You seem to be implying that those "films" have a STORY?
No way!!!
Well at least its better than the Irishman. That Netflix movie was an overacting parody. Probably the most overhyped movie of the year and it was certainly no Goodfellas.
Jack Nicolson was a much better Hoffa.
As soon as the music track started my expectations went down. It has strong elements in it but lacked the polish and punch. The actors portrayed themselves as tired old men very well, maybe that was the issue for me. Living thru the era of Hoffa's disappearance, it was a controversial and dynamic story. There was rampant speculation about how his remains were disposed of, everything from a vat of acid to buried on the the 50 yard line of a football stadium.
I agree it does have strong elements but in my opinion it was ruined by three people. Martin Scorsese for aiming for perfection and trying hard to make a classic to define his legacy but in the process just messing up the tempo by overthinking.
Robert De Niro for being an old washed up actor that should have retired like Joe Pesci and other veteran actors, singers and athletes where comebacks don't work for everyone because you are famous. Every actor cant rest on their laurels and name recognition, it takes lots of work to up your game but in this case Joe Pesci delivered because he is a better actor.
Al Pacino, where do I begin but to simply say he is the white Denzel Washington. That sent of a women character shines though every movie he makes that its the same guy. You know he was way overcooked in Oceans 13 and from then on he became a caricature of himself.
I think the worst of it all is Hollywood with their partners in the media hyping the movie to be epic and cramming it down our throats to white wash the obvious.
I didn't like the Irishman, but it was more of a disappointment of expectations.
I was expecting the Goodfellas/Casino/Bronx Tale PACING, which it just did not have.
It was bizarre to see Pacino and De Niro not at odds with each other. I was expecting "Heat version 2". It's was also hard to see De Niro as Irish, but this is my own bias since the last movie I remember with him and other "Irish" characters was Ronin.
The actual cinematography was pretty good as per usual Scorsese. The high speed shots were a nice touch.
I didn't like the Irishman, but it was more of a disappointment of expectations.
I was expecting the Goodfellas/Casino/Bronx Tale PACING, which it just did not have.
It was bizarre to see Pacino and De Niro not at odds with each other. I was expecting "Heat version 2". It's was also hard to see De Niro as Irish, but this is my own bias since the last movie I remember with him and other "Irish" characters was Ronin.
The actual cinematography was pretty good as per usual Scorsese. The high speed shots were a nice touch.
I wasn't expecting a Goodfellas type movie and I didn't want another Goodfellas as that would make it a bad movie because of trying to imitate a formula that works and it wouldn't be something new. Apart from the bad acting from the veteran actors except for Joe Pesci, I felt it was the mob movie version of Contact and Expendables.
There is one thing I got out of that movie and that is Stephen Graham ate everyones lunch when it comes to acting and it was obvious that guy had game and will now get all the big movie rolls. He worked for it especially his improvised scene with Al.
Reviewing two pairs of headphones right now. One set is Bluetooth. They're basically art and I'm in love. But they have their shortcomings. The others are the polar opposite. Simple looking, very focused on a specific purpose. And they do it real well. But damn, the 2.4GHz interference is killing me. Causes loud pops once in a while.
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, 2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport
Reviewing two pairs of headphones right now. One set is Bluetooth. They're basically art and I'm in love. But they have their shortcomings. The others are the polar opposite. Simple looking, very focused on a specific purpose. And they do it real well. But damn, the 2.4GHz interference is killing me. Causes loud pops once in a while.
Nice. What bluetooth protocol are you using?
I ran into the same issue with a connection from my high resolution player and my bluetooth receiver. It turned out it was my router which was failing and conflicting with the Bluetooth which also uses the 2.4Ghz frequency. I upgraded to a newer router that can detect conflicts and change the channel, I can confirm that it works. I know have a solid high bandwidth bluetooth connection.
These use basic aptX. And really, it sounds pretty fantastic. No aptX HD although my Avantree dongle supports both HD and LL. I always prefer wired for audio quality, and my AKG K7XX get the job done for that, but I'm happy to make the almost unnoticeable sacrifice for the versatility of wireless (especially when I'm listening to lower quality source material).
