How do you handle people like this ??

[square_wave]

I recently met this guy who has a reasonably good active speaker. His source is the headphone out from a laptop. Mostly downloaded / pirated mp3.The system screeches badly!

He recently asked me this question;

I love my music ! Can I improve the sound by investing in a good subwoofer, floor standing speaker and AV receiver ? I will sell the active speaker ( Audio Engine 5). The source will remain the same. Head phone out from laptop !

I tell him; Dude, you need to change your source!! No amount of explanation will convince him to invest in a USB dac or good quality flacs or itunes.

He then went ahead and bought the subwoofer. He refuses to keep it anywhere but on the top of his wooden entertainment unit. Now boom and rattle has been added to the screech

He called me recently to proudly show off the result of his recent acquisition.

How do people like this become head of divisions in IT companies ?

 

[alpha1]

Perhaps because he knows that If the mp3 are at v0 or 320kbps, then there is no audibly perceivable difference from CD.

 

[spirovious]

Some people like extra boom & not true sound.They like "ding Chack"kind of sound.They can realize only after listening to good audiophile system.So demo may change his mind.

 

[Shivam]

That person's job profile has nothing to do with his understanding of audio. Even I feel that demo of a good system will make him understand.

Sometimes this may also fail in cases where people have preconceived ideas deeply hammered into their heads about some brand names or systems.

I stick to enjoying my setup rather than trying to make others understand.

 

[suvi]

May be they never got a chance to hear any good music system or the ego of knowing everything distancing them from appreciating what other people have to say. And how to handle them, either make them listen to your system or plain ignore them...

 

[venkatcr]

Perhaps because he knows that If the mp3 are at v0 or 320kbps, then there is no audibly perceivable difference from CD.

Oh, really? Please read MP3 vs AAC vs FLAC vs CD | Stereophile.com.

Cheers

 

[anm]

sometimes I wonder how to deal with people who seem to know everything about everything, especially audio - when they really don't know that much.

 

[gvenu]

I recently met this guy who has a reasonably good active speaker. His source is the headphone out from a laptop. Mostly downloaded / pirated mp3.The system screeches badly!

He recently asked me this question;

I love my music ! Can I improve the sound by investing in a good subwoofer, floor standing speaker and AV receiver ? I will sell the active speaker ( Audio Engine 5). The source will remain the same. Head phone out from laptop !

I tell him; Dude, you need to change your source!! No amount of explanation will convince him to invest in a USB dac or good quality flacs or itunes.

He then went ahead and bought the subwoofer. He refuses to keep it anywhere but on the top of his wooden entertainment unit. Now boom and rattle has been added to the screech

He called me recently to proudly show off the result of his recent acquisition.

How do people like this become head of divisions in IT companies ?

Direct him to HiFivision or similar forums!

 

[square_wave]

sometimes I wonder how to deal with people who seem to know everything about everything, especially audio - when they really don't know that much.

Yupthis dude has a similar problem. He seems to know or believes he does. He does a lot of reading on all the wrong places on the internet and has already decided before he asks for advice. He is kind of using the hobbyist as a sounding board to bounce off his decisions.

Very rarely have I met a fellow like this one. Very intelligent in some ways but a closed mind in so many other ways !

I guess he is a very senior knows all dude at his work place hence cannot accept the fact that there could be things that needs some study / quality time before one can develop an understanding.

 

[sound1]

How do people like this become head of divisions in IT companies ?

I thought that was he pre-requisite to become one hyeah:hyeah:

Perhaps because he knows that If the mp3 are at v0 or 320kbps, then there is no audibly perceivable difference from CD.

My grandma could differentiate b/w 320kbps mp3 and FLAC. Unfortunately we can't do double blind test on her coz she's dead now :indifferent14:

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

That person's job profile has nothing to do with his understanding of audio. Even I feel that demo of a good system will make him understand.

---If he is a senior person in IT (and I assume Information Technology is meant here, not Income Tax :lol he should find it easy to understand the ideas, if not the science, of compression; he should be able to take on board the difference between lossy and lossless comression; he should realise the possibility of numerous generations of lossy compression. However... I know that IT directors who, somehow, managed to get there without any appreciable understanding of IT are hardly rare!

---Demonstration is indeed the way to go. Take some songs, ideally songs that he already has, or at least of the genre that he enjoys, as WAV, FLAC or first-generation MP3 (both high and low bitrate) on a thumb drive so that he can, hopefully, hear the difference. Of course, if his background has been copies of copies of copies of casettes, followed by a similar path with MP3, and he thinks that cheap earphones with a portable device is the epitome of sound, he just might not, even then, get the point.

I'd also suggest checking the relative levels on the laptop headphone output and the active speakers. If he thinks that everything should just be turned right up, then he's going to get distortion whatever the quality of the source. With his experience, Square_wave probably thought of this one already.

