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    259 points zdw | 15 comments | | HN request time: 0.602s | source | bottom
    1. Optimal_Persona ◴[] No.41833049[source]
    Also the audio frequency bandwidth is narrower on AM, so fewer treble frequencies.

    TBH I think music from up to the late '60s (especially if originally released in mono) sounds really good, or at least more "era-appropriate" on AM radio. I remember my grandparents tuning in to easy-listening AM stations as I grew up in the '70s and '80s, to my ear Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" or a classic Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" production sounds more "right" coming through the AM bands.

    And, in the age of cellphone speakers and compressed MP3/Bluetooth codecs - I'm not sure how much people actually care about audio quality.

    replies(8): >>41833189 #>>41833239 #>>41834289 #>>41834478 #>>41834805 #>>41835084 #>>41836121 #>>41837419 #
    2. epcoa ◴[] No.41833189[source]
    > And, in the age of cellphone speakers and compressed MP3/Bluetooth codecs - I'm not sure how much people actually care about audio quality

    Bizarre thing to say after waxing nostalgic about incredibly lo-fi bandwidth limited AM.

    This is also the age of $9 per month unlimited lossless 24/96 streaming and $1000+ headphone amps.

    replies(1): >>41834266 #
    3. kragen ◴[] No.41833239[source]
    You can use literally any bandwidth with literally any form of radio-wave modulation.
    4. tacticus ◴[] No.41834266[source]
    they have to justify their non newtonian vibration dampeners (blutak) and custom AC power filter used to play noisy vinyls
    5. duped ◴[] No.41834289[source]
    Look, I'm an audio snob and will talk shit about terrible design of BT headsets that halve bandwidth in duplex until the cows come home.

    But the reason that codecs have survived this long without substantial changes is because they're far and away good enough (*) for the vast majority of listeners. To the point where today, even trained listeners can't perceive a difference in audio quality between lossless and lossy encoded audio at high enough bit rates (which is 320kbps MP3, or comparable AAC which can be as low as 50% of that).

    (*) what we don't talk about is the latency of the codec itself, where regardless of available compute resources is still atrocious outside of proprietary codecs. While a listener cannot perceive noticeable differences in fidelity, they can perceive the delay, and this is a problem that doesn't have good solutions outside of specialized equipment today, although OPUS (as a descendant of CELT) is pretty darn good for the cases that consumers care about. Professionals still spend oodles of money on the proprietary gear that have codecs that not even ffmpeg supports.

    I would go so far as to say there is no practical benefit to uncompressed audio today at all. Lossy is fine for all consumers, and lossless encoding is faster to decode and playback (as well as encode and write) while using less disk/bandwidth than uncompressed for archival purposes.

    6. pseudosaid ◴[] No.41834478[source]
    its a big difference.

    The frequency range for AM radio is 540 to 1600 kHz

    vs

    30hz-15khz

    Bass and fundamental frequencies really contribute to fidelity

    7. ◴[] No.41834805[source]
    8. trq01758 ◴[] No.41835084[source]
    Those codecs got better with time. Also notebook and little portable speakers, while they are unable to physically reproduce low frequencies are getting better at emulating those. Somebody cares.

    And here's (dunno if true as they write in the description - probably the very first stereo) studio turntable from 1958 playing a record from 1988 through Youtube's compression. I did have a lousy vinyl deck with so so speakers when growing up and this impresses me a lot: https://youtu.be/PRty-_eBEpg?si=GsrctxRbkvT3xRAV

    replies(1): >>41836372 #
    9. userbinator ◴[] No.41836121[source]
    TBH I think music from up to the late '60s (especially if originally released in mono) sounds really good, or at least more "era-appropriate" on AM radio.

    That music also sounds more era-appropriate coming from a vinyl record than a CD.

    replies(1): >>41841284 #
    10. kaoD ◴[] No.41836372[source]
    What does "emulating low frequencies" mean?
    replies(1): >>41836881 #
    11. trq01758 ◴[] No.41836881{3}[source]
    It may be impossible for a little speaker to produce any sound at some low frequency, so manufacturers use "virtual pitch" psychoacoustic phenomenon by introducing harmonics above that frequency. There is no low bass, but there will be added harmonics that will be perceived by the listeners as low bass: https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/37755/how-do-psych... Here's also a project and some info from Asahi devs on Macbook audio: https://github.com/AsahiLinux/asahi-audio
    replies(1): >>41837448 #
    12. Johnythree ◴[] No.41837419[source]
    This is yet another myth:

    The "Woolyness" of AM broadcast (at least in America) is due to the stations purposefully tailoring their audio processing to suit typical cheap AM receivers. And this in turn is because designers of cheap AM receivers fit narrow filters instead of using noise reduction techniques, eg a good outside antenna.

    There was a period (in the rest of the world) where high quality AM receivers had a narrow/wide switch to give better audio response to stronger signals.

    The good news is that modern SDR receivers usually have selectable bandwidth on AM so as to derive the full transmitted audio. And many of these have AM stereo decoders as well.

    If you listen to a good quality AM broadcast (eg Gov AM stations in Australia) you will hear audio which are very hard to tell from FM audio.

    Go back and read the many high-quality AM tuner articles in the electronic hobby magazines from the past.

    replies(1): >>41843999 #
    13. Johnythree ◴[] No.41837448{4}[source]
    Is commonly known as "Bass Boost".

    As the OP has said, it cannot give louder bass, but simulates the bass harmonics.

    14. ◴[] No.41841284[source]
    15. elzbardico ◴[] No.41843999[source]
    Yes, when I was a kid I used to listen to a few AM radios in a Marantz receiver from my dad (not in the US). Well, it was not as good as FM, but basically it was usable as a source of music.

    Now, from time to time I buy a cheap portable AM radio, mostly out of nostalgia, but with the excuse of being good emergency preparedness, and the sound is annoyingly bad even with decent headphones.