OT: Audio Processing

The ear-brain combination is just about the most non-linear system I'm familiar with - and it displays suboptimum behaviour in any number of different ways.

Hence, even if it worked for one person, that implies _nothing_ about whether it would work for the next. In this domain there is absolutely no substitute for "suck it and see".

If you want predictions, the best way to get tested by someone that has no direct financial interest in their diagnosis and/or recommended treatment. Even then there is no guarantee, but it would bias the odds in your favour.

There are demo tracks right on the site which claim to be unprocessed DVD audio followed processed; if one plays those thru one's TV and into one's headphones I don't see why if those claims are truthful that shouldn't be an accurate representation of the effect.

A used $35 half-rack space analog compressor will probably work almost as well and some TVs have audio compression built in its called "Night Mode" or something

Den onsdag den 7. marts 2018 kl. 00.00.30 UTC+1 skrev Jim Thompson:

crowd funded lots of sleek pictures "as seen on" overly positive "testimonials" "using patented technology" famous popstar is part of the "team"

I'd say there is very good odds that it is overpriced junk

My guess, also :-( ...Jim Thompson

If muddy means loss of high frequencies, as it tends to, a graphic equaliser is all that takes to sort. If the problem is something else I couldn't say.

NT

I've no reason to doubt those demos, but we all know how demos can be "chosen", particularly w.r.t. audio tracks.

The speakers will also have an unknown effect. More importantly, the effectiveness for any one listener means little about the effectiveness for a different listener.

Not necessarily, given the ways in which faulty and highly non-linear systems behave.

With significantly defective hearing, I have some knowledge of these issues.

I don't know about that product specifically, but couldn't you just use a m ulti-band graphic equalizer and adjust the sound to your liking?

As far as headphones go, I use a pair of "Beats" by DrDre for working out o n the cardio machines at the gym. (-- which admittedly, I was immediately s keptical because it sure reeked of being a Millennial hyped item). However , a friend of mine loaned me his and the sound really was amazing, and defi nitely loud enough (on an iPod nano MP3 player).

Now, these things get expensive - but I want to say I paid about $200 and t hey were on sale at the time. That was 3 years ago, and they're holding up very well.

I use an LG "sports" BlueTooth headset in the gym. I like the sound of them but they do wear on the neck. I also have an LG "Platinum" (LBS-1100) headset for my cell phone. It works really well.

At that price, I'd be looking at active noise canceling headphones. I'm not sure how any of these will help Jim, though. It sounds like he needs some serious signal processing behind the headsets.

on the cardio machines at the gym. (-- which admittedly, I was immediately skeptical because it sure reeked of being a Millennial hyped item). Howev er, a friend of mine loaned me his and the sound really was amazing, and de finitely loud enough (on an iPod nano MP3 player).

they were on sale at the time. That was 3 years ago, and they're holding up very well.

Damn, you were burnt, I paid way less for my 90 year old set. They're holdi ng up ok so far, but my ears don't like being clamped in them for too long. No wonder old films show people just holding one side up to their head. Th e bare HT connections don't reassure me much though.

NT

That's a lot of the difference between a good set of headphones and cheap/crappy headphones. Good headsets can be worn for long periods without pain. ;-) I have a set of Boze over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones that are easy to wear on cross-country flights, including waiting around the airport. The weren't inexpensive, though. Nothing Boze sells is inexpensive (some is cheap, though ;-).

out on the cardio machines at the gym. (-- which admittedly, I was immediat ely skeptical because it sure reeked of being a Millennial hyped item). Ho wever, a friend of mine loaned me his and the sound really was amazing, and definitely loud enough (on an iPod nano MP3 player).

and they were on sale at the time. That was 3 years ago, and they're holdi ng up very well.

lding up ok so far, but my ears don't like being clamped in them for too lo ng. No wonder old films show people just holding one side up to their head. The bare HT connections don't reassure me much though.

does anyone here not know that?

so can the cheapest. But not 1920s ones. They're prototypical torture devic es.

NT

But mostly not.

I also own a pair AKG K240 Studio headphones. Marked 55 ohms. They also sound very nice, though not as loud as the "Beats". Very comfortable, over the ear design you can wear for hours without fatigu e.

However, it's best to use then in otherwise quiet surroundings as they do l et other sounds in, though suppressed maybe 15 dB or so.

BTW: The Beats headphones were purchased specifically for the gym / iPod n ano setup. The gym is noisy, and for whatever reason, the headphones I use d before with the iPod nano were pretty crappy (sound and level). And had I not listened to them first, on the nano, I never would have plopped down that kind of cash. (Although the AKG's were probably close. And in fact, I used to own two pair but my brother, a professional musician, "borrowed" one.) :)

My only other pair of headphones (besides the real cheapy PC-computer types ) are the Howard Leight electronic ones that suppress loud sudden noises to a safe 82dB SPL. It lives in my range bag with a couple Glocks and some o ther goodies.

