HMV going into administration

shed head

Zero1986 wrote: »

So your ears are immaculate enough to notice a huge difference between a CD and a 320kbps mp3? Yeah right.

actually yes they are, i got high end sound systems and a recording studio:P zombie!

your not listening to 320 when downloading a lot if not most of the time? correct me if i am wrong, i don't download crap!

shed head

Custardpi wrote: »

Ah don't be so pessimistic. There's a growing number of sites offering 24/96 & even 24/192 FLAC downloads for people with serious equipment. Plus sales of vinyl are rocketing the past few years, pretty much everything worth listening to (& plenty that's not) is getting a vinyl release. Yes the mainstream will revel in 128kbps mp3/aac of Justin Bieber/One Direction through their Beats but for those who want to actually listen to music properly there'll be people to supply that market. Not necessarily in high street stores of course but it will be there. The sky really isn't falling in, even if bricks & mortar stores are being replaced by online retailers, whether of physical or digital product.

the sky is falling in, there is just a handful of music shops in the city now, thats a big buzz kill to society, in fact its bollox, Long live tower records now!!

Custardpi

shed head wrote: »

the sky is falling in, there is just a handful of music shops in the city now, thats a big buzz kill to society, in fact its bollox, Long live tower records now!!

I get what you're saying mate, I enjoy going to Tower Records myself, though they are a bit overpriced imo. The Secret Book & Record Store nearby is pretty decent for 2nd hand vinyl, have picked up a few gems there from flicking through the racks. I don't think that the demise of HMV will actually effect that all too much, given that they haven't been a serious music shop for quite a while (although their dvd selection was actually pretty decent in fairness).

SilverScreen

shed head wrote: »

actually yes they are, i got high end sound systems and a recording studio:P zombie!

your not listening to 320 when downloading a lot if not most of the time? correct me if i am wrong, i don't download crap!

Well unfortunatly we don't all have infinite disposable income to spend on such high-end equipment to further boost our already bloated egos. Even my own seperates and speakers are certainly not high end but they're good enough for me to actually enjoy music on.

Yes quite a large portion of my digital collection is made up of 320 and 256 kbps mp3 which suits me perfectly fine, I'd rather have 70GB of music on my iPod to listen to wherever I want, whenever I want than sitting in a sound-proof tiled room, with a high-end system wacking off to vinyl and revelling in superiority.

Lightbulb Sun

Zero1986 wrote: »

Well unfortunatly we don't all have infinite disposable income to spend on such high-end equipment to further boost our already bloated egos. Even my own seperates and speakers are certainly not high end but they're good enough for me to actually enjoy music on.

Yes quite a large portion of my digital collection is made up of 320 and 256 kbps mp3 which suits me perfectly fine, I'd rather have 70GB of music on my iPod to listen to wherever I want, whenever I want than sitting in a sound-proof tiled room, with a high-end system wacking off to vinyl and revelling in superiority.

I find 320s ripped straight from a CD unbelievably good sounding but sometimes it could be another 320 or 256 file just found on the internet somewhere and it doesn't have the same depth. When it's from some random site, it's hard to know how good they sound even if they are supposedly 320s or whatever.

SilverScreen

Lightbulb Sun wrote: »

I find 320s ripped straight from a CD unbelievably good sounding but sometimes it could be another 320 or 256 file just found on the internet somewhere and it doesn't have the same depth. When it's from some random site, it's hard to know how good they sound even if they are supposedly 320s or whatever.

Yeah I tend to find this myself, although it could be a placebo effect as well. Also another reason for this is people encoding 128kbps mp3s to 320 or 256kbps mp3s and uploading them so that people are fooled into thinking it's a higher bit-rate when really it's still just 128 quality.

latenia

I'm still surprised at the negativity towards good quality audio, both here and amongst my friends irl. I only listen to flac, even on my phone, and the difference is quite apparent. You can hear the actual studio mix in a 3d projection rather than just different levels of volume in the left and right channels; treble is less splashy and bass (and the music as a whole) is more rounded. I usually have enough space for 50 albums at a time on my phone, which is plenty to keep me going for a couple of weeks before I load some new files on. There's no real need to have your entire music collection on your person 24/7.

shed head

Zero1986 wrote: »

Well unfortunatly we don't all have infinite disposable income to spend on such high-end equipment to further boost our already bloated egos. Even my own seperates and speakers are certainly not high end but they're good enough for me to actually enjoy music on.

