They don't output audio like they used to?

[scottter140]

I mean this in the kindest way possible, but don't depend on your 8 months' experience working at Best Buy to make you an expert.

I definitely don't. I took the job because I am interested in these sorts of things not an expert in them. And just to clarify, I am not a sales person in the store. I'm just a helper for GeekSquad Home Theater installs.

Brown and a curly cord? Were they Koss headphones? If they were round with a button or volume control in the center, they may have been the HV-1 (button) or HV-1LC (level control).

Yeah could be. They kind of look like that. I dont remember if they had a volume control or not. I just remember they were heavy and would fall off your head if it wasn't perfectly straight.

 

[highfigh]

Okay, so we are all saying that that the output from a diskman from 15 years ago should be the say as from a macbook or phone today?

Not necessarily. There's no standard for output voltage or headphone impedance. Smart phones aren't made with the main intent that they'll sound like a concert, they're telephones. Also, the fact that they have small batteries means it's impossible to have long reserve power AND long life- it's not possible. Most smart phones come with ear buds- if the phone was capable of high output, the buds would crap out immediately and that means they either need to cover them under warranty, state clearly that dead ear buds aren't covered or design the phone to avoid the problem in the first place. Power can't be created, so the small batteries have limits to what they can drive and high output voltage isn't easy, in such a small package. A MacBook has a much more powerful supply, so it has different capabilities.

If you have been exposed to loud sounds/noise for long periods, your hearing has been affected. Period. If not, you're an exception. A lot of info is available about this and I would advise a hearing test but these aren't usually full range, they only go up to 8KHz because audiologists are more concerned with people's ability to hear speech, not music.

 

[Dan Madden]

Thank you for verifying my theory. Maybe I'll hunt down a bunch of old equipment and do a disciple test on them a report my findings. I just think its odd there isn't more information of this out there... Maybe, the companies that make music playing things do it deliberately to save money and to get you to buy more expensive headphones and such.

See, 8 months ago I started working for Bestbuy. I wanted to use my discount to buy something cool so I set out to buy some headphones because I realized It had been a really long time since I just sat and really LISTENED to music. Like just sat and listened to an album from start to finish. Also I wanted to get into recording music. First, I got Beats headphone and quickly returned them. Then I wound up spending a lot more money on these Blue Mo-Fi headphones with a built in amplifier you had to charge with a USB and a bunch of other really fancy specs i don't remember. They were pretty great and you did absolutely have to be careful how much you turned them up. But then one day they blew. I think, not because I was listening to them super loud, but because on my 88 key Midi keyboard I used for recording, there is one key on the low bass end that is broken, so when you press it, however lightly, it thinks you are hammering on it with maximum force. So, I had to return the headphones but it got me thinking: do I really need all this crazy stuff in my headphones?

People have been listening to music and using headphones to record music for a very long time. Why now do I need such intense, technologically advanced headphones? Working for the company I do made me realize something: some things really don't need to be improved upon. They just work. BUT thats not very marketable for the company making the product or the store thats selling it.

One day I came into work and I saw that they had a new redesigned KitchenAid Mixer…. Really? They have been making these things the same for nearly 100 years because they are perfect the way they are… No one was asking for a new version of it but BestBuy is all about having the latest and greatest things so I guess they had to try.

I think that go’s for a lot of things. Refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, and a lot of audio stuff too. In my quest for headphones, I couldn't find just simple good quality headphones. They all had to have some gimmick.

I kept thinking back to the pair of headphones my dad had when I was a kid. They were the kind of ugly brown, curly cord, 1/4 inch connector headphone that I think a lot of people around in the 70’s and 80’s will remember. They weren't very comfortable because they just kind of loosely rested on your head, but they served their purpose and they worked great. Why can't I find something like that now a days? Because they won't just master a technology and then keep reproducing it for a million years….

I’m just rambling but my point is they really don't make em like they used to.

My Samsung phone actually gives me a warning as I try to increase the volume that forces me to click 'OK' as I try to increase it! I suppose it's a liability kinda' thing happening nowadays. Don't get me wrong, the volume of my phone is fine at near or at maximum but on devices in the earlier days (Including older phones I had), they played way louder and my volume was never near or at maximum to get the desired volume. It has nothing to do with age or hearing loss......this is a fact that new stuff does not play as loud.

 

[j_garcia]

What?

What.?

WHAT..?