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Welly Wu

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  1. I restored my media library thanks to my best friend who has an external Western Digital hard disk drive that I've been making extra backup copies of my data. I restored it last week and I've added some new content this week that I've purchased. I also decided to backup all of my data to CrashPlan Central which is completed at this time. I'm 100% backed up and I also opted for an extra Deja Dup backup of my ecryptfs encrypted /home folder in Ubuntu just in case as a precaution. I'm good now. It's nice to have my media library restored as it was very rich with lots of diverse content. As yet another precaution, I backed up my entire media library to an external Western Digital My Passport Portable hard disk drive using the standard Microsoft Windows NTFS file system for wide accessibiliy. It is not encrypted, but I keep it locked inside my Sentry safe in my bedroom in my home. Things are good now. I'm getting extra money today that I'll deposit into my bank account. Otherwise, I now have greater appreciation for all of the expense and hard work that I put into my media library and I won't delete it again.
  2. Welly Wu

    Hello!

    I'm using my older Resolution Audio Opus 21 system and it's not experiencing any crackling sound problems in 24 bit 96 kHz playback mode. I finally downloaded and installed DeadBeef and I configured my ALSA sink plug-in correctly. Now, I'm getting very fine bit-perfect audio playback. I'll be testing it thoroughly this weekend, but it looks to be an improved situation now. I am still getting crackling sounds with asynchrounous USB audio hardware playback, but I realize that I have to wait until Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit GNU/Linux before this issue gets solved with a newer Linux kernel version with the right patches. Until then, I can enjoy my high end audio at home. I restored my media library and I backed it up to CrashPlan Central. My best friend is coming over to my apartment today and I'll backup my newly acquired data to his Western Digital external hard disk drive as a safety precaution. He's saved my bacon a few times already.
  3. Welly Wu

    Hello!

    For compatibility and support reasons, I have to stick with regular Ubuntu 64 bit in order to get help from System76. According to the Launchpad bug number, Linux kernel 3.9.6 or 3.10.0 should fix this problem. I can wait until Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit to see if that future Linux kernel will include the patches so that I can get this bug with asynchrounous USB 1.0 support fixed at that time. I don't really listen to high resolution music that much. I listen to Spotify Premium most of the time.
  4. Just to be clear, I deleted my entire media library including my videos, movies, music, digital magazines, electronic books, software applications, electronic journals, and pictures. So, I don't have my media library any more nor have I tried to sell any of my stuff to anyone else in the past. I'm not advocating piracy on this website. In any event, it's my prerogative and I decided that Spotify Premium is the easy and simple way to enjoy tons of music for a low price. I think that I'll keep the service. I doubt that I will be purchasing music a la carte in the future.
  5. Murfie is a legitimate place to buy and sell used music including CDs. It's a small, but good service that needs more members to grow. I'd recommend it to others as it is a reliable place to get good materials. I have to say that 16 bits 44.1 kHz 320 Kbps Vorbis is not that bad. It's actually pretty decent in terms of sound quality. I've since replaced my digital music library with Spotify Premium and there's really no looking back for me at all. I think that I'll be going to get myself the Sennheiser IE-800 or the SHURE SE846. It'll be specatcular. I'm pretty much nearing the end of this hobby in terms of future purchases.