Yes quite a large portion of my digital collection is made up of 320 and 256 kbps mp3 which suits me perfectly fine, I'd rather have 70GB of music on my iPod to listen to wherever I want, whenever I want than sitting in a sound-proof tiled room, with a high-end system wacking off to vinyl and revelling in superiority.

eh it's a professional recording studio which i my family own, but one does have a high end audio system in there to get an idea of the mix quality, however one also listens to his music at home on another high end system without the tiled rooms! Your just ignorant, put some money into a decent sound system, it's well worth it and listen to quality audio!! Wav files are the way to go(yes they sound/are better than flac), you will run into tagging problems though - get a converter

Lightbulb Sun

Zero1986 wrote: »

Yeah I tend to find this myself, although it could be a placebo effect as well. Also another reason for this is people encoding 128kbps mp3s to 320 or 256kbps mp3s and uploading them so that people are fooled into thinking it's a higher bit-rate when really it's still just 128 quality.

You mean mp3s originally encoding at 128 and the converting them to higher bitrates? I remember that option on software before.

Custardpi

latenia wrote: »

I'm still surprised at the negativity towards good quality audio, both here and amongst my friends irl. I only listen to flac, even on my phone, and the difference is quite apparent. You can hear the actual studio mix in a 3d projection rather than just different levels of volume in the left and right channels; treble is less splashy and bass (and the music as a whole) is more rounded. I usually have enough space for 50 albums at a time on my phone, which is plenty to keep me going for a couple of weeks before I load some new files on. There's no real need to have your entire music collection on your person 24/7.

I listen to FLAC myself but can't really agree with this. You'll only really hear the difference between FLAC & 320kbps mp3s by using decent headphones/speakers & a good DAC, as well as having an environment that's reasonably quiet to listen in (no need for a specially tiled room!). In a portable device setting e.g. crowded DART, busy street, etc through a phone you're far better off sticking to high quality mp3s.

latenia

I've got nice headphones and a nice hi-fi at home; I've been looking into getting a DAC like this one but there are compatibility issues with android so I'm holding off until it can be set up easily.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-E17-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B0070UFMOW

shed head

Custardpi wrote: »

I listen to FLAC myself but can't really agree with this. You'll only really hear the difference between FLAC & 320kbps mp3s by using decent headphones/speakers & a good DAC, as well as having an environment that's reasonably quiet to listen in (no need for a specially tiled room!). In a portable device setting e.g. crowded DART, busy street, etc through a phone you're far better off sticking to high quality mp3s.

rubbish!

shed head

latenia wrote: »

I've got nice headphones and a nice hi-fi at home; I've been looking into getting a DAC like this one but there are compatibility issues with android so I'm holding off until it can be set up easily.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-E17-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B0070UFMOW

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colorfly-C4-Pocket-Music-Player/dp/B004DWNJ18/ref=sr_1_22?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1358564187&sr=1-22

I have this, pricey though, but superb, can be got for cheaper!

Custardpi

latenia wrote: »

I've got nice headphones and a nice hi-fi at home; I've been looking into getting a DAC like this one but there are compatibility issues with android so I'm holding off until it can be set up easily.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-E17-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B0070UFMOW

Fiio are great for the money alright. Haven't heard the E17 yet but very happy with my E10 which I use with my laptop. Will you be using it with an Android tablet or what?

Custardpi

shed head wrote: »

rubbish!

Not at all. You need good equipment & a reasonably quiet environment to properly appreciate high quality audio, whether that be lossless digital files, vinyl or whatever. Listening to a phone on the bus is simply not going to be able to do that.

SilverScreen

shed head wrote: »

eh it's a professional recording studio which i my family own, but one does have a high end audio system in there to get an idea of the mix quality, however one also listens to his music at home on another high end system without the tiled rooms! Your just ignorant, put some money into a decent sound system, it's well worth it and listen to quality audio!! Wav files are the way to go(yes they sound/are better than flac), you will run into tagging problems though - get a converter

Aren't you awesome, I wish I were as awesome as you are. Even if I had the money I don't think that would be necessary. I don't think listening to Dinosaur Jr or Husker Du on a super high end system really has a purpose.

So which is more important to you then, the actual music or the medium?

Grayson

Zero1986 wrote: »

So which is more important to you then, the actual music or the medium?

talking about it

SilverScreen

Grayson wrote: »

talking about it

True. For all we know his super magical high-end audio system could be a cheap Bush iPod dock his parents bought got him for Christmas.

dsmythy

What is this language you all speak?

Allyall

Zero1986 wrote: »

Aren't you awesome, I wish I were as awesome as you are. Even if I had the money I don't think that would be necessary. I don't think listening to Dinosaur Jr or Hüsker Dü on a super high end system really has a purpose.

:eek: Two names i haven't heard in a long time.. Especially the latter. Aaah... Love it when a memory comes flooding in..

