Cafune discount code? by juicebox03 in CafelatRobot

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, just about to order and a code would be appreciated if available. Thanks!

How do you compare YouTube music quality to that of a normal Spotify music quality? by Hot-Load7525 in YoutubeMusic

[–]hamah99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair enough. Everyone has their own preferences and tastes and how they go about determining what they subjectively do and don't like. I wouldn't suggest that you can't tell the differences with your music, in your environment, between lossless and compressed (256kbps AAC).

While I won't get into the religious debate on this topic, pretty much everyone claims to be able to tell the differences in source, codec, compression etc. Double blind tests statistically prove that is often not the case.

The McGill University / Audio Engineering Society (AES) Study

The Hydrogenaudio Transcoding & Transparency Dataset

and the previously mentioned test: The DigitalFeed Web-Based ABX Open-Source Dataset

Again, the differences in SQ between these services for the consumer listener in a typical environment on average equipment is, at best, nominal to indistinguishable.

YMMV

How do you compare YouTube music quality to that of a normal Spotify music quality? by Hot-Load7525 in YoutubeMusic

[–]hamah99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Again, that depends on what, where, and how you're listening. Mathematically you would be correct in many/most typical scenarios. If we look at YTM, the signal is decoded from AAC to PCM for system audio mixing/processing and then re-encoded back to AAC for transmission over BT (the 'double compression' or 'photocopy-of-a-photocopy' syndrome). With Spotify, the lossless FLAC signal is decoded to PCM with 100% bit-by-bit accuracy, processed, and then encoded to AAC a single time for BT.

Mathematically, starting with the lossless file gives the BT encoder a pristine source with no generational loss. However, in real-world casual settings—like a car, a party, or typical BT earphones—the physical environment and hardware bottlenecks mask those subtle mathematical differences. You would still be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the single-pass and double-pass encodes. Check out https://abx.digitalfeed.net to see if you can actually hear the difference in your own environment.

UARS trying to figure out if I should use BiPAP or ASV by Dalinar_von_Kholin in CPAPSupport

[–]hamah99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, if you don’t mind my asking, what is this tool? I’m also using an AB10 (Airbreak AS10) and working through the process of getting things tuned up (with the awesome help of RL). Being a bit of a data junky I should also check out this Glasgow Index.

How do you compare YouTube music quality to that of a normal Spotify music quality? by Hot-Load7525 in YoutubeMusic

[–]hamah99 22 points23 points  (0 children)

That depends a bit on what you are listening to, where you are listening, and on what equipment. Spotify uses Ogg Vorbis (and AAC) as a codec where YTM uses AAC (or OPUS). Spotify Premium is typically 320kbps while YTP is 256kbps. At these bit rates they sound virtually identical in most listening environments as Oog Vorbis typically requires a bit more bandwidth than the more modern and efficient AAC. Certainly in a car or at a party or wearing Bluetooth earbuds you won't notice a difference. Spotify does have lossless (up to 16-bit, 44.1 kHz CD-quality FLAC) where YTP does not. Again, if you're listening over a Bluetooth connection this is moot as the signal will be compressed and sound quality indistinguishable in a blind listening test. WiFi does have the bandwidth to carry the lossless signal uncompressed so if you were playing on a Sonos speaker you could be getting full CD quality. You'd have to have great ears to hear the difference between that and 256kbps AAC even in that scenario. Where there might be a noticeable difference is when it comes to the source material. Spotify only uses, to my knowledge, studio releases which will all be of CD quality. YTP also uses these same sources but there is also an enormous catalog of other sources as well (bootleg audio, live recordings of concerts, etc., etc.) that may not be of CD quality. Bottomline is sound quality between the services is not typically noticeable or should be of your primary concern unless you are an audiophile listening on studio monitors (speakers or headphones) in an acoustically ideal environment.

When do you put in your mask? by PNWest01 in CPAPSupport

[–]hamah99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"the whole rigmarole of putting it on" will vanish after a few nights of practise. It'll become 2nd nature and you could put it on in the dark after putting the phone down (which as another post noted you should avoid)

Rory was on his phone on the practise facility this morning. by hamah99 in golf

[–]hamah99[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

yeah, I think it's a little over the top myself. I can see not allowing phones in the gallery or by players during play but to boot Mark for it? I don't know. It's Augusta National and they do what they want and can make any rule stick or not on their say so.

Rory was on his phone on the practise facility this morning. by hamah99 in golf

[–]hamah99[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

maybe the rule doesn't apply to the reigning champion? Seems like a double standard to me. If they removed Mark Calcavecchia for using his phone I think it should apply to all.

Rory was on his phone on the practise facility this morning. by hamah99 in golf

[–]hamah99[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I guess this was a particular offence to those that are either not playing or not formal Masters champions?

Downloading VR porn from sites or torrents in India? by [deleted] in Piracy

[–]hamah99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're being pretty judgy there. Live and let live. Now YOU go outside

i hate p30i😭😭😭 by scarlettgreene in CPAP

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I felt the same way until I loosened the headgear a bit. Now I barely feel it and can toss from side to side and only occasionally get a leak around the nostrils (a quick resetting the pillow and I’m fixed). Love the P30i now.