I haven't had any issues with that, but I do run a modern router. The nice thing about this brand is that they're basically king of antennas. The range and stability are pretty incredible. Walk rooms away through up to 2 walls with a stable signal.
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, 2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport
I found Apx and Apx HD terrible in terms of audio quality. Its like the dynamics are sucked out compared to a wired connection and I would consider it not good enough for high end but for low end equipment it does just fine.
LDAC HD on the other hand from my testing is better than a wired connection. It is believed that the over sampling and whatever Sony is doing is actually improving the SQ especially with 16bit 44khz audio files without making it sound artificial or veiled.
It depends on the headphones. These have an old school warm sound signature and I don't think aptX really degrades it much at all. I love wired, but I am happy with aptX personally with many headphones like these and the M&D MW07 PLUS. I like LDAC but the issue is that my only headphones that support LDAC are Sony, and... well they don't sound good. WH-1000XM2. Amazing for travel, but don't sound good. I use them for travel because of the insane ANC.
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, 2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport
It depends on the headphones. These have an old school warm sound signature and I don't think aptX really degrades it much at all. I love wired, but I am happy with aptX personally with many headphones like these and the M&D MW07 PLUS. I like LDAC but the issue is that my only headphones that support LDAC are Sony, and... well they don't sound good. WH-1000XM2. Amazing for travel, but don't sound good. I use them for travel because of the insane ANC.
I agree Sony headphones are crap but their LDAC is nice and it is universally liked in the audiophile community over other codecs. I have the ability on my player and receiver to use almost all of the available bluetooth codecs and when testing them on various headphones and music systems and it is very apparent that the Aptx is lousy compared to a wired connection. If you get one of the many receivers that came in the market this year that support LDAC you can use any headphones you like and don't have to buy Sony stuff. Sony is also handing out licensing for other makes so I imagine there are Bluetooth IEMs and headphones that will have them natively next year. With aptx HD I couldn't even tell much of a difference between the normal aptx. Qualcomm is supposedly coming out with aptx adaptive which might be better. The aptx has one major advantage over LDAC and that is a much more stable connection.
Right now Im waiting for this to come out which is highly anticipated, it should be game changer in audio.
I live a very different life from you dev. I don't have a receiver and really have no use for one! I just use Bluetooth headphones directly to a phone or PC. And with wired, it's just connected to a phone via portable DAC or PC via standalone DAC. All my content is digital.
LDAC is still very niche when it comes to headphones unfortunately. M&D has no plans to use it. I wish they would.
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, 2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport
I live a very different life from you dev. I don't have a receiver and really have no use for one! I just use Bluetooth headphones directly to a phone or PC. And with wired, it's just connected to a phone via portable DAC or PC via standalone DAC. All my content is digital.
LDAC is still very niche when it comes to headphones unfortunately. M&D has no plans to use it. I wish they would.
If you are happy with the sound that all that matters. The receiver I bought was only $90 and its very small but it has plenty of power and has a great amp and DAC section. It is a better alternative for now than the ones that have a built in circuit in the headphones by a larger margin. The problem with a lot of these wireless headphones and IEMs is falling short in their components. Hopefully they will improve on that.
You can't deny the absolutely amazing practicality of true wirefree listening. Phone in pocket, headphones on head. Or true wireless earphones in ears. It's actually incredible.
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, 2021 Lexus UX 250h F Sport
Oh man, I coulda used you two a couple of years ago when I was looking for a decent set of headphones.
I didnt have much budget to work with (seeing the pattern yet?), but of course I wanted gear that would make Jesus weep with audio joy.
I ended up with some "cheap" Sony BT wireless phones: MDR-ZX770BT. They are something like 2013-ish vintage, IIRC. They have special "mud maker" technology, aka "bass boost". I would love to find a way to disable it, because I am one of those insane people who doesnt like my music being 87.9% fat, muddy bass. Its not that bad, and after about 10 minutes, you get accustomed to it. Very disappointing at first, tho.
