aleph

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Oregon’s governor signs right-to-repair law that bans “parts pairing”

It's funny that this article doesn't mention the one company that pretty much single handedly created the need for this legislation in the first place.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

Lol, I'm not saying that brickwalling the mix to achieve a certain effect isn't a thing, but at the extreme levels of compression and clipping apparent on that track, it's unlikely that a FLAC would sound even remotely different. Apparently the band agreed - in 2020 they issued a remaster which seems noticeably less crushed:

Dynamic range comparison screenshot

Incidentally, I saw Sunn O))) live once. I can still feel my bowels shake.

aleph , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

Killer samples do happen, sure but vorbis at Q9? I'm highly dubious. That track in particular just sounds badly recorded to begin with. If you have that same version in FLAC i would be interested to see some ABX test results or test it myself.

For archival purposes, though, I agree FLAC is the way to go.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

Seriously? Fucking hell, that's depressing.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

Yup, although that doesn't stop some weirdos out there claiming that CDs sound better than FLAC.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

Don't forget digital music stores like Qobuz and www.bandcamp.com.

Artists get more money when you buy their music outright instead of stream it.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

This is correct, although it's not the bass that is limited on vinyl; it's the dynamic range compression (or 'loudness') in general.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running

This. People assume that because it's "compressed" it must sound flatter, less dynamic, or just vaguely worse than uncompressed audio, despite the fact that audio compression specifically uses psychoacoustic models to remove the bits of data that our human ears and brains cannot hear to begin with.

Expectation bias is a helluva drug.

aleph , 3 months ago to Free and Open Source Software in Floorp, a Firefox Fork with an awful name, has moved some components inside a private submodule.

Nah they got it right the first time.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in United States v. Apple is pure nerd rage

Here's the full complaint, for those who want to read the whole thing.

aleph , 3 months ago to Interesting Global News in Gaza medics say that Israeli troops beat and humiliated them after hospital raid

It seems like Israel don't just take their military equipment from the U.S. but also their treatment of non-combatants. Abu Ghraib, anyone?

aleph , 3 months ago to Fediverse in I am extremely grateful to everybody involved with Lemmy. That includes you!

Agreed, and additional thanks to you, @sunaurus, for all your ongoing contributions to the project and for being such a good instance admin as well.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Tidal’s subscription is getting simpler and cheaper — yes, you read that right

Presumably it was using an older/outdated codec then. With modern encoders, especially with codecs like Opus, Ogg, and Apple's AAC, the vast majority of listeners find 128kbps to be transparent, and certainly nowhere near night-and-day when compared to lossless.

Check out the results of this public listening test here:

https://listening-test.coresv.net/results.htm

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Tidal’s subscription is getting simpler and cheaper — yes, you read that right

As a recovering audiophile, I can safely say the hobby is heavily based around FOMO (the nagging doubt that something, somewhere, in your audio chain is causing a loss of audio quality), and digital audio is no exception. Not only is 320kbps more than enough, even with $1000s worth of equipment, but with codecs more efficient than MP3 (especially Opus), even 128kbps can be good enough to sound identical to lossless.

If you have plenty of local storage then 16-bit FLAC is ideal, but if you are just streaming then you really don't need a lossless service except to keep the FOMO at bay.

aleph , 3 months ago to Technology in Tidal’s subscription is getting simpler and cheaper — yes, you read that right

Have you ever done an actual double blind listening test? You'd be surprised. Even with good listening equipment it can be very challenging.

Have a go on the 128 kbps AAC test on this page and see how you do:

https://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify.html