Recent Posts

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Gaming / Re: Got myself a new headset and sound card. Thoughts?

« Last post by NewF on September 19, 2020, 02:50:49 PM »

Well, I bought one of the same headsets way back when they were first released, cost me close to $300. I played Left 4 dead 2 with them and they did sound amazing and I loved every single second of it. There was a certain EQ setting to make them sound nice and crystal clear, because yeah, in the beginning they had that "tinny" sound, until the eq was properly adjusted, they were great. These ones are the "new and improved" from the old ones, and they just had a big 50% off sale, so I decided to grab another pair. Still waiting for them to be shipped, so we will see how it goes when they get here.

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Random Chat / Re: Weight Loss

« Last post by NewF on September 19, 2020, 02:48:09 PM »

I've decided to try out this keto diet thing. Seems odd, but when I read up about it, it made sense. We will see what happens. Just gotta make sure Im eating the right stuff.

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Gaming / Re: Got myself a new headset and sound card. Thoughts?

« Last post by Spectere on September 19, 2020, 08:06:42 AM »

Sound cards are not as essential as they used to be, but they still serve a purpose. They're largely irrelevant if you use some sort of digital output, but if you're looking for clean analog inputs and outputs they can still be useful, since they tend to be a bit more isolated from the motherboard components than your traditional onboard sound solution. They aren't particularly useful for driving high impedance headphones (you still need an external amp for those), but gaming headsets generally don't fall into that category.

As far as true 5.1 vs simulated, having true surround always wins. These headphones are a bit on the strange side, as they channel audio from the top-mounted speakers into the earpads. I'd have to try them myself, but that seems like it would limit its frequency response by quite a bit (this typically makes the audio sound kinda thin and/or hollow, which is likely why they include a little subwoofer in each ear—to try and give the sound more life). The surround effect would probably be fine, though I suspect the center channel could potentially get drowned out by the front left/right channels (it looks like it's basically sharing a physical audio "channel" with the front left/right speakers rather than having its own route).

It looks like there's definitely going to be left/right channel bleed for both the front and rear speakers, but given that they seem to intend for these to simulate an open 5.1/7.1 surround setup that's probably intentional. Definitely not going to be able to get hard left/right panning out of these if they're designed the way I think they are.

Basically, I think it'll probably deliver a pretty convincing effect if you're purely looking for positional audio, but I have serious reservations about the audio quality. Keep in mind that you're getting a headset with seven speakers (five full-range channels and two subwoofers) and a mic for $75 and set your expectations accordingly.

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Gaming / Re: Got myself a new headset and sound card. Thoughts?

« Last post by vladgd on September 19, 2020, 12:20:35 AM »

Call me crazy, but I thought sound cards went the way of the dodo?

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Random Chat / Re: Weight Loss

« Last post by vladgd on September 19, 2020, 12:07:50 AM »

Before I started I thought I was like 200lbs, and stayed this way for the past...4-5 years. Which is fine for someone of my height, 6'1", but having got a better scale that is actually consistent...215...no wonder I have a gut.

I am by no means "done", still miles of work to do, but after work yesterday...



Excuse my "just got off a 10 hour shift gross man feet", but uhh, goddamn. I plateaued at 199 at my LOWEST, added cycling...started eating more junk...drinking too much, energy drinks again, hovering around 203-204. Cut all that shit again over only a few days, weight just evaporated. 190 looking somewhat achievable. Less cycling due to temp AND daylight dropping rapidly is a concern, need proper cycling "tights" instead of "shorts" now, warmer top probably gloves, even in the mid 40's/50's this evening...could barely feel my hands/arms with the breeze I got...in cycling shorts and a t shirt...

Mirror gains starting to get real, stomach is much MUCH more flat than when I started. I think I went down from a gut, to having a belly, it's a step in the right direction for personal appearance gains. And on personal appearance stuff...I'd been thinking about err, doing this...again... I got the money to do it now, but current world situation + I get stressed out and anxious just THINKING about it, it's non trivial to just "get done". So yeah, hopefully I can get that done. Actually pretty embarrassing to talk about, probably telling close to nobody irl about it if im going to be honest, but gotta vent it somewhere.

