So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Trenchfriend]

Do you still got good old, best sounding FM or are the US already "DAB/DAB+ only"??

You know, Germany ist luckily still the 90s world + some digital stuff. We love our old reliable FM!
DAB failed and DAB+ sounds crap, just as compressed digital crap naturally sounds.

But of course, clock is ticking...
Sure, DAB+is a modern thing and it generally seems to work well, as it does in my bedroom. But it's NEVER a substitute for brilliant cable-FM, as I have in my living room!
Kitchen and bath are FM-AREA, too! Kitchen 70s MONO device (1974/75 model).

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
I ain’t up on the technology, and I doubt my ears are keen enough to detect what yours do, but I have heard others express similar sentiments.

 

[Edward]

I remember those days very well and how CB radios would interfere with TV reception.

I remember when I got my fist mobile phone at the end of the 90s, you could tell a call or, later, a text was about to come in because the TV signal would wobble just a little. Not had that in years - don't know whether it was a change in the phone tech that stopped it, or the TV switchover to digital signals only, or a mix of both.

Do you still got good old, best sounding FM or are the US already "DAB/DAB+ only"??

You know, Germany ist luckily still the 90s world + some digital stuff. We love our old reliable FM!
DAB failed and DAB+ sounds crap, just as compressed digital crap naturally sounds.

But of course, clock is ticking...
Sure, DAB+is a modern thing and it generally seems to work well, as it does in my bedroom. But it's NEVER a substitute for brilliant cable-FM, as I have in my living room!
Kitchen and bath are FM-AREA, too! Kitchen 70s MONO device (1974/75 model).

In the UK, there was much talk of an FM switchoff in favour of digital some years ago. The audiophile crowd were up in arms about it, taking the view that DAB is inherently inferior sound quality to FM. I can't say as I notice a huge difference myself, really. DAB is a more consistent signal, which is great where I am in London. The biggest difference, though, seems to be made by the quality of equipment I'm listening on rather than the signal source. I suspect ultimately it may be more subjective than anything. A lot like the old format wars, where some music will always sound best on warm vinyl, whereas the uber-clean digital sound is marvellous for classical imo. Most radio I listen to these days is spoken word, of course, so the difference made by the nature of the broadcast signal is much less again.

 

[Zombie_61]

Do you still got good old, best sounding FM or are the US already "DAB/DAB+ only"??

I had not even heard of "DAB/DAB+" until I read your question. That said, in this part of the U.S., as far as I know radio is still being broadcast as it has for generations. As for the medium it's currently recorded on... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

...You know, Germany ist luckily still the 90s world + some digital stuff. We love our old reliable FM!
DAB failed and DAB+ sounds crap, just as compressed digital crap naturally sounds.

But of course, clock is ticking...
Sure, DAB+is a modern thing and it generally seems to work well, as it does in my bedroom. But it's NEVER a substitute for brilliant cable-FM, as I have in my living room!
Kitchen and bath are FM-AREA, too! Kitchen 70s MONO device (1974/75 model).

This reminds me of when Compact Discs began to replace albums, singles/45s, and audio tapes--a lot of "purists" complained that all of the "noise" created by the imperfect mediums was missing and that, with it, went the "warmth" and "purity" of the recordings. Eventually most of those people came to the realization that those recordings were indeed better without that "noise" and most of them came around to liking and accepting the new technology. The same will likely happen with "DAB/DAB+", at least until the next new technology comes along and replaces them.

 

[BobHufford]

Just watched a guy wash his entire car with the squeegee and dirty water at the gas station while three cars were queued up behind him. His tank had been full for a good five or ten minutes. I bet that car smells awesome!

 

[LTDAVIS]

When people call shotgun shells bullets. It really irks me.

 

[Edward]

Whn your kyboard dvlops a fault and nds rplacd, but you'r svral thousand mils from hom and unabl to do anything about it for th nxt fw days, yt you hav to carry on as normal bcaus you can't afford to los th marking tim. Was it th squar brackts that wnt? Th # symbol,, or somthing ls lss ssntial? No, it had to b th numbr btwn 2 and 4 and th most common lttr in th nglish languag, didn't it? ARRGGHH.

