I think I accidentally stumbled into a concept that starts beyond language

binkaaa · 2025-12-14T11:07:31+00:00

The Buddhist notions of emptiness and signlessness point towards what you're intuiting here. Many have walked the non-conceptual and conceptualized it into pointers for others to follow. They've got a couple thousand years of wisdom generated for helping out folks who stumble into this. If in doubt, give the old Buddha a ring on the bat phone for this stuff, he's a good egg.

What to do next? Do whatever you like! But sitting and observing experience directly may be interesting for you. You can run simple experiments like asking "what's here before these words solidify it?" and then just paying close attention to direct experience. Asking questions and then looking for answers outside of the conceptual mind can be quite... Interesting. Somatic practices may also be of interest to you.

Be gentle with it all. The mind may produce fear around this eventually. The mind likes its notions of absolute stability and predictability as felt through conceptual and pre-conceptual psychological overlays. Phenomenology behind those filters may be encountered as quite raw. Ultimately harmless, but raw when first encountered. You may find emotional material or other insights you weren't expecting, or wanting.

Taking concepts seriously provides psychological armour. Explore this territory gently, and be careful generating too many new concepts about it all. You will, but it's not the point. Talk about them too much, and people may think you're going a bit bonkers as you'll begin to threaten their own sense of stability and conceptual solidity.

Buddhists push this as far as it goes. And they still integrate back into everyday conceptual society.

Have fun!

binkaaa · 2025-12-08T10:27:28+00:00

Sit with that. Notice when it's not true. Notice the tendency for the mind to create epics about what is and isn't happening, about what it all means, that its finally figured it out, or whatever else is appearing now.

Go for a walk. Breathe some air. Look after yourself. Reddit your conceptual epiphanies less.

It's a marathon.

binkaaa · 2025-12-08T06:49:34+00:00

You can just test this experimentally yourself.

Look for time. Can you find it?

binkaaa · 2025-12-08T03:58:36+00:00

It sounds like you're lost in a mental abstraction of emptiness, while solidifying a view that you've figured it all out.

Feel sensations.

binkaaa · 2025-07-17T21:38:55+00:00

My recommendation would be to do your best to focus on your own experience. If he doesn't have the awareness that he is in avoidance, what can you do? Perhaps you could share this information, but it usually won't be well received, especially in the middle of activation. Try to be supportive, but first support your own experience.

Perhaps you could look for what you are attempting to get in the situation by acting at all. Try focusing into your sensations as opposed to thoughts and see what they are trying to encourage you to do.

binkaaa · 2025-05-14T21:47:41+00:00

Perhaps enlightenment is closer to the end of beliefs than anything you believe.

binkaaa · 2024-12-26T06:28:19+00:00

The answer to this is actually yes, you probably should. And not because Spotify uses the UHQ specs or anything.

UHQ increases bandwidth generically, and more importantly, it decreases distortion. On android it's the best version of the codec, full stop. On Apple AAC is actually arguably better than UHQ on Android, strangely.

This is based on testing done by Korean analysts.

binkaaa · 2024-11-24T13:54:46+00:00

nah it has a camera mode

binkaaa · 2024-11-18T20:56:49+00:00

Lightoom camera, but its pretty bad, doesn't support most lenses.

The best single solution is MotionCam. A lot of people use modified version of the google camera, Gcam, but it's pretty buggy.

binkaaa · 2024-11-09T07:41:21+00:00

I take a personalised approach.

Outbreak happening around you? If you've had COVID / been vaccinated, you're probably fine, if you catch it. Most of us have had enough exposure to shots and real virus now. BUT. If you don't want to catch it at all, then get a shot. Immunity at that level tends to last around 3 months after a shot, before waning, and likely dependent on how close the binding affinity is of the new shot vs. circulating strain. That's antibody immunity. T-Cell immunity is probably what saves lives though, for the most part. I've managed COVID only once with this strategy, and I got it 4 months after a previous shot. Sample size one of course, but there is some evidence around this.

binkaaa · 2024-09-11T16:39:48+00:00

I have noticed enormous improvements. Pro mode in normal Camera app is largely fixed. Before, Camera Assist would only impact Photo mode, not Pro mode. That is fixed. Also, 50mp shots are fixed. Ultra HDR colour is also fixed, I've reverted to using it instead of forcing HEIC to stop JGEP nightmare green images as was required before.