  6. Google Play Music All Access permits both music streaming and downloading tracks or albums a la carte. Spotify disabled downloading music a while ago, but they are rethinking of bringing it back for desktop client users. It's available for Apple iOS and Google Android users. This is definitely an audiophile discussion given its scope. Look, don't get me wrong. I have a 220.00 GB MP3 library and a 500 GB FLAC library. It's wonderful to have 22,080 songs at my fingertips. It's just a colossal effort to manage a growing digital library. It came to a point where I was purchasing or downloading more content rather than listening or watching any of it. Backups were a nightmare since I don't have a NAS or SAN. Sharing my library with family members and friends was a nightmare too. I'm not saying that online music streaming services are for everyone, but they do have a specific purpose and they are convenient as hell. Spotify is one of the leading contendors in the niche industry and I can see why. I was surprised at just how good 16 bits/44.1 kHz 320 Kbps Vorbis sounds. It's pretty natural sounding to my trained ears and my upscale reference audio systems. Spotify makes everything so easy to use and user friendly and it's very affordable. The more that I use Spotify Premium, the more that I like their service overall. The Ubuntu GNU/Linux client receives regular updates and patches and it's on it's way toward official support from Spotify regarding the operating system as a platform. Audio is fun and high end audio is extremely exciting and interesting. I still get a kick out of this hobby 12 years after I decided to pursue it with a passion. Given the realities of modern American lifestyles and my personal situation, I think that I'm clear on forging my path by becoming an early adopter of nascent technologies and trends as I described earlier. This is my zen path. I could stop right now and be content, but I want to keep pushing the envelope. It's likely that I'll get the new SHURE SE846 when it becomes available in 10 weeks. In fact, I had a dream about them a few weeks ago and I think that they will become a part of my collection in due time. Beyond that, I want to get the Sennheiser HD-800 headphones sometime next year in 2014.
  7. Headphones especially universal fit in-ear monitors have experienced fairly robust growth rates and wider adoption by almost everybody because of their lower price points and their portability. They have multiple applications under a wide range of case usage scenarios and they remain profitable for the manufacturers. I also see notebook PCs or laptops dominating PC based audio systems for similar reasons. You don't need a high end or top of the line PC in order to listen to music regardless of audio formats. It's cheaper to get a budget notebook PC rather than an Apple MacBook Air and buy a cheap external hard disk drive or a higher capacity USB thumb drive if you need to build a private music library. Otherwise, it's cheaper to pay a monthly subscription fee for an online music streaming service. I'd categorize myself as a contemporary alternative audiophile. I still enjoy this hobby and I definitely do have the financial means to continue this hobby as it evolves in the future, but I've had to downsize after moving into my apartment and I also faced reality and I've adopted to the catalysts and paradigm shifts in the audio and music industries over the past 12 years. I realize that my current audio setup will change and evolve in the near future and I'm prepared to make the changes necessary to stay current with the trends. I think that collecting large private music libraries either physical or digital formats is passe and old fashioned. It's like buying vinyl LPs or CDs. Fewer people are doing that nowadays. The problem with large music libraries is the expense of the hardware and the software and the ongoing maintenance across multiple audio and video codecs and formats. It takes an inordinate amount of time to rip, extract, encode, compress, convert, and backup digital audio files in multiple formats and music playback software is filled with idiosyncrasies that require a Ph. D. to figure out if you want to bypass your host operating system's handling of audio technology. I'm not even talking about the more traditional high end audio industry which I have found to be replete with utter bullshit and near sighted short term profitability over establishing and keeping long term relationships with customers to create sustainable business models. There's too much emphasis on disc based playback systems and there's not enough adoption of multiple online music and video streaming services into these high end audio and video devices. Finally, there's not enough flexibility, customization, and adaptibility among traditional high end audio and video dealers and manufacturers to build models that can be upgraded over time to accomodate newer trends in the film and music industries. It's not difficult to see why people are abandoning this hobby because they're fed up with the cost and complexity or many younger 20s and 30s somethings that don't bother to get sucked in the first place. Loudspeakers have a place, but if you can't afford the mortgage or rent, then what's the point?
