How to Get The Best Listening Experience Possible
Stop by and learn a few tips and tricks to give yourself the best listening experience possible – whether you’re an aspiring audiophile or a casual listener!
For most people, there’s very little difference between listening to music using one set of equipment and another. A tinny bass tone, drums that fail to pop, and vocal layers that don’t quite have their intended impact are all fine for them. For some of us though, that’s simply not acceptable. If you’re finding yourself gradually turning into an audiophile, then there are various steps you can take to make sure you’re getting the best listening experience possible. Here are just a few.
My first tip is to make sure you’re using the right bit rate for the music you’re listening to. You might have heard a lot of conflicting things about bit rate. Some people think it doesn’t matter at all. Others will listen to lossless audio files and nothing else. Take it from me there is a difference between an MP3 file at 128kbps and a tune that’s FLAC-encoded. However, if you increase the bit rate of your compressed files, that difference is going to become less and less noticeable. With low-end speakers or headphones, you’ll find it hard to differentiate a lossless file and a 320kbps MP3. Do a little experimenting, and find out if your bit rate has an impact on the quality of your tunes. In general, quality should peak at around 192kpbs.
If you’re as fussy as I am about the quality of your audio, then you’ve probably got some fairly high-end headphones for use when you’re walking around. But what about when you’re doing things around the house, and want to hear your music while listening out for that important phone call? You’ve probably already discovered that turning your in-built monitor speakers all the way up only gives your music an unpleasant, metallic buzz. To get around this issue, get yourself a high-quality Bluetooth speaker. These devices are massively popular at the moment, and there are countless models that will give you a convenient and wonderful listening experience. After pairing one with your tablet or phone, you’ll be able to simply turn it on and blare away!
While the brand and model obviously go a long way, you may not be getting all you can out of your headphones. Unless you’ve splashed out on studio-quality phones, there’s always going to be some little glitches in the sound making it from the file to your ears. If you want to hear things just as the artist intended, consider buying a digital-analogue converter. This is a small device which plugs into your computer, and then receives your headphones. Having this hanging off your cable may feel a bit annoying to start with. However, it’s a relatively small inconvenience, and you’ll quickly get used to it. After using a good converter a couple of times, I’m sure you’ll agree that the audio quality is greatly improved. If you think one of these little boxes will really get in your way, there are even smaller ones made for mobile devices.
Take these steps, and you’ll begin to experience all of your favorite songs in a way you’ve never experienced before! Let us know in the comments if you have any great tips of your own!
