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[Vector]

Oh no, I don't want to watch I just want to see two young curmudgeons find joy ~

[pisskop]

I can feel my lungs through my back today.

Ever since I got the vaxx I feel like I've been .... more acutely aware of my dehydration and craving more water.  And in general I have a very specific awareness of my joint soreness.

Isnt that all symptoms of rabies? Did I counter the covid with some rabies?  Should I be waiting for brain swelling to shut all that sensate nonsense down?

[George_Chickens]

now kith *_*

I refuse to take advice from Mike Tyson.

[methylatedspirit]

I've done some ABX testing on myself, and the only conclusion I can make is that I'm a heathen. I specifically used L - Train's Into The Deep, which I'm fairly certain is difficult for any codec (don't mind the pony stuff; I got it off Bandcamp at random because it was free). I'll summarize:

FLAC vs 20 kbps Opus: 100% accuracy (20/20 correct), 100.00% confidence
FLAC vs 32 kbps Opus:  95% accuracy (19/20 correct), 100.00% confidence
FLAC vs 48 kbps Opus:  76% accuracy (16/21 correct),  98.67% confidence
FLAC vs 64 kbps Opus:  66% accuracy (23/35 correct),  95.52% confidence
FLAC vs 80 kbps Opus:  48% accuracy (24/50 correct),  33.59% confidence

Which means that 80+ kbps Opus is transparent to me; I cannot tell the difference between that and FLAC. I'm sure that audiophiles would call me deaf! That, or I'm so used to Opus' psychoacoustic model that I can handle lower bitrates (in this particular format only) than the average person.

[wierd]

I dont really consider myself an audiophile, since I dont really give two shits, usually.

However, I can tell with greater than 80% confidence at even high bitrates (at least with MP3). 

I will tell you what I listen for:  Strongly inflected consonants produce a sharp spectral peak, with lots of noise distortion. This is something lossy codecs HATE, and so they replace this with an approximation, that is much lower fidelity/complexity.

This is for things like "K", "T", "CH", and "SH".  Their actual sound is very similar to hiss or noise, and the codec wants to kill them.

NPR had a paper some time back, where they tried to test if people really COULD tell.
https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

I got all of them right.

[EuchreJack]

As for the test, what if I prefer low quality?  Isn't that going to skew the ratings a bit?

Agh, I'm going back to my Youtube listening...

[methylatedspirit]

On devices that support Opus (i.e. almost everything that isn't an end-of-life Apple device), YouTube streams at most 160 kbps Opus, or maxes out at 128 kbps in some cases. At least, that's what it tells me in the debug info. I'm very used to its quirks because I do a lot of music listening on YT, which probably explains why 80 kbps is transparent to me.

As for the test, what if I prefer low quality?  Isn't that going to skew the ratings a bit?

Every codec has its own "sound" at low quality. Are you saying you prefer all of them, even the ones you're not aware of?

I dont really consider myself an audiophile, since I dont really give two shits, usually.

However, I can tell with greater than 80% confidence at even high bitrates (at least with MP3). 

You wanna try with different, more modern codecs? Those have newer acoustic models and they might behave differently. I'd suggest Opus and AAC (although AAC has a bunch of encoders, most of which are proprietary; the Hydrogenaudio page has a ranking). Those two are the state-of-the-art in lossy audio codecs.

[martinuzz]

Apparently at least 3 of the Amsterdam Gold Heist suspects are still at large (and armed with automatic weapons).
The 6 arrested suspects are between ages 24 and 40, 2 from Belgium and 3 from France. Of the sixth, the identity is still unknown.
The man killed by the police was a 37-year old man from France.
The police refuses to comment about the group's further background.

[dragdeler]

-

[pisskop]

idk.

I use bose bluetooth earbuds and I def notice a difference between my old linux laptop, my mid-line gaming laptop, and my iphone.  And youtube qualities?  Forget it.  I know by sound if I'm getting the HD.

[Rolan7]

Ages ago when I was getting Redhat Certified, there was a cool moment where I learned about making my laptop's speaker produce various tones.  And it seemed to cut off at a certain pitch (but didn't report a failure) so I had to wonder whether it was still making the sound. 

