Welcome to Mike on Audio - your go-to destination for engaging HiFi audio reviews and tutorials. We cover a wide range of audio equipment, including stereo systems, bookshelf speakers, amplifiers, DACs, and streamers, all tailored for small-room listening experiences. Our mission is to educate and inspire audio enthusiasts of all levels, from beginners to experts.
On our channel, you'll also find DIY projects that demonstrate how anyone can create incredible soundscapes with a little guidance and collaboration. We strive to foster a supportive community where we can learn, share, and grow together in our appreciation for the world of audio.
No matter your experience level, we welcome you to join our audio journey. Remember to be kind, listen, share, like, and subscribe as we collectively explore the captivating realm of audio.
Пікірлер
I see an ambient light on a picture, I know nothing really valuable will be told. No exceptions so far.
I've almost 2000cds. I'll never have given up buying them. Also,I do stream a lot,mostly on the move and while driving. Having said thay I must admit I do not know anyone aged 20 or so who buys cds,worse luck. [Myself being 50+]
So many people asking so many questions, is it going to sound better just because someone else says it should? If you can't tell for your self then you're wasting your time asking.
Welcome back, you're looking healthy and I hope you're feeling well. Please keep up the good work.
I lost quite a bit of weight after my surgery. I hope I can keep it off 😂 thank you for the well wishes, I’m excited to tackle a lot of new topics!
To save money when buying from a HiFi retailer lookout for the end-of-line bargains. These items will be discounted, and you can find yesterday’s HiFi recommendations. If it is a real store there will be ex-display bargains and surplus equipment the retailer wishes to shift to display newer models.
pi imager has volumio os as an option in it, and a lot less steps of getting balena and volumio serperately, pi imager is fantastic, edit: just realized this was uploaded 2 years ago, possibly wasn't a thing then, but for anyone stumbling across this in 2024, i recommend pi imager.
i only use streaming for discovery i then buy the cd or flac files and listen to it on cd or cdr lol.
Same here!
Nickleback was meant to be heard on a Bose wave music system.
lol 😂
Thanks for the video. I agree the most important part of a system is the speakers. Get the best stuff you can afford start and upgrade over time. I’ve had good success buying used but using those 2 sites to buy locally. If I can’t test sound it or at least pick it up in person I pass. Another option is buying discontinued items from manufacturers or dealers when the latest product line comes out. I’ve been able to get new equipment up to 50% off. A great deal if you don’t mind not having the latest and greatest. Most importantly, enjoy your audio journey. Rock on!
Agreed 👍
Love Schiit for their respect of the customer and their vision. Not really cheap audio but if someone wants quality without breaking the bank, I don't think you could get better new. I was about to buy a chinese preamp and headamp. I've felt that something was off. After hours of research, the conclusion was that they measured well but sound quality is somewhat random. Also one can see that build quality is subpar, weird choices on design, only marketing tricks that I don't care about. I'm sure they sound ok but...if you can get better without paying that much more! Then got my eyes on Jotunheim 2. Clearly well built, had everything I was after. Bought it without hearing it as I live overseas. I knew it would be good but it even exceeded my expectations. Now I know that I can trust this brand as everything they market for is true. Decided to test their lower priced headamps for nomad purpose : Magni unity and Heretic ( this one just to see as it was on discount). Same as advertised, both have their touch, no BS!
I agree with you, a lot of times marketing fluff is their sales strategy and we must learn how to differentiate between a good build and fluff.
A lot of the guys who start out cheap learn what they like and upgrade to better equipment.
I’m saving them the trouble ;)
Never stopped buying them.
"when i have to have something, i need it yesterday" lol too real 😅
I’m glad you understand lol
I do the same with Spotify. Discovery is incredible I have found so many new artists through it. Then I just click on the merch tab and buy the CD from the artist. The quality is good enough on Spotify to enjoy, but the Discovery tools are pricesless to me.
I can easily reccomend the Aiyima T7 tube preamp. Bass and treble tone controls. Has swappable opamps and you can roll a number of tube types with it. Comes with 6n3 dual triodes. I successfully tested the 5670, but with adapters: 6922, 6bq7, 12au7, 12ax7 as well. Each brings something different to the sound. Runs on 12v dc so adding a better power supply is easy. The bottom line is it sounds great. $73.99 on Amazon.
Really enjoying your videos lately. Keep up the great work! ✌🏼
I’m rejuvenated and ready for more. I got a really good one coming up on something I found on Temu lol 😆 should make for a fun video!
Nice video! Of course it would have been faster if you had been using the PCIe feature with an M.2 drive, rather than a 2.5" SSD and the USB 3 connection. The USB throttles the throughput to be no better than a Pi 4. I like the case. Pair that with a 52Pi Ice Tower Plus fan for a complete steampunk look!