One thing that strikes me about the whole topic is establishing requirements. If audio quality is premium, then you accept trade-offs like cables, cost, and sometimes comfort. For example.
Mine were low cost, these were going to be used almost exclusively at work, and therefore had higher risk of being damaged or stolen. After that, comfort was next, because I wear these for hours at a stretch. Even so, I opted for full over-the-ear, because it sounds better generally and excels over other formats at physical noise dampening.
Sound quality was on the list and I had a minimum requirement, but it wasn't first, again because of the duties expected and the realities of my budget. Overall, they meet my modest needs well, and I only spent 90 bucks.
Besides, when I am using these I am usually streaming music off the internet, thru my phone, then back over the air to the unit, so the source audio signal is already error-corrected crap well before it ever hits the headphones. They are aptX I think, and I've had two dropouts/clashes. In these, it is a loud piercing pop-beep. Rather painful. But only twice in over two years. Shrug... they were only 90 bucks.
The battery lasts about 25 hours and recharges in about 90 minutes (but they don't work while charging, which is just dumb, Sony). I really like the battery life.
You can't deny the absolutely amazing practicality of true wirefree listening. Phone in pocket, headphones on head. Or true wireless earphones in ears. It's actually incredible.
Absolutely. I would never consider going wireless because there was nothing as good as wired until now. LDAC actually sounds better than wired and it its believed that the upsampling algorithm and compression processing is actually enhancing the sound better than wired by filling in missing parts of the music or enhancing the dynamics.
There are other DAC amp technologies like FPGA’s that can correct time smearing which intern makes a difference in playback to such an extent that it can sound like a new presentation.
I have my high resolution player as a jukebox pumped into my tube preamp using an ES100 and it just delivers in spades. Its one of the best times to be in audio because the cheap stuff is blowing away the expensive in value.
Apparently most in the high fi community is going nuts over these.
I bought a pair a few weeks ago and compared them to a $1000 set of IEM and although the Nobels were better they were not $960 better. They certainly did not blow the Blons out of the water. The Blons are amazing and its unbelievable they are this cheap for the way they sound.
Oh man, I coulda used you two a couple of years ago when I was looking for a decent set of headphones.
I didnt have much budget to work with (seeing the pattern yet?), but of course I wanted gear that would make Jesus weep with audio joy.
I ended up with some "cheap" Sony BT wireless phones: MDR-ZX770BT. They are something like 2013-ish vintage, IIRC. They have special "mud maker" technology, aka "bass boost". I would love to find a way to disable it, because I am one of those insane people who doesnt like my music being 87.9% fat, muddy bass. Its not that bad, and after about 10 minutes, you get accustomed to it. Very disappointing at first, tho.
One thing that strikes me about the whole topic is establishing requirements. If audio quality is premium, then you accept trade-offs like cables, cost, and sometimes comfort. For example.
Mine were low cost, these were going to be used almost exclusively at work, and therefore had higher risk of being damaged or stolen. After that, comfort was next, because I wear these for hours at a stretch. Even so, I opted for full over-the-ear, because it sounds better generally and excels over other formats at physical noise dampening.
Sound quality was on the list and I had a minimum requirement, but it wasn't first, again because of the duties expected and the realities of my budget. Overall, they meet my modest needs well, and I only spent 90 bucks.
Besides, when I am using these I am usually streaming music off the internet, thru my phone, then back over the air to the unit, so the source audio signal is already error-corrected crap well before it ever hits the headphones. They are aptX I think, and I've had two dropouts/clashes. In these, it is a loud piercing pop-beep. Rather painful. But only twice in over two years. Shrug... they were only 90 bucks.
The battery lasts about 25 hours and recharges in about 90 minutes (but they don't work while charging, which is just dumb, Sony). I really like the battery life.
You want the best value money can buy.
You cant beat this if you want something that sounds like it cost 10X the amount.
