EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

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ivanovnegro
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:55 am

Oh boy, you pretty much discouraged me and I already was before. :) I know you can buy better ones for more bucks but we already own good ones and no app required as mentioned in my post and she wanted "less" quality for outside, if they fall or whatever.

I fear the same without using the app, losing the control of all the goodies you could apply.

She uses Android and I know I could check on the Play Store what permissions are needed.

And no, you are right, she has no neckbeard, not yet, even though she uses Linux on her laptop, it is even a real Linux machine (Slimbook).

I fear Apt-X was not supported in one of them she found, though AAC was. On the headphones she has, she has support for both.

A physical store is difficult, first because in this town there is nothing, of course we could just go shopping elsewhere and second, because I really will not bother with making an appointment due to the damn virus to buy some ear pads.

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gutterslob
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by gutterslob » Mon Apr 11, 2022 3:47 pm

I forgot Android supports both AAC and Apt-X. She'll be fine with AAC. No big difference between the two.

I understand why you would want to avoid going to a physical store, but just be aware that fit will always be a question mark. Just make sure you can return/exchange them if they don't fit well.

From the two Creative models you listed, I think the "Air" will be a better fit for women. Features look decent, at least on paper. Definitely looks like you'll need the app for everything.

I don't have much experience in the area. I've tried very few earbuds. My ears are weird. My ear canals have a sharp inward bend after entry, so many in-ear types don't work for me. I can only use very shallow fitting types, or go full custom. The wireless earbuds I use are from some obscure Japanese maker and have no special ANC or EQ functions, doesn't require the app to work (hell, the app doesn't even have an English version), sounds boringly neutral, and you'd probably have a hard time finding them where you live anyway.

..and she uses a Slimbook? Impressive! Those things are expensive.

Edit:
Actually, I think Android handles AAC differently from Apple. That's why I think many Android users recommend Apt-X (or Apt-X Adaptive), because AAC streamed from Android doesn't sound as good as iOS, for some reason. So if she cares about sound quality, maybe it's better to find an Apt-X model. I cannot confirm this though. You'll need to ask more Android people. If she values other features more, (like ANC, calls quality, audio latency when she's kicking your ass in Call of Duty Mobile), then it doesn't matter so much.

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ivanovnegro
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:16 pm

Thank you again Gutterslob.

I also very much prefer Apt-X on Android and I can remember that was the reason why went with that Audio Technica model without app and EQ stuff, anyway not necessary with high quality source material.
While the focus is still more on listening to music or podcasts on the go, having ANC is a nice addition, especially travelling, but not essential for her needs.

So basically we decided to go with a prior Air model, the version 2 and it seems no app is involved for the lack of ANC and it supports the Apt-X codec. They win in battery life and come with three different sizes for the pads. She has usually no problems with the size of in-ears. Creative offers a 30 day return policy here.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by wuxmedia » Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:08 pm

I recently got some Jabra elites 75t, which sound way better than the samsungs I had (the samsungs also just stopped working after like a month)
It's also survived a machine wash in my pocket :)
ANC never really made a difference as they just fit like ear protecters (and I use them in that manner too, when I have noisy tasks to do)
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Sat Apr 30, 2022 8:24 pm

I can report back that she is happy and already tried them on various occasions and on our last trip over the last weekend.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by wuxmedia » Wed Nov 16, 2022 10:16 am

So work provided me with a new apple Mac book pro M2 16G 512G 14"
It's absolutely splendid hardware, I just wish that it didn't have macos on it LOL
(it's fine really nothing 'wrong' per se (full screen is a mess and the new stagemanagerr is rubbish, and after 10 years of linux almost nothing quite cuts it)
fullscreen with the notch is funny the menu bar should sit on it - which makes fullscreen less of a hassle because the fucking menu bar just appears anywhere the top of the screen where all the tabs are...
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by gutterslob » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:50 pm

^ Jealous of your 120Hz screen. Never had that in a laptop before. Wish they brought their high refresh screens to the iPad Mini series (my favourite Apple device).

Not really EDC, but I was recently loaned a Leica Q2 Monochron. Despite my disdain for the brand and its fanboys, gotta admit it’s a nice bit of kit. Great sensor and lens. Not quite as soulful as B&W images taken with my humble Ricoh GR3 though.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by wuxmedia » Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:40 pm

^ the display is nice - I've had the M1 I got from the company expenses scheme and the M2 next to each other and man does the M2 does some NITs in my highly scientific test.
I got the old X1 out the other day, still up to date with debian and i3 :)

