I was amazed at how good the headphones that came with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 are, as well as the quality of the output of the phone.
I doubt that they use more than 12bit dacs anyway.
SoAnIs from hydrogenaudio also gives an interesting perspective on the 24-bit thingy.
I did some digging and it looks like the Bold 9000 uses the Texas Instruments TLV320AIC3106 stereo audio DAC rated at 102 dBa S/N, 16,20,24,32-bit data, and 8 kHz - 96 kHz sample rates. I don't pretend to know if the Bold actually outputs at the full capability of the chip, but why bother using such a chip if you're not going to make the features available?
There is no doubt in my mind that 24-bit and higher is better than anything analog, but I guess I'm old enough that someone will have to prove to me that CD's can be better than reel-to-reel. I'll also add that there is simply no comparison between reel-to-reel and vinyl. Have you ever listened to a good quality reel-to-reel? One roughly the size of a 24" CRT (ca. 1995)? They really do sound quite good,not that I'd ever buy one.
Okay, I'll buy that. Good thing I made FLAC backups of all my CDs, which I actually only finally did in the last year or so. Can't speak highly enough of EAC - it encoded songs that wouldn't play on even a computer CD-ROM anymore with very few audible artifacts.
The CD player used was a Tascam CD-301, probably the best CD player at the time for under $2000, but I don't know how that compares to more modern players. I recall that we carefully adjusted the gain on the mixer and used a studio quality mixer with ample headroom (probably a Mackie or Studiomaster). The sound that we preferred was a smoothness, and that's about the best we could describe it. We freely admitted that it could have been an EQ effect, similar to tube amp purists, but it didn't seem that way - the CD just had a harshness which, after hearing it well, we began noticing on samplers. Keep in mind we went into the test thinking we would prefer the CD - we were 19 year-olds who thought tape was an obsolete/budget product (excluding ultra-high end studio stuff).
I've always considered Apple products overpriced. I'm assuming your use of the term 'headphones' means you're using actual over-the-ear types, not just earbuds, as I had incorrectly referred to what came with my phone. My Bold drives my MDR-7506's well enough that I find max volume uncomfortably loud on an airplane. Maybe part of Apple's success is not putting money into things most people don't notice.
The last CD I considered purchasing was Coldplay's Viva La Vida. It was $29.98 at my local Target. I did not purchase that album. You may well be correct, as I could definitely hear a difference in the remastered Pink Floyd CDs, and I'm quite certain it wasn't the gold reflective material.
Years ago I worked at a very large music mail-order company and had a field day going through and testing all the stuff. Among the biggest lessons I learned was that CD is not the end-all be-all of music formats that I thought it was. My friend and I would run blind tests using an album we were both very familiar with (Yes 90125) and we could actually tell the difference and preferred reel-to-reel over CD. However, the only way to really tell was to wear headphones. Granted, we were wearing the industry standard Sony MDR-7506 headphones, but still, we could hear a difference. When we tested using studio monitors we slightly leaned towards the reel-to-reel, but it was not as clear cut.
Depending on what you're getting, many headphones and mobile players actually offer very good fidelity. I was amazed at how good the headphones that came with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 are, as well as the quality of the output of the phone. I don't own a dedicated portable music player, but it's hard for me to imagine that companies like Apple would use poor quality amps.
On a side note, I was really disappointed that the higher fidelity optical discs didn't take off. Sometimes I wonder if the music industry had gone out and brainwashed everyone that the higher fidelity was way better, then maybe people would have been less enthused about pirated 128 kbps mp3s. I know I never much cared for VHS recordings of DVDs.
My opinion is that China is the most visible country growing because of it's size. What is more significant is the growth in the trade deficit the U.S. is experiencing. This is happening with China and elsewhere because U.S. workers are over-qualified. We have people performing jobs that used to be done by (legal) immigrants but are now done by people fully educated at least through high school. While this may sound like not much education to most in the U.S., it is much higher than most people in the world. So when you can have someone from a background of abject poverty or subsistence farming, who cannot read or write, perform a job, that person is going to have much a much lower pay rate. The Americans and others lose because the positions they should be holding are supervisory, administrative, sales, QA, etc., for those with diplomas, and we should have a regular stream of (legal) immigrants to perform the production line work. Our system is completely out of whack with reality, and this has contributed significantly to the transfer of our wealth to other nations.
