Children's Corner

Posted by: Massimo Bertola on 03 June 2018

Being unable to open a new forum myself, I introduce the Children's Corner, a sub-forum dedicated to all those minor issues, gadgets and solutions so small that they hardly find home in spaces dominated by 4 to 5 figures (and not infrequently 6) systems and related problems. Here, first, a small welcome.

#1.

Do you own an iPhone 6s and have been strongly disappointed by the fact that Music, its app for - in fact - music, has become visually poor, mainly centered on your subscription to the Music streaming system and only thought as a file replay app as a second thought, apparently? Are you bored with the giant icons, the lack of a chance to list them in a more visually pleasant way? Are you, in spite of all, glad with the quality of iTunes AACs or the mp3 Amazon auto–rips that come (or at least did, they seem to be disappearing) with some bought CDs, that you have on your Mac or phone (if you have the Amazon Music app on them)? Last, have you been tempted to look for a decent app to substitute for the Music one on your iPhone, one with decent graphics, logistics and sound?

I was, and not earlier the yesterday I let myself being talked by reviews (curse all them and many of their authors) into buying (€3,49) a thing called Cesium, which sported a number of reviews that said it was perfect. Well, it is nothing more than Music with a possibility to organize the albums or songs in a list too, with not much more. Same ugly bold, enormous fonts, same slavery to iTunes, voice indistinguishable from the 'original'. I thought of the €3,49 as of having eaten a bad sandwich at the Station's Coffee Bar and threw it away.

Alternative: download the (free) Amazon Music app on your Mac (or PC), select (among the few but useful options, in the settings sub-page), 'Automatically import from' and choose the iTunes/Media/Music folder. Then download the (free) corresponding app from the App Store on your iPhone. Both apps (the one on your Mac and the one on your iPhone) will suck all the music you have in Music (or iTunes, on the Mac) in a few minutes (seconds, if it's a few files) and will list them – on your iPhone – in a visually elegant page, by artist, album, song, whatever you prefer, with artwork and all. Even if you have downloaded or manually put a song or an album in Music which doesn't come from Amazon, it will appear in the right alphabetical position in Amazon Music in minutes. In case of minor issues, metadata can be modified manually and this usually solves the only problem I have met so far a couple of times, that a compilation I had done myself appeared as separate songs.

And, as can be imagined, I took my earbuds and, while I still had Cesium, did a test of the same song with the three apps. Apple Music sounds as it is supposed to sound: a bit dry, airless, with dry bass, minimum imaging and like if they had put a hair too much lemon in you tea. Cesium is apparently the same. But the Amazon Music app, unexpectedly, also sounds a bit better, with a warmer, more structured and 'musical' voice. Shades, nothing more, but pleasing none the less. Hope it will be useful to someone.

That's all on Children's Corner for today. Have a good Sunday!

Posted on: 12 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

HiFi is an important word regarding the scope I had in mind, but yes, my intention was to deal with the minima of audio and it wasn't me making it become pub chat after the first three rounds....

Best

Max

Posted on: 12 June 2018 by Hook

IMHO, the ultimate answer to the dust problem is the knitted box cozy.

Am in contact with the powers that be at Etsy, and am expecting delivery by Christmas.

Posted on: 13 June 2018 by Ardbeg10y

Hook posted:
IMHO, the ultimate answer to the dust problem is the knitted box cozy.
Am in contact with the powers that be at Etsy, and am expecting delivery by Christmas.

It would be Qute to have them in the size of a Muso QB.

Posted on: 13 June 2018 by David Hendon

Hook posted:
IMHO, the ultimate answer to the dust problem is the knitted box cozy.
Am in contact with the powers that be at Etsy, and am expecting delivery by Christmas.

Note the subtle Naim green.

More Naim-like than Naim's own app, since the demise of n-stream.....

Posted on: 13 June 2018 by nigelb

Massimo, you can't blame me this time for thread drift. I have mentioned the d word (d**t) for ages.

Posted on: 15 June 2018 by TOBYJUG

It's often mentioned that the enjoyment of listening is intrinsically linked to health. Good health = good listening.