 

[tonyb]

Phony laughter. It annoys the #^%* outta me sometimes.

 

[tonyb]

The assumption that a fondness for “vintage” stuff — furniture, clothing, etc. — is an indication of “living in the past.”

Sure, there have always been those who romanticize the past and bemoan ad nauseam the current state of their world. But then there are those who do just the opposite: they propose that the past was an unenlightened age, populated mostly by bigoted buffoons. In romanticizing the present such characters do what the annoyingly misty-eyed nostalgics do, but in reverse.

As the old guy said, you’d better consult with those youngsters, while they still know everything.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Again to the FM topic.

You know, my favorite pipe smoking place in mother nature is at a river, halfway surrounded by a high hill and a mountain, totally covering the North and East side. And I'm practically sitting on this river really deep down there.

But surprisingly, FM reception is there and my favorite culture radio channel comes in totally clear! And I have no idea, how this is possible, because the FM signal is def. coming from North-North-East, from the mountain station at the next bigger city and usually FM is cutted by mountains between.

Any idea, how this reception is possible?

 

[Trenchfriend]

Wanna loose weight? Start smoking pipe. I'm down to 152 lbs (5,9 ft).

 

[Trenchfriend]

I don't know about the USA, but in old Germany, the weather media says, we could have a gnats plague, this summer. And since last week, it seems to becoming true. Actually, I stay away from my favorite pipe smoking place at the river. Waaah....

 

[Bushman]

Wanna loose weight? Start smoking pipe. I'm down to 152 lbs (5,9 ft).

Nicotine blocks off the hunger receptors in the brain. That's why smokers tend to loose weight.

I don't know about the USA, but in old Germany, the weather media says, we could have a gnats plague, this summer. And since last week, it seems to becoming true. Actually, I stay away from my favorite pipe smoking place at the river. Waaah....

Here in the Midwestern US, the gnats have been out of control, and that that's WITH a severe drought.

Here's something that's been inking me lately: how dour and negatively minded the internet has become. It seems as if nobody can be happy. Everything must be politicized, yet nothing must be. The double standards people have come up with for everything is just boggling. The world doesn't make sense anymore. You could say the sky is blue, and some "truther" will argue to the point of violence that it is purple.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Too many people seem to be disputatious for the sake of being disputatious. The relative anonymity and distance of the online world can make it more difficult to avoid such characters, and it often emboldens them. You know, they feel free to say things from such a remove that might have them suffering greater consequences in face-to-face encounters.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Social media platforms seem to be built to specifically encourage that -- on the one hand a format that encourages glib on-the-run replies with no nuance or substance coupled with user algorithms that push the user further and further down the hole toward the most nonsensical elements of the beliefs they express. Many people have become unfathomably and illegitimately wealthy deliberately cultivating the climate we find ourselves in today, and it's only going to get worse as long as there's a buck or a billion to be made of it. The only choice we, as individuals, have is to refuse to engage with those platforms.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Luckily, I didn't shower BEFORE railcar and next bigger city!! Actually kind of tropical in old Germany.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Nicotine blocks off the hunger receptors in the brain. That's why smokers tend to loose weight.

In my case, the accelerated metabolism caused it. From 73/74 kilogram down to 68/69 kilogram.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Rail travel to Scotland. And NHS appointment schedules.

 

[Edward]

This reminds me of when Compact Discs began to replace albums, singles/45s, and audio tapes--a lot of "purists" complained that all of the "noise" created by the imperfect mediums was missing and that, with it, went the "warmth" and "purity" of the recordings. Eventually most of those people came to the realization that those recordings were indeed better without that "noise" and most of them came around to liking and accepting the new technology. The same will likely happen with "DAB/DAB+", at least until the next new technology comes along and replaces them.

