I am a firm believer of Big speakers. Small speakers don't cut it.
I know there are a number of sub/satellite systems out there, as that's basically all they make these days. Some of them are very good. But it is very rare for one of these to sound as good as a pair of reasonably sized speakers.
My normal listening speakers are 10's, and about the same age as me. I have baby pics of me with them in the background. Nothing really sounds as good. You just can't have decent lower midrange/ upper bass with small sub/sats, You get a "hole" in this area. It is possible to hit this goal, but your sats have to be at the bare minimum about 4 inches. 6.5 and you can get something pretty decent.
A good set of 3 ways will be well matched. The treble will blend with the mids will blend with the bass. Really, this is the main deficiency of the sub/sats. They never merge all that well from mids to bass.
My main speakers sound glorious. If I were to upgrade, it would be a pair of similar sized speakers I built myself. Partly because I like building, and partly because you just can't buy em' like this no more.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Hosting with Unlimited Everything!
I was recently surfing the Information Superhighway, and saw and ad that caught my eye:
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Hosting Space
99.9% Uptime
*** Only $4.95 per month! ***
You go to the site and find they also offer "free unlimited domains" and "free domain for life".
These hosting plans are always funny to me. I mean, with all that, why doesn't Google just use them and pay $4.95 per month for everything they do? Or, why don't I just mirror the entire web? Based on those statements, both are perfectly reasonable concepts.
The problem, of course, is that it really isn't unlimited. I can actually see the "unlimited" bandwidth. These companies usually use virtual hosting with many sites on each server. There is a physical limit to the bandwidth -- even if the server was unlimited in every way, the pipe going into it is not. If the bandwidth gets really high, it just saturates the connection and nothing works. It ain't pretty, but the bandwidth is self limiting. If they are using, just as an example, a T1, there are only so many bytes you can stream in a month. I have used one such company, which notably does NOT advertise unlimited everything, but does have very generous allowances for all those things. They worked pretty well in my opinion. The way I look at it is that most sites, mine included, probably have minimal traffic. It then makes sense to use virtual hosting. And, if you get Slashdotted, the server and the account probably can handle it to a degree, and you don't get hit with a huge bill.
They give a ton of space knowing most people won't use it. The average most people will use is a finite number. For the argument, say this is 500mb. Then, anything over this amount is meaningless. Yes, the more people are given, the more they will use. And if you give them a huge amount, some will use a huge amount. However, this is the average I am talking about. It probably hits a limit somewhere. You can give them 10 GB or 1000 GB, and the average may still hover at 500 mb, perhaps going from 450 to 500.
Still, if you say "unlimited" storage I can just see someone trying to use it to save and backup terabytes of data. Maybe the limiting factor is that you can only put stuff on there that is actually publicly accessible. Maybe the fine print states you can't have hundreds of encrypted files at the file size limit backing up all your corporate data. And the fact that there probably is some file size limit probably keeps it in check. Still. As I recall, the cheap host I mentioned that I used for my own stuff could actually host files big enough for something like a podcast, so who knows.
The overall point, though, is that it ain't unlimited. If you really wanted to host any site that got more than a few hits per day, you HAVE to have dedicated hosting. Last I checked (a great while ago), the dedicated servers didn't really give that much higher limits than the virtual ones. That outta tell you something: if you actually expect to USE that bandwidth on a regular basis, you better shell out at least $50 to $100 to a few hundred (or more) if you want it to be reliable.
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Hosting Space
99.9% Uptime
*** Only $4.95 per month! ***
You go to the site and find they also offer "free unlimited domains" and "free domain for life".
These hosting plans are always funny to me. I mean, with all that, why doesn't Google just use them and pay $4.95 per month for everything they do? Or, why don't I just mirror the entire web? Based on those statements, both are perfectly reasonable concepts.
