Cheap Speaker Isolation

In the audio world, everything also affect the sound quality either by a large or small margin. So after getting a budget DAC and kernel streaming, this time I tried some cheap speaker isolation. By googling "speaker isolation", I get so many results of spike and feet in different materials, sizes and shapes:

So what is speaker isolation? To make it short, speaker isolation is to isolate your speaker from touching unwanted surface. This is to reduce the chances of the sound produce by the speaker getting influence by unwanted external element. This is being done by putting some isolation product in between your speaker and the surface such as table or floor. Isolation product come in many different materials, sizes and shapes. It can be spikes as shown in the pictures above, it can also be a block of wood or marble plates. You can also setup few types of isolation products together as long as it suit your listening taste. So, it's up to your personal preferences and availability of isolation product in your area. 

Testing

So with a limited budget (RM10), I tried 2 different types of speaker isolation (i will refer as isolation A and B) on the following setup:

Speaker: Edifier C3

DAC: Stoner Acoustics UD100

Music Player: Foobar2000 with Kernel Streaming

The isolation is being carried out on the 2 satellites and the subwoofer.

Result

I heard significant differences between the 3 setup (without any isolation, isolation A, isolation B). Both speaker isolation setups have significant improvement on the overall sound quality as the bass, treble and vocal became more solid and have more power. Sound separation also seem to be better with speaker isolation. 

As to choose between the speaker isolation setup, all I can say is different material and size do give different sound. For shapes, I am not really sure as the 2 types of isolation I tested are of the same shape. You will also need to consider your speaker size and weight when choosing the speaker isolation setup. And it's all up to personal preferences and I can't really recommend which is better. You have to test it yourself.

I decided to record the same song with and without speaker isolation. It is recorded using my handphone. The song is played at 70% volume (i turn the volume up as the recording seem a little too soft) with bass -3 (i turn down the bass as i seem to be a little too heavy).

Without speaker isolation:

With speaker isolation:

The recordings just serve as references as speaker isolation do improve sound quality and may not fully represent live condition.

Conclusion

- Cheap speaker isolation (budget less than RM10) do improve sound quality.

- Different size and material of speaker isolation product have different improvement.

- Speaker size and weight also need to be consider when choosing speaker isolation product.

- Make sure the speaker is stable after isolation and won't be easy to knock over.

Music Playback with Kernel Streaming Just Make the DAC even Better ^^

After getting a DAC such as the recommended Stoner Acoustics UD100 in my previous post or other DAC,  its time to focus back on the music playback software on the pc. There are many positive feedback about setting up the audio player with "Kernel streaming", "ASIO" or "WASAPI-exclusive" can improve audio quality. Personally, i prefer "kernel streaming" over the other settings and will only focus on it in this post.

For the music player part, i personally prefer "ttplayer" (千千静听) and "foobar2000". Both players are also free to download and use. Ttplayer seem to focus more on the vocal part of the song while the instrument part seem a little bit less focus. Besides that, this player also seem to color the vocal a bit to be more sweet to listen to. I used this player when I wanted to listen to some sweet vocal especially during Chinese songs. This player is definitely not suitable for those that wanted the natural or original sound. Foobar2000 is a more natural and balance sounding player. It's the main player on my pc.

Setting Up Kernel Streaming with Ttplayer (千千静听)
Ttplayer already have kernel streaming included. You just have to set it in the settings as long as the DAC support it.

1) Choose setting (千千选项) in Ttplayer.

2) Set it as shown in the picture below. Click save and it's well to go.

Setting Up Kernel Streaming with Foobar2000
Foobar doesn't include kernel streaming when installed.

1) Download the Kernel Streaming for Foobar from: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_ks
2) Then open Foobar2000 player.
3) Choose "Library" > "Configure".

4) Choose "Components" > "Install".

5) Choose the downloaded zip file without extracting it.
6) Click "OK" and restart Foobar.
7) Go "Library" > "Configure" again.
8) Choose "Playback" > "Output", then choose "KS: (DAC name)".

Verdict
Some may prefer the newly setup sound while some may not. It's totally up to your personal taste. If you don't like the sound of Kernel Streaming, you can just change it back to the old setting. But personally, i think kernel streaming really does improve the sound quality by:
- better separation of vocal and also instruments
- clearer and more power sounding
- less noise
But it is not without flaw. The flaw of kernel streaming is only 1 software can use the DAC at the same time. Sometimes you will found that the flash player of internet browser is hogging the DAC and you are unable to play any song on the player.

Malaysia Teen Top's Fanpage Just Make Life More Fun

Teen Top is a South Korea boy group. As the word "Teen" represent in their band name, the group consists of 6 well looking youth which are C.A.P, Chunji, L.Joe, Niel, Ricky and Changjo.

Debut Song "Clap"
Their debut song "Clap" immediately caught my attention when i randomly came across it online. At first, the strong rhythm and dark atmosphere at the starting of the song was the factors that lure me into listening to the song. However, I found myself captivated by the song in a whole and really enjoying it upon halfway listening. The vocal of the main singer Niel, rapping of C.A.P and the sexy look of Chunji sad face; all these just made me fell in love with the song.



First Award "Crazy"
Teen Top manage to get their very first award on KBS Music Bank with their song "Crazy". This song seem to be an enhancement on the strong rhythm of "Clap". This song is even better than "Clap" in the whole and i really just enjoy it so much. There is an even better surprise from this song when they released the dance version MV. Their dance is just so fluid and cool. All six of them just look so cool and i really like their look and also their dance move in this song.



