Audiophiles on Linux, rejoice

PulseEffects screenshot taken from their official git repo

Suppose your an audiophile (at least level 2) and want to fine-tune your equalizer to improve your headphones play back on Linux. You are after that super clean and real-life-like flat response where the bass sounds realistic and the mids are super crisp. How to you go about it?

Well, there are many ways. But if you combine PulseEffects, a system wide parametric equalizer with GUI for Linux, and AutoEQ/Results, a huge database of precalibrated headphones, you will be set in less than 5 minutes.

Xiph.org - Excellent videos on digital multimedia

Sometimes you find absolutely outstanding videos on the internet. Such is the case of a brief video series by xiph.org on digital media. The host explains with very visual examples some concepts that are always misunderstood when comparing analog audio to digital, like that there is audible signal quality loss because of the conversion (not true). My favorite take-aways have been:

• Why 22 bit audio has no real advantages over 16 bit (for playback).
• A better understanding on the noise-level of digital audio and the effects of dither.

Really, if you consider yourself an audiophile of level 3 or beyond, you really should watch his videos to deepen your knowledge about the joys of high quality media playback.