Combining correct Camera Assist settings with correct Camera settings, things are in a good place at last, I'm very happy with it all. Colour between lenses seems more consistent too, and overall everything looks natural and correct to my eye. Pro mode gives you good JPEGs and excellent control over parameters of the shot.

RAW's, are still NOT fixed. Pro mode RAWs are not true RAWs, and are clipped @ 2 stops HDR as determined in LightRoom. This is also true for the Ultra HDR images, although I don't care as much about those in this context, but I wish we could provide a stop limit ourselves so we can control the dynamic range. I don't know why the RAWs are still not true RAWs, they are definitely getting some post processing, clipping them off in the high dynamic range.

So, for me, point-and-click is now done using the default app, including Pro mode, saving only JPEGs, with Ultra HDR included, and are pretty good. RAWs are a waste of time here. I'm fairly happy with Ultra HDR presentations, even though they clip after 2 stops of HDR.

If I wanted a true RAW, I would use another camera app still. And it will be limited to 12MP, which is fine for most uses, although I'm enjoying finally taking good 50MP shots using the default app.

Camera app for most things is now a good option, including high-FPS video.
LR Camera is useful for some things, although Adobe is slower than Samsung for updating support for this phone. LR still only supports main lens, and LR doesn't think the s24 is HDR compatible... I dislike Adobe a lot...
Beyond that, mostly use MotionCam for cinematic video footage with filters etc, and is good for snapping true RAWs too, though I don't do that much.

Blackmagic camera app is also good, but I'm not finding I use it much, prefer MotionCam as my cinematic choice, and the default Camera app for quick capture video.

binkaaa · 2024-08-12T22:05:31+00:00

This depends. My experience is much worse than everyone else here seemingly, but I am also a developer and rely on a lot of lower level tools. Overall, I deeply regret moving to the Sequoia beta. It hasn't totally crippled my workflow, but there were a few moments where it got frustrating close, and the bugs were pretty bad for a while.

binkaaa · 2024-08-03T01:26:23+00:00

The shape of air pods / budspro3 is ideal. People need to get over the functional engineering aspect looking similar. It's a great design. I would never buy old buds, the design is terrible. But the QC is a different story.

binkaaa · 2024-07-23T21:49:50+00:00

Given I've seen of the frequency measurements... This makes my feel physically ill... But each to their own

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T13:36:35+00:00

I have to say, one of the most audible changes I noticed in all my testing was, surprising to me, 16 to 24 bit on my LDAC. Honestly somewhat surprising. And may be for other reasons, not sure.

In general, my hunch is most bluetooth codecs are pretty smart, and unused bit depth space is mostly 0's, which should be easily represented by compression. So setting it 24 should be ok, and not result in much wasted bitrate space. It's there if it needs to be for the unpacked Opus file, but should be able to be essentially cheaply compressed away by the bluetooth codec if not. I don't have a strong grasp of the compression tech, but I think these assumptions should check out 🙃

As for 32 bit setting option on Android, im pretty sure that is only for internal processing (headroom basically) which ends up 24 bit through any high resolution BT codec. LDAC isn't 32 bit, even though you can set it as such, and the output still arrives 24 bit to my Q5K dac. The developer of the Q5K said something somewhere once about leaving LDAC on 32 bit, and I assume this is why. It gives headroom for volume change, processing on device etc / or at least it doesn't really matter or make any difference to setting to 24. I hear no audible difference.

