Audiophily and audiofoolery notes

The physical and human spects dealing with audio, video, and images Vision and color perception: objectively describing color · the eyes and the brain · physics, numbers, and (non)linearity · color spaces · references, links, and unsorted stuff Image: file formats · noise reduction · halftoning, dithering · illuminant correction · Image descriptors · Reverse image search · image feature and contour detection · OCR · Image - unsorted Video: format notes · encoding notes · On display speed · Screen tearing and vsync Audio physics and physiology: Sound physics and some human psychoacoustics · Descriptions used for sound and music Noise stuff: Stray signals and noise · sound-related noise names · electronic non-coupled noise names · electronic coupled noise · ground loop · strategies to avoid coupled noise · Sampling, reproduction, and transmission distortions · (tape) noise reduction Digital sound and processing: capture, storage, reproduction · on APIs (and latency) · programming and codecs · some glossary · Audio and signal processing - unsorted stuff Music electronics: device voltage and impedance, audio and otherwise · amps and speakers · basic audio hacks · Simple ADCs and DACs · digital audio · multichannel and surround On the stage side: microphones · studio and stage notes · Effects · sync Electronic music: Electronic music - musical terms MIDI · Some history, ways of making noises · Gaming synth · microcontroller synth Modular synth (eurorack, mostly): sync · power supply · formats (physical, interconnects) DAW: Ableton notes · MuLab notes · Mainstage notes Unsorted: Visuals DIY · Signal analysis, modeling, processing (some audio, some more generic) · Music fingerprinting and identification For more, see Category:Audio, video, images

Disclaimer

There are many audiophiles that have preferences regardless over whether there is truth to it.

I'm not here to frustrate over them.

See Brandolini's law.

And the audiophiles are happy regardless of reality, because that's how confirmation bias works.

I have a little envy there.

This is only here to convince myself, not anyone else.

I do care about a halfway decent audio system, but I try to quantify what is probably the weakest link, to avoid throwing hundreds of hours and thousands of bucks at the wrong parts.

As far as I can tell,

there are a handful of things you can get for free just by knowing them,

after which can usefully spend a few hundred bucks before the largest issue becomes your room,

and maybe a few thousand before it's your head (positioning and such),

and then in your head (believing nonsense marketing, or inventing your own).

Beyond that point madness lies.

And well before that, you will find the slippiest technobabble since star trek TOS, except in utter earnesty, about real-world physics.

So this is definitely in an opinionated according-to-me page. Though I do try to do my research.

In my research I found a plethora of poop out there, so I am biased to be very critical stance by default - and to be fair, sometimes more than merited.

The true stuff will often take longer to get to me, and some ratings may rise over time as I understand the subtleties people are not very good at explaining.