Audiophile is a person who loves sound characteristic and can compare sound in detail, also has taste of sound characteristic.
Firstly, being an audiophile is not about swag! Products like Beats by Dr. Dre, Skullcandy are just swagger brands. The sound you get from swagger brands are just bassy, boomy, even just equals to under $50 headphones. Even those artists, actors, famous people used it (in the advertisement photos), remember they're just paid to use it. Don't get easily believe the hype!
Before buying an audio setup or an audio stuff, choose audio shop where you can try them freely. So you can decide which audio setup meets your taste of sound the most. The more you listen/try some setups, the more you can compare sounds. You will know what is soundstage, decay, timbre, and many other kind of sounds. But being too technical isn't good, because the keynote of listening music is to enjoy it.
Happy listening~! Find your taste!
Senin, 11 November 2013
Choosing DAP (Digital Audio Player, portable)
Firstly, if you ask someone to recommend, you will be asked how much budget? If it's about $200 or 2,200,000 Rupiah you can choose between an iPod 4th gen or Fiio X3. I choose them as example.
What will you get if you choose:
iPod 4th gen:
- Availability of bypassing internal amp or bypassing the DAC too (then using external DAC/amp)
- Camera, games, wifi, bluetooth connection which are common entertainments and tasks
- Better screen
Fiio X3:
- More significantly better sound quality than iPod 4th gen for it's built-in/internal amp and DAC
- Supports more lossless audio formats
- Can't use external DAC/amplifier
On this limited 2,200,000 Rupiah budget, an audiophile would choose the Fiio X3. But if you have plans of adding external DAC and amp (or a DAC integrated with Amp), iPod can be an option. So, it's about decision. Use money wisely~!
What will you get if you choose:
iPod 4th gen:
- Availability of bypassing internal amp or bypassing the DAC too (then using external DAC/amp)
- Camera, games, wifi, bluetooth connection which are common entertainments and tasks
- Better screen
Fiio X3:
- More significantly better sound quality than iPod 4th gen for it's built-in/internal amp and DAC
- Supports more lossless audio formats
- Can't use external DAC/amplifier
On this limited 2,200,000 Rupiah budget, an audiophile would choose the Fiio X3. But if you have plans of adding external DAC and amp (or a DAC integrated with Amp), iPod can be an option. So, it's about decision. Use money wisely~!
How about external DAC?
From computers, Android, even iPod you can use external DAC. Soundcard which usually have PCI express 2.0 interface is also a DAC too.
For computer, it's just a DAC connected with USB cable. For Android, use USB OTG cable, then connect the OTG cable with USB cable to the DAC. iPod usually have a 30-pin connector to male USB cable to connect to a DAC. But not all DAC have USB port. Some DAC only have optical and coaxial input, so a USB to coax/optical converter is made. The reason why using optical/coax is to remove jitters. As on the picture below, jitter is a point of frequency where it peaks. Of course peak at high frequency is disturbing. Jitter is caused by the powerline of USB. That's why audio grade USB cables are made, also stuffs like USB isolator.
Line out Dock (LOD), a way to improve sound quality
("Amp" is the short name of Amplifier)
Have you seen any iPod/iPhone connected to a stuff looks like box under the iPod with a short cable? It's called LOD! (Line Out Dock). The function of LOD cable is to bypass the internal amp and use an external amp.
Have you seen any iPod/iPhone connected to a stuff looks like box under the iPod with a short cable? It's called LOD! (Line Out Dock). The function of LOD cable is to bypass the internal amp and use an external amp.
So, a LOD cable which is also categorized as analog cables affect sound quality and character. A LOD cable starts from 100,000 Rupiah to 2,500,000 Rupiah related to the cable material, jacks, and the ports. It's not worth to use a cheap LOD cable to an expensive external amp, and vice versa.
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| Jena LOD cable with Oyaide Silver jack for iPod/iPhone 30-pin |
What's difference about digital and analog signal?
For easy explanation, I use a parable example:
You got a document you need to copy to you friends. It's hand written. But at first you don't know that other class will want the document too. How will you distribute it?
Analog:
You photocopied the hand-written document and distribute it to your classmates. Then the next day other class asked your classmate to get copies of the document too, so your classmate photocopied his copy. The result is the original compared to the first and second copy are all different. The copy the other class get is blurred compared to the original.
Digital:
You typed the hand-written document and save it as .doc document. Then you emailed it to your classmates. When the other class asked you classmate for copy, he emailed the .doc document to that other class. No copy is different than the original document you typed right?
So, a headphone cable which transfers analog signal also affects the sound quality of the headphone. When it comes to analog, cable does matters. AFAIK the most expensive cable is Piccolino, 1 meter for an IEM (In ear monitoring, kind of earphone) costs about $1000, but gives the sound quality equals it's price.