The screen (from 2012) looked like a bad photocopy over a light box :D
Work are quite forgiving and has antivirus and some management thing on it, mosyle, I think.
But they really don't care and apparently will splash out on a parallels enterprise for people to run linux on :D So Might be doing that.
decent h/w with a GTFO my way WM and nice terminal (i hate hate hate ZSH sorry not sorry) BASH ftw
Anyway the management thing hasn't baulked at me running practically every thing "no the mac way"
Thanks to titan for reminding me that brew is a thing and super useful.
Anyway I'm chuffed as I haven't had any slowdowns on this hardware which considering I use a couple of browsers (with slack in and the chat system which is a hog) and Terminal with 5 tabs. It's OK :D
I did load the X1 up with my typical workload and it wasn't breaking a sweat still with twice as many tabs ... :D
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by gutterslob » Thu Nov 17, 2022 8:13 am

wuxmedia wrote:
Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:40 pm
Work are quite forgiving and has antivirus and some management thing on it, mosyle, I think.
Wish I could put in more time and discipline into learning Apple MDM ins/outs for managing my iPad. Actually looked at Mosyle recently. Still unsure if it (or any of the self-hosted options) can do what I want, which is essentially a per-app VPN setup — Safari and some other apps running strictly within a WireGuard tunnel while everything else is excluded but still falls back to my system-wide DoH setting.

But they really don't care and apparently will splash out on a parallels enterprise for people to run linux on…
The Paralles license probably makes more financial sense for enterprise. Less so for an individual user just wanting to run distros, especially since Parallels switched to the yearly subscription model. A decent hypervisor in my experience (using the desktop version), although they used to lag behind VMWare in GPU acceleration for Linux in the past.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by wuxmedia » Sat Nov 19, 2022 11:56 pm

Thanks Slob I knew you would come in with some of that Apple Knowhow :D
I have no idea about mosyle. I do Know that it hasn't interfered (so far) with my admittedly left field choices on stuff and method of install :D
pretty sure it can be tweaked. We don't (for the moment) enforce a lot really. We don't connect over VPN or anything, This is honestly only so they can conform to some ISO spec.

It was a Mac, or a lenovo if you wanted win/lnx - no clue as to what model though... the latest X1 carbon (which is my yardstick) is not comparable in price I don't think> (I've not looked)

MadOS is Ok right. bash is my shell ( cool ) and I use a FREE (gasp) screenshot app because there is no bullshit (flameshot) and there is mac version.
keyboard is really, really nice. even from the X1 (although WTF is the " vs @ location DEFAULT GB about apple? please motherfucker I am not switching after 30 years of typing... really christ)
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ivanovnegro
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Sun Nov 20, 2022 10:45 pm

I have a new toy at our new home. We had to downsize a bit, so big speakers had to go. It is the Sonos Roam SL without the mic of course. Pretty fat sound for such a small sound bar. Anyway it is very compatible with my iPhone and I guess it fits into gadgets because it is damn portable. It wanders all around the house and might even get used outside some day.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by GekkoP » Sat Dec 09, 2023 11:58 am

My dear, old HP MicroServer died. Well, it's my fault mostly because I put it in a place where cooling off was hard, and Plex these days was really tiring the hell out of it.

I ordered a refurbished Fujitsu Esprimo Q920 and a Vultech MU-UPS02 to at least keep the UPS around and use it with the new machine. Still, after 11 years is a bit sad to see this good old friend go.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by GekkoP » Wed Dec 13, 2023 8:25 am

^ So the Fujitsu Esprimo Q920 arrived damaged (which I don't think is what "refurbished" means, by the way) and I had to send it back to the seller. I opted for NiPoGi MiniPC, let's see if I have better luck with this.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by GekkoP » Thu Dec 14, 2023 10:54 pm

^ Rock solid

Screenshot from 2023-12-14 22-53-59.png

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by GekkoP » Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:39 pm

Due to a welfare thingy that has been going on for some years here, I had some extra credit to spend on Amazon, so I ordered a DAC to link the Samsung QLED to my Denon amplifier. I went with a Pro-Ject S2+, mostly because I have never had anything to complain about them.

To my humble ears the sound coming out from the TV is not that bad, but still, nothing compared to what comes out of my old, trustworthy stereo setup.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by gutterslob » Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:55 pm

^ Have to admit I’ve never bothered exploring DSD in depth. So you’re taking PCM output from your TV and sending DSD optical to your amp? The ESS Sabre chipsets are known to be a bit heavy-handed with their distortion compensation, so if it’s sounding a bit sterile (lacking physicality), try to dial it back via the filter settings.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by GekkoP » Sat Jan 13, 2024 2:16 pm

Yes, the idea is sending the audio from the TV to the amp. The S2+ has some filter settings, I'll see which one sounds better.

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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by wuxmedia » Sat Jan 13, 2024 11:01 pm

Jesus. I have an ancient sony thing that probably does stuff over optical. Sounds ok to my half deaf ears. It has a 4.1 but I'm happy if it's stereo lol
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ivanovnegro
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Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Sun Jan 14, 2024 3:21 pm

Talking about audio, great, because it seems I have become a headphones hoarder. I bought my self a Christmas present, the Sennheiser IE 100 Pro. I think I needed some less big ones than those Audio Technicas on the go, but in reality I kind of developed a neurodermatitis since the days of mask wearing and now cannot have bigger headphones on my ears touching parts of my face or skin. I have even problems putting my helmet on when mountain biking.

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