The problem, of course, is that it really isn't unlimited. I can actually see the "unlimited" bandwidth. These companies usually use virtual hosting with many sites on each server. There is a physical limit to the bandwidth -- even if the server was unlimited in every way, the pipe going into it is not. If the bandwidth gets really high, it just saturates the connection and nothing works. It ain't pretty, but the bandwidth is self limiting. If they are using, just as an example, a T1, there are only so many bytes you can stream in a month. I have used one such company, which notably does NOT advertise unlimited everything, but does have very generous allowances for all those things. They worked pretty well in my opinion. The way I look at it is that most sites, mine included, probably have minimal traffic. It then makes sense to use virtual hosting. And, if you get Slashdotted, the server and the account probably can handle it to a degree, and you don't get hit with a huge bill.
They give a ton of space knowing most people won't use it. The average most people will use is a finite number. For the argument, say this is 500mb. Then, anything over this amount is meaningless. Yes, the more people are given, the more they will use. And if you give them a huge amount, some will use a huge amount. However, this is the average I am talking about. It probably hits a limit somewhere. You can give them 10 GB or 1000 GB, and the average may still hover at 500 mb, perhaps going from 450 to 500.
Still, if you say "unlimited" storage I can just see someone trying to use it to save and backup terabytes of data. Maybe the limiting factor is that you can only put stuff on there that is actually publicly accessible. Maybe the fine print states you can't have hundreds of encrypted files at the file size limit backing up all your corporate data. And the fact that there probably is some file size limit probably keeps it in check. Still. As I recall, the cheap host I mentioned that I used for my own stuff could actually host files big enough for something like a podcast, so who knows.
The overall point, though, is that it ain't unlimited. If you really wanted to host any site that got more than a few hits per day, you HAVE to have dedicated hosting. Last I checked (a great while ago), the dedicated servers didn't really give that much higher limits than the virtual ones. That outta tell you something: if you actually expect to USE that bandwidth on a regular basis, you better shell out at least $50 to $100 to a few hundred (or more) if you want it to be reliable.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Able Planet NC300
I just purchased these noise cancelling headphones because I will be going on a series of flights throughout the summer. I had a pair of inexpensive headphones which worked moderately well, but decided to step my game up.
I have used the in ear plug style phones before, but they are not my favorite for a few reasons. The biggest is that I find them mildly uncomfortable at first, and annoyingly uncomfortable after a while. They block the noise well and have excellent sound quality, but as they are basically just earplugs with a speaker, they give you that same "closed in" feeling you get with earplugs. By this i mean that you "hear yourself" -- your breathing, swallowing, etc, any noise you make is basically amplified. NC headphones don't really have this quality, the only reason you hear yourself a bit more is that your surroundings are made quieter. Also, one thing I think NC headphones do better is cut noise in the lower registers - the bassier notes. Bass tends to cut through the plugs to an extent, and NC tends to cancel it out. One things the plugs are vastly superior at is, obviously, size. I don't mind toting some bigger phones if they suit me better.
The two "best" NC headphones right now are from Bose and Sony respectively. I was considering one of these, but they are both fairly pricey. Searching the internet, I found that the usual situation existed: pretty much all the reviews are an example of that reviewer's "two cents" about a specific model. While they may be right, this is hardly a consistent, reliable way to gauge something like this. Furthermore, they generally only review a few (professional reviews) or one (personal reviews). There had to be a better way.
I ended up remembering about, and purchasing a subscription to, Consumer Reports. This publication is pretty unique in that it largely uses scientific techniques to rate products. They also don't accept advertising and attempt to remain impartial. You get genuine data - not just some guys opinion of whether it was "good" or "bad". They also seem to rate a pretty big number of products and assign them a scientifically derived score.
The headphones I ended up getting had a very favorable rating, and cost a fair amount less than the Bose or Sony. To seal the deal, a dude in one of the customer comments/reviews owned both mine and the Bose, and stated they were both excellent and pretty much comparable. I put them head to head against my old cheap ones, and there is no comparison. The noise source was an air purifier. The old ones do take a fair amount of the edge off, but let a lot pass through. The new ones let very little of that noise through. It was actually quite remarkable. They come with a nice case, a headphone cable with volume, and adapters for 1/4 phone plug and old school double mono aircraft plug (which I have never actually seen). They fold flat into the case. The headphone cable is separate (plugs into both ends) so you can use them just as a earmuffs if you want without a cable dangling. Very nice.