In this age of new fad diet meltdowns, what's best to bring about an all round winner ??

Almond nuts.

Your Almond nuts must be activated. To bring your listening health to its best. To do this just soak some almonds in water at room temp for a couple of days until it starts to bubble. This is great for introducing fermented flora into the digestive system when eaten. No need to then dry and reheat, just eat with something nice.

Posted on: 15 June 2018 by DrMark

If that were my daily diet I'd top it off with a big dose of cyanide - it supposedly smells like almonds, and then I wouldn't have to eat that other boring-ass stuff ever again.

(Can't help but wonder about all the castrated emus this guy has caused...)

Posted on: 15 June 2018 by joerand

Huge posted:
The effect of partially blocking a reflex port like this is more complex than one might think.
As you are slowing the movement of the air moving into (and out of) a Helmholtz resonator, you are affecting the effective mass of the air in the reflex port and therefore affecting the tuning of the port's phase relationships (and hence it's frequency characteristics) as well as the amplitude. This affects the interaction of the port output with the forward output of the cone.
To have a more selective effect on amplitude (with less effect on phase and frequency), you should use a thin perforated disk rather than a long diffuse plug, or use a much longer but narrower tube.

Completely agree with Huge on this in purely practical terms as well. The volume of air pumped out of the port can be prodigious. Just play the speakers at loudish volume, put your hand behind the port, and feel the movement of air. To significantly alter this air output (folks frequently say try putting a sock in the port) cannot be good for free movement of the driver or longevity of the foams. Slightly modifying the tuning of the port, say with an empty paper towel roll or the like, seems a safer approach.

Probably more a concern with expensive loudspeakers I realize, but I'd hate to think of any device, even a lowly Tivoli, as disposable gear.

Posted on: 16 June 2018 by Christopher_M

joerand posted:
Probably more a concern with expensive loudspeakers I realize, but I'd hate to think of any device, even a lowly Tivoli, as disposable gear.

Bit less of the 'lowly' if it's all the same!

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

nigelb posted:
Massimo, you can't blame me this time for thread drift. I have mentioned the d word (d**t) for ages.

Ok, but I need help.... What's the d**t word? And I didn't blame you at all for anything.... safe perhaps for the read cap of your avatar.

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

[@mention:13533848859433010]: I agree on a general basis, but I seem to remember that a certain model of Neat stand mounters came with foam thingies to put or remove from the port according to your taste. I imagine that the Tivoli One has been ported to give some bass to a a thing made for casual listening on a kitchen counter (although Minnesota Public Radio has just now sent Massenet's Thaïs Meditation, so I turned up the volume and closed my eyes and became a happy, full immersed listener for 5 minutes), so I am not sure that too much technical thought went into its reflex design.

Anyway, HH and I are not the only ones who have found its bass a bit redundant, so there must be something inherently 'wrong' in its ported design. It's just a table radio. Why a practice that is normal on costly Neats should be harmful for it?

Thanks

Max

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

I spoke well of the Amazon player as opposed to the shabbiness of the iPhone's own Music app, clearly made to mainly drag you into the ubiquitous, juke-box like trend of streaming subscriptions.

Now, someone whom I don't remember (sorry for that) wrote somewhere here he was using the Onkyo player on his phone or pod, so I took a look. First I downloaded the free version, then decided to invest the €9,99 for the full one, which can replay up to very high def files. I must say that the sound is good, full, smooth but refined and not lacking in detail, and is an audible shade better than the others I tried. A very elegant and considered graphic and a good GUI too.

This is still Children's Corner, so I stick with minor topics. To all iPhone or iPod owners who want a nice to look at and well thought and working player, I recommend the Onkyo. Only caveat: it will only see your Music (iTunes, so to speak) files, and not the Amazon ones, but I have installed it on my iPhone 6 where I have 32G of space and intend to only put good quality, good music files.

A happy Sunday to all.

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Innocent Bystander

Nice tip, which I’ll try. (I only use mobile music when travelling (e.g flights or long train or bus journeys, and sometimes struggle with getting Apple’s player to play the music I know I put on...)