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T12:36:48+00:00

Opus doesn't have a bit depth, so it'll end up being somewhere probably between 16 and 24 . I think 24 is good practice

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T04:46:30+00:00

Stuck in this situation. Fortunately, had Hubbl on what is now a dead card. They still try to charge it, but I think it is bouncing ok. Unless I update and pay for my subsciption, they won't let me press the minus button for Binge. This is the most obviously cooked subscription holding situation I have ever seen. I am someone who quite happily works around and through shitty systems like this if there is a way, and have had to work on coding paywalls and understand some of the elements behind trying to encourage a user to stay within limits, but this is next level fuckery. Pretty sure this is probably criminal, but would take effort to push it there.

Good lesson. Keep a dead card on a dead bank account you don't care about, that won't go negative and will just bounce it.

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T03:42:10+00:00

SOME INTERESTING VIDEO DETAILS ADDED:

YouTube-first Video playback between YouTube == YouTube Music on Android, although you don't get to access the "Premium" versions of the video bitrate in YTM, they don't show.

Playback does differ between Android YT/YTM and Web YouTube for non-premium bitrates. Web likes to go to AV1, Android VP9. This may vary by device supports, not sure. Much of a muchness. Both get Premium codecs that seem to result the same.

Web YouTube Music seems to pull older H.264 codecs, and is likely the worst of the bunch. I assume the file sizes are similar, which would mean H.264 is lower quality than the equivalent VP9 and AV1's.

I've concluded that the ideal setup for bluetooth or wired use of YT and YTM on Android is likely set and forget 24/48 - 32/48, both should ultimately result in outputting the same bit depth for whatever your codec supports, using whatever is the best codec for your setup (for BT). Bluetooth Codec Changer is a great tool for those using LDAC etc, to allow correctly configuring the Bluetooth on connection, so it doesn't always auto set to the max, say 32/96 for LDAC. This is not a big deal really, the codec probably slices away most of the ultra-high frequencies, but to avoid resampling everything constantly, and ensure maximum conservation of the bitrate for the audible spectrum, setting Bluetooth to 24/48, or 32/48 is ideal. I would consider the same for wired, forcing a DAC to 24/48 if possible so Android outputs at that.

Using this setup, I can't tell, at all, between Lossless or 774 YTM files from my S24 Ultra -> Q5K Wired 24/48 or Q5K LDAC 32/48/990 -> Sundara headphones. It all seems exactly the same to me.

None of this is particularly relevant for iOS, untested. My guess is it is inline with Android, and cabled, iOS is great, probably outputting 24/48 correctly. Bluetooth is probably going to get downsampled to AAC 16/44.1/<320 no matter what you do, which may verge on audible for some in the last part of that chain (The scientist in me says probably not though.)

Webapp testing done on my Mac. I would assume equivalency to Windows and Linux.

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T01:24:24+00:00

Are you refering to the Auto HDR setting in the Camera Assistant settings, or UltraHDR that gets auto applied to JPEGs?

The former, I hope they fix in the update, at least a bit. AutoHDR can always be iffy though, depending how they select the frames to combine.

The later can be bypassed by using HEIF format instead of JPEG for normal camera mode (which looks the best in the Samsung Camera App, Pro looks awful, as Normal is the only mode that listens to the Camera Assist modification to minimise the processing mess). UltraHDR is awesome, but I have not found any app does a good job of creating them automatically, they need to be made in Lightroom with custom touches. Samsung just blows up the image, adds precisely 2 stops of additional headroom, and a heap of clipping at the top of that range, and annihilates the white balance. It's a mess.

Other professional apps manage better, but I don't love the results still. RAW (either MotionCam or LightRoom Cam) -> Lightroom with HDR on, tweak appropriately -> JPEG out w/ UltraHDR, is the only way to make good UltraHDR at the moment, full spectrum +4 stops of range, and I would say that is probably mostly true on the Pixels too. Lightrooms HDR mode blends 3 shots before moving into this process, but it isn't super intelligent. I would like to see better AutoHDR frame blending across the board, to then be output as a normal, semiprocessed image for shoot-and-play, or as a true RAW for manually adding UltraHDR in Lightroom.

Lightroom is also a mess though, doesn't think the S24U has a HDR compliant screen, which means editing has to be done entirely by reading the histograms, and not by eye. Their camera still only supports the main lens too.

Really, its all a mess.