One thing to remember is that this style of headphone works very well on continuous noise, but less so on transient noise. So jet engines, fans, and such will be blocked very well, but human voices and such much less so. I actually wonder if they will ever be able to make one that can block voices a bit better, perhaps using digital filtering that can fast track and predict minute changes in the voice and remove them. The Sonys in question are digitally based, which is what attracted me to them, but there wasn't anything to indicate they did this (one customer review lamented that they did not). The plug style phones would be better at this, as they just physically block everything.
As for the company, it's Able Planet. Never heard of them. I get the distinct impression that they started off making stuff for handicappers (ie the name "able"), specifically stuff for hearing impaired folk. And then, branched out upon realization that they can make a whole lot more money selling headphones to everyone than just the hearing impaired.
Overall all, this seems to be an excellent purchase. We shall see how they perform on an actual aircraft in 9 hours!
I have used the in ear plug style phones before, but they are not my favorite for a few reasons. The biggest is that I find them mildly uncomfortable at first, and annoyingly uncomfortable after a while. They block the noise well and have excellent sound quality, but as they are basically just earplugs with a speaker, they give you that same "closed in" feeling you get with earplugs. By this i mean that you "hear yourself" -- your breathing, swallowing, etc, any noise you make is basically amplified. NC headphones don't really have this quality, the only reason you hear yourself a bit more is that your surroundings are made quieter. Also, one thing I think NC headphones do better is cut noise in the lower registers - the bassier notes. Bass tends to cut through the plugs to an extent, and NC tends to cancel it out. One things the plugs are vastly superior at is, obviously, size. I don't mind toting some bigger phones if they suit me better.
The two "best" NC headphones right now are from Bose and Sony respectively. I was considering one of these, but they are both fairly pricey. Searching the internet, I found that the usual situation existed: pretty much all the reviews are an example of that reviewer's "two cents" about a specific model. While they may be right, this is hardly a consistent, reliable way to gauge something like this. Furthermore, they generally only review a few (professional reviews) or one (personal reviews). There had to be a better way.
I ended up remembering about, and purchasing a subscription to, Consumer Reports. This publication is pretty unique in that it largely uses scientific techniques to rate products. They also don't accept advertising and attempt to remain impartial. You get genuine data - not just some guys opinion of whether it was "good" or "bad". They also seem to rate a pretty big number of products and assign them a scientifically derived score.
The headphones I ended up getting had a very favorable rating, and cost a fair amount less than the Bose or Sony. To seal the deal, a dude in one of the customer comments/reviews owned both mine and the Bose, and stated they were both excellent and pretty much comparable. I put them head to head against my old cheap ones, and there is no comparison. The noise source was an air purifier. The old ones do take a fair amount of the edge off, but let a lot pass through. The new ones let very little of that noise through. It was actually quite remarkable. They come with a nice case, a headphone cable with volume, and adapters for 1/4 phone plug and old school double mono aircraft plug (which I have never actually seen). They fold flat into the case. The headphone cable is separate (plugs into both ends) so you can use them just as a earmuffs if you want without a cable dangling. Very nice.
One thing to remember is that this style of headphone works very well on continuous noise, but less so on transient noise. So jet engines, fans, and such will be blocked very well, but human voices and such much less so. I actually wonder if they will ever be able to make one that can block voices a bit better, perhaps using digital filtering that can fast track and predict minute changes in the voice and remove them. The Sonys in question are digitally based, which is what attracted me to them, but there wasn't anything to indicate they did this (one customer review lamented that they did not). The plug style phones would be better at this, as they just physically block everything.
As for the company, it's Able Planet. Never heard of them. I get the distinct impression that they started off making stuff for handicappers (ie the name "able"), specifically stuff for hearing impaired folk. And then, branched out upon realization that they can make a whole lot more money selling headphones to everyone than just the hearing impaired.
Overall all, this seems to be an excellent purchase. We shall see how they perform on an actual aircraft in 9 hours!
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