First Studio Album "No. 1"
Finally, they decided to release their very first full album with the name "No. 1". As a fan, I decided to buy their very first album to show my support. After googling around for a while, I came across a Malaysia Teen Top's facebook fanpage (https://www.facebook.com/pages/MY-TeenTop/153549551341714). The fanpage is very active and loaded with many updated Teen Top information. At the same time, they also provide services to serve Malaysia Teen Top fans by helping to order all kind of related goods including the "No.1" album. The limited edition cost around RM100 while the normal edition cost around half the price. I decided to buy the normal edition which cost RM50 including postage to my house. Below are some of the photo shots of the received album after few weeks of waiting.
*I saw the same album selling for RM90 at Speedy.

  

                                                                                                                       

Verdict
If you are a Malaysian and a Teen Top fan, what are you waiting for? Just join the facebook fanpage. It's active and loaded with many Teen Top information. There are also many Teen Top fans that just double the fun ^^
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MY-TeenTop/153549551341714

Does A Budget DAC (Stoner Acoustics UD100) Make Life More Fun?

I think many users are using a pc or laptop to watch movie or listen to music. But most of time, many users just tend to upgrade their speaker or headset without given much thought of the DAC (digital to analog converter) because DAC seem to be a luxurious upgrade. However, there is a new budget level DAC being introduced by a local at lowyat forum. The DAC is being known as Stoner Acoustics UD100 and selling at RM140 only. It is having very good reviews and feedbacks in lowyat and among audiophiles.

In this post, I will test whether a budget DAC make the life of casual user more fun. I will test the UD100 with 3 different speakers which are Edifier M1350 (RM89), Edifier C3 (RM400) and Audioengine A5+ (RM1500) against built-in soundcard. I will have my dad and my sis as the audience while I change between the DAC and built-in soundcard without letting them know which setup i am using.

Look
The UD100 is just as small as a pendrive. It is just plug and play in Windows 7.

Watching Movie
I played few different quality of RMVB and MKV movies. And each time they choose the setup of the UD100 over the built-in soundcard in all 3 of speakers setup. Is the different significant? Yes they said. So, what is the significant improvement of the UD100 make to the movie? The sound effect of the movie. The noises of the crow made in the movie is more lively, more realistic like happening in front of you. The walking sound in the wooden house also become more solid.

So, the UD100 do make significant improvement over the built-in sound card. It make the dynamic expression of the sound effect to be more lively and realistic.

Listening to Musics
This time few different quality of music file ranging from flv, mp3 to loseless wav is being played. And the result is the same as last time. UD100 is choosen each time. So, what is the significant improvement? They said that the bass become more solid, the treble also improve a lot while the vocal of the singer become more sweet and lively.

However, from my opinion, the significant improvement is the staging or placement of the song. Without the DAC, the vocal and the instrument all seem to be coming from the same place. After using the DAC, the vocal seem to be place forward while the instrument such as drummer, guitarist is being place at their own place behind the singer. It just seem to be a stage being set in front of me.

*When i swap in the HRT music streamer 2 (RM649) for the Audioengine A5+, the dynamic expression, staging and vocals sound even more better than the UD100.

Upgrade Speaker? Upgrade DAC?
The improvement of upgrading a speaker is totally different from upgrading a DAC. When upgrading speaker, the more expensive speaker improve the sound of high, mid and low. Such improvement always leave very strong first impression. While upgrading DAC, they improve the dynamic expression and staging to be more accurate and realistic. Such improvement may not leave such strong impression as upgrading speaker. But, its very essential in my opinion. It just breath live into your movie or music.

So what is the amount of money you should spend on DAC vs Speaker/Headset. This is a very subjective question and it varies among people. When i ask my dad will he buy the UD100 (RM140) for the Edifier M1350 (RM89), he said yes. But from my opinion, i think the DAC should be 20% to 50% of your headset/speaker price. So if your speaker or headset cost around RM250 to RM700 and you don't own a DAC, then the UD100 is a worth while first DAC to get.

Update
After setting up my Edifier C3 with UD100, kernel streaming and speaker isolation, I am quite satisfied with the improvement given the low budget upgrade. Hence, I plan to post some audio recordings to show the improvement between onboard audio, UD100 and UD100 with kernel streaming. It is recorded using my handphone. The song is played at 60% volume with bass -3.

Onboard Audio:

UD100:

UD100 with Kernel Streaming:

These recordings just serve as references and may not fully represent live listening condition.

Conclusion
Does a budget DAC (UD100) make life more fun? The answer is yes.

What is the significant improvement? It just breath life into your digital file. It significantly improve the dynamic expression of sound effect in a movie. It also improve the control of bass and treble; dynamic expression of vocal; and staging effect in music.

How much should i spend on DAC? My opinion is 20% to 50% of your speaker/headset.
So, if your speaker or headset cost around RM250 to RM700 and you don't own a DAC, then the Stoner Acoustics UD100 is a worth while first DAC to get. You can get more information on the following links:

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2449848
https://www.facebook.com/StonerAcoustics

First Post

i have always intended to start a blog of my own for fun. but having to choose a specified topic that i am expert or enthusiastic in to blog about seem kind of hard for me. after giving some thought, a random thought just came out "why not just blog about all the entertainment stuffs in my daily life". therefore, the word casual just came into my mind. a blog that center around casual entertainment that is fun and enjoyable. ^_^ hence, this blog intends to just share my personal opinions and thoughts of casual entertainment without revolving around earning money in mind