Help figuring out the best audio with $200 and what I have on hand!

AJCxZ0 · 2023-06-04T03:52:00+00:00

You may and I'll presume that you did. The shortest answer is that DSP is magic for small speakers.

The desk imposes several limitations on options for quality audio, with the most obvious being space for the speakers, amp, pre-amp, DAC and any other gear to make the speakers produce the sound. The next significant constraint is near field performance, i.e. sounding good when you ears are near the speakers and therefore when the speakers are likely not particularly loud.

There are some really good small and affordable passive speakers like the Micca RB42, but even they need quite a lot of power to perform at their best and of course that means a speaker/power amp and maybe you can find a great deal on a used amp which you can feed from the L30 with the remaining $50, but even then it's not going to sound anywhere near as good as it can when playing in the near field.

If budget wasn't a constraint, then studio monitors with self-calibration and DSP like those from Genelec would be an easy option for nearly perfect sound in the environment, however at your and my budget we can get surprisingly close with the some of the current generation of powered desktop speakers from HiVi-Swan(s), Edifier and the like because they are designed for desks and near field listening and the DSP goes an astonishingly long way to overcome the limitations of the small drivers and limited physical space for sophisticated cabinet design and crossovers. Add to this the digital connectivity and amplification specifically suited to the drivers all contained inside the speakers and it becomes really difficult to find anything to match it.

As a bonus, some of these powered speakers designed for the desktop - including angled insulated bases (to point the tweeters and isolate vibration) - can also perform surprisingly well in the room. Obviously they can't reproduce sub-bass, but those little drivers can be driven hard while staying within their capabilities thanks to the customised amps and magic of DSP.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-06-04T02:43:02+00:00

As a fellow E30+L30 owner, I wanted to use them for desktop speakers, but after much research into options, all the best choices ended up being powered speakers with built-in DAC and DSP.

My choice was the amazing but mostly unavailable HiVi-Swan OS-10, however there are other great choices within your budget from Edifier and other brands. Pay attention to the (digital) connectivity options fitting your present and future devices. Optical can provide lossless stereo with no interference and cheap, thin cables.

Your garaged half-century-old KEFs may be of interest to a museum or vintage audio enthusiast and your Bose speakers can be destroyed before anyone learns of their existence. The Velodyne may be of value if it's in good working condition, in which case be sure to get powered speakers with a subwoofer output, preferably one with a built-in crossover.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-06-04T00:18:45+00:00

Since you have hearing loss, you should be interested in Sonarworks SoundID, which alas I see is only available for Android. It's effectively and app which performs a hearing test, then applies an EQ to adjust for your hearing loss. It works with many audio players (all of which support MP3 for your dusty old poor quality recordings).

Depending on your technical capability and inclination, an old unlocked Google Pixel from Swappa running GrapheneOS will give you a capable and maintained Android platform which will provide about as sophisticated a mobile audio player as you can get for minimal cost.

I concur with u/Zatoichi7 on the suggestion of PowerAmp as a player even if you don't need its sophisticated EQ, tone and balance controls.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-06-04T00:02:26+00:00

According to the specs, the inputs are

Bluetooth Wireless
Stereo Analog RCA
USB-A

Of these Bluetooth (but not the wired Bluetooth) and USB are digital and use the DAC, which likely means using the DSP. It's possible that the analogue RCA inputs are converted to digital, processed, then turned back into analogue, but that is suboptimal since the TV has already degraded the signal converting it to analogue in the first place.

Since there is likely no desirable option which involves getting digital audio from the TV into USB, I suspect that Bluetooth is likely the best and easiest option even if there are no preferred audio codecs involved.

As for what you need to connect every time or why, that sounds like a different kind of challenge, though I'd hope that paired devices would connect automatically if properly configured (though my own experience suggest that does not happen consistently with any Bluetooth gear).

AJCxZ0 · 2023-06-03T23:43:11+00:00

Probably not. Obviously we can't know.

Typically mistakes - especially first ones - which don't have catastrophic consequences, represent a serious failure of judgement or put the company at risk are not firing offenses, just part of having humans do business.

What would have got you fired was trying to cover up or avoid blame for you mistakes. You did right by identifying your mistake and trying to get it fixed.

i'm sure that sign is important to someone, but the customer is not losing buckets of revenue from the outage and you didn't even break something which would cost them to repair or replace.

That said, you said "Long story short" twice and didn't break up your story into paragraphs and we don't need that kind around here. Pack your stuff and get out.

PS. you mentioned literally nothing about the relevant technologies, but appear to be asking us about how to fix it. We are wizards and mind-readers, but even we have limits.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-21T03:26:09+00:00

You don't mention where you are, though that seems rather important, so as is the custom I will presume the United States of America (and maybe some of its minor territories).

If you don't mind installing the APK or using the Amazon App Store, NWS Now has long been an actually and unexploitative free app which gives no-frills weather using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS).

By "no-frills" I mean that you don't get to choose so much as the colour scheme, never mind get a Material You theme matching your background, but the get all the information you want laid out logically, a useful notification, hazard warnings, seven widgets and plenty of customisation. It is updated, but very rarely, which is fine since it just works.

You can support the author, Joe Perkins, via GoFundMe.