Digital signals doesn't as matters as analog signal. Only experienced audiophiles can hear the difference between digital cables (such USB, coaxial, optical which connects transport to external DAC). Still, the most expensive digital cable doesn't beat the price of most expensive analog cable.
I recommend USB cable with ferrite cores for connecting a PC to an external DAC.
You got a document you need to copy to you friends. It's hand written. But at first you don't know that other class will want the document too. How will you distribute it?
Analog:
You photocopied the hand-written document and distribute it to your classmates. Then the next day other class asked your classmate to get copies of the document too, so your classmate photocopied his copy. The result is the original compared to the first and second copy are all different. The copy the other class get is blurred compared to the original.
Digital:
You typed the hand-written document and save it as .doc document. Then you emailed it to your classmates. When the other class asked you classmate for copy, he emailed the .doc document to that other class. No copy is different than the original document you typed right?
So, a headphone cable which transfers analog signal also affects the sound quality of the headphone. When it comes to analog, cable does matters. AFAIK the most expensive cable is Piccolino, 1 meter for an IEM (In ear monitoring, kind of earphone) costs about $1000, but gives the sound quality equals it's price.
 |
| Piccolino cable for JH IEM |
Digital signals doesn't as matters as analog signal. Only experienced audiophiles can hear the difference between digital cables (such USB, coaxial, optical which connects transport to external DAC). Still, the most expensive digital cable doesn't beat the price of most expensive analog cable.
I recommend USB cable with ferrite cores for connecting a PC to an external DAC.
How digital audio works?
Firstly, a song file like MP3, WAV, FLAC, etc. is the main source of sound quality. Those formats are still in digital form. They're categorized into 2, Lossless and Lossy. Lossless means pure sound quality or near the original record of a song/music. Example of lossless formats are WAV, FLAC, AIFF, APE, TTA, etc. Lossy means the recording isn't as same as original recording. Not edited but means not as good as the original. Then lossy formats are MP3, AAC, ALAC, etc. For analogy, lossless and lossy is like between healthy cow and unhealty cow.
The place where the song file remains is called Transport. From Transport, the song file is converted from digital to analog via DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). Human only understands analog, of course we can't feel or receive a digital thing literally. The DAC is the second part which affects sound quality. In this section, DAC is like the processing of the meat, whether a good processing or not.
Of course something raw usually tastes plain, so after the sound is converted to analog, the analog signal comes to Amplifier. Amplifier gives the characteristic of sound. Just like a chef, it's about how the chef cook it. Then from an amplifier, the signal comes to speaker or headphone which we use to hear. The headphone/speaker has characteristic too, it's how the sound is represented. Just like how the food is served. There's no way of serving a steak chopped. Of course serving something can be detailed or not.
Nowadays people can listen music from computer, phones, and many more. Those stuffs of course have built in DAC and Amplifier. Also the transport is the problem of supporting song file formats. Having a 30$ MP3 player doesn't support lossless formats. A 100$ digital audio player would have supported lossless formats.
The place where the song file remains is called Transport. From Transport, the song file is converted from digital to analog via DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). Human only understands analog, of course we can't feel or receive a digital thing literally. The DAC is the second part which affects sound quality. In this section, DAC is like the processing of the meat, whether a good processing or not.
Of course something raw usually tastes plain, so after the sound is converted to analog, the analog signal comes to Amplifier. Amplifier gives the characteristic of sound. Just like a chef, it's about how the chef cook it. Then from an amplifier, the signal comes to speaker or headphone which we use to hear. The headphone/speaker has characteristic too, it's how the sound is represented. Just like how the food is served. There's no way of serving a steak chopped. Of course serving something can be detailed or not.
Nowadays people can listen music from computer, phones, and many more. Those stuffs of course have built in DAC and Amplifier. Also the transport is the problem of supporting song file formats. Having a 30$ MP3 player doesn't support lossless formats. A 100$ digital audio player would have supported lossless formats.
Hivi Swans M200 MK-II
Trying this pair of speakers in A-42 ground floor Hi Tech Mall, I can say this one a good choice. Especially for vocals, the crossfade represents the vocal nicely on middle. It was like someone really singing in front of me. When I was listening Hey Jude – Yao Si Ting (all effect knob zero), the mid frequencies presents forward. I tried increasing the treble knob and the sound gets brighter with no sibilance happened. But it lacks of sub bass, also because it’s a 2.0ch bookshelf speaker when I tested it with Hotel California – Hell freezes over 1994. Guitar and claps represents good, but the pedal drum can’t be helped, just little decay on the pedal. I didn’t know what cable and DAC/Amp were used when I tested it. But this speaker is worth for vocal lovers. Sorry if this review has bias, I didn’t use speaker stand in testing this M200 MK-II.
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