Now what would be really useful would be if someone could suggest acway of getting music onto an iPhone/Pad without in olving iTunes at all, to be visible to a musoc player like the Onkyo. (I have no interest in online streaming services or cloud solutions, indeed they would be useless travelling as I do not have roaming mobile data, and not usable on many airlines.)

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Christopher_M

Massimo Bertola posted:
Anyway, HH and I are not the only ones who have found [the Tivoli's] bass a bit redundant, so there must be something inherently 'wrong' in its ported design. It's just a table radio. Why a practice that is normal on costly Neats should be harmful for it?

The RA catalogue once showed a fully-pimped Tivoli Model One, on its end so that the port vented to the side, with isolation cones and upgraded mains cable

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

Innocent Bystander posted:
Nice tip, which I’ll try. (I only use mobile music when travelling (e.g flights or long train or bus journeys, and sometimes struggle with getting Apple’s player to play the music I know I put on...)
Now what would be really useful would be if someone could suggest acway of getting music onto an iPhone/Pad without in olving iTunes at all, to be visible to a musoc player like the Onkyo. (I have no interest in online streaming services or cloud solutions, indeed they would be useless travelling as I do not have roaming mobile data, and not usable on many airlines.)

IB,

bypassing iTunes is something I have a sort of idle fixe about too. I'll do experiment and will update my #2 CC chapter.

Keep an eye on it!

Max

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by eddy jay

You could try

Waltr 2, not cheap but it works and you don't need to connect to iTunes

Gary

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by nigelb

Massimo Bertola posted:
nigelb posted:
Massimo, you can't blame me this time for thread drift. I have mentioned the d word (d**t) for ages.
Ok, but I need help.... What's the d**t word? And I didn't blame you at all for anything.... safe perhaps for the read cap of your avatar.

I was trying not to mention it again to avoid another thread drift. The d**t word is 'dust'. D'oh!

BTW, I assume you know who the great man in the red hat is in my Avatar.

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by james n

nigelb posted:
BTW, I assume you know who the great man in the red hat is in my Avatar.

You mean that's not you Nigel. I feel a fool

Posted on: 17 June 2018 by ChrisSU

Massimo Bertola posted:
#2
I spoke well of the Amazon player as opposed to the shabbiness of the iPhone's own Music app, clearly made to mainly drag you into the ubiquitous, juke-box like trend of streaming subscriptions.
Now, someone whom I don't remember (sorry for that) wrote somewhere here he was using the Onkyo player on his phone or pod, so I took a look. First I downloaded the free version, then decided to invest the €9,99 for the full one, which can replay up to very high def files. I must say that the sound is good, full, smooth but refined and not lacking in detail, and is an audible shade better than the others I tried. A very elegant and considered graphic and a good GUI too.
This is still Children's Corner, so I stick with minor topics. To all iPhone or iPod owners who want a nice to look at and well thought and working player, I recommend the Onkyo. Only caveat: it will only see your Music (iTunes, so to speak) files, and not the Amazon ones, but I have installed it on my iPhone 6 where I have 32G of space and intend to only put good quality, good music files.
A happy Sunday to all.
M.

For anyone who wants to avoid iTunes/Apple Music (and yet still owns an iPhone) there is now a VLC app for iOS. It will find music from various sources, stored on cloud services, locally on the iPhone, or on a network. If you really want to avoid even using iTunes to load files onto the phone, you can do it with Dropbox or other services, and VLC will find and play the files. It will also play FLAC files on an iPhone.

Posted on: 27 June 2018 by Massimo Bertola

Thanks,

this is exactly the type of tips and hints that moved me to open this thread. I'll consider it especially for the facility of finding files anywhere. My Onkyo player, for instance, doesn't find the Amazon auto-rips but only the iTunes bought and/or manually added ones. But since I only use the full version on the bigger iPhone (while I have the free one on the iPhone 4 8G I use for mp3s), on which I plan to only put some real definition music, it's not a big issue.