I think in part there was a bit of a backlash against shonky attempts to sell us the same stuff all over again on the Ne! and Improved! formats. Most of the hardcore audiophiles I know stuck with vinyl as default, and only carefully selected CDs. It seems it was much like the VHS to DVD transfer: CDs could provide an equally good sound* - the secret was how they were recorded and mixed. We've all seen those shonky DVD transfers where all they did was dump an old VHS content onto the DVD, and it looked all wrong, the picture quality was poor, and the rest. Same thing could happen with audio.

CDs are definitely more convenient, though they lack the ritual of putting a vinyl LP on the turntable. I think that lack of immediate convenience and ritual involved in vinyl is a big part of the appeal for a lot of collectors as well. It's the same reason that pipe-smoking is a hobby, but cigarettes are a nasty habit, or why we don't have myriad online forums dedicated to the art of shaving with a cartridge razor and foam from a can... The romance factor undoubtable matters, and enough I think to affect our perception.


*For most ears; I'm aware of one controlled experiment where a difference could be heard, in the vinyl's favour, but that was at earbleed volume on a hifi that cost tens of thousands of pounds - the cartridge alone on the turntable was four grand Sterling...

Phony laughter. It annoys the #^%* outta me sometimes.

I always found in acting that was the hardest thing to fake, laughter.

The assumption that a fondness for “vintage” stuff — furniture, clothing, etc. — is an indication of “living in the past.”

Sure, there have always been those who romanticize the past and bemoan ad nauseam the current state of their world. But then there are those who do just the opposite: they propose that the past was an unenlightened age, populated mostly by bigoted buffoons. In romanticizing the present such characters do what the annoyingly misty-eyed nostalgics do, but in reverse.

Yes. We get that on the Chap scene a lot. There are occasionally folks who turn up who miss the satire and/or think it's an excuse to air attitudes that are, well, let's just say best left in the past. It's generally darkly amusing to watch them realise that they're not even close to being surrounded by the like minds they assumed. While a broad church can indeed be a very positive thing, there are certainly elements of the British vintage scene I've encountered who lean to the "wasn't Britain better before women and ethnics got uppity?" mindset. It's always the type who bang on the most about "winning the war", Spitfires and Churchill that are in many ways far closer in their social attitudes to the losing side. Funny thing is most of That Type I encounter often have little genuine interest in the actual period or the clothes, more just seeking a 'safe space' to vent attitudes and ideas generally shunned today.


One of the bigwigs in my Club was once sat at a dinner besides a landed gentry type. When The Chap came up in conversation, the latter said "I can't work out if it's for people like me, or taking the p*ss out of people like me." Came the answer "well, its' sort of both". Which is healthy, imo.

As the old guy said, you’d better consult with those youngsters, while they still know everything.

Wilde, wasn't it?

Wanna loose weight? Start smoking pipe. I'm down to 152 lbs (5,9 ft).

Certainly passes the time. As I've long said, pipe smoking is more of a hobby than a habit.

Nicotine blocks off the hunger receptors in the brain. That's why smokers tend to loose weight.

Ah! I'd always just assumed it killed the tastebuds!

Here in the Midwestern US, the gnats have been out of control, and that that's WITH a severe drought.

Here's something that's been inking me lately: how dour and negatively minded the internet has become. It seems as if nobody can be happy. Everything must be politicized, yet nothing must be. The double standards people have come up with for everything is just boggling. The world doesn't make sense anymore. You could say the sky is blue, and some "truther" will argue to the point of violence that it is purple.

There's only one way of dealing with that type that diffuses them quickly.


Them: "The moon landings were FAKED!"

You reply: "Aw, you still believe in the moon? That's cute."

Rail travel to Scotland. And NHS appointment schedules.

I love taking the train up to Glasgow or Edinburgh - I'd be happy to see flying to either from English cities banned. I find the train often faster door to door, and so much more pleasant. Looking forward to taking the train from London to Berlin with the promised new, high speed service is online.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Ah! I'd always just assumed it killed the tastebuds!

Fastens digestion/metabolism reliable.