  8. I see a lot of people going for Pandora or Sirius XM because they'd rather listen to a radio mix online or wirelessly through their supported devices and platforms. Most people that go for Spotify, Google Play Music All Access, Rdio, MOG, etc. do so because they accept the compromise between sound quality, the size of the online music catalog, and convenience of Windows or Macintosh based PC audio playback. I also see some older 30s somethings like myself getting rid of their physical and digital libraries because they think it's too much hard work and expense. If I have a choice between building a 20,000+ song private music library which is admittedly very large by most people's standards or paying $5 dollars monthly to get access to 22+ million song online music catalog, then I think I know what I'll be doing in the future. What I'm saying is that the pride of ownership is dying and fading into history. People are eschewing the audio hobby because it is the antithesis of modern lifestyles. There's a recession mindset of downsizing and downgrading to cut bills and expenses that has seared itself in the American psyche that is very difficult to reverse. It's not that people don't want nicer things in their lives, but the reality of trying to survive each month to find a job or keep your existing jobs while paying the bills and putting food on the table has put the fun of joining this hobby out of the reaches of many younger 20s and 30s somethings. I also think that given how pervasive music has become like a background sonic wallpaper in our lives that the music industry itself has taken a backseat in contemporary American lifestyles. People don't sit down to listen to music exclusively. They listen to music as background filler to pass the time. Why should they pay top dollar to get top of the line sound quality? It might sound a bit cynical, but I'm not seeing a proliferation of PC based audio systems. Portable digital audio players are now almost extinct. Smart phones like the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S or Note series are the norm. Portable headphone amplifiers and DACs are largely missing in action at my local Starbucks Coffee store or public library that I frequent. In fact, I'm the only one that frequents these locations with my admittedly high end PC based reference audio system. I rarely ever see anyone else with a similar system. Almost nobody carries around a portable USB DAC, headphone amplifier, or portable hard disk drive or solid state disk just to listen to their private music libraries while traveling on the road. Almost nobody uses a dedicated portable digital audio player just to listen to music. People think it's rude to bring these devices to social settings. The only time I see others bring their audio or video reference systems is for meetings and get togethers among like minded individuals to listen or watch other people's systems in order to take notes and get ideas or to soak in the conviviality of peers in the industry or fellow hobbyists. This is not typical nor is it the daily norm. The average person is going to find the easiest and most affordable way to listen to music or watch videos. That's reality.
  9. It is eminently possible that my viewpoints are too solipsistic. If that's the case, then fine by me. I don't profess to have a wide circle of friends. However, most of my acquaintances don't bother to learn more about the audio hobby either because they don't bother to care about higher quality sound. They're just after their favorite music and most of them either subscribe to online music streaming services or they download torrents without using a VPN to protect them from lawsuits or degradation of services by their ISPs. That's the reality that I've observed thus far. This hobby isn't really growing and these audio boards are not representative of the status of the hobby as we're too much too specialized as a demographic base and we're located in disparate areas to make any useful observations. The real problem is that ignorance is keeping this audio hobby from growing as more people are focused on headphones or earphones rather than PC based music playback or recording systems. The PC industry is shrinking and it's self-imploding. Tablets and smart phones with 16 GB of storage capacity are taking over the industry and this is a large reason why online music streaming services are becoming more popular and competitive. It's hard to build a decent music library on a tablet or smart phone or a smart wrist watch with tiny storage capacities especially with high resolution audio files.