I was just hitting the age where my ability to hear highest-frequencies, like CRT TVs, was fading.  So I was a little obsessed with the idea.

(It was just cutting off
edit: ... I think?)

[methylatedspirit]

-snip-

To be fair, I am listening out of some cheap-ass earbuds. I'm probably bottlenecked by these things first; my laptop's internal DAC isn't great, but that's usually not where the first bottleneck is. Opus 80 is a bit low for transparency; the commonly agreed-upon scale is 96 to 128 kbps, but that assessment hasn't been updated since 2013. Perhaps the encoder has gotten better in the 8 years since then, but I think I'll stick with the 'crappy earbuds' hypothesis before declaring that Opus is magic.

Anyway, ABXing myself with AAC (FDK_AAC encoder), 80 kbps is also transparent. Which... sure, sounds about right. I like to shit on AAC(-LC) as being a worse format than Opus, but that's me criticizing its low-bitrate performance more than anything else. There's High Efficiency AAC, but that requires a nonfree and patent-encumbered encoder and is therefore as good as useless.

[bloop_bleep]

As for the matter of pursing your old crush, it's basically an issue of pride. Emotionally immature people (which is what most teenagers are) can be painfully wishy-washy with their decisions. I expect that if you try anything she'll just change her mind again. I spent my entire high school life going after one chick because she kept giving and withdrawing her affection at strategic moments to keep me perpetually hooked. This wasn't some calculated thing, it was just the way her mind worked.

I got more from her than I would have if I did nothing, but it wasn't worth it in the end. You need self-respect. You need to say no to people who try to play games with you rather than treat you like a fellow human being. I know society tells you that games and mind-reading are just how dating works, but it isn't. There are people out there who will express their feelings plainly, or give you a fair shot if you make the first move. It may not be exciting as this constant mysterious back and forth of "will she or won't she", but it's a lot less complicated and a lot less anxiety inducing, and in my opinion, creates a stronger foundation for a relationship where both partners are supposed to be equals.

Yeah I was worried whether she'd become wishy-washy as you said. I'm very much not planning for an unreliable, close-and-distant relationship. Or mind games. Plus the whole situation and history around it constructs complicated emotions on my end towards the relationship.

I don't know how your classmates would react to that approach, but if you're at the point where you're asking for dating advice on the internet, then high school probably isn't the time your love life is going to bloom. The guys who get laid all the time are able to do it because it comes naturally to them. They don't think, or scheme, or plan, they just do.

Well, the question isn't about my skill or how to pursue one girl or the other, it was mostly about what I should do. A decision, not the execution. I don't see any reason why it necessarily shouldn't blossom. I'm asking on the internet because this is something that may be awkward to talk about with my parents or my friends. In particular my friends know the people involved -- I'd like to avoid potential drama. Also I'm not sure how much it was a part of your reasoning but I'm not looking to, erm, get laid.

Conversation actually flows rather naturally with both of them, including the flirting, but I guess it just feels particularly more natural with the old girl. She says she enjoys talking with me and that I'm funny and sweet.

Point taken about the self-respect though. And about new girl not being a factor in pursuing old girl, and about being in a relationship for its own sake and passion and all that.

Wait and see what happens, but don't be upset if that happens to be nothing. There is more to life than love and sex.

Trust me, I know. Just trying to resolve the problem.

Plan of action is to just talk with both of them for now. I may ask the old girl how she feels now in the future, but I don't think right away, because it may imply to her that I'm looking to start a relationship when I'm not sure yet. Just would be bad timing.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice!

[heydude6]

Don't sweat it. Sorry that my words came across more harshly that I intended. It's just that I used go on reddit a lot and that place was filled with teenage boys who were willing to do anything for sex. It was a very sad thing to see. Broke my heart honestly.

I'm not sure how much it was a part of your reasoning but I'm not looking to, erm, get laid.

Guilty as charged. Just wanted to prevent another tragedy. Most of my post was written with that in mind, but at least you got something useful out of it. I wish there was more I could do to help you not graduate with regrets.

[Vector]

I think what I would say is that the likelihood of the girl who you're "talking with" being sad if you go with somebody else is ... I dunno, present. But I don't think there's any ethical concern.

I've experienced both things: affection appearing with time, and not.