Audiophile

I know I haven't been religiously updating my blog, but my life has been uninteresting at the moment. I spend most of the weekends at home, to save money and also because my broken car prevents me from going out.

My rants about work can only go so far, as nothing really changes there, it will always be stressing and mind numbing.

I recently acquired a nice set of 5.1 Logitech speakers and 24-bit 192kHz/108dB SNR Audigy 2 ZS sound card for my computer. What a difference it makes. Now I hear how most of my mp3s are so low quality. Also when watching DVD's, the sound card has DTS ES and Dolby EX, which is just plain kick ass. I don't really care about the Dolby EX, but DTS ES is just amazing. Also did I say this sound card is THX certified? I know there are better "professional" sound cards out there, but they are like $500, way over what I can afford. There are other things in this card too, like Firewire (1394), support for 5.1/6.1/7.1 speakers setting, EAX advanced HD, and DVD Audio. The DVD audio is not the audio you get from the DVD movies, it's specifically for audio only, which is the sound is so clean and crisp. It had a DVD audio sampler and omg, I think I will only start getting DVD audio, forget CD's. It's pure 24-bit multi-channel audio.

And the speakers, I didn't get the ultimate speaker, because the best Logitech speaker set is $400, though the one I got doesn't disappoint. The SNR is high enough that when there is no sound coming out from the computer, I will not hear a "hiss" even when the volume is high (voltage noise traveling along the line). It also has a new technology where it outputs a more uniform sound. Let me say the clarity is not a Harman Kardon, but it is still pretty nice. Also the subwoofer is pretty nice, I can only use 1/4 of the subwoofer volume before it starts shaking stuff on my desk. The subwoofer is disproportional to the satellite speakers in term of power/wattage. Not saying that the bass will dwarf the other sound, but if I do put the subwoofer all the way up, it will. Funny thing is the air displacement in the subwoofer box, it like having a personal fan. Overall, my Altec Lansing 4.1 speaker set was getting dated, and since I usually watch DVD on my computer rather than my living room, I needed a DTS capable, THX certified sound card and a nice 5.1 speaker set. Yea, right now my audio is better than the on in the living room.

So this led me to check my mp3 and god jesus, I need to organize my mp3 folder. I dump all my mp3 on "My Music" folder, but when you have over 3000 mp3 files, it takes like 8 seconds for the computer to display the folder contents. And there are soo many files that it kind of sucks read each music titles to find what I want when I don't remember the music name. Maybe I will start using iTunes for organization purposes, but I like Windows Media Player SRS feature.

I finally got the PDF files for the cert from my coworker, and hopefully I will gloss over it of the next week, although its a lot to read.

My boss bought a nice camera for himself, and is getting into photography as well, he ordered a couple of photography books online, and of course I will borrow them, hehe. The weather is getting nice so once I get my car, I will start doing some real world practices. I recently got the tripod and all.

Some random pictures below.


iPod DJ Mixer.

I think it's the only photo in existance that has them together, but do you know who they are?

Choco Pie.

Choco Pie, engrish at best.

Choco Pie; say what?