  10. Spotify is operating at an annual loss and they don't pay enough royalties to music artists and bands. In fact, some musical artists and bands have pulled their entire content from Spotify in protest because they get paid pennies on the dollar for each play. Others see Spotify as a loss leader that encourages ancilliary CD or DVD sales or they see Spotify as a venue to host new material to the widest possible audience and demographic in hopes to sell concert tickets. Another thing that I should point out that I think is germaine and important is that most of my 20s and 30s something friends don't collect audiophile pressings or versions of their favorite music like I do. They don't have the fiscal resources that I do and they don't care as deeply about well mastered music like I do. For them, 16 bits and 44.1 kHz is good enough and LAME MP3s at V0 or V1 is more than adequate. I think it's important to point out that high resolution audio playback especially recording is a pain in the ass even with a supported device and platform. If you have a PC with Microsoft Windows 8 or an Apple Macintosh iMac or MacPro or MacBook, then you're in a good way in that your device and operating system are well supported. For me, I use a System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) running Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit GNU/Linux which is not well supported by the audio industry because they're audio geeks rather than Linux geeks. Getting official support for my chosen OS is a no go most of the time and I have to keep upgrading to the latest Ubuntu 64 bit release to fix a whole host of PC hardware issues including PC audio incompatibilities. This is why there are fewer younger 20s something audiophiles. They have the intelligence and most have college degrees in order to figure out this stuff, but they lack the fiscal resources and they also lack the desire to fiddle with their PCs and music player settings to make everything work right out of the box. The number of GNU/Linux audiophiles is scant compared to Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh users. It's a difficult OS to learn to master and there are a billion different ways to solve a specific problem or to investigate its root causes. Much as the high end audio industry has had to face reality and produce lower cost products that are user friendly, it still ain't if you run into a problem as an outsider trying to gain access to this maddening hobby. USB DACs, headphone amplifiers, DSP, multi-room audio, high resolution audio formats, etc. get to be ignored by younger audiophiles in their 20s and the 30s somethings got more responsibilities that take priority which means that this audio hobby experiences stagnant year to year growth. When was the last time you had a 20 minute long conversation with a 20s or 30s something budding audiophile who is not related to you if you're not an authorized audio dealer? Seriously. This hobby prices itself out of the reach of many and it doesn't take a Ph. D. to figure out that it's a dying hobby. I find that my friends can't tell much of a difference between my audio system and their basic audio systems. They're just not willing to pay the money that I did for my audio rig and that's why they don't get more deeply involved in this audio hobby. In fact, they stopped asking me for advice because it's too expensive or complicated for them.
  11. Interesting responses thus far, but I'm afraid that I have to say that I see fewer younger audiophiles and music collectors in my social network. That may be just my situation, but I've been asking friends of friends and they're pretty much saying the same things that I observed. There aren't that many audiophiles in their 20s or 30s nowadays. Most of them don't have the financial resources or the commitment not to mention the passion to pursue this type of audio hobby. It's become a past time for aging audiophiles most especially older white men with a fair number of older Asian men. I don't have to tell anyone that this hobby can get wickedly expensive quickly especially if you have to have the latest and greatest. I see a lot of 30s somethings selling and trading their audio CDs on Murfie because they are still in the process of moving around due to family or work commitments. They wind up selling their physical discs regardless of formats and they go digital. They buy a notebook PC with a large internal 1 TB hard disk drive and they just digitize their physical media library. Once that massive task is done, they sell on eBay or Craig's List or audio forums like this one. I also see a lot of them building dedicated PC based audio and video systems. They get multimedia PCs with huge 17.3" 1920 X 1080p full HD IPS LED screens and large internal dual drive 1 TB hard disk drives. Then, they go buy a portable USB DAC like the Meridian Explorer and they go buy premium universal in-ear monitors like the Westone 4Rs or SHURE SE535 or top of the line models like the Sennheiser IE-800, SHURE SE846, or AKG K3003i or they get custom in-ear monitors like the Ultimate Ears Ue-11 PRO or the JH Audio JH-13 PRO. Sometimes, they wind up getting Bose noise cancelling headphones. What's also popular are Bluetooth 3.0 headphones with active noise-cancelling technology especially the ones like the Sennheiser PXC 450. This constitutes their audio rigs and there's really nothing wrong with it. If it makes them happy, then more power to them.
