Wonderfall @wonderfall@mastoid.dev

But, at the same time, I won't judge people for liking cool new tech with Bluetooth version whatever and bassy consumer-oriented headphones. There's a place for that. A good audiophile advice is to accept what other people think, but at the same time let them know that they could explore other options that could suit them better in the long run.

You don't need to spend much to get a decent "audiophile" setup.

Heck, you probably don't need a DAC/amp to drive those. Probably the Apple dongle would suffice except if you're using an Android phone (because for some reason the Apple DAC is very quite on Android).

I can't tell you how much better my AKG K371 sounds compared to my very pricey WH-1000XM4. Yeah I know, you get the latter for ANC, but still.

The AKG costs 3 times less. For the price of the WH-100XM4, you get:
- A decent closed-back
- A decent open-back (like HD560S)
- A decent IEM (like Moondrop stuff)

They all come in handy depending on your environment, taste and types of music.

Going to repeat myself but Pixel 6 @60Hz + GrapheneOS is a battery life god.

Other songs would be from Ok Computer (Radiohead) and Doolittle (Pixies).

I could instantly tell if something's wrong.

My go-to song to benchmark new audio hardware: https://youtu.be/7cnyGScs0Ho

Grew tired of having to EQ my Sony BT headphones to match the preference curve (which I like, it's too bassy/muddy otherwise). It's a pain to do on Android since not all apps broadcast correctly an audio session (not even YouTube does).

Let's try good old wired headphones again.

I mean I agree high refresh rate feels better but unless you're gaming competitively, it's not a functional improvement. Rather the opposite, as it drains battery life and often worsens the display calibration.

That is at least the case for non-LTPO displays, I'm not yet familiar with LTPO but it seems to be the next best thing. Hoping it will soon come to mid-end phones.

Sony XM5 are a bit disappointing. New design, better microphones, and that's pretty much it compared to the XM4. The design seems more reliable at the cost of portability.

The quest for the best DAC dongle under 100€ goes on. Will return the Ugreen Hifi Audio Pro and order an iBasso DC05.

While the Ugreen sounds great (and is basically a clone of the Meizu DAC), there's a lot of audible noise when using 4G networks. And this costs 40€, while my Apple dongle costs 9€ and has no such issue.

Screw the Google I/O that's THE announcement of the day: https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-releases-open-source-gpu-kernel-modules/

Pixel 6a for 450$ is going to be such a nice phone to recommend.

Pixel 7 kinda looks like the Pixel 6 but uglier... I don't know what to think of that design iteration yet.

I missed the God is an Astronaut concert in Paris... Kinda depressed about this. :(

https://grapheneos.org/features
GrapheneOS features page has improved quite a bit.

Guess who bought a 40€ USB-C DAC? Seriously, the fact that the Apple one is underpowered on Android will always be a mystery for me.

People keep arguing Apple Store has a 30% tax but do they know it's 15% for most developers and Play Store has the same 30% tax?

(Yes, I do agree 30% seems way too much even for the service, that isn't the issue I have.)

It's so funny that the Pixel 3a feels so small after using the 6 for a few weeks. I would never have thought of my 3a that way.

I was a bit on the fence about the Pixel 6 size and while it has disadvantages, it makes me want to use the phone for more stuff. Even watching anime on the 3a was not very pleasant.

I rarely say "this new update is buggy I wish I could downgrade" but honestly iPadOS 15 made me use my iPad less than ever. The experience is fine overall, but not as refined as you'd expect from iOS. There are annoying bugs here and there, especially if you try to use your iPad as a laptop, i.e. in landscape mode and a magic keyboard.

I really hope iPadOS 16 will be a real improvement. Sadly no other device, given the form factor, matches the hardware quality and performance (for now?).

I know that I *personally* don't like heavy instance-level moderation (e.g. muting/blocking a whole instance).

Some may prefer to be on the safe side and would like that, and that is completely understandable.

That's exactly why you should take a closer look on the moderation policy of your instance.

Lots of new people on fedi, indeed. Still, pay attention to the people responsible for hosting your instance. You may or may not agree with their moderation practices, and they might be malicious.

I don't necessarily recommend self-hosting as it requires time and dedication, and comes with security implications. But a single-user instance might be what you want.

Also, "private" messages are not so private given the context of federation, that is until they will be end-to-end encrypted.