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[Mitch Sowden]

Hi All,

Jim says rightly "Please read carefully.  The answers are here."
I agree - IF you are prepared to invest the time and at heart you are at least a developer wannabe.
I'm seeing a clear split happening especially with Id (and to some degree the Linux fork) between the audiophiles and hackers who love this nuts and the guy who "just wants it to work" on his expensive home theatre. I think the help sections (and locations) focused on use cases could help. i.e. I'm a rich SOB with the ability to buy all the HW&SW I need - just tell me (Maybe hook me up with some local tech to do), audiophile, DBA who gets off on smartlists, I haven't a clue - hold my hand kind of profiles.

An example. I think I fit into an "audiophile wannabe with Media Centre bias", been here a long time and my primary concern has always been around data integrity, availably  / front end as a sustainable library for when I'm old and senile demanding Gertrude to replay THAT track over and over again- NOT playback quality fine tuning. I found myself recently however in a mobile situation and my whole life is becoming virtualised so I whipped out my trusty Behringer EuroRack UB802 baby mixer as a headphone pre amp for my Sennheiser over ears and immediately have experienced an awesome improvement and volume using just my (current) desktop PC with a stereo connection using cheap commercial 3.5mm to RCA. The only audiophile element here is that my 3.5 cable is gold-plated!

My concern here is that (as I've never really been concerned with quality on playback (BTW my library is FLAC or APE as much as possible)) I expected a simple wiki reference to step me through the DSP options which so far previously I have ignored because I was less concerned with output and had the quality output hardware in the past ... (Dedicated amps 5.1 speakers etc)

I dunno if this is helpful or not - I have no problem with my sound - It's friggin brilliant but the tech in me wants assurance that I have configured my output right and I cant find an authoritive source. I do love this stuff but my time for searching and trial and error is getting less. Surely you guys are starting to get to critical mass to at least produce a manual with common use case  or are their still enough lemmings out there who are happy with their default players? I which case, those of use who want to press in closer do in fact need to  "Please read carefully.  The answers are here."

Please don't take this negatively, there is no doubt about my future media player but I think enough of this community / open source approach surely? Isn't it time that you protect and venture forward as a fully commercial product?

Anywho - any tips on playback options in MC to take an already incredible sound from lossless through a "cheap" on-board DAC, outputting on a 3.5mm to RCA (It IS gold plated after all ) into (not even line) RCA "Tape" input on my Eurorack UB802 will be gratefully experienced. RIP D.B. I'm listening to Blackstar and I cant believe the quality on such a simple solution. I know that MC is contributing to this experience but like the addict looking for that last high, I would love improvement suggestions. That makes me un grateful I know but I think you addicts understand?

Kind Regards,

Mitch

[buckeyewalt]

I kind of think that if you look at all of the questions asked on the forum, that most of us here are the "hold my hand kind of profiles". Many of us (me included) are not gear heads. have expensive room filled amps and state of the art video equipment. Most of us just like good music that I can turn on and off and adjust it per my needs without having to dig into my computer change files or what have you in order to get the proper sound you want. I admit I'm still stuck on MC18 because I don't think that my ears can tell the difference in sound from 18-21 with MY sound equipment and really don't want to mess around and screw up something. Then it's back to the forum and having to ask a question that you have no idea where to look to somebody who knows the in's and out's of MC and you're painted as an idiot (in polite terms of course) who can't read a simple chapter in WIKI. There has to be an easier way!

And while I'm on the podium.... Lyrics, Lyrics, Lyrics how simple can it be to insert them, If Media Monkey can do it for free, you would think that a paid MC could offer it!

Done with my rant!

[glynor]

Lyrics, Lyrics, Lyrics how simple can it be to insert them, If Media Monkey can do it for free, you would think that a paid MC could offer it!

Extremely difficult if you don't want to get sued. Open source projects can get away with this, to some degree, because there is no commercial entity.

Considering that the Links feature easily allows you to look up and display lyrics for any item in MC with a single click, I don't know what the big deal is on this. I have no interest in filling the [Lyrics] field in my tracks anymore.

[buckeyewalt]

I totally agree with you about doing it illegally, however, has it been explored as a license? Again not know costs or anything, I'm sure that an option like this just like MP3 conversions might be an interest to some people.  

[glynor]

I totally agree with you about doing it illegally, however, has it been explored as a license? Again not know costs or anything, I'm sure that an option like this just like MP3 conversions might be an interest to some people.  

There is no monolithic lyrics clearinghouse. That's the problem with all of those sites. The way you get licenses for those?

There are a few organizations that "group" licenses for them together, but you need to deal with all of them individually. And that doesn't help you if a particular artist doesn't participate in the organizations where you have a license. In those cases, you have to go to the copyright holder directly (which may, or may not be, the artist).

So, some guy in Idaho posts a song to YouTube he wrote, sells the copyright to a dude down the street in a written contract only the two of them know about. Then they both drop off the face of the earth. And some user likes the song and uploads the lyrics?

[kstuart]

A few comments:

* If you are actually rich, then one of the biggest advantages of that, is being able to pay other people to take care of things for you.   Each of us only has 24 hours in each day, so time is the world's most limited resource.  If you are truly a "rich SOB", then you should be paying someone else to setup your music systems with both ease of use and high quality sound.

* In 2016, the biggest upgrade you can make in your sound quality is by getting a better DAC.  Generally, this is assuming a PC or Mac (or optical disk player) based playback system.  Here is the catch (and people hate hearing this): If you are not a critical listener, i.e. you've never been a musician, you've never heard the room in a recording, you don't know what instruments really sound like in person - then you won't hear a difference, and so do not bother.  You are not a worse human being, and you will save plenty of money (although you don't care ).  (But for those who might be able to hear the difference, go to schiit.com - you're welcome.)

* DSP options in Media Center are only needed for those who already want to do something that is supported within it.  An excellent recording (e.g. "RCA Living Stereo") will not need anything in the DSP options.

* In fact, the best sound quality always comes from having as many things as possible turned off.  If you are at a wedding,  and you are in a room where a string quartet is playing, then you have zero hardware, zero software and zero DSP options that get between you and the real sound of the instruments.  It's like a picture window onto a beautiful view - the idea is for the window to be as transparent as possible.  If you can open the window (and thereby remove it from the "playback chain"), even better.

[glynor]

I disagree that the best sound quality comes from having things, like DSP, turned off.

Most accurate? Perhaps. Most true? Sure. Best quality, though?

That's entirely subjective, and in most cases depends entirely on the playback setup and situation, and your personal preference.

[fooze]

There should be no difference in sound quality from MCs 18 to 21. I'd like to believe Matt's had this right since the first release!

Better DACs is very much a case of diminishing returns, sure you'll notice a difference between onboard laptop audio and a DAC worth a couple of hundred dollars, but more than that and we're starting to split hairs over distortion measured in hundredths or thousandths of a per cent. Its not going to be audible.

Speakers though, usually measure distortion in tens of percents. Your room however, can introduce frequency response anomalies of up to 30dB, not to mention things like comb filtering, SBIR, room modes and so on.

Check out Ethan Winer's primers on acoustics for some tips on how to improve your sound for free or very little cost.

[RoderickGI]

Most true? Sure.

I don't even think that is correct. Most true representation of the recording, but not of the original sound.

If you are at a wedding,  and you are in a room where a string quartet is playing, then you have zero hardware, zero software and zero DSP options that get between you and the real sound of the instruments.

Actually there is an enormous amount of DSP at a wedding where live music is played. It is called the room, furnishings, people, plants, windows, etc. That is why a recording made in a studio needs to have acoustic effects added to sound like the music at the wedding you talk of.

[fooze]

It helps to try and define what you mean by best quality. For example, I like an even response across all points in a room, lots of bass and don't care about imaging.

[glynor]

I don't even think that is correct. Most true representation of the recording, but not of the original sound.

Yeah. I thought about how to try to say that simply, but didn't come up with a clever way to encapsulate it. But agreed, that only even applies if you're going for "true to the recording" (and are in a perfect listening environment, with perfectly neutral gear).

But even if so (you are in a perfect listening environment, and you do have perfectly neutral gear), is that better? I'd say heck no.

But then, I like how JRSS expands stereo to surround most of the time. I'm not interested in blind fidelity to some ideal of perfection. I want something that is exciting, and fun, and which makes me happy.

[marko]

I want something that is exciting, and fun, and which makes me happy.

Me too. It's why I married her.