  12. I'm seeing that the halycon days of collecting music either in physical formats or digital files is getting to be passe among the 20s to 30s something generation. Hoarding stuff is just going out of style and paying a monthly subscription fee to access a ton of content is the way to go. I'm seeing more people ditching their vinyl LPs and their hard disk drives for online music and video streaming services like Google Play Music All Access, Spotify, Netflix, and Redbox Online. Collecting a library is expensive and it is a labor of love. There are so many intricacies involved in building, organizing, maintaning, and collecting a personal and private music library that it gets to be too much. I ditched my private music library of FLAC and MP3 codec digital files in favor of Spotify Premium. I'm tired of carrying around external storage disks be it hard disk drives or solid state disks or thumb drives or SD cards. My biggest fear is data corruption resulting in a loss of data so I make multiple backups of my confidential data, but I decided to ditch the music libraries because it was just too much. My music libraries were fragmented and scattered in terms of organization and it would be too much hard work to consolidate and organize my private music libraries by myself. The other problem was that it was just getting to be too expensive to keep buying music in different formats. I'd always want new music to listen to and I'd wind up buying the new releases in addition to the high resolution formats of albums that I already owned. In comparison, Spotify Premium or Unlimited is much easier and more affordable. No, I'm not getting 24 bit 384 kHz sound quality anymore. I'm just getting 16 bit 44.1 kHz resolution sound quality using the lossy Vorbis 320 Kbps bit rate. A lot of people here would find that unacceptable no matter what, but I had to downsize from a home to an apartment and I had to cut my expenses without living an ascetic lifestyle. I did my research and I liked what Spotify had to offer for me as an Ubuntu user. I tried the free 30 day trial offer and I immediately liked it quite a bit. I tried Google Play Music All Access, but I disliked the fact that everything happened in the web browser. If my web browser crashed, then my music stream would stop. That was not ideal for me as I wanted a features rich desktop client that could function as an independent process within Ubuntu. GNU/Linux has an excellent process management system and the system monitor is a good tool to see what's going on under the hood. The other problem with web browser based music playback is that it would invariably cause memory leaks and high memory and disk usage so I decided it was not the way to go for me. I have a small 17.7 GB of HD Tracks classical and popular music recorded at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution, but my HRT MusicStreamer has problems with Linux kernel 3.8.x.y as it produces clicks, pops, and crackling sounds at 88.2 or higher sampling frequencies. I'm hoping Ubuntu 13.10 with a more modern Linux kernel will resolve these issues by October 18th, 2013. It's nice to have a private music library that's well organized and easy to maintain, but the costs involved in terms of time and money are not an option for me now. I've had to be creative in finding ways to tamp down expenses after I moved into my apartment and buying music a la carte is just not an option in the future. I find that my music library far exceeds my audio system and it is an ongoing expense category for me; that is until I stopped purchasing music a la carte. Fortunately, my family and friends have backups of my massive music libraries. Still, I would not go to them to copy it back to my hard disk drives in the future. A flat monthly fee for music streaming is the right option for me and I'm only too happy to find that the reduction in sound quality is not nearly as dramatic as I had once feared.
  13. Welly Wu

    Hello!

    I am very lucky and fortunate. I have a very high end home audio reference system: Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD Player, Power Centre, S30 power amplifier, and Extra Sources Resolution Audio Cantata Music Center with S50 power amplifier Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline HR-2 headphone amplifier Ultimate Ears Ue-10 PRO and Ue-18 PRO Etymotic Research ER-4PT with 4S adapter AKG K 702 Blue Jeans Cable RCA stereo and Video S/PDIF Volex 17604 B10 power cords Stock USB cables HRT Microstreamer HiFiMan HM-101 Spotify Premium with high quality 320 Kbps Vorbis music streaming 22,032 FLAC and MP3 music libraries including 24 bit 44.1 - 192 kHz high resolution albums from HD Tracks Western Digital My Passport Portable 2.00 TB Super Speed USB 3 hard disk drive Seagate FreeAgent Desk GoFlex 3.00 TB Super Speed USB 3 hard disk drive Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 128.00 GB Super Speed USB 3 thumb drive