That weirdness out of the way, I think I did most of what I wanted to do out of this thread AS IS. Cycling over 500 miles and losing 20lbs, going down a belt notch and seeing a visible change in my stomach, not to stroke my ego, but I think I get at least one pat on the shoulder. But more work to be done, next on the list is 190lbs, working on deadlift, eat healthier (currently just "eat less" to drop lbs, but eating healthier would allow me to be less hungry while doing that).

/blog

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Random Chat / Re: The Thread of Extreme Happiness

« Last post by Spectere on September 17, 2020, 01:43:13 PM »

iOS 14 introduced the last two things that I found myself missing from Android and Windows Phone—home screen widgets, and an "app drawer" analogue (it works pretty much identically to the one in Windows Phone, hence why I brought that up). It felt really great to be able to crunch my home screen down to a single page this morning.

Not sure if they specifically targeted performance, but it feels smooth as hell, too.

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Computing / Re: The Keeb Thread

« Last post by Spectere on September 17, 2020, 01:31:25 PM »

I did run into a couple of QC issues with the [Holy Pandas] that I received. No chatter or anything like that, but the case seemed to be deformed enough on two of the switches that I simply couldn't mount them no matter how hard I tried. That's two switches out of 110 (I put in the order for this before I switched to TKL) so it wasn't a complete dealbreaker, and it further underlines why you should always order extras.

Turns out, the issues didn't end there. I'm about two months in and I've run into three chattering switches (as opposed to the zero chattering switches from my previous Kailh Box Browns set and both sets of Zealios switches I've used), with another potential bad one rearing its ugly head. Swapping the switches with fresh ones eliminated the chatter, but if this keeps up I'm going to be out of spares before I hit the one year mark. Looks like I might be swapping the Zealios switches back in in the near future.

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Gaming / Got myself a new headset and sound card. Thoughts?

« Last post by NewF on September 15, 2020, 06:13:31 PM »

Went and picked up the Sound Blaster AE-5plus (heard nothing but good things about it), and grabbed a pair of Psyko 5.1 true surround sound headphones. I had them way back in the day and they were amazing, and now these updated ones apparently are the bees knees. Waiting for the headphones to come in, currently.

Anyone know anything about these pieces of gear and if they're good/worth it when it comes to true 5.1 audio instead of the USB simulated surround sound audio and what not?  Links below for reference.

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-BlasterX-SABRE32-class-Discrete-Headphone/dp/B086QN3WNX

https://www.exeoent.com/psyko-headset

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Gaming / Re: wut specturr'z playing

« Last post by Spectere on September 12, 2020, 03:45:56 PM »

I played through Outer Wilds (not to be confused with The Outer Worlds) recently. Damn good game.

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Random Chat / Re: The Thread of Extreme Happiness

« Last post by vladgd on September 09, 2020, 10:11:40 PM »

Animal Crossing is always something I get into pretty hard for about 1 month, then drop off HARDDDDDDDD (with a capital D) after, been this way with gamecube, ds, 3ds, and switch versions. Great games, but...I ain't one of those grandmas who put 5k hours into it, or my ex who put...probably near 1k hours into it.

While on subject. DO check out youtube for "animal crossing 5am, or any hour in a 24 hour day", each game has different music for every single hour, very good background music. When in game you should notice at the start of an hour the music will change.

You getting that mario collection? Nintendo is pulling a nintendo selling it for 6 months before pulling it off physical AND digital shelves...so...they forced me to preorder...bastards...smart bastards, but still bastards.

Back to fashion, I used to (for a very very long time) wear blue jeans, white t shirt...that's it. Now...blue (skinny) jeans...but sometimes shorts?!, sweats?!, now athletic attire?! With...colorful shirts?!



Iunno, I'm into it. Coming soon as I get my diet in check, as I'm ~10lbs away, MEDIUM SIZE T SHIRTS...bum..bum...BUMMMmmmmmmm (I can already sorta pull off medium shirts...if I skip breakfast and drink no water...but as soon as I put anything in me, nope, pudge town)