Simpleton

[John Duncan]

Posting here to try to reach the biggest audience for my spectacular stupidity.

A confession. Anyone who has made a buying decision based on my experience of Airport Express, I apologise now. When I said it was 'woolly', maybe I should have made sure the EQ in iTunes was set to 'off', rather than 'small speakers', which boosts bass and cuts treble......

And so a new word - jaydeewit - is born........

 

[Alec]

And how does it sound now?

 

[Anonymous]

Easily done. I was reading a post on the computer audiophile.com site that had me panicking re. burning cd's into iTunes but fortunately all was well with my settings - more luck than judgement. Whilst on the iTunes settings, could you (or anybody) explain why my playback volume level seems a bit on the low side. File-get info-summary shows volume settings for selected tracks from, say, -5db to -7.8db. Is this any indication of low playback volume? Would going into Options and cranking the whole library up to +100% cause problems rather than solutions?.

 

[bigblue235]

JohnDuncan:Posting here to try to reach the biggest audience for my spectacular stupidity. A confession. Anyone who has made a buying decision based on my experience of Airport Express, I apologise now. When I said it was 'woolly', maybe I should have made sure the EQ in iTunes was set to 'off', rather than 'small speakers', which boosts bass and cuts treble...... And so a new word - jaydeewit - is born........

As said above, easily done

I use an iTrip in the car, and I need to use the ipod eq as it sounds woeful. Then when I take the ipod into the house, and stick it through the Audica thingy in the kitchen, it sounds grim until I remember to switch the eq off again.

I have an AE here waiting to try, but I really don't fancy getting in behind my TV/AV stand to connect it. We're moving in a few weeks, so I'll wait 'til then and report back. Hope I like it as much as you (now) do!

 

[John Duncan]

al7478:And how does it sound now?

Quite like my 800 quid CD player.........

 

[fr0g]

JohnDuncan:al7478:And how does it sound now?

Quite like my 800 quid CD player.........
Impressive.
I don't think my squeezebox comes close to my Alpha 7SE, never mind its own performance through my DAC.

Taken separately it sounds 'ok' but A/B testing reveals it to be very shut in.

I'd love to hear what you thought of a simple DAC upgrade, and am wondering if your CD player has a problem?

 

[John Duncan]

I say 'quite' - you can tell the difference, but it's not 735 quid's worth of difference (to my mind). And 'shut in' it certainly wasn't.

Some might say the problem with my CD player is the badge, obviously........

 

[fatboyslimfast]

I'd love to know whether there is a difference with the AE plugged into a Beresford (or similar). At the moment I'm using PC>Beresford, and it's made world of difference. If the AE had a similar effect, I could junk the PC in the lounge...and save the best part of 200w of (now bleddy expensive) electricity!

 

[John Duncan]

Well yeah it will happen, but the urgency has gone away. Indeed, I had thought I'd get a DAC to make it better, but am glad I didn't and find that it still sounded like it was wrapped in a sock. That's tone controls for you........

Am just glad I got my laptop set up or I'd never have noticed it - "hey this sounds gooood". D'oh.

 

[the record spot]

david1997:
Would going into Options and cranking the whole library up to +100% cause problems rather than solutions?.

Might result in distortion on some tracks - I did this with a few CDs and (e.g.) Nerina Pallot's album sounded distorted, however, that equally may have been the original recording on the disc; been put off enough not to want to listen to it again admittedly...!

 

[John Duncan]

I found last night that as long as iTunes volume was on full, levels between the AE and the CD player were pretty much the same.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:....When I said it was 'woolly', maybe I should have made sure the EQ in iTunes was set to 'off', rather than 'small speakers', which boosts bass and cuts treble......

Also, make sure you have 'Sound Enhancer' switched off, under Preferences / Playback.

 

[John Duncan]

Yup, saw that first before I found the EQ (it's a bit of a dig, don't know how I managed to choose 'small speakers' in the first place!).

 

[Anonymous]

Well Simpleton, on the plus side you just got an unexpected upgrade for free! Not dissimilar to when I realised I'd set up my sub incorrectly and it was hardly doing anything...

 

[John Duncan]

First thing I thought was "wahay! no dac required!"

 

[Anonymous]

...still, a nice, shiny new box like, say, the Musical Fidelity X-Dac on special offer would be very nice. Especially as it has tubes and bubble-wrap...

 

[John Duncan]

Bubble wrap, you say?

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Bubble wrap, you say?
...lots...

 

[John Duncan]

nnnnngggggggghhhhhhhhhh

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

If you're someone lucky enough to have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, an Airport Express and a big iTunes library, you've got to get that new 'Remote' app for the iPhone. Let's you browse your whole music library through your iPod and use it as a remote control. Looks Ace!! (Sorry, did I just use the word 'ace'!!??)

 

[fr0g]

JohnDuncan:First thing I thought was "wahay! no dac required!"

First thing I would have thought was "What the hell is wrong with my CD player?!"

I have heard that the Squeezebox is better with its analogue outs than the AE. If the Primare can't beat that, then there has to be a problem. ;(

 

[John Duncan]

It was! They're very close........

Maybe that amp of mine just isn't very transparent.....

 

[John Duncan]

FuzzyinLondon:If you're someone lucky enough to have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, an Airport Express and a big iTunes library, you've got to get that new 'Remote' app for the iPhone. Let's you browse your whole music library through your iPod and use it as a remote control. Looks Ace!! (Sorry, did I just use the word 'ace'!!??)

Or a laptop and your library on the network. Not exactly hand-sized, but hey.......

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

Also very true. My beast of a G5 is in the bedroom with all my music on it. I guess I just like the idea of having i remote where you can flick through all your cover art and playlists from the comfort of the sofa. Oh well, may for Xmas if I'm a good boy.

 

[professorhat]

Same for me Fuzzy, I installed the new apps on to my iTouch last night but haven't tried it out yet (and I'm off to the motor show tonight so looks like a weekend thing now!)