And, having worked with the Chinese for the last 5 years, I can tell you most of the factories over there are not successful because of innovation or even IP theft. They just have labor available to make stuff at a cheaper rate.
The number one issue for reduced innovation is all of the regulations. When companies spend billions on accountants and lawyers practicing non-market strategies, they have less money to spend and care less about innovation.
Do you happen to know what battery comes stock on the vehicles using start-stop? A pure lead battery could handle the load, but those are usually 2-3 times the price of a lead alloy battery. And of course something like LiFePO4 would do really well in the application.
A deep cycle battery is not a good cranking battery. There are three types of chemistries for lead acid:
Motive Power - this chemistry is most effective at providing enormous amounts of current for very short periods of time, say up to 60 seconds, but usually less than 30. The most common application is starting piston engines. It is generally intended to be drained to not less than 80% of capacity before being recharged.
Power Supply - this chemistry is designed to provide small amounts of current for long periods of time, say 15 minutes to many hours, and be drained all the way down before being recharged.
Standby - this chemistry is used for UPS type applications. It has a low cycle life but can last longer than UPS batteries when not in use, so it is more likely to be available when needed while reducing replacement costs.
The primary cause of the differences is that to economically produce a battery the lead must be an alloy or else it is impossible to make without spending incredible amounts of money on a robotic plant. While the primary alloying agent in all types described is Calcium, there are several other ingredients used in very small quantities - this is the 'secret sauce' for battery manufacturers and finding out exactly how much and of what they put in is very difficult.
The statement by the engineer is correct as the battery sizes are not designed for so many starts. The primary issue of concern is that when a battery is not recharged fully it forms hard sulfation on the plates, which eventually leads to battery failure, and lead-acid batteries cannot safely be recharged at high rates, so there is a minimum time to recharge the battery.
An additional concern that I'm not seeing listed is that lead-acid batteries do not have a very good cycle life. Depending on how much the battery is drained, it may have a cycle life of only 500 cycles. This is a limitation of the technology. Even at 1000 cycles, it's hard to see a battery lasting much more than a year.
1) Whatever you require to know about them.
2) Whatever method you desire, but those most concerned usually employ a bank by using a letter of credit
3) Only the types of insurance you desire to purchase
4) The only weight maximums in the U.S. are defined by maximum axle weights on bridges or limits set by rail companies. These are domestic issues that your customer will inform you of the requirements (these are not trade issues, per se)
5) Environmental standards are domestic regulations and your customer should inform you of the requirements (also not trade issues)
I think about them most every day, but that's because I own an importing and international sales and marketing company.
Okay, 3 laws. If there are no tariffs, then there is no concern for how they are collected. Port fees are private already and inspections rarely occur even today. Payment terms are defined by INCOTERMS, a private agreement, and have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. I maintain that my one sentence is all that is necessary for free trade.
What 'free trade' regulations? Free trade requires only one sentence: "We will not use import tariffs or subsidies," and that's it. When was that law passed? When was the banking deregulation - the 90s? Common carrier laws, the 80s? So 2 laws, or sets of laws, in the last 20 years increased freedom.
By Obama article admin logic, the atrocities of Christ's followers should go under the Atrocities of Christ's followers, because they have nothing to do with Christ and shouldn't even be linked from the Christ article.
Totally agree. I can't remember what article it was, but I had tried editing something that I was very knowledgeable on and my edits were reversed by the article troll, which resulted in a pointless debate on the discussion page, the admin maintaining control of the article, and Jimmy Wales losing revenue.
The only solution I've come up with is a wiki that allows multiple articles on the same subject, with usefulness being rated by a community through both votes and dollars, along with 'universes' that can approve articles for inclusion, thus if you want to read only articles in the Jimmy Wales universe, you can do so, or specifically avoid them.
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I was amazed at how good the headphones that came with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 are, as well as the quality of the output of the phone.
I doubt that they use more than 12bit dacs anyway.
SoAnIs from hydrogenaudio also gives an interesting perspective on the 24-bit thingy.