I love steampunk I should try that
I like CDs 🤗🤗🤗 No streaming
Great choice
My dad was an avid audiophile during my youth and I would pay for him to get back into it. But that ship has sailed unfortunately 😕 my parents just got their first 4k tv whenever they bought their new RV... kinda bass ackwards 😆 great video!
Yeah once you go down the RV retirement route it’s all downhill from there lol 😂
We’re all looking for the audio Unicorn 🦄 😎
They’re out there for sure
Michael I'm sharing this with my son for two reason's .....you are for certain close in age and really make sense to people like my son, the other is obvious, maybe he'll go to Crutchfield and get me a new cd player..? Nice job....
Thank you my friend. Once I have a son I’ll be able to do the same.
Great video Mike! You are right. DIY can open doors that would remain shut otherwise. It has saved me many $$$ Thanks again!
I love DIY even though I’m not the greatest at it
CD rules
I still buy CD's just to have to hard copy and the album artwork.....
I've just bought a Bush CD midi hifi for £62. More than happy with it, sound quality is good and plays all my CD's including rock and heavy metal really well. I also agree about physical music collections like CDs. I don't like all this modern day streaming....
Definitely can notice a difference. My cd broke and I got a cheap separate for about 50 quid cash convertors. The sound was alright as my speakers and amp decent quality but the treble sounded a little flimsy and didn't wow me. I got a matantz 6006 and immediately noticed difference. I can hear little nuances I didn't hear before in the vocals and things like hi hats little overdubs I didn't hear before. Definitely made a difference- pleasure to listen to now
Good luck . The world you want is extinct. When people have to choose between food and rent they are going to opt for free music . Instant gratification. And vinal? Ya ok lets pay for an extra bedroom to store our music .
“I’ve never had the chance to A/B test it” = your next video. Keep the CD content coming!
I have a feeling it’s in my future :)
You are overlooking one aspect I think. There are now several generations of younger people who have grown up 100% accustomed to everything being instantly available via the internet 100% of the time. One day they will understand the value of owning both books as well as music in a physical format. Yes, in case of a wide-spread breakdown the internet has enough redundancies and is decentralised enough that it will keep _working_ , but not at the speeds required for feeding the general public with their daily data addiction/needs.
Use streaming if you want to listen to music. Buy CD if you want to cherish it
Great way to think about it
Fine segment. Thanks. One feature of CDs that you didn't mention, although I may have missed it, or someone else may have in the comments, is the value of the booklet that comes with it. Cover art, added photographs. The who performed, when and where it was recorded. And an essay or original liner notes by the likes of Nat Hentoff or Leonard Feather (jazz, my passion) add so much the the listening experience. I have an Alexa. And I use it to explore new artists and genres, or just for background music. I also collect vinyl. It's all music, important to our well being, and each technology has its place in my life. Keep up the great videos.
The difference between HiRes and CD quality from streaming is HiRes is easier for my DAC to decode. It’s actually quite complicated and something I can’t explain but there are others that agree. That said CD’s still sound better than HiRes streaming. Maybe that’s due to lack of compression or bit rate of 1411 kbit/s. I’ve yet to see CD quality streaming with that high of bit rate. It’s usually around 700 to 1000ish. I’m using Apple Music and Amazon HD music currently. Is Qobuz much better than other streaming services? Thanks so much for listening.
I have a ton of cds. I just started ripping them onto my laptop to disperse to my Hiby DAP so that I can possibly one day just eliminate paying for streaming. Great topic!
I always keep all my cds and have them backed up in my pc just in case.
Oh Michael 🙈 Each to there own mate But Tidal / Quobus / Apple Music are easily good enough ,in most cases as good as CDs , the quality of CD pressings vary massively anyway we all have a handful of really good recordings , but a huge number are not great , poor dynamics , too load etc etc . But the deal breaker here is convenience , not just in the car or AirPods , in the home via a quality streamer using an app on my phone I find a hundred times more MUSIC to try , it’s all about the music available to me and the ease of finding it and of playing it the differences between a quality streamer and a Cd player are negligible it’s a fact . IMO ..your argument is simply wrong and all of the people cannot be wrong all of the time , which format is ..THE FUTURE ?
Despite a number of purges, I ran out of storage space for my CD’s, at which point, I moved to streaming. I originally had accounts with Qobuz and Tidal and found the sound quality comparable with the high end CD transport I previously used. However, I do prefer to own music so I added a server to my system, after which I imported the CD,s, which are now in storage boxes. New purchase are made from Qobuz and are conveniently downloaded to the server automatically. I still have a streaming account with Qobuz as this allows me to listen to albums before deciding whether or not to purchase them.