Unfortunately all of my memories associated with way back then, are in the summer. And it's fuppin' freezin' outside..

dsmythy wrote: »

What is this language you all speak?

AfrikaBambaataa

8mv

To get back to the thread subject - I had to buy the new Villagers album in Tesco yesterday and it didn't feel right at all, at all. I work in Limerick where HMV was the only CD store that I know of, so Tesco was the only alternative. Having seen the cover of the new Nick Cave album, I doubt Tesco will be stocking it. I think I'll just have to wait and use Amazon every couple of months.

shed head

Zero1986 wrote: »

Aren't you awesome, I wish I were as awesome as you are. Even if I had the money I don't think that would be necessary. I don't think listening to Dinosaur Jr or Husker Du on a super high end system really has a purpose.

So which is more important to you then, the actual music or the medium?

why thank you, i agree, yes i am. i agree about dinosaur and husker, no high end system would make that crap sound good!

The medium! Go try out a high end medium and you will see my point instead of being a jealous bitch!

shed head

8mv wrote: »

To get back to the thread subject - I had to buy the new Villagers album in Tesco yesterday and it didn't feel right at all, at all. I work in Limerick where HMV was the only CD store that I know of, so Tesco was the only alternative. Having seen the cover of the new Nick Cave album, I doubt Tesco will be stocking it. I think I'll just have to wait and use Amazon every couple of months.

x

shed head

SilverScreen

shed head wrote: »

why thank you, i agree, yes i am. i agree about dinosaur and husker, no high end system would make that crap sound good!

The medium! Go try out a high end medium and you will see my point instead of being a jealous bitch!

So in other words you don't really care much about music itself? By the way I have a nice collection of CDs, cassettes and vinyl so don't lecture me about mediums.

Here's a little scenario for you; you are looking for a very rare album or EP by a relatively obscure band or artist. You really, really, really want to listen to this album/EP or whatever. The CD or vinyl is long out of print, nothing is showing up on eBay and all you can find is a low bit-rate mp3 download of it on the internet. What would you do?

shed head

Zero1986 wrote: »

So in other words you don't really care much about music itself? By the way I have a nice collection of CDs, cassettes and vinyl so don't lecture me about mediums.

Here's a little scenario for you; you are looking for a very rare album or EP by a relatively obscure band or artist. You really, really, really want to listen to this album/EP or whatever. The CD or vinyl is long out of print, nothing is showing up on eBay and all you can find is a low bit-rate mp3 download of it on the internet. What would you do?

download it, remaster it in my high end studio and convert the high quality version to wav:P

of course i care about the music but one must listen to it to hear it and hence come to the conclusion if its good music, obviously the latter will only be done on high end audio systems!!


Here you go,enlighten yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIxOooh_034

Kirby

Zero1986 wrote: »

Here's a little scenario for you; you are looking for a very rare album or EP by a relatively obscure band or artist. You really, really, really want to listen to this album/EP or whatever. The CD or vinyl is long out of print, nothing is showing up on eBay and all you can find is a low bit-rate mp3 download of it on the internet. What would you do?

Acquire some better tastes perhaps? If you cant find a band or artists music in this day and age then are they really worth listening to? How good could they be if you can't locate a copy of their work.

Honestly the whole hipster "Oh I only listen to obscure bands who haven't made it....you wouldn't know them" thing is ridiculous.

Custardpi

I suspect Shed Head is trolling at this point. You can't remaster lossy audio files, at least not with meaningful results. Information lost is gone forever, regardless of any attempts to disguise that by upsampling or whatever.

SilverScreen

shed head wrote: »

download it, remaster it in my high end studio and convert the high quality version to wav:P

I call BS on that. Let's just say it's a 128kbps mp3, no matter how much you 'remaster' and convert it it will always have the sound quality of a 128kbps mp3, even if you convert it to a WAV or FLAC file. You can't just pull the missing sound data out of nowhere.

Kirby wrote: »

Acquire some better tastes perhaps? If you cant find a band or artists music in this day and age then are they really worth listening to? How good could they be if you can't locate a copy of their work.

Honestly the whole hipster "Oh I only listen to obscure bands who haven't made it....you wouldn't know them" thing is ridiculous.

You're missing the point here.

Dravokivich

Zero1986 wrote: »

I call BS on that. Let's just say it's a 128kbps mp3, no matter how much you 'remaster' and convert it it will always have the sound quality of a 128kbps mp3, even if you convert it to a WAV or FLAC file. You can't just pull the missing sound data out of nowhere.

This is true. It'll still sound washy. Attempts to remaster would emphasise it as well, instead of reduce it.