One last aside: I used to fix beepers for a living back in high school, and the summer afte r. I don't think I can even hear 1004 Hz anymore! (That was one of the modula ting test tones we used for aligning analog heterodyne receivers - I don't recall why?)

ng out on the cardio machines at the gym. (-- which admittedly, I was immed iately skeptical because it sure reeked of being a Millennial hyped item). However, a friend of mine loaned me his and the sound really was amazing, and definitely loud enough (on an iPod nano MP3 player).

holding up ok so far, but my ears don't like being clamped in them for too long. No wonder old films show people just holding one side up to their he ad. The bare HT connections don't reassure me much though.

I don't know where you're buying headphones from. You'd have to be paying a dollar to get anything that bad. Even at the bottom of the barrel a lot ar e comfortable.

Nonsense.

ser is all that takes to sort. If the problem is something else I couldn't say. "

You beat me to it, but it is not a prefect solution. I use a ten band equal izer for TV audio and have found limitations :

The content on TV shows varies vastly in frequency response, I have to read just it for different shows. Though most of what I watch is very old, it ha ppens on many newer programs, probably at the whim of the audio engineer.

Also I find that sometimes +- 10 dB is not enough. It seems when you don't see a microphone it is worse. they are probably using a lapel or other hidd en mic that is too close to the chest, and it seems that certain bands of f requencies are simply missing. I have take it to the extreme, other control s all the way and one or two the other way for a total of 20 dB correction and it still isn't enough. for a similar reason, a regular equalizer cannot replace the equalizer for the Bose 901 speakers, it simply does not have e nough range.

One of the biggest problems for me is echoes. This has been forever, even a s a kid. I could not understand voices in an echoey auditorium. Some of the shows have mics that pick up too much reverberation and that kills my abil ity to understand it.

Another thing is the music is usually too damn loud. This is not new, my Gr andfather complained about it. i can't hear in a crowd either. If there are multiple conversations going on I have great difficulty in filtering out a ll but one. I also have trouble with accents, like jive, ebonics and the wa y the young speak these days. foreigner, usually I can understand if they d on't have an accent. I have found people from other countries generally to speak better English than USians. but soe of them have marvelous diction. L ike Puerto rico pronounced "PWERTO" instead of "PORTOR", and properly prono uncing words like when, why etc. actually softly pronoucing the "H". Some e ven pronounce comfortable right, instead of comfterble. And many talk to fa st.

There is a scheme used by some TV manufacturers on their smaller sets that inverts the midrange by use of active filters. They claim it improves intel ligibility but I have not done a side by side or anything like that.

So this device would have to actively reequalize for a tailored frequency s pread, that means analysing the input all the time and making corrections q uite frequently, at least as the program changes.

It would also have to provide some hard compression while not boosting the echoes and ambiance. If it does all that at a reasonable price that would b e good. But it is probably not cheap.

rking out on the cardio machines at the gym. (-- which admittedly, I was im mediately skeptical because it sure reeked of being a Millennial hyped item ). However, a friend of mine loaned me his and the sound really was amazin g, and definitely loud enough (on an iPod nano MP3 player).

$200 and they were on sale at the time. That was 3 years ago, and they're holding up very well.

're holding up ok so far, but my ears don't like being clamped in them for too long. No wonder old films show people just holding one side up to their head. The bare HT connections don't reassure me much though.

g a dollar to get anything that bad. Even at the bottom of the barrel a lot are comfortable.

What a silly thing to say. I'm done here.

"Multiband compression", you can split the audio signal into multiple frequency ranges and adjust how much each frequency band is "leveled" mostly independently.

You can set it up so the low-end compressor clamps down hard on the kabooms in an action movie, but the high-end less so to keep dynamics of the dialog.

You can also use "sidechaining" to say band-pass filter the audio signal to emphasize the ranges most important to intelligible speech, and when those ranges activate it then clamps down on the low-end and highs in proportion to how much signal its seeing.

That's done all the time in music production too; it's hard to mix a band that has both a kick drum and a bass guitar using up low-frequency space in the mix, the frequency ranges want to clash with each other. So they sidechain the kick to the bass so that every time the kick drum hits the bass is "ducked" in volume and comes back up after the low end transient passes

There are software plugins that can do it all for under $100 probably, you'd either have to route the audio thru a computer or playback from a PC to begin with though

Depends how f'ing big and loud your PA is. I have 5KW, and f'ing big speakers, and lots of them :-)

-- Kevin Aylward