matthewb.eth

@matthewb

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one of my 2025 predictions is that hi-fi audio continues to become more relevant, particularly for young audiences 30-50 y/o with disposable income

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quite surreal to remember that I live in a city with lead in its drinking water in 2024 SF folks worried about microplastic in their boba, I can’t even drink tap water lmao

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there’s definitely some niches that are more suitable to this type of obsessive product research, like coffee gadgets or speakers. that said, I have applied the same methodology to pretty much everything with interesting results. for example, gonna write a post about shoe horns later this month. imo it’s endless, more a question of how to live well and enjoy your day-to-day with the things that you use most rather than just “the best ___”

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my work here is done

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I will pretty much never balk at the price of hi-fi gear like speakers, amps, turntables, etc. because they are some of the things that I use most in my day-to-day life. 60hr this week alone (!!), pretty wild. of course not all of that is dedicated active listening, but still. the only things that I (maybe) use for more hours per week would be my laptop and desktop computer.

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okay I guess I can sometimes eke out a half decent pour

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sounds about right, could see the uptrend resuming by mid january

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go outside and touch icicles

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why don’t we already have perfect hydrophobic and anti-fog coatings on every eyeglass lens? seems like an obvious problem to solve

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another way to reframe this is to consider noise in images instead of sound if you have an image with a relatively consistent level of noise or artifacts (e.g. film grain), even if its distribution is gaussian and not truly even, you will perceive that texture as part of the image. it likely won't bother you and may even lend the image a certain visual quality. whereas if that same image displays inconsistent or unexpected levels of noise or artifacts (e.g. a large hair or a light leak), you will perceive it as an intrusion or distraction that draws your eye away from the content of the image.

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hot take: today's noise cancelling processing—whether via H1/H2 chips in airpods or apps like zoom or discord—is what make calls unintelligible. a moderate level of background noise is tolerable when it's a constant pattern, whereas noise cancelling often makes this pattern stochastic as it analyzes and responds in real time. the superior mic is actually your MBP (or MBA) despite its lack of aggressive noise cancelling, unless you're in an exceedingly loud environment that can actually drown you out.

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feeling chilly? quincy jones has got you covered with “summer in the city” (1976). the laidback intro reminds me of Nightmares On Wax downtempo, but gradually builds into a funky mix of organ, bass, and silky vocals by Minnie Riperton. https://song.link/i/1443225827

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really want to do a hifi listening room chill side event at farcon

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friendly reminder to periodically clean your disgusting germ brick aka your phone

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dems making fun of the tech vs. maga in-fighting would do well to remember that they have a dementia patient sitting in the president's chair atm, glass houses and all

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it is very likely that your friday is lacking some jazz flute. my suggested remedy is this upbeat and funky track by french flautist Ludivine Issambourg. https://song.link/i/1766105346

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> open twitter > scroll for 2-3min > immediately regret it > close app logging off until late january, for real

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here's why I believe that reddit has become a counter-signal for product reccos, with the caveat that I am not the average consumer and I am often looking for a "buy it once" type purchase. * reddit and hall monitors subreddits can be good places to find niche info. I sometimes use reddit as a jumping off point to explore a particular vertical or sub-category of product. the issue is that reddit communities attract a certain type of person and this has led to the overbearing "hall monitor" mod culture over there. most of these users—though not all—are borderline obsessed with what they would call "value." if [product A] is $57 and [product B] is $62, that is an important factor for them. for some this comes down to budget which is totally legitimate, but I would argue that it's more philosophical.

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at this point reddit is most useful to me as a counter-signal when researching products, services, or nearly anything else inverse jim cramer vibes

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update: the fartcoin is gone time for another holiday classic, good night purple app 🎄

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