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  1. Scott Borduin

    What are "Bits" and "Bytes", and why do you care?

    LOL. Point taken. I probably shouldn't have baited the subject in thread starter post, although it's hard to figure out how to make some of these subjects interesting without involving topics people are invested in.
  2. Scott Borduin

    What are "Bits" and "Bytes", and why do you care?

    You are partly missing my point, and partly amplifying it :) I use "soundfield" in the acoustical engineering sense, representing the totality of the sound reaching the listener in a given situation. The soundfield in a small room, from two speakers, in the quasi-near field, will be very...
  3. Scott Borduin

    What are "Bits" and "Bytes", and why do you care?

    Well, we tend to perceive the world as continuous, but in fact it is discontinuous at scales far larger than the atomic level. There is no such thing as a "smooth" surface, for instance - all physical surfaces are jagged at sufficient levels of magnification, regardless of what our eyes or...
  4. Scott Borduin

    What are "Bits" and "Bytes", and why do you care?

    Busted! I've gotten lazy with those concepts through the years ...
  5. Scott Borduin

    Chrome 10 Browser Now Available

    Check out these two articles on the latest pwn2own contest, a contest in which computer security experts win prizes for being the first to hack a particular browser or operating system: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214022/Google_s_Chrome_untouched_at_Pwn2Own_hack_match...
  6. Scott Borduin

    What are "Bits" and "Bytes", and why do you care?

    Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why you might care, but I'll do my best to make the read worthwhile :) It is pretty much impossible to navigate the modern world without, at some point, being exposed to the fundamental computing concepts of Bits and Bytes. Sometimes these words are used...
  7. Scott Borduin

    Let's start at the beginning

    Like so many things in software, most of the stuff in Web programming really wasn't designed a priori. It just sort of chaotically happened, and then the designer types came in afterward and tried to impose some order in the form of standards (e.g. HTML5, CSS3, ECMAScript 5). The truth is, at...
  8. Scott Borduin

    Chrome 10 Browser Now Available

    Another Chrome user here. I use them all (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera) sometimes because of software and web development, but I switched from Firefox about 18 months ago and never looked back. The interface is simple and clean, it's very fast, the sandboxing model makes it both more stable and...
  9. Scott Borduin

    Let's start at the beginning

    I see I've found the programming community :) FORTRAN, C, C++, Lisp, Scheme, C#, and JavaScript here, with bits of others thrown in. I hope that the proportion of comments from programmers vs. non-programmers will balance out over time, because I want to reach the non-experienced audience...
  10. Scott Borduin

    Let's start at the beginning

    If you have never written a computer program - and I'm assuming that most of you haven't - you might well be under the impression that computer programming is an esoteric discipline requiring special skills possessed only by a few. But programming - like almost any discipline - can be exercised...
  11. Scott Borduin

    Are High-End Cables a Scam?

    Well, I'm 30 years removed from my basic electronics classes in engineering school, so maybe describing those errors as non-linear is not exactly correct. Then again, if I believe wikipedia, maybe it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RLC_circuit. You will agree that cables have resistance...
  12. Scott Borduin

    How do you get rid of multiple viruses?

    Good to meet you Bob! And I almost certainly would have clicked on that birthday card myself. The worst criminals and the worst politicians have at least one thing in common: they take advantage of our best instincts to get us to do the worst thing for ourselves. Best of luck getting your system...
  13. Scott Borduin

    How do you get rid of multiple viruses?

    Well, yes, this is part of my point: almost all consumer users of personal computers have admin privileges or the practical equivalent. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to install software or install updates and patches. I seems to me you're looking at this more from the perspective of a IT...
  14. Scott Borduin

    How do you get rid of multiple viruses?

    Well, I'm no security guru. But Windows does provide the ability to secure files, folders, and processes against modification by less privileged users; the problem is, in the consumer space every user (regardless of Mac,Windows,Ubuntu,Linux) is effectively their own system administrator, and...
  15. Scott Borduin

    How do you get rid of multiple viruses?

    Actually, none of this is exactly true. The earlier, 16 bit consumer versions of Windows - Windows 3, Win 95, Win 98, Win ME - were based on DOS. But all 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows - NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and Windows 7 - are based on a modern multi-tasking kernel that is not inherently...
  16. Scott Borduin

    Are High-End Cables a Scam?

