BudgetAudiophile

They fit really well, and I actually like the plastic housing since it makes them a bit lighter, and the transparent window is really neat! The nozzle is plastic too, so it shouldn't corrode like the brass one on the Moondrop Chu II. It was also a bit cheaper (though only by a couple dollars)!

The cable is slightly thicker than the Chu II's, which hopefully means it will tangle less often. I will continue to use it with my Fiio BTR11, IEMs with Bluetooth adapters is the best of both worlds in my opinion: longer lasting, cheaper, better audio quality, harder to lose like IEMs, and you can move around more and automatically switch between multiple devices like wireless earbuds

Hi,

Although I'm not an audiophile, this post might still fit the "budget" part of the sub.
I can buy a pair of active speakers, reasonable size, with standby mode (which is maybe common, I don't know), for cheap.
There are the Audac Ares5A. Targeted at background/music applications: classrooms, meeting rooms, bars, restaurants, retail, etc.
They says it's fine for music, but of course they would say that.
I would use them as desktop pc speakers.

Is it completely idiotic of me? I like buying professional products, it's often very sturdy. The "buy it for life" stuff.
Is it something people do, or am I in effect asking if it's a good idea to buy an 18-wheeler to commute to work?

What has your overall experience been with said product?

Pros and Cons?

Which of the Nothing earbuds would you recommend?

Is there another brand I should check out?

My desired uses of them would be to listen to music and audio books with a pair of earbuds, played over bluetooth, from my Samsung Galaxy 23 S smartphone.

An Interconnect cable is the patch cable that goes between audio separates. For home use they typcially use "RCA" style connectors. The following post is aimed at those types of cables and not XLR style interconnects which can be found on some home audio components.

Go onto Craigslist, Nextdoor, Ebay, or Facebook Marketplace and look for RG6 75ohm coaxial cable. It's the cable that is run in most houses for cable TV. You might even have this stuff laying around your house in a box somewhere. Either way you can get it for pennies per foot if you look hard enough. There are versions with a solid copper core , or a copper clad steel core. For audio use, either is just fine, but as a personal preference I like to use solid copper core as it's better quality cable. However, it does cost just a bit more, but still cheaper than buying cables in a box store.

Next you'll need RCA compression fittings for RG6: Amazon Link

Then purchase a compression tool and coaxial cutter: Amazon Link

If you have cables with the "F-type" connector on them already, then there are adapters to go to RCA male: Amazon Link

Follow the instructions that come with the tools and enjoy cables that outperform even those that are made of unicorn farts and fairy dust that people with too much money but little sense like to tout. These cables will also last forever as RG6 cable is very tough, especially the solid copper core version. I have cables that are north of 30 years old still in daily use.

The only issue with RG6, it is a stiff cable. So making short runs bend at sharp angles is not an easy thing to do. You will need to come up with a method to keep stereo pairs together, or just run them separately. Plus mark the cables as Left or Right channels. I use either colored heat shrink tubing, or electrical tape for this purpose.

I've been trying to figure this out by looking at Rockbox's manual, and haven't been able to find a clear answer. Can you search for song titles and artists by name?

I have a Hiby R3 right now, and the text search feature is annoying me, so I'm hoping that Rockbox does better.

For example, on the Hiby, if you have some songs by The Beatles, if you search for "beat," it won't find them. You have to search for "the beat" instead. It only matches characters from the beginning of the name.

I'm planning on getting a Hifi Walker H2 and installing Rockbox on it, but I'd like to know how well searching works first. Does anyone have a Rockbox device here?

My walkman e-dj 855 won't play certain CDs, because of it's format files

One example is this cd that I got recently https://www.discogs.com/release/6790329-Marina-And-The-Diamonds-Froot
It keeps reading the cd, but never plays.
So the question is any recommendations on cd player?
Something under 100, like the Instant Disc Audio CP1.

My new android phone came with free watch and earbuds. The watch needs to connect to the Internet to contact the mother ship apparently otherwise no worky. So it's still in the box. But the buds I thought might be useful. However I tested their sound vs my very cheap wired earbuds with a diy IEM adapter. It's night and day. The Moto buds loop just suck. And that's probably why the spy watch and the junk buds are free.

Has anybody tried the Anker Soundcore Space One over-ear headphones? Are they more durable than the Anker SoundCore Life Q30?

I've had the Q30 before, but now after I've already used replacement pads the headband is starting to really come apart, and since the inner parts of the pads started developing color changes from sweat (so potential fungal stuff that might also end up being in the headband), I'm looking for a replacement. I've used them extremely heavily for over three years, so while it's not great to dispose headphones at that point, it doesn't seem to be possible to order replacement headbands and I've had cheap headphones last less.