I did some digging and it looks like the Bold 9000 uses the Texas Instruments TLV320AIC3106 stereo audio DAC rated at 102 dBa S/N, 16,20,24,32-bit data, and 8 kHz - 96 kHz sample rates. I don't pretend to know if the Bold actually outputs at the full capability of the chip, but why bother using such a chip if you're not going to make the features available?
There is no doubt in my mind that 24-bit and higher is better than anything analog, but I guess I'm old enough that someone will have to prove to me that CD's can be better than reel-to-reel. I'll also add that there is simply no comparison between reel-to-reel and vinyl. Have you ever listened to a good quality reel-to-reel? One roughly the size of a 24" CRT (ca. 1995)? They really do sound quite good,not that I'd ever buy one.
Okay, I'll buy that. Good thing I made FLAC backups of all my CDs, which I actually only finally did in the last year or so. Can't speak highly enough of EAC - it encoded songs that wouldn't play on even a computer CD-ROM anymore with very few audible artifacts.
Wait, Let It Be - did you mean Leave It? Let It Be was The Beatles, and I've just never really been a Beatles fan.
Not on Napster through AOL you couldn't!
The CD player used was a Tascam CD-301, probably the best CD player at the time for under $2000, but I don't know how that compares to more modern players. I recall that we carefully adjusted the gain on the mixer and used a studio quality mixer with ample headroom (probably a Mackie or Studiomaster). The sound that we preferred was a smoothness, and that's about the best we could describe it. We freely admitted that it could have been an EQ effect, similar to tube amp purists, but it didn't seem that way - the CD just had a harshness which, after hearing it well, we began noticing on samplers. Keep in mind we went into the test thinking we would prefer the CD - we were 19 year-olds who thought tape was an obsolete/budget product (excluding ultra-high end studio stuff).
I've always considered Apple products overpriced. I'm assuming your use of the term 'headphones' means you're using actual over-the-ear types, not just earbuds, as I had incorrectly referred to what came with my phone. My Bold drives my MDR-7506's well enough that I find max volume uncomfortably loud on an airplane. Maybe part of Apple's success is not putting money into things most people don't notice.
The last CD I considered purchasing was Coldplay's Viva La Vida. It was $29.98 at my local Target. I did not purchase that album. You may well be correct, as I could definitely hear a difference in the remastered Pink Floyd CDs, and I'm quite certain it wasn't the gold reflective material.
Years ago I worked at a very large music mail-order company and had a field day going through and testing all the stuff. Among the biggest lessons I learned was that CD is not the end-all be-all of music formats that I thought it was. My friend and I would run blind tests using an album we were both very familiar with (Yes 90125) and we could actually tell the difference and preferred reel-to-reel over CD. However, the only way to really tell was to wear headphones. Granted, we were wearing the industry standard Sony MDR-7506 headphones, but still, we could hear a difference. When we tested using studio monitors we slightly leaned towards the reel-to-reel, but it was not as clear cut.
Depending on what you're getting, many headphones and mobile players actually offer very good fidelity. I was amazed at how good the headphones that came with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 are, as well as the quality of the output of the phone. I don't own a dedicated portable music player, but it's hard for me to imagine that companies like Apple would use poor quality amps.
On a side note, I was really disappointed that the higher fidelity optical discs didn't take off. Sometimes I wonder if the music industry had gone out and brainwashed everyone that the higher fidelity was way better, then maybe people would have been less enthused about pirated 128 kbps mp3s. I know I never much cared for VHS recordings of DVDs.
My opinion is that China is the most visible country growing because of it's size. What is more significant is the growth in the trade deficit the U.S. is experiencing. This is happening with China and elsewhere because U.S. workers are over-qualified. We have people performing jobs that used to be done by (legal) immigrants but are now done by people fully educated at least through high school. While this may sound like not much education to most in the U.S., it is much higher than most people in the world. So when you can have someone from a background of abject poverty or subsistence farming, who cannot read or write, perform a job, that person is going to have much a much lower pay rate. The Americans and others lose because the positions they should be holding are supervisory, administrative, sales, QA, etc., for those with diplomas, and we should have a regular stream of (legal) immigrants to perform the production line work. Our system is completely out of whack with reality, and this has contributed significantly to the transfer of our wealth to other nations.
