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

Pardon my ignorance and imbecility. What does FE stand for?

I'm hoping that the suggested subforum will happen. I want to use an ADC to which the output from the phono stage can be connected and presumably something on the computer to deal with whatever the ADC passes to it. Several years on I am no nearer to finding out how to do it. And I'd give anything to know what that 16 bit ADC was that Bill Inglot enthused about a few years ago as hi-res doesn't make any difference on my set up.

 

sorry. FE= Front end

 

I guess I'll play devil's advocate here. One of the things I disliked over at AK (other than the utter disdain for anything <30 years old - Music and hardware) Was how fractured the forum was and how everyone kinda freaked when a post was made that was not in the right one of 832 subtopics. I know there are some that look on a forum as a help desk and live to keep everything in line, but I always think that it should be a discussion. An Op creates a topic and usually that topic (or question) gets answered with most of the necessary information in the first few posts and then it evolved into a bigger (and usually much more interesting) conversation loosely relating to the original topic. I know that drives some of the more OCD types a little nuts, but I think it makes for a better experience.

 

Agree. I think the main outcome of this would be angst over if posts were in the right place. You're also right that one of the things that makes this a better forum is less buckets.

 

This. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The only subforum that I wouldn't mind seeing created and attempted to keep separated from the main audio hardware board is computer audio as pertaining to the computer hardware and software. No problem with including discussion of computer or streaming as a source or recording front end hardware, but I find that old school audio hardware and computer drive and computer software questions to be of interest to different people or to the same people but at different times. In other words, If I am asking about turntable upgrades for making "needle drops", ie digital recordings of analog Lp sources, I'd rather not see the whole thread degenerate into a software discussion. The same is true if I wanted advice on what software to use or what computer devices are best for particular applications such as setting up a music server; I'd rather not see that be taken over with digital vs analog debates, etc. Not that I dislike computers so much (I am typing on one now...) but that I do see the devices and processes as very different and that it would be useful to see some specialization there.
-Bill

 

I can't comment about "CD people in vinyl threads" simply because I don't go into vinyl-oriented threads, but I agree that threads about CD quality often become "invaded" by the "get vinyl, man!" brigade.

I've seen many "what's the best CD version of Album A?" threads thrown off-track by vinylers who insist you must get that format!

 

I would vote for having a separate Audio Software section. It's funny discussing software in a hardware forum.

 

I tend to agree that a separate software section for audio related software is not a bad idea.

The only problem that I see with it is that, in the real world, software and hardware go together.

 

The fundamental difference from a forum perspective, though, is that software is constantly updated, where we expect Hardware to last a long time, and some of us even gravitate towards vintage Hardware. Absolutely nobody gravitates towards vintage software.

 

Other sub-forum recommendations:
Iron ****ing Maiden
Up The Irons

yeah that's about all that's needed, really.

 

Oh yeah they do! We have people on here who steadfastly stick to older versions of, say, Adobe Audition/Cool EDit, or even operating systems, like Windows XP.

 

They have now.

 

At a minimum, and perhaps as a good start whether or not a sub-forum is created, someone could try to create a (crowd-sourced) FAQ that could be a sticky, answering some of the basic questions about various formats, interfaces, networks, etc. I've been doing audio since the late '60s (or early '70s, depending on what you consider "serious") and frankly, find the whole thing a bit confusing. It's more IT than gear and though I'm not yet ready to dive in deeply, I'm trying to get my head around some of it. Not intuitive for me.

 

You underestimate the stubbornness of many audio guys. I've heard several that are still fussing (sometimes loudly) about XP being EOL!

I think a group based on just the PC side of the world would be good. It is a separate world that some here never have any interest in visiting, but others have considerable inter

 

I think a well implemented Digital Audio and related subforum under Audio Hardware might be the place for such discussions on music computers (PC, Macintosh, and Linux/BSD), software, computer audio hardware, music servers, streaming, DAP, and other such related topics. And with it's own Gort.

 

The opportunity here is to expand the forum user base. I'm talking only about the hardware forum. Splitting into few specialised sub threads, should improve the focus of discussion and drive the quality of conversations. That may attract people outside the SHF circle who are initially only interested to discuss a specific hardware topics.

The only question is. Do you want to do this? ;-)

 

A few specific specialized sub forums - um no they do not want to do that for reasons given many times over the years.

The only question is do they want a (single) section for software playback of computer files.

 

Can't you see, I am thinking big here man.

 

Yes, think big, build and they will come. Always works!!!

 

Sorry if it didn't work for you. Chin up!

I still think it'd be worth to try to re-think hardware forum.

Regards

 

All we need is a forum for Tubes and one for everything else.

 

All we need is a subforum for boring Beatles threads.

All those subforums seem to be working pretty good in the Classified Section.

 

They should have a Digital and an Analog hardware section. Lol

 

Or software, and techniques for using it. People have always been able to talk about hardware. The difference is that there has also always been a group of us who want to talk software. The hardware-only folks may not understand that.

From the moderators standpoint, the only real issue is grouping all those present and past software threads (you know, like how to make needledrops and use tagging software) into that category.

Providing an audio software forum also brings SHF into the 21st century. It's no longer a world of just consumerism. Many audiophiles are also technical and actively creative.

 

These are the types of topics need not be in the general hardware section, but in software playback of computer files.

What settings are best for Click Repair?

How do I know if my rips are accurate?

How to convert my flac files to wav and burn a cd?

Do I really need to normalize my needle drop files?

Why you do not need high quality drives for ripping a cd collection to get perfect lossless files

How do I make my music server play back 5.1 mixes?

I don't want a server player, but I downloaded the Zeppelin hi-res files, could I make a DVD-A disc of them?

What kinds of hard drives are reliable and low cost?

I have a five year old computer, do you think it can handle being converted to a music server? And play back high-res audio and HD video as well?