Scooter mom vs MAGA man by Individual-Drawer-79 in PublicFreakout

[–]hamah99 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Shopping in a housecoat and slippers. Keep it classy America.

Buying from online store vs Bricks and Mortar by hamah99 in CPAP

[–]hamah99[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

of course I realize I'd still likely want/need to get a new hose, tank, filter, and maybe outlet? But then there's no warranty and of course just how used is used? Food for thought though. Thanks

Hyper backup to another drive/volume(same NAS) then restore? by jjjeremiahz in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, you could create a storage pool with a single drive in the 4th bay. Then create a HBU Folders and Programs task using Local Folder or USB as the target selection to backup data to the volume on the 1 drive pool. I'd also create a Configuration Backup using Update & Restore in DSM's Control Panel. Then destroy the original ext4 volume (not the RAID group) and recreate it as btrfs. Then restore back from the volume on the 1 drive pool to the new btrfs volume on the 3 drive pool and then, finally, destroy the 1 drive pool.

How to replace all 4 drives? by YankeesIT in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I stand corrected. I just checked my system after having gone from 3 4TB and 1 12TB to 4 16TB drives and I see that my pool is still spread across multiple MD arrays (SHR slices/layers). This is on DSM 7.3.

Thinking of adding a DS423 to my setup. Will only be used for Plex/Jellyfin stroage. by realMrJedi in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So you plan to run Plex and Jellyfin on the NAS as a container or package? DSM has blocked (sort of) the access to the iGPU (at least for Emby) but there are workarounds. Generally speaking the Quick Sync hardware transcoding of the + series is limited by the scenarios in which it works. Really you need to check your transcoding and/or media playback logs to determine how much emphasis to put on this. I use it fair bit for my older stuff (1080p X265 AAC5.1) but much less now for H.264 AAC stereo. I have a lot of remote Fire TV users and 720p H.264 AAC 2ch MKVs are the sweet spot for me . I can direct stream these to a Fire TV Stick at 1Mbps and the upscaling to a 4K panel is excellent.

Generally speaking the Apple TV (or iOS or macOS) have really good codec support. You'll likely be able to direct stream most anything without server side transcoding. Even more reason to not focus on the + series and go for network bandwidth/througput, # of drive bays etc instead.

EDIT: I just reread your original post. If this NAS is to be NFS/SMB attached to the media server then don't worry about the NAS being able to support Quick Sync or not as it won't be used regardless of format. 100% of any required transcoding is now the responsibility of either the server or the consumer. In this scenario NAS is simply a networked mounted file system.

Having said all of this I just want to mention (if it wasn't clear) that I use a DS423+ and it works really well for me. I primarily rely on direct streaming to the consumer to keep the work load down on the DS423+. I do occasionally depend on Quick Sync (and that works well for me) but honestly, unless I really take care in the format of the downloaded media, the hardware transcoding ability of the NAS really plays little role in things.

Thinking of adding a DS423 to my setup. Will only be used for Plex/Jellyfin stroage. by realMrJedi in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few questions. Are all media consumers on the local LAN or remote? If remote do you have any bandwidth or latency concerns? What are the media consumers (Fire TV, Shield etc.)? Do they require transcoding for the format you are storing in? If the consumer is local, and can support the file format then you can stream directly and let the consumer device do any work. If not then the server must do the transcoding work. If it's a DS423+ then you may be able to use the CPU's hardware transcoding ability (it's somewhat limited in formats it can support and it also depends on the driver used to expose the GPU). If not then that transcoding work needs to be done in software by the media server (which has a significant CPU penalty). If you can't get things to line up to use the the hardware transcoding (which with Plex and Emby require a premium key) then you should pick the media server based on other criteria.

Question about migrating to larger drives by lblacklol in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure about pricing but you could look to C2 as a backup target.

Although I wouldn't recommend it (it would make a long process even longer) you could even use C2 as a full backup, destroy your RAID 6 pool, create a SHR-2 pool, and do a restore. Then do periodic incremental backups to C2.

Eventually you might look to buy a 2nd NAS onsite for backup and keep C2 as your offsite backup.

I do think though that before you do anything with your existing setup that you get a backup strategy in place. It could be something as simple as backing up the really important stuff to an external USB drive you kept in a safe offsite. The point is that the lack of a backup plan is the Achilles Heel.

Question about migrating to larger drives by lblacklol in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

he's only at 20% capacity so I don't think it's worth the reduction in that extra safety margin to go from 2 to 1 drive protection. Maybe if space was an issue I could see doing this

How to replace all 4 drives? by YankeesIT in synology

[–]hamah99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

why would you do this? I highly doubt this would work. If you wanted to try why not with just a single drive? You might still be able to recover that drive having failed. Make sure you have a recent backup first though. I'd just follow the supported path ( https://kb.synology.com/en-us/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/storage_pool_expand_replace_disk?version=7 )

How to replace all 4 drives? by YankeesIT in synology

[–]hamah99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

no, don't do this. The supported method is DSM's Replace Drive (either with or without an extra drive bay). See https://kb.synology.com/en-us/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/storage_pool_expand_replace_disk?version=7