The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I did an informal test a few years ago and I estimate my hearing tops out in the 12-13khz range, likely due to age. I also did an ABX test and discovered that I couldn't reliably tell the difference between a FLAC file, a CBR 320kpbs MP3 with LAME encoding and a VBR MP3 with LAME encoding at the highest quality. Sometimes I could sense a slight difference, but I not enough to state that one sounded better than the others.

Not sure if I can hear the difference though, but while using a loseless format on a car audio it shows when raising the volume that in contrast to mp3 the sound doesn't distorts, and the singles instruments keep separate and doesn't melt together.

On phones I don't know, have heard that balanced output (despite some market share rhetorics which claims it to be useful only if the cable is more than 10 meters long, and there it will not get interferences in place of the strandard others) can also improve the output powers and its stabile sound, just for hobby I'll really like to do the mod on the DT990Pro by Beyerdynamics (some years ago them was on a sale at 125/120$) 250 OHM.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by nana77

(some years ago them was on a sale at 125/120$) 250 OHM.

That's a good price, only $0.50 an ohm.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Renate

That's a good price, only $0.50 an ohm.

Wasn't meaning that more ohm should be better, btw: I was curious to try them (and needed to change the previous ones that were from times it was still the lira coin in use - LOL), as I had a Behringer (usually a good mix between price and quality) mixer yet, that can output those.

[Renate]

I just meant that if you can get 8 ohm headphones at that price it would be ideal.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nana77

Wasn't meaning that more ohm should be better, btw: I was curious to try them (and needed to change the previous ones that were from times it was still the lira coin in use - LOL), as I had a Behringer (usually a good mix between price and quality) mixer yet, that can output those.

Indeed the 2000 Ohms per ear headphones (or 600 Ohm) are terrible quality, though sensitive, because they are moving iron (or steel) rather than moving coil.

A ceramic disc based earphone needs at least 10 k Ohm added in parallel and is about infinite resistance, but 1nF to 20nF capacitance.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've always argued that while I buy music on CD, that the Compact Cassette is a good format for audiobooks:

• Good enough quality (even 300 Hz to 3kHz is workable)
• Remembers playing position (CD rubbish for that).
• Fits pocket (CDs don't).

Certainly even MP3 (apps like Musicolet on a phone remembers position) can be more use than CD for an audiobook and even 64 kbps* mono is OK for a simple audio book.

[* ISDN uses lossless 64k and 8 kHz sampling, but some lossy formats at 64k can sound better for mono]


Elcaset https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elcaset

For audiobooks, I've found that with some audiobooks (single reader, little to no music) a mono MP3 at 96kbps sounds fine and saves a large amount of storage space. I took a 50-CD audiobook and by doing that I could fit the entire audiobook on to six 700MB CD-Rs.

I've seen a videos featuring the Elcaset and the one weak point in the format are the flimsy "wings" that guide the tape through the device. It seems like they would be easy to break off. That's why I mentioned the RCA Tape Cartridge instead, it doesn't have that weakness (structure wise it is similar to the Compact Cassette). The only thing I'd add to the RCA Tape Cartridge is a protective shutter (like on a digital compact cassette tape) that protects the tape when it is out of its case or player.

[pdurrant]

Ahem... more venting and ranting, and less audio technology discussion, if you please.

[Renate]

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke Warns Developers: "Either Embrace AI or Get Out of This Career".

I think the future will be more like George Jetson, "I had to push a button today!"

[DNSB]

Anyone seen the response in one tech publication to the report that OpenAI's own tests show that o3 and o4-mini have more issues with hallucinations than their earlier versions? I was not able to find it but the comment I saw elsewhere condensed the original into saying that LLMs exemplify the trust but verify philosophy. I suspect the link to the original text was been hallucinated by an AI.

[Renate]

I think that to fit in better with our LLM overlords we should all take "magic mushrooms" to be on the same celestial plane as them.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Renate

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke Warns Developers: "Either Embrace AI or Get Out of This Career".

Given that nearly all of the LLM models are powered by the freely-consumed source code of GH repos, you would think he would be encouraging more deliberate commits, rather than AI-powered slop.

Hopefully he will live long enough to see it blow up in his face.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Given that nearly all of the LLM models are powered by the freely-consumed source code of GH repos, you would think he would be encouraging more deliberate commits, rather than AI-powered slop.

Hopefully he will live long enough to see it blow up in his face.

They're the CEO of a Microsoft-owned subsidiary. Of course they're saying whatever to prop up Microsoft's "investments" in degenerate AI.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ahem... more venting and ranting, and less audio technology discussion, if you please.

A hilarious reminder that here is upside down to normal.

I'll be back with real tech rants soon.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Anyone seen the response in one tech publication to the report that OpenAI's own tests show that o3 and o4-mini have more issues with hallucinations than their earlier versions? I was not able to find it but the comment I saw elsewhere condensed the original into saying that LLMs exemplify the trust but verify philosophy. I suspect the link to the original text was been hallucinated by an AI.

And "hallucination" is marketing speak for "not even plausible nonsense". It's inherent. There is no difference between so called "hallucination" and "plausible nonsense" if it's a subject where you are very expert, because the "plausible nonsense" is only plausible if you don't know the stuff. Hence a failure at law, summaries of company meeting minutes, review of CVs or anything where the result affects revenue or people's lives.

I'm told there is no truth in the rumour of Copilot for Xbox to play your games while you do the chores.

[Solitaire1]

Okay, I'll try ranting.

Why can't metadata tagging be more consistent? I just spent hours trying to do something as simple as putting the total number of tracks in each album, yet it works with some programs and not with others, and also not with some digital audio players. Worse, different audio formats have different tags for the same metadata. As an example, the tag for dates in MP3 files is not the same tag as the one for FLAC files.

Why does this have to be a problem? Just enter the total number of tracks and it should work. I'm at the point I'm going to just give up on the whole things because it seems pointless.

*Rants to the Heavens*: Why should this be so difficult?