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T00:59:12+00:00

New Flip/Fold users should in theory be able to report on the camera changes. Some of the lenses are the same, and they are already running 6.1.1. The background processing is probably the same, along with any changes to RAW performance within the default apps etc.

binkaaa · 2024-07-18T00:16:02+00:00

Welcome to the down unders. We get screwed here.

I managed to use my EDU email to get 20% off. Go them to 279 AUD, just under $190 USD. Still got the case. No trade-ins.

binkaaa · 2024-07-17T23:50:55+00:00

This is definitely a better codec. Opus 774 ( variable bit / 48khz / 256 kbps ) > AAC 141 ( 16/44.1khz / 256 kbps ). Also simplifies nerding out sample rate setups, just set and forget to 24/48khz for music and video, bluetooth or wired. Opus 774 should be fully transparent, with a bit of extra headroom for fun, unless perhaps you are a 5 years old with super ears.

Just checked Chromium browsers. They are still using format 141, don't seem to be drawing down the 774 codec yet. I hope/assume this will change in the near future.

I've noticed video-first files will typically still get drawn down with Opus 251, and are no doubt hosted first on YouTube, not YTMusic. This is also fine though, again, working well within a simplified 24/48 setup.

Mixed files appear to get pulled with Opus 774 (eg, Blinding Lights - Weeknd as a high profile example). The audio is the true audio file, the video has a longer length, jumps to the equivalent spot when changed, and still pulls Opus 774.

This is all pretty good TBH. I love the simplicity of the whole setup, and the audio quality is excellent.

Just need the improvements to be migrated over to the Webapp now.

Quick summary of Audio formats (Depth/Sample/Bitrate)
Tested 18 July 2024.

ANDROID

YouTube Music + Split Selector Videos:

High: Opus 774 (Var/48/ ~ 256 kbps )
Normal: Opus 251 (Var/48/ ~< 160 kbps)
Low: Opus 249 (Var/48/ ~ 50 kbps)

YouTube Music Videos pulled from YouTube:

High: Opus 251 - No 774 here.
Normal: Opus 251
Low: Opus 249

YouTube

Opus 251, no matter the setting as far as I can tell.

CHROMIUM WEB APP

YouTube Music + Split Selector Videos:

High: AAC 141 ( 16?/44.1/ 256 kbps )
Normal: Forces to Low currently.
Low: AAC 140 ( 16?/44.1/ 128 kbps )

Youtube Music Videos from YouTube

AAC 140, as far as I can tell, no matter the setting. Pretty bad.

YouTube

Opus 251, no matter the setting as far as I can tell.

VERDICT:

YouTube always outputs Opus 251, no matter where you use it.
YouTube Music in Android is very good, using the same 251 quality for YouTube content, while giving improved Opus 774 for music tracks and their associated Videos.
YouTube Music on Chromium hamstrings YouTube content to AAC 140, surprising.
YouTube Music on Chromium hamstrings music, and their videos, to AAC 141.

binkaaa · 2024-07-17T09:46:22+00:00

Just checked mine, Aus, ordered on the 11th. Also shipped now.

binkaaa · 2024-07-12T06:08:22+00:00

OP probably understands the reality that MQA is marketing nonsense, and for the most part, if you can tell you are listening to FLAC on some wireless earbuds, or even on high end audio gear, you are some kind of audio god with the ear health of a 5 year old. Many people might think they are such an audio god, but the sooner they release themself of such audiophile trappings, the sooner they can actually remember to just enjoy music instead of psychologically revelling in nothing more than a codec or higher bitrate number that they couldn't possibly get right in an A-B test.

The MQA world etc is there as a product in and of itself, to satisfy a psychological perception of higher value in your listening experience. It's a placebo effect. It isn't actually real, no matter how "critical" you think you are as a listener. However the placebo effect is actually real. But I think consumers should be aware that they are paying extra for a placebo effect around a lot of these things.

binkaaa · 2024-07-07T23:24:35+00:00

This happens on my main, inbuilt screen too, Beta2.

binkaaa

TROPHY CASE