If this guy ever gets the hifi bug, then he can walk the path of sound cards and DACs, but first, he has to get hifi. The initial aim should be to get the best sound possible out of what he has got already. Best to check his headphone-out with, err, headphones, just to make sure that it is not faulty or inherently dreadful. I don't see why it should be: we here might not like to admit it, but motherboard-built-in sound cards are vastly better now than they were a decade or so ago.

Perhaps because he knows that If the mp3 are at v0 or 320kbps, then there is no audibly perceivable difference from CD.

I only use lossy-compressed files for portable playing on trains and planes. However, from my reading, I understand that Variable Bit Rate, along with an improvement of the MP3 implementation, has really muddied the waters on this one, and that MP3 can give excellent results.

Oh, really? Please read MP3 vs AAC vs FLAC vs CD | Stereophile.com.

But that is a really good article, which emphasises why most of us would not choose MP3, or any compressed format, for any other reason than portability.

 

[Gerry_the_Merry]

Give him a demo

 

[msagar]

Unfortunately, People perceive reproduced music differently, unless they are exposed to high end audio.

Even today, I encounter people who argue BOSE sounds better than other high end systems.

We proved and converted one of our friends about fifteen years ago, that less expensive NAD CD + NAD receiver + Mission speakers sound better than more expensive Bose.

Today he owns Pass Labs and Wilson Audio products.

 

[nmurthyk]

Some people don't accepts the real/quality things. Its not their fault but their belief.
For example, I had some instances where some of my friends said Bass is less on the better system/ear phones when they listened for a few seconds.
They like big bass even though it is loose and lousy bass. what they look in a system is quantity of the bass not the quality.

And they even don't realize the ear fatigue they feel is because of the boomy bass.
Many people try to judge the music systems in just few seconds and the main parameter is Bass and loudness. If some thing is shaking(vibrating) in the shop when the 5.1 music system :lol: is being demoed, that is it - fantastic speakers . They buy it.

This is one major reason many low end/mass market sound systems are being sold in huge numbers.

If you show them a 1Lakh (dont reveal the price to them) music system with a good bookshelves, they don't bother about the sound. First question - Is it not a Home Theater? No - 50 marks cut
No boomy bass/Shaking furniture? No - another 40 marks cut .

At last - Dont you play DVDs with mp3s on it? No - remaining 10 marks also cut :sad:

The lousy 5.1 mass market 'MUSIC SYSTEM' wins hands down in less than just 5 minutes of Audition :yahoo::clapping:

 

[anm]

Actually - he might be right - practically, and not theoretically.
If he is using his laptop's headphone out, a lossless and a mp3 may not sound THAT different.
I think the difference would also be less obvious to people using cheap earbuds. The earbuds themselves may not be capable of reproducing frequency extreme and dynamics of the music in lossless.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes... when I suggested that you check the output of his laptop with headphones, I meant, of course, decent headphones. ie yours, not his.

 

[Flash]

At the end of the day. Its his ears. If he likes how it sounds. Who are we to judge and comment

 

[rajadeep]

At the end of the day. Its his ears. If he likes how it sounds. Who are we to judge and comment

Exactly... Why the hell are we judging this guy... He likes his music in a particular way & has bought a system which suits his need... His ears , his money, his life , his decision... I am not saying the things the OP is saying won't improve the quality of sound , I am just saying let him be happy with his decisions...

 

[moktan]

Exactly... Why the hell are we judging this guy... He likes his music in a particular way & has bought a system which suits his need... His ears , his money, his life , his decision... I am not saying the things the OP is saying won't improve the quality of sound , I am just saying let him be happy with his decisions...

i don't think it has anything to do with judging anyone.
i guess when people are passionate about things (things related to audio in this case) there is bound to be a fair amount of proselytising zeal and of course frustration when normal people don't seem to get it.
on the other hand normal people would rather have the audiophile on the couch and not the other way round.

 

[vivek.saikia]

I recently met this guy who has a reasonably good active speaker. His source is the headphone out from a laptop. Mostly downloaded / pirated mp3.The system screeches badly!

He recently asked me this question;

I love my music ! Can I improve the sound by investing in a good subwoofer, floor standing speaker and AV receiver ? I will sell the active speaker ( Audio Engine 5). The source will remain the same. Head phone out from laptop !

I tell him; Dude, you need to change your source!! No amount of explanation will convince him to invest in a USB dac or good quality flacs or itunes.

He then went ahead and bought the subwoofer. He refuses to keep it anywhere but on the top of his wooden entertainment unit. Now boom and rattle has been added to the screech

He called me recently to proudly show off the result of his recent acquisition.

How do people like this become head of divisions in IT companies ?

I know what are you talking about

I have this fellow in my office who refused to acknowledge the fact that the right source and amplification will improve his music experience multifold, not to mention the crappy low bitrate MP3s he is listening to.
It took great pain for me to "brainwash" him and finally he became a "convert". I successfully persuaded him to spend $5000 on speakers/CD player/Amplification! hyeah: