Another cautious request for a subforum - hear me out...?

So many of are re-inventing the wheel with the digitizing of our collections, purchasing downloads, rippin' SACD's, trying to figure out if you hook the DAC to the player that already has a DAC before or after you buy some totally unfamiliar program to check your DR before dBpoweramping it into a FLAC with an mp3 in it. or an AAC with a .cda on top of it with little green rosettas made out of lossy or lossless LAME rips.

Any chance we could separate out the myriad, "How do you-" threads from the "What do I buy-" threads, because the tecchier the hobby is getting, the less it's about audio hardware, and the more it's about studio software. Who knows, if more newb's saw a forum section titled "How to get started doing stuff you don't know how to do", they might not all be peppering the experts here with the same questions worded different ways.

This not about avoiding Beatles or rap or non-rock threads...and it has nothing to do with Hardware discussion. It's about the ergonomics; to help people just coming here, find answers before they get lost in "which DAC will solve all the problems you don't know you have yet" discussions. QQ for instance, has a couple of areas in this vein, and I think it works quite well.

I'm coming across suggestions here every day for a program or an app or a procedure I need to consider "before I get started and have to start all over again"..and I don't even know what I need 'em for!

Serious consideration?

 

if QQ has the areas you want, go to QQ ?

 

Why would you want to send your readers over to a site dedicated to surround sound. The areas I'm talking about in reference to their site, are mostly hobbyist mixing in surround, various multichannel decoding scripts for Audition and similar progrms, an area where Steven Wilson occationally pops in, and other items primarily of interest to the more advanced stereo/enhanced-stereo fans. I suggest it here because we have a wide variety of requests for information in all factions of new sound repro, and this sort of all-audio subforum would make more sense here.

 

This appeals to me. I'm not a total luddite but there are things I should learn more about. Good suggestion @Dillydipper .

 

This is the first idea for a sub-forum that makes sense. It's much better than these types of threads getting lost in the other categories.

 

I agree as well. Plus it will enable easier searching for the techically challenged (such as myself)

 

No sub-forum for you! Oh, wait a minute, that was soup.

 

I suggested a computer software audio section several months back. It got a few thumbs ups before being deleted.

Computer Audiophile has the market cornered for that stuff anyway right? Or is this something different you are suggesting?

 

I am only interested in Vinyl and cd playback. So i have no interest in a sub forum for me. I can see however that for many on here it would be a fantastic idea. Well done to the OP

 

Today I found six out of fifty threads on the first two pages which seemed from their titles to be about software but two of those included hardware, such as a DAC or Streamer.

 

I think people would like to know what they're getting into, understand why they need which software, what they can expect for results...and then the hardware forum takes over. So many times I've had a project in mind, and I'll be at the bookstore or hardware store, and be tempted to just buy something, knowing full well once I get started I'm gonna be on Amazon tonight, looking for what I really need. But whatever I picked up first, just gives me that endorphin high, that I got something "done".

I think people who go looking to buy a DAC before they even decide on EAC or dBpoweramp (not realizing the probably got some little app in their jRiver or Roon or Foobar2000 already - and gave up on figuring that out already) need some knowledge base before they get to the shiny new product.

Think of a "software and strategies" forum as the Consumer Reports Car Issue, and the Hardware forum as the fins.

 

Has anyone suggested a Beatles subforum?

 

Not all threads are "how to" or "what do I buy". There are lots of problem solving threads that really aren't how to, and there are lots of threads that do not fit any of the above. It's working now, why mess with a good thing?

 

How about a vinyl subforum. Vinyl, turntables, styluses, preamps, record cleaners, stands, voodoo... this topic dominates the audio hardware forum, at the expense of everything else. Whereas other audio stuff just sounds as good as it is designed to, there is a continuous stream of opinion and advise on how to achieve the perfect vinyl sound.

Can't find much information about mastering VSTs and techniques when someone is asking again "what's the best turntable for $xxx". Get that stuff its own forum here, lest it go offsite to a "corner" of the internet that is actually focused on LPs.

 

Playback software and creation of files, servers, etc. really is it's own thing from triditional hi-fi. It's the fresh and the new

 

A vinyl sub-forum is soooo tempting! It would certainly help keep them out of the CD threads!

 

And vice versa.

 

I don't see CD people invading or hijacking threads as much as the vinyl people do. The vinyl people come into threads and act like it's the format in the world. Then, digital people have to wade through dozens of pages just to find a crumb of information that they are interested in.

 

And vice versa.

 

I'd love to learn how to do all of the digital stuff. I would really welcome this addition to this forum.

 

Show me an example.

 

Yeah. Good idea. Let's (re)structure Audio Hardware forum into a couple of meaningful sub sections.

-Digital FE
-Analog FE
- Speakers Corner
-Head Gear
-Audio Software