Audiophiles - TrueHD audio or Subby?

[vifferman]

Contrary to what EVERYONE has said here......go listen to some stuff to get a perspective.
It took me 2 years to find the computer speakers that sounded 'good' to me (concluded on ATP3's).
My recommendation is pretty simple - walk into a store and say.
"I want a surround sound setup for my PS3" and buy the best sounding 1.

Trouble is, apparently you can't trust your ears. That's why people buy ridiculously expensive cables and other shit they don't really need.
The other trouble is, unless you can test a system in your own home, listening to or watching stuff you're intimately familiar with, you don't have a good benchmark to work from.

The best you can do really is do a bit of research to narrow the field down a bit, then go out and buy the setup that sounds the best of those that's on offer. Ignore much of the technical audiophile waffle the salesperson tries to baffle you with, and use your ears. Take some of your own media with you.

What you end up with will doubtless be slightly more expensive than you can really afford, but in the long term it will be worthwhile.

Heh.... LIke I can talk.
I went out just to windowshop for a pair of speakers, then came home with five (5!!) AND a subwoofer AND a 115w/channel receiver.
No prior research done (coz I wasn't actually intending to buy anything), no shopping around, and only a rudimentary comparison done.
Having said that, I'm very happy with the setup, but wish I'd spent more and got the next receiver up, and a bigger subwoofer (= more grunt to ramp up explosions and the like).

[Tank]

Trouble is, apparently you can't trust your ears. That's why people buy ridiculously expensive cables and other shit they don't really need.

I disagree on the cables. Whilst there are deminishing returns on the quality (as there is will all audio equipment) - decent cable does make a huge difference.

[vifferman]

I disagree on the cables. Whilst there are deminishing returns on the quality (as there is will all audio equipment) - decent cable does make a huge difference.

Yes, but not to the degree that some people would have the gullible believe. Sure, if you're talking about say, cheap 1.5mm twin-core cable and spring'clamp connectors compared with decent 4mm low-O2 cable with decent screw connectors, but most of it is just wank factor. It's all about electrons, innit? As long as they're not hindered by excessive resistance due to galvanic corrosion or a small cross-sectional profile or tiny contact area at either end, they'll get through.

It's like I keep saying to #2Son: it doesn't matter if the setup isn't perfect, as there are other factors that come into play, such as the fact that few of use have the ideal home theatre environment, or a squeaky-clean home power supply, or 100% unblemished ears, or even a decent 20+-bit soundtrack! There are so many compromises made along the way that cable costing a zillion dollars a metre isn't going to magically fix the resultant signal that gets through to your brain.

[Headbanger]

Personally I can't hear the difference in regards to cables, When I went from RCA to a dirt cheap optical cable from DSE the change in quality was 100 percent noticeable, when I then substituted in a cable that cost more then my amp there was no discernable difference, at least to me.

And being digital, I'm happy to believe that the exact same data is being sent and received over both.....

[Blackshear]

Personally I can't hear the difference in regards to cables, When I went from RCA to a dirt cheap optical cable from DSE the change in quality was 100 percent noticeable, when I then substituted in a cable that cost more then my amp there was no discernable difference, at least to me.

And being digital, I'm happy to believe that the exact same data is being sent and received over both.....

http://www.pearcable.com/sub_products_anjou_sc.htm
Did you buy a length of these?

[Headbanger]

God damn.

But no, I bought my speaker wire at DSE as well, Though I did shell out the extra $12 for the quality gear......

[bungbung]

Did you see the "review" of the Pear cables?

"..In extended listening sessions, I found the cables' greatest strength to be its PRAT."

Why am I not suprised?

By all means as Vifferman said, effective speaker cables and connections. But lets not get stupid

[CookMySock]

Jeez, forget all the bullshit and go buy a meaty sub, and play the fucker loud FFS. Get pissed and have a party while you are at it, and everyone will go "woah mean mutherfucken sub maaaaaaaan" while you turn it up and smash some windows with it. Forget the faggot overpriced fucking rapunzel speaker wiring, its a rip off.

As u were.

Steve

[Skyryder]

Fuck I hate subs.

Try the Tereyaki Chcken.

Skyryder

[jim.cox]

Forget the faggot overpriced fucking rapunzel speaker wiring, its a rip off.

Good wiring DOES make a difference - but you can pay way too much for flash stuff.

As a general rule go for the largest diamter conductor you can find

Domestic house cable (the 240volt sort) works really well

[Ferkletastic]

Audiophiles are a funny lot. I'm a sound engineer and regularly get regailed with tales of amazing cables and multi-squillion dollar set ups to get that perfect 'warm' sound. It's 95% bullshit, any (decent) cable will do, there is NEVER a need for multi hundred or thousand dollar cables for a home set up. Seriously, no need.

People say they sound better because they desparately want to believe they do. I have trained ears (tonnes of studio and live work and also 3 + years of regular ear training exercises and can honestly say that there is no increase in quality above standard decent quality cables in home set up. Spend the money on your amp and monitors and the rest on setting up your room acoustically. All the super amazing cables in the world won't help if you have a room that's messing up your frequecy response, especially in the bass frequencies.

I agree that modern mastering techniques have compressed the life out of a lot of modern recordings, googling the 'loudness wars" for more info.

As for gear, like has been said, go to a store listen to heaps of speakers, trust your own ears and don't get sucked in by hype.

[bastardsquad]

My major life issue is that Blu-Ray has proper "master" sound, and I can't take advantage of it without streaming PCM or the high def signal both of which require HDMi audio. Woe is me.



WTF yo self!? My floorstanders go down to 32Hz. Your sub must be a cardboard fridge box with a glad-wrap tube periscope.....

Is that a -3dB 30 Hz or an 'overall frequency response' low of 30Hz ? If it's the -3dB i'm impressed ! What are they? I have Polk RTi12's with a 30hz -3dB and theyre fairly meaty. I still Use a Velodyne 10" sub though !

[CookMySock]

Domestic house cable (the 240volt sort) works really well

Actually this is a good way to get a cheap 4mm CSA wire. Buy a long extension 1.5mm CSA extension cord and chop BOTH plugs off, cut in half, strip and twist the three wires together, and you have a FAT 4mm twin cable for about $15. It looks the part too - beeeeg!

PLEASE don't leave the three pin plug on one end. Cut it off and throw it out before someone tries to USE it for something useful and electroluxes themselves.

Steve

[Usarka]

and the rest on setting up your room acoustically. All the super amazing cables in the world won't help if you have a room that's messing up your frequecy response, especially in the bass frequencies.

........

and don't get sucked in by hype.

That setting up room acoustically thing is something i'm interetested in learning more about. Any tips apart from the usual measurements of speakers and obstacles? Kind of limited in current place, but makes new home shopping just that much harder. doh.

And yes - some writers I know are damn devils. For them I say don't believe the hype.

[vindy500]

lols at the people who say audiophile, and then follow up with wharfedale, sony....