector To check, connect one end of the voltmeter on the sleeve, and the other end to either the ring or tip (right or left). If either ring or tip does not show any resistance, then something is wrong.

Wah best, want the best of everything for the lowest price in the market For 80Gb at $350, you're looking at an old HDD player, but 30hrs life is out of the question (you'd be lucky to get 10). If you get a HDD player, swap out the HDD for an SSD, you might get 30hrs life, but a 64Gb SSD costs about $2000. Last option is to tack on a second (big) battery pack, but this means modding your player to maybe about 2cm thick. In short, there is no magic bullet.

Not too familiar with Linux or the eeePC, but have you got ALSA? It seems to support the USB audio interface, but I've no idea how to integrate the library into the OS.

Which aspect of the marbles example do you not agree with? As for FM sounding compressed, I don't know the rationale for linking 80kbps MP3 to FM quality, but as I understand, the 2 forms of compression are different. MP3 does its 'compression' by throwing away high frequency info, but does not alter volume per se. FM, however, sounds compressed because of dynamic range compression, which pushes the lowest volume as close to the highest level as possible. This is necessary because of transmission constraints. (I think they also throw away high frequencies for FM, but I can't confirm this. Again, probably because of transmission problems.) Subsequently, it takes much lower MP3 bitrate to record FM faithfully.

Ah, the bliss of ignorance Or the advantages of apathy

Age-old question, isn't it? Maybe the meter can pick up the differences. Maybe the difference is in the subconscious. Maybe my ears just aren't up to standard. This should be mirrored under 'Portable Audio' for more exposure.

Almost certainly a yes. Chances are, anything you plug your head/earphones into, has an amp in the path. The only difference is, is it a good/bad, weak/powerful amp? The amp is necessary because the output from the DSP chip or processor is purely a signal, not powerful enough to make the earphone diaphragm move.

chesterqw basically nailed it. The extra size created by 320kbps is there because you asked for it. To continue the example: There are 12 marbles. You know that, but the encoder doesn't. You ask the encoder for a bigger bucket, and it is given to you. The encoder assumes you have more than 12 marbles, otherwise, you wouldn't ask for a bigger bucket. Hmm. So now you have a really big and heavy bucket, but there are only 12 marbles. Wouldn't it be much easier to carry a smaller bucket? Sure. So where did the big heavy bucket come from? Sorry, but I think I got carried away XD Love questions like these. They invite fun analogies.

They tried that on Head-Fi, to establish a graphic database of good tracks vs. bad tracks. The movement died soon after birth. Someone should start a movement, to replace personnels in the music production process with sound lovers.

190Mb, or about 20 minutes. The format never really took off anywhere, but quite a lot of Japan-released singles in the early- to mid-90s used this size, and the long cardboard sleeve. A few of the singles I have are in this format, but I think they've stopped using them since.

I think you should be setting to maybe 50% - 75% volume. I don't do this, just a guess: Too low, and you'll be amping the signal plus the noise inherent in your DAP amp chip. Too high, and the DAP amp chip may introduce its own distortion. You should try it out, vary the volume to find the max usable level.

Shucks, it's MTP, not UMS. Next, please!

Looks good, got to try it out someday The screen! XD Seems like the major players are going for 'less is more.' Samsung will need to up the capacity to rival 'pure' MP3 players though.

907 bids? O.o No ****, it's a good business after all then? HWZers were questioning whether the processing fee per bid is actually illegal. Apparently, there's a law against building a business/auction with profit based on such fees. Should be interesting to see what comes out of this, if any.

Seems like it's kicking up a hype in HWZ, but it got my attention through their MRT ad: a girl wearing an AKG K701 ("Brand new, from $6.74 on") (I'll try to post a photo of this later ) Their business model seems to be this: - put item up for bid at very low price - lowest unique bid wins (meaning for an item with 10 bids at say 10 bucks, but 1 bid at 100 bucks, the 1 unique bid gets the item) - here's the catch: every bid involves a processing fee Any thoughts? While the service is still new, seems like there'll be a lot of opportunities, since a bid ls unlikely to find competitors (or friends). But ultimately sounds like a loss-making business, unless they drastically change the rules later on.

Ah, thank you so much =)

10 months on, my LDM+ finally runs out of juice. (In case anyone is wondering how it's possible, it's only used once per week for about 5 hours each time ) Tried charging it for the first time, but the charger literally exploded and short-circuited my home supply. I think I'll be getting a USB-based charging cable. Can anyone tell me the polarity of the charging plug? I don't have the original charger for reference anymore Thanks

They're not all that pricey if you get them from Amazon and other reliable online retailers. Downside, of course, is when you need to call in the warranty...

If you find that the ER6i has too little bass, I don't see how the iM716 might satisfy. Even in bass mode, I don't find it very much more bassy. Sounds like there's more bass, but it's no-where near full-sounding. If you think the UM1 sounds analytical, the Senns CX series might be for you. Or so I imagine, by my extrapolation

I'm a big supporter of budget stuff for non-critical applications. KSC75 clip-ons for ~SGD50. Very good value for the money, unless you're really big on vocals and mid-range.

Well, I've toyed with the idea since about a year ago, when SSDs were first released. Just wondering if anyone has actually done it. Those with HDD-based players, ever thought about upgrading the HDD to solid-state drives? SSD capacities are now up to 64Gb, while the 4/8/16Gb flavours are getting more common, costing under S$1000 (though only available online). The various connector options are also common - Micro-ATA 40- or 44-pins, or CE-ATA ZIF. Benefits of SSD: very low power consumption (should dramatically increase battery life), and virtually indestructible (unless your player went under a car, or got exposed to the EMP created by a nuclear explosion nearby). Yeah, the price doesn't look pretty, but the point is: it can be done (speculation and prediction from 2004 ) [mods: should this belong under DIY?]