But since for the SoundCore Life Q30 the "native" pads lasted barely a year, I've been wondering if the SoundCore Space One would last longer? Has anybody tried them?

I've heard the sound balance is worse for the SoundCore Space One, but I don't really care about that. I typically use an EQ anyway since I don't like the default settings, since I find most non-professional headphones to have unacceptable default tuning. So I assume I'll hopefully manage to configure them in a way that is acceptable for me.

Edit: alternatively, if somebody knows where to get a replacement SoundCore Life Q30 headband, I'd be interested too!

I'm going to set up a simple, local digital music player out of the internals from an old laptop I have lying around. Yes, I could have ponied up €80-100 for a used Rpi, but I'd rather get some more mileage out of the old hardware, plus I like to tinker.

The player is probably going to run Daphile, and will sit between the USB HDD housing my digital music collection and my stereo amplifier. No streaming required to other rooms or on the go at this time, just a straight, wired connection into the living room speakers.

The idea is to yank the motherboard out of the laptop casing, preserving as many ports as possible, and putting it into a slim customised cabinet instead. It'll probably be fugly in the first version, but like I said — I like to play around with things.

There are two issues though, and I want to solve them in one go if I can. The laptop board only has a ratty 3.5mm audio port — and I'd rather build a DAC into the music player than add two separate new boxes to the stereo setup. So,

• has anybody tried hardwiring a DAC module directly to a laptop motherboard?
• if not, does the perversity of the idea somehow tickle your creativity to offer a solution?

I suppose the DAC will also need to draw power from somewhere, so suggestions on that part are also welcome.

What DAC do I plan to use, you ask? At this point I'm undecided. I'm tempted to hack one together myself, but that may introduce too many wild cards into the equation. Alternatively, a simple prefab board with RCA connections. Happy to hear your suggestions on that front, too 🙂

I have an Onkyo TX-8020 audio receiver and three sets of bookshelf speakers. The receiver has terminals for two sets of speakers. Is there a way that I can wire all three sets into the two sets of terminals? Perhaps with two pairs wired in parallel or serial?

One speaker set rated for 6 ohms and the two other sets are rated to 8 ohms. I want to run speakers in my small house for the kitchen, office, and living room. Speaker impedance math is so over my head. Any help would be appreciated. I just don't want to burn out my receiver. This is all cludged together from garage sale finds and family giveaways.

The receiver power output is rated as: 180 W (3 Ω, Front) 160 W (4 Ω, Front) 100 W (8 Ω, Front)

The speakers sets are rated at: The two Dayton sets - 40W, 8 Ω Pioneer set - 80w, 6 Ω

My dad listens to a lot of records and likes a surround sound experience even if most of his records don’t take full advantage of it. He needs new rear speakers but isn’t looking to spend much money. He’s specifically looking for 8ohm passive speakers but doesn’t have specific needs beyond that. He tends to prefer floor speakers but is okay with bookshelf too if it’s a much better value for money (and ideally if they can easily be wall-mounted). He hasn’t given me a price point in mind. I’m thinking around $150-200 CAD or less but I don’t know for sure. I sent him a link to a $350 pair of bookshelf speakers and he said that’s more than he wants to spend, so definitely less than that.

He likes my Edifier P12’s but they’re only 6ohm. I tried looking if they have an 8ohm equivalent that doesn’t have Bluetooth/preamp/whatever but I didn’t have much luck.

and use cases ANDDDDD which cancels noise good, (usually listen to unstoppable loud audio)

i scared getting an chinese copy ......

how to make sure that they okay?

I recently picked up a mint Sansui au-4900 for a bargain price, so I’m looking for some speakers to pair with it. I’d rather them be of a similar vintage for the looks, and (as is always the case round here) not break the bank. I’m not after crystal sharpness, I like warmth, but I’d like some decent detail. I’ve been looking at a decent pair of Celestion Ditton 15s, but I don’t think they’ll play particularly nicely, as this amp is reputed to work best with speakers that were accused of being a little to sharp in the highs, if that makes sense. I’m in the UK for reference. Looking forward to reading your ideas!

I’m pretty sure I know the answer already and I can foresee the other comments incoming already. (Eg; “Why are you recording in the living room in the first place? 🤪)

But here we go. My partner is recording audio occasionally while on the couch in the living room; while I work from home in an adjacent office. They are using a Blue Yeti on a cheapo $40 mic arm, bolted to a side table next to the couch.

Since we have hardwood floors in an ancient house, there’s some creaking being picked up in the recordings. Which is probably me adjusting my weight in my chair in the other room every now and then.

