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Other Hi-fi and AV junkies anonymous

Discussion in 'General' started by Mister_Tad, 16 Jun 2020.

  1. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Yes, no and depends.

    Yes: The Shield is one of the very few ways to play back full-fat HD audio tracks from Plex.
    Yes: You get a lot more than just streaming apps on the Shield, e.g. gaming if that's of interest
    Yes: The upscaling on the Shield Pro is nothing short of remarkable for 1080p (or lower) content.

    No: You probably don't have many files with HD audio tracks (e.g. Atmos, DTS-X) anyway.
    No: Even if you did, you may not particularly notice.

    Depends: There was a time that Dolby Vision was a bit bothersome to get working properly on the Shield - so as far as streaming services go, YMMV.
    Depends: Another remote, another device - pros and cons.
    Depends: A separate device means you're not relying on eARC, which is only mostly reliable these days

    For what its worth, I use a Shield for Plex and Plex alone, an ATV for streaming apps and don't use any onboard apps.
     
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  2. Weekly_Estimate

    Weekly_Estimate Random bird noises.

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    Thanks for the breakdown that's perfect ty!
     
  3. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    Curious: Which generation of Apple TV? I have a Gen1 Apple TV 4K and I did find that it struggled with some of the content on my Plex box - I assumed that the bitrate was just too high for it, as it played perfectly on my Nvidia Shield TV.
     
  4. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    I have the same - I've not had issues with mega-bitrate content on it though, so long as it was direct streaming.

    Could be a configuration flag on the ATV that means the server is trying to transcode? A second guess would be something about the video encoding that the ATV doesn't like (and again triggering a transcode), but I would have thought the Plex client is relatively consistent across platforms, in theory.
     
  5. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    How well do Shield's respond to CEC? I guess ol' Tad there won't know, what with the fancy schmancy system, but.

    I don't have many problems with Plex direct on the TV, but I have noticed the audio selection is spotty, and I can only assume that's because the audio track information isn't being delivered correctly to the AV receiver
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2022
  6. Weekly_Estimate

    Weekly_Estimate Random bird noises.

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    Went and bought the ATV and I’m wondering why I haven’t done this before, love how it all ties in with the phone and Apple Watch, the things on Plex which were buffering before seem to be working fine and it’s incredibly snappy, rather pleased :)
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2022
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  7. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Got a shiny new pair of Edifier powered speakers to replace my 1990s Labtecs on the desktop... and they appear to have broken already.

    I was listening to something bass-heavy, when suddenly the left-hand speaker started making a sort of... half-farting, half-paper-tearing noise. Happens every time I see the speaker bounce on the bass. Right-hand one's fine.

    Am I right in thinking that's a "straight back to the shop" fault, there? I've only had the things a few hours, and it's not like I was listening at a crazy volume!
     
  8. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    I reckon so, must be a fault there.
     
  9. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    And back to Amazon they go. Think I'll pick something else this time!

    EDIT:
    That'd be a lot easier if they didn't all seem to be Edifiers at this price point...
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2022
  10. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Copy 'n' paste from the Purchases thread:

    New speakers get... again. Edifier R1700BTs, this time.

    So, won't know until I've used 'em for a while whether they're just going to die on me like the last lot... but so far they're making noises like you'd expect.

    No wonder the last pair died, though: Edifier's build quality is atrocious. Both sets came with excess glue visible, these have a small scratch on the back, and the treble adjustment knob has been attached at a slight angle so the zero detent doesn't line up with the label nor the bass knob below. Weaksauce.

    Compared to the last pair: more convincing wood effect vinyl finish to the MDF sides, with grain you can feel; much better remote control; visible power LED at the front, rather than the side; so far the left speaker hasn't died.

    I connected 'em to my old Labtec subwoofer and played a track... nearly blew the windows out. Turns out the Labtec is maybe a little more sensitive or more strongly amplified than what Edifier was expecting. Sounds good with the bass knob turned down, though...

    ...which basically turns the Edifiers into glorified satellite tweeters. Stick your finger in the bass hole (oo-err missus) and there's no puffs of air; turn the subwoofer off and things get super anaemic. Like, zero bass at all.

    So, partial success: with the subwoofer on, things sound great. However, I could probably have bought a cheaper Creative/Logitech/Trust (even) 2.1 set and had the same audio quality with less lost desk space. Ah, well, I'm done faffing around now: I'll stick with what I've got now - at least until the Labtec subwoofer dies, but hopefully now it's not also powering a pair of triple-speaker satellites it'll have an easy life.