    This would make quite a bit of sense, actually. Since the plausible non-linearities introduced by cables are primary related to interactions with reactive impedance, and since the crossover is a prime source of reactive impedance in a speaker, shortening the distance between amp and crossover...
  17. Scott Borduin

    Are High-End Cables a Scam?

    I once did a lot of Googling trying to find out if anyone had ever tried to actually measure speaker cables under representative conditions. I found exactly one report which actually describes such a test, measuring 3 different cables into loudspeaker loads with a spectrally complex input...
  18. Scott Borduin

    I think I have found my soul mate: Jim Austin's of Stereophile

    All teasing aside, if you're going to make a list of audio manufacturers who have long invested in research and science as a cornerstone of the business, it would almost be unfair not to mention Harman. Don Keele, Floyd Toole, Kevin Voecks, Sean Olive, and a lot of investment in facilities -...
  19. Scott Borduin

    More fuel for the measuring-versus-listening debate

    Although not explicitly mentioned in the SoundStage editorial, this is perhaps the most important reason for including measurements in reviews. If a reviewer finds a product to be exciting and novel, is this because it has truly higher fidelity to the source? Or is it because the product is...
  20. Scott Borduin

    The Art of Listening - Before and After

    This was fascinating, Bruce, and thanks for doing it. The difference between original and final is incredible - the final version sounds almost as though performed by aliens in comparison. This kind of thing puts other factors in perspective: it won't matter much whether this recording is...
  21. Scott Borduin

    Some Favorite Titles & Recommendations

    I'm very sorry, all - I was trying to joke and tease, but it obviously didn't come off well. Forum posting requires more a more conservative approach to that kind of thing. The Lindberg Feria thing really is a warning - I have to be in a specific mood to listen to it at all.
  22. Scott Borduin

    Some Favorite Titles & Recommendations

    I like a lot of the recommendations thus far. But I must say, ya'll are a pretty unadventurous group, harmonically. Basically nothing from the 20th century at all. You may all be descended from the folks who rioted at the premiere of The Rite of Spring :) Anyway, I agree that Schubert may be...
  23. Scott Borduin

    Room Modes

    Yes. I had my room done by these folks: http://www.performanceacousticslabs.com/PAL/Home-Acoustics_Listening_Rooms.html They spent two days just measuring the room, prior to doing the design. I would say that no more than half - if that - of the bass range resonances in my room corresponded to...
  24. Scott Borduin

    Server software

    mep, J River has a 30 day free trial. If you try it, make sure to set up audio for bit perfect output (Tools->Options->Audio->Output Mode, then ASIO or WASAPI). According to the manual, the EMU 404 should allow you to use it as a pure DAC with SPDIF input. From the manual: S/PDIF to Analog /...
  25. Scott Borduin

    Two unresolved issues

    Yes, this would be the "real" null test - compare the A/D - D/A chain to a piece of wire. A piece of expensive wire, if you insist :) But of course, we know for a fact that a digital recording chain like this will not pass a null test, and I assume that is not in dispute. We know for a fact...
  26. Scott Borduin

    Server software

    That really is a thorough guide, Gary. I wish I'd had a guide that good back when I was "rolling my own" :) I think a lot of the focus on system services, etc can go away by focusing on isolating the server from the rest of the system - use a DAC with good jitter rejection, or an async...
  27. Scott Borduin

    Berkeley vs. DCS Debussy vs. etc.

    I've used the AlphaDAC as my DAC and preamp for about 2 years now. I've not heard all of the competitive alternatives, but I've been very happy with the AlphaDAC. When I first put it into my system, I was startled at the apparent improvement over my Meridian 861V4, which was widely considered to...
  28. Scott Borduin

    Hello from Portland, OR

    I've posted a number of times already, but I thought I'd take a few minutes to introduce myself to this fine community. By background, I'm an engineer (MSME) by education, and a software person by career. I was involved in Computer Aided Design software from '84 - '05, as an application...
  29. Scott Borduin

    Server software

    Yes, once you get into the realm of software server/hardware client audio, your options expand. I find the SB to be the best of this genre. I have two, plus a Transporter - as I said, I've tried almost everything :) I find the interface, as with iTunes, well suited to casual browsing and Popular...
  30. Scott Borduin

    Server software

    J River actually uses its own SRC algorithm, which it claims is "audiophile quality" without further elaboration (you can find in it under Options->Audio->DSP and output format). I doubt it has the same level of technical excellence as SoX, but I haven't tried it. W.R.T to SoX, there are quite...

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