Question is, do we:

1. Get a shock mount?
2. Put carpet (or something) under the side table?
3. Switch the mic stand to a sits on the desktop weighted one we also have and also put a pad o’ fabric or foam under that?
4. All of the above?
5. Additional crap?

Alright. Give us hell folks! Hehe.

On Rocknix's page, it is stated that the Eros Q, HiFi Walker H2, and Surfans F20 are all the same device produced by the same OEM, meaning they are all compatible with the same build of Rockbox. Are these devices any good quality? Has anybody used one of these before?

I wanted a device that supported Rocknix, so it was between the Eros Q (and friends) and used iPods for me, I like the clickwheel to scroll through music. I would prefer the Eros Q (and friends) since it comes with USB-C, microSD storage, etc. out of the box.

I'm looking to upgrade my Fiio K5 Pro with a Topping E50 paired with the Fosi Audio GR70. I've wanted to try a tube amp for a while now. Reception to the GR70 seems mixed. Some people love it while others report it sounds dull and is prone to interference. I'd love to hear about someone else's experience. Thank you!

I've just bought a Yamaha YP-D6 turntable. It's had a hard life, but seems to work ok. I'll replace the stylus before playing any of my collection. Problem is that it has a Shure RXT-4 cartridge which takes a N97HE stylus. A quick bit of research suggests I'll be paying well over $200 for even a cheap N97HE clone. This seems a bit risky when I don't even know if the cartridge is functionally "good".

I'm not looking for the best possible performance from a turntable - it's just to be able to play my collection for nostalgia etc.

I think I'm better off replacing the cartridge with something like and audio technica AT-VM95E.

Interested to hear any thoughts, including suggestions for other budget friendly cartridges.

Vintage Audio Addict is a great YT channel that I recommend for all Budget Audiophiles to subscribe to.

This video is a dissertation on the work of Peter Aczel. An engineer that lays it out in plain language how audio really works and why "Audiophiles" are wasting their money. I've known about Peter for quite some time and his perspective went a long way in shaping my own in regards to audio equipment.

Hello everyone.

I'm on a campaign to move my audio listening closer to nearly all offline. My current quest is to research which are the best options for offline music player on the PC.

I have a mix of FLAC and MP3 files, and desire to add more high end music files from physical media in the future. But the main need right now, is to learn what are the best free music players out there.

My current knowledge of PC music players worth a try are, WINamp, foobar2000, and VLC.

What would you recommend I check out?

I have a love/ hate relationship with early 90's to early 2000's audio equipment.

This is an Adcom GTP-350, which a decent mid-range stereo pre-amp from 1993. I bought it off of Ebay for $80 and free shipping. It came to me with no left channel and scratchy to non-working pots. So several applications of Deoxit and working the pots they all came back to life. However, the left channel would just now work, EXCEPT for the radio. The radio played normally through both channels. That told me this unit has fallen to the curse of dry/cold solder joints. So I took about 30 minutes and resoldered all the joints in the signal path of both channels.

Then... I ran into my own stupidity... Sometimes I'm just and idiot and using an extremely flawed testing method and a defective external part (USB-C to 1/8" Stereo adapter) I thought I hadn't fixed it. After messing around with it for another 30 minutes, I discovered my mistake... Then discovered the adapter I was using to play music from my phone was defected (if you guess it would not play through the left channel, even on known good equipment you get a cookie.) So I figured all that out finally, as I said, I'm an idiot sometimes, and it's working great.

The plan is to run it for a week or so and make sure nothing else happens. I am contemplating recapping it, but we'll see. If it passes, then it will go up to my living room so I can get my main stereo back to working. Right now I'm running a Marantz receiver I fixed and while I really like it, I like my main stereo even more.

Here is a photo of the work I did today. I started at the inputs (top center of the photo) and just worked my way down. To the left in the photo is the radio section and it's working fine, so I didn't touch it. Also, we don't listen to the radio, so if something does happen to that section I'll just isolate it from the signal path and just leave it.

I posted the other day about starting off my IEM journey with an awful pair of KZ Castor Pro’s and after a lot of reading, I’m getting Artti T10’s and tacking on 7hz Crinacles for like 11 bucks.

I get the New Customer discount with AliExpress, KZ are significantly discounted and I’m considering adding a cheap pair to my order. I can get the PRX for $20 vs $60 at amazon. ZS10 Pro $22 vs $48. AS16 $29 vs $70.

My plan is to buy a handful of <$100 IEM’s in order to hear and understand different sound signatures but I’d rather spend $80 on something solid vs $75 on multiple IEM’s if they all sound like wired Apple earbuds with different tuning.

Anyway, this post is more for the sake of A discussion/personal opinions. I’m not looking for a firm yes or no.