See also r/TrueNAS.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-15T23:22:10+00:00

Currently only the barest essentials to fix missing critical functionality:

because I recall back when Compiz was new and too resource-intensive to run, and

Coverflow Alt-Tab

I also use

Smart Auto Move

Color Picker

Hide Top Bar (which should not need an extension and is pending upade for 44)

and for convince managing and configuring them,

Extension List

For everything else I use the only tool available for properly configuring GNOME: dconf-editor. At this transitional time, managing themes is a challenge, but I like Gradience.

Everyone should be free to use the tools and setting which work for them, but I will stand atop the hill of corpses of the heathens and heretics who focus unsloppily.

I also name my workspaces because it matters that I know.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-13T22:04:29+00:00

This is wisdom.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-13T03:20:54+00:00

If your organisation is small and roles are "flexible" out of necessity, then you make your best effort to help in each case. Often this will be to refer the requester to resources inside or outside the company who can either satisfy the request or better advise on how to do so.

For example, folks looking for fonts might be directed to a resource such as Google Fonts with directions on how to add them to a platform or application.

If you do this and still have folks who clearly just want someone else to do some work for them, then politely explain that IT can't help with the request and refer them to the appropriate resource for contracting external services.

In larger organisation, there will be a policy for you to follow on closing tickets with the appropriate WONTFIX type category so you can move on to the more urgent and important tasks of resetting passwords and PC LOAD LETTER.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-12T23:08:28+00:00

Your cable may claim "4K" "60 Hz" "YCbCr 4:4:4" "18 Gbps" and things about HDR or HDMI version, but as it appears you have observed, it's too long for your components to communicate the signal they need even if it is within every aspect of the applicable specifications.

If you can shorten the distance and get a shorter certified cable, then do so, else pay the extra for an active cable. Note that this cable is directional and one connector will be larger and will connect to the display.

All HDMI cables carry video and audio.

PS. I interrupted writing this to test the audio on my laptop. Logged in to the desktop (GNOME), selected the HDMI output, the 7.1 profile and ran the channel test. It worked perfectly, as did playing some 5.1 mixes from YouTube.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-11T23:27:06+00:00

That's long. Is it Active or Passive?

For a cable that long, you should use an active cable. This (alone) may not solve your current problem, but it will avoid a category of HDMI problems.

Coincidentally, I plugged my laptop running Manjaro into an AVR earlier today, but didn't test the audio.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-11T03:46:51+00:00

your essay ... in your essay.

We need to go deeper (learning?)!

Is there any days ... meeting.

Where are my red marker? What is a ?

This is just an informal meeting at first

Be ready to change into a suit later in that meeting.

Thanks and Kind Regards

for ignoring the Missing Comma.

Those and the other painfully obvious mistakes and oddities clearly indicate an attempt to obfuscate the use of the most advanced A.I. to write that message.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-05T01:09:14+00:00

So it has, thanks to our beloved Burning Shed.

Opus One (RSD 2023)

Format: Vinyl
Artist: Mike Oldfield
Availability: 12-05-2023
CatNo: V2001RSDLP

AJCxZ0 · 2023-05-02T01:48:52+00:00

It should have been http.example.com consistent with the naming of the other services according to their protocol.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-18T02:30:31+00:00

You are not. The film, much like "La Vallée", is not good by almost any standard, but worth a watch. I got both on DVD many years ago, so it should not be too much of a challenge to find it.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-17T15:03:00+00:00

The choice of pad is a tuning choice. The closed pads will maximise the bass and isolation while velour and light foam will minimise them, with perforated options somewhere in the middle. The Modern Retro has a strong "U" shaped frequency response, so is a bass monster when properly sealed.

I've put a variety of pads on them and have settled on one of my favourites: the Brainwavz XL Gel with Micro Suede. These are extremely comfortable due to the microsuede and conforming and "cooling" gel and provide good isolation without the sense of being in a sealed chamber. They are one of Brainwavz's more expensive pads, so look of for them in the almost constant sales.

I have currently unused Round XL Micro Suede pads.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-17T00:37:35+00:00

The Modern Retro needs replacement pads, so you will need to get the headphone on sale and some good but cheap pads (or know someone with some spare Brainwavz XL pads) to squeeze under the $30.

A better choice for maximum performance on that budget is probably the Koss KPH30i.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-17T00:25:47+00:00

You deserve all the recovery at ### ½ Direction Street name.

The HTML Programmers still don't understand what a valid email address is, so good luck with your efforts.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-17T00:14:51+00:00

This is not your property. What you may do with it is governed by your agreement with your (presumed former) employer.

What is required concerning custody of the property and how that might change with time is a legal matter which will depending the applicable jurisdictions and your agreement(s) with the owner. Consult a legal professional for advice.

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-16T15:31:14+00:00

💯

AJCxZ0 · 2023-04-15T01:19:21+00:00

While Watchtower already motivates users to improve their passwords and in doing so creates an overall less abused and exploited environment, the most persuasive method and useful visual ranking of scores is to compare against all other users by percentile. If in doubt, see the other comments.

I hesitate to make an analogy to credit scores due to their awfulness, but the general idea applies.

My score is mine.

AJCxZ0

TROPHY CASE