And, having worked with the Chinese for the last 5 years, I can tell you most of the factories over there are not successful because of innovation or even IP theft. They just have labor available to make stuff at a cheaper rate.
The number one issue for reduced innovation is all of the regulations. When companies spend billions on accountants and lawyers practicing non-market strategies, they have less money to spend and care less about innovation.
Clearly Sony just doesn't understand how to do business in the U.S.
Streaming on my 360 is perfect. I really don't notice it.
What is the app? I'll install it on mine and let ya' know.
I don't recall that the UCMJ authorizes what is being done to him right now.
What we have is martial law.
This is the U.S. We no longer have rule of law.
Do you happen to know what battery comes stock on the vehicles using start-stop? A pure lead battery could handle the load, but those are usually 2-3 times the price of a lead alloy battery. And of course something like LiFePO4 would do really well in the application.
A deep cycle battery is not a good cranking battery. There are three types of chemistries for lead acid:
Motive Power - this chemistry is most effective at providing enormous amounts of current for very short periods of time, say up to 60 seconds, but usually less than 30. The most common application is starting piston engines. It is generally intended to be drained to not less than 80% of capacity before being recharged.
Power Supply - this chemistry is designed to provide small amounts of current for long periods of time, say 15 minutes to many hours, and be drained all the way down before being recharged.
Standby - this chemistry is used for UPS type applications. It has a low cycle life but can last longer than UPS batteries when not in use, so it is more likely to be available when needed while reducing replacement costs.
The primary cause of the differences is that to economically produce a battery the lead must be an alloy or else it is impossible to make without spending incredible amounts of money on a robotic plant. While the primary alloying agent in all types described is Calcium, there are several other ingredients used in very small quantities - this is the 'secret sauce' for battery manufacturers and finding out exactly how much and of what they put in is very difficult.
The statement by the engineer is correct as the battery sizes are not designed for so many starts. The primary issue of concern is that when a battery is not recharged fully it forms hard sulfation on the plates, which eventually leads to battery failure, and lead-acid batteries cannot safely be recharged at high rates, so there is a minimum time to recharge the battery.
An additional concern that I'm not seeing listed is that lead-acid batteries do not have a very good cycle life. Depending on how much the battery is drained, it may have a cycle life of only 500 cycles. This is a limitation of the technology. Even at 1000 cycles, it's hard to see a battery lasting much more than a year.
Nothing, just like the system that we have today, and have always had.
1) Whatever you require to know about them.
2) Whatever method you desire, but those most concerned usually employ a bank by using a letter of credit
3) Only the types of insurance you desire to purchase
4) The only weight maximums in the U.S. are defined by maximum axle weights on bridges or limits set by rail companies. These are domestic issues that your customer will inform you of the requirements (these are not trade issues, per se)
5) Environmental standards are domestic regulations and your customer should inform you of the requirements (also not trade issues)
I think about them most every day, but that's because I own an importing and international sales and marketing company.
Okay, 3 laws. If there are no tariffs, then there is no concern for how they are collected. Port fees are private already and inspections rarely occur even today. Payment terms are defined by INCOTERMS, a private agreement, and have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. I maintain that my one sentence is all that is necessary for free trade.
What 'free trade' regulations? Free trade requires only one sentence: "We will not use import tariffs or subsidies," and that's it. When was that law passed? When was the banking deregulation - the 90s? Common carrier laws, the 80s? So 2 laws, or sets of laws, in the last 20 years increased freedom.
By Obama article admin logic, the atrocities of Christ's followers should go under the Atrocities of Christ's followers, because they have nothing to do with Christ and shouldn't even be linked from the Christ article.
Totally agree. I can't remember what article it was, but I had tried editing something that I was very knowledgeable on and my edits were reversed by the article troll, which resulted in a pointless debate on the discussion page, the admin maintaining control of the article, and Jimmy Wales losing revenue.
The only solution I've come up with is a wiki that allows multiple articles on the same subject, with usefulness being rated by a community through both votes and dollars, along with 'universes' that can approve articles for inclusion, thus if you want to read only articles in the Jimmy Wales universe, you can do so, or specifically avoid them.
Being that I'm desiring a site without admin bias, that's not helpful.