> > > > So which speakers did you finally end up buying?
hehehee. would be very cheap of me to give you an answer with a brand name and model. :-) otoh, here are a few reasons why i shortlisted that one: a) mp3 compresses sound by dicarding a lot of frequencies. if you're sensitive to harmonics, you can catch that change. it also squeezes together the overall dynamic range, so with less data you get a smaller size. the speakers i purchased have in-built circuitry that analyze the sound in realtime, and apply some wizardry to synthetically re-create or regenerate 'lost sounds'. way too awesome. true, there have been a spate of recent developments in re-fleshing mp3 sounds. BBE is a popular tool, you might find it in your car stereo system. think of this as taking a full-color photo, creating a low-res color photocopy, and then handing it back to a software that studies the photocopy and tries to recreate the original full-color photo. b) the system tries not to color the sound, but tries very hard to adapt the output as close as possible to the human ear response curves. the result is a natural, pleasing, and sweet sound, even at high volumes, with none or minimal clipping (would depend on your recording). the downside: the speakers don't run on batteries, and though small, are not exactly portable. i had a very tough choice about buying them due to this. finally, i resolved that i will never quite be satisfied by any other speaker that sounds too tinny, so i'd better take a firm decision to pack these speakers while travelling and stick to my headphones for truly portable sound. am glad i took this decision. Thanks for the Solfege > tip. The audio bug bit me recently, and after quite a sharp learning > curve over a weekend I ended up buying gear whose brands I had not heard > till about a week before. I am planning to buy an additional pair of > speakers, and this is the kind of tip I was looking out for to make my > decision. oh! great. okay, here's my standing offer to the entire ilug-d community. i'd be glad to join anyone who wishes to go out ear-pricking for speakers or gear. will carry some of my reference sample sounds and files which can highlight flaws in even the most sensitive gear. plus, have noticed how manufacturers have cleverly started to 'color' or tamper with sound-reproduction to sound better in the high-reflection and noisy ambience of retail shops. take the gear home and it sounds pathetic among your heavy furnishings and contrasting interiors. you start doubting your own ears. well, the next time that happens to you, test your gear in your bathroom and you'll be amazed how it sounds better there. so i trained my ears to sort of 'calibrate' for the noisy environment, then switch off everything mentally, and carefully listen to the reference sample to understand how the gear colors the sound. often, something that may sound a bit dull in a retail showroom, will sound exceptionally great in your wood-panelled interiors. of course, i would be glad to come along if it is convenient to me. testing gear takes time, so please never be in a hurry, and before starting out do spend a week or two to train your ears and memorize parts of a reference sample sound. > > > Niyam, keep posting audio related FOSS tips from time to time out here. blag? nah. i wonder what is a better way to engage in a conversation on foss-related audio. > > :) And yes, I will buzz you at foss.in too. > great. see you there. :-) niyam > > Thanks, > Sandip > > > _______________________________________________ > ilugd mailinglist -- [email protected] > http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd > Next Event: http://freed.in - February 22/23, 2008 > Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > -- niyam bhushan _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [email protected] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - February 22/23, 2008 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