    EDIT:
    Ah, the anaemic bass is by design: there's a note in the manual (which I didn't bother to read until I wanted to find out what the weird-symbol "ON" and "OFF" buttons did on the remote) saying that if it detects a sub connected it dials down the bass in the speakers themselves. Which is fair enough, I guess - and it clearly can't tell if the sub is powered or not, which is why it sounds so poor with it off.

    Oh, and the buttons are for "sound field extension," which appears to be a binary version of the analogue "3D" knob my old Labtecs had.

    EDIT:
    Ooh, aptX HD. I thought it was just aptX. Gave it a quick go on my phone, as far as I can tell based on a bouncing-ball test video there's zero noticeable latency. Dunno how often I'll be connecting 'em to my phone, but that's a bonus: the last pair were just bog-standard SBC.
     
    Last edited: 14 Aug 2022
  11. legoman

    legoman breaker of things

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    Update, amps are now in an live, had some shenanigans crimping the 4AWG andersons, turns out a screw laid over them an zip up wit ha vise is the best way bar the proper tools.

    Some faffing due to annoying connectors, turns out female ones are solder only, that was after I tried crimping connectors to them. I had some spare male screw in ones so grabbed some female to female connectors. ugly, long but works.

    Despite my best efforts I have alternator noise via the speakers, spent the morning tracing it back through the system power an earth have zero issues solid continuity etc all the way down, same goes for the RCAs and speaker wire. Culprit being the headunit itself Theres a poor grounding within the actual device somewhere.
    To sort that I'm going two ways, first some ground loop isolators at the amplifier end as I know theres no noise there, if that doesnt work then I'll add a noise supressor to the power an earth for the headunit
     
  12. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    I feel like I should, at some point, see what these speakers sound like without the subwoofer, 'cos...

    upload_2022-8-15_16-10-29.png

    I've literally had to fire up an equaliser to make the bass less heavy. There's no more adjustment left in the speaker itself!

    To be fair, I am sat close enough to rest my feet on the thing... but then again, the subwoofer was originally sold for use with a PC speaker, so it shouldn't need to be on the other side of the room...

    EDIT:
    I'm guessing the problem is that "real" subwoofers have their own volume control, whereas the one I've salvaged from my old Labtecs does not.

    Et voila:

    upload_2022-8-15_16-55-2.png

    An inline volume control. I mean, it's designed for headphones - but it's just a pot wired in a 3.5mm cable, right? Put that behind the speakers in the sub-out jack, dial it down until the subwoofer sounds a little less aggressive. Solved problem, and I don't need to sit fiddling with a bunch of virtual sliders in the EQ. Job dun.

    EDIT EDIT:
    The inline pots arrived... and work perfectly. Stuck one on the sub-out cable, dialled it right down, fired up a song, and turned it up until I was happy. Now I've got meaty sound without the bass drowning everything out like it was doing before.

    Got there in the end!
     
    Last edited: 16 Aug 2022
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  13. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Question: Has anyone side/downgraded from an esoteric sort of headphone or earbud setup to a more pedestrian "consumer electronics" setup and have a story to tell?

    Context: I have a Mojo and SE846 at the moment which was partly the result of doing a shedload of air travel for a while and partly the result of being a little impulsive and going deeper down the rabbit hole than I really needed to. I barely use the SE846 now, and almost never use the Mojo. A downgrade of my main hifi has me thinking that on a similar vein, maybe something like AirPod Pros are plenty good enough and have a whole bunch of QoL benefits to boot.
     
  14. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    I've got at least 20 pairs of headphones & regularly swap around depending on my needs.

    Airpod Pro's work well if you're already in the ecosystem. ANC is good, they've got bass, they sound more than fine for use on the move.
    I'll use mine usually when I want to travel light.
     
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  15. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    Now that is a niche genre.

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Excellent insight, thank you.

    Reviews are generally positive, but then the sorts of people/places that review airpods are generally different to the ones that review "hifi"... and also the fact that every review seems to be so laden with hyperbole these days anyway makes to difficult to really get a gauge.

    "Good enough and very convenient" is what I'd be going for and sounds like they will be just the ticket.
     
  17. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

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    Oi, no GIFs of people beating meat, folk have had the banhammer for less!
     
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  18. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Do we need a ‘Meat Beaters Anonymous’ thread?
     
  19. spolsh

    spolsh Multimodder

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    No, no we don't.
     
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  20. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    /suddenly regretting choice of gif :worried:
     
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