As long as there is any form of physical media for movies, music and video games. I'm only supporting physical media and not digital and not streaming since the digital content is already being abused by the greedy corporations with force arbitration that's already included in the terms and conditions of service and it's get swept under the rug because it has become normalized and everyone is already doing it. Nowadays, it's like the only choices that the consumers have is either getting ripped off or not get ripped off but it always ends up being the former instead of the latter. I rather own everything and be happy about it while keeping preservation alive. It's like preservation of consumer products and services and right to repair are taking a backseat and are on life support metaphorically speaking.
There is one serious flaw in the pro-CD argument. Dynamic Range. The dynamic range of music is the ratio between the loudest passage or instrument and the quietest. When natural instruments are played live that range, loudest to softest, can reach 60db or more. CDs are generally cited for 96db of dynamic range which is more than adequate. But recording engineers being who they are, a whole lot of nutmeg gets tossed into the koolaide resulting in a decades long run of CD music produced with almost zero dynamic range... that is, the LOUDER the better and to hell with fidelity. In fact some of those heavily compressed CDs were carrying an inbuilt distortion of 25% or more, which is clearly audible, even on cheapo systems. This wonderful "Loudness War" escapade is chronicled on "The Dynamic Range Database" (do a search) where the actual range of thousands of albums and songs are measured. It's only in the last year or so that recordings for CD or Streaming are returning to Vinyl levels of dynamic range (typically 16db or less). This is no coincidence since streaming services are turning these monstrously loud CDs down to Vinyl levels (called the "alignment level") to prevent listeners from being blasted when one of these compressed monstrosities come on. This is one of the things giving credence to the claims that Vinyl sounds better than CDs ... because it actually does! The levels of dynamic range compression used on most CDs would make a record skip or loop rather badly. So it's not used there. And no, the painful irony of the medium with the best range being used to produce music with the worst is not lost on me.
I'm with you 100%. Vinyl is good for the artwork, but I went back to CD. I order from Amazon but the jewel cases are ALWAYS cracked/broken. But I simply buy the standard size jewel cases for about $11.00 for 15 cases so I can replace the broken ones!! VIVE LA CD'S!!
CDs are incredibly cheap now. I buy the albums I want to keep no matter what. The places I frequent still don’t have reliable internet access and streaming is not an option there. I rip all my CDs to my computer so I can put them on my iPod or phone.
To me one must have dog hearing to really tell the difference between high res and a standard cd unless your watching a wave file.
I started buying CDs again. First thing I do is rip them to flac then stream them. lol.
Mastering engineer Bob Katz feels the benefit of higher sample rates is perhaps less due to the extended range we can or cannot hear, but it makes it easier to avoid distortions in the DAC that occur at 44.1, which he feels are audible. This due to the very steep filter cutting sound off ae 22kHz.
I have thousands of CDs and continue to buy them. Mostly reissues especially if they have unreleased concert recordings or other unavailable music. I stream too but find the sound quality with a well mastered CD through my 2.2 music only system is better with the CD than streaming. To me CDs and streaming are the best of both worlds. Streaming exposes me to new music and so much music beyond what I have bought. If I love it and want the highest sound quality or get music not available online, I buy the CD (and the occasional BlueRay disc included in some box sets). I Have your t-shirt, So Loud It Hz, and it’s my new favorite T. Rock on!
I buy cds/sacds rip them and play them off of roon. Still love cds just dont play them as much as I should.
I try to agree with you but every time I see a 30 year anniversary repress of a vinyl for $39.99 I say to myself, this is already on my phone immediately to stream. Why add more clutter to my house and I have no time with kids to sit down and relax to listen?
You know time has become our biggest obstacle in day to day life hasn’t it. There are so many things I know I’d like to do if I just had more time….
I own lots of CDs and I stream from Qobuz. My only complaint about streaming is that Qobuz replaces original versions with remixes as they become available and then the original version usually disappears. Remixes don't always improve the sound. You can count on your CDs to remain unchanged.
Great cd playback a d great streaming go together! I think of streaming as a high quality library..and if I like something..I’ll try and get the 💿
I'm 67 and I have CDs from 1985. I stream a lot because I'm getting lazy. LOL I actually prefer MP3 CDs in my truck because of all the road noise. Compression is actually preferred in that case. How are you feeling?
Much better Mike thank you. I appreciate the support!
I have all my CDs ripped to flac. However I re ripped to MP3 360 because on my system i cannot in any way tell the difference, 128 yeah when the music has lots of range. Even in my headphones the difference is negligible, at most. Spotify and KZread music sound perfectly fine, I'm not sitting in a music room, I'm on a couch with a giant sliding window on one side and a kitchen behind me or in my car.