System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) running Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit GNU/Linux Clementine Developmental branch with ALSA sink (hw:1,0) bit-perfect sound output Yes, it's true. System76 Lemur Ultra thin (lemu4) specifications: 14" 1366 X 768 LED screen Intel Core i5-3210M dual-core 2.5 GHz with Hyper Threading CPU Corsair Vengeance PC3-12800 1,600 MHz 16.00 GB SODIMM RAM Intel HD Graphics 4000 Crucial m4 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-3 128.00 GB Solid State Disk Super-Multi 8X DVD/CD optical burner drive keyboard integrated touchpad Intel Advanced-N 6235 802.11 B/G/N dual-channel 2.4/5.0 GHz Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet HDMI VGA Kensington Lock 65 watt power adapter 48.84 WHr lithium ion batteries Two Super Speed USB 3.0 ports 1 USB 2.0 port headphone jack microphone jack Microphone port 2.0 MP web camera Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit GNU/Linux So, I got a nice audio system and a fairly modern notebook PC. I decided to join here because I realized that I needed less information from Head-Fi and more information from Computer Audiophile. I have to wait until Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit is released on October 18th, 2013 to see if a newer Linux kernel will support asychronous USB 2.0 mode of operation for 24 bit 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192.0 kHz support without producing distorted audio full of clicks, pops, and crackling noises. I have this problem now with my HRT MicroStreamer which uses native Audio Class 1.0 drivers so I'm unable to use 88.2 and 96 kHz until this bug is fixed: 1. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1136110 This affects me and I subscribed to this bug and mailing list. I listen to Spotify Premium with high quality 320 Kbps Vorbis music streaming. Yesterday, I re-downloaded my entire HD Tracks music albums and I made extra backups. I have a small 17.70 GB of high resolution 24 bit 192 kHz loss less FLAC music albums. I'm thinking about getting the new SHURE SE846 universal fit in-ear monitors from HeadRoom Corporation. I am trying to build a top of the line notebook PC based reference system. This is the main reason why I joined tonight. I've got advanced degrees and multiple information technology certifications especially regarding information assurance and GNU/Linux focusing on Ubuntu. I'm a highly advanced GNU/Linux user with years of experience drawn from real world lessons. I'm a disabled and retired US Citizen now. I'm living a quiet and peaceful retirement in Nutley, New Jersey. I realize that virtually nobody here can fix the Linux kernel bug that I mentioned and that's okay. I got System76 looking into this matter and their technicians will respond to my support ticket. I already figured out what they will say based upon my research into this matter; I'm just going to have to sit and wait for Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit to be released with a much more modern Linux kernel to fix this pulseaudio and ALSA sink issue regarding asychronous USB 1.1 and 2.0 mode of operation to get rid of the pops, clicks, and screeching sounds. Nowadays, I prefer universal fit in-ear monitors because of the high NRR passive sound isolation and the comfortable fit and feel in my ears. I'm not looking to purchase another full-sized open or closed design headphone in the near future. I'm focusing on the SHURE SE846, Sennheiser IE-800, AKG K3003i, and other top of the line universal fit in-ear monitors. In 10 weeks, I plan to make some kind of purchase with HeadRoom Corporation's help and guidance. I prefer American brands, but I'll take what sounds good and works well. I like my current Etymotic Research ER-4PT with the 4S adapter a lot, but I still prefer my older Ultimate Ears Ue-10 PRO custom in-ear monitors for critical listening sessions where comfort is a priority. I find the Ultimate Ears Ue-18 PRO to be not nearly as accurate as the Ue-10 PRO and I use them less frequently. The problem with custom in-ear monitors is the very high prices involved and the fit and feel of the ear impressions. Fortunately, mine still fit my ears years after I bought them, but I'm leaning in the direction of universal fit in-ear monitors because they have better resale values. To my mind, the SHURE SE846 is the one to beat at its admittedly high price point. I'm seriously lusting over it and I think that I will wind up getting them after more thorough research. Thanks for welcoming me. I'm an old hat when it comes to information technology, assurance, and high end audio including headphones, headphone amplifiers, DACs, earphones, and music software and sound configuration settings. I hope that this will be worth me joining this community as I find that getting the music to play on Ubuntu can be tricky if you want the best sound performance with newer audio components.
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