In my discord calls we have effectively resorted to shaming people into accepting a gifted clip-on amazon mic if they have an awful microphone. $10 every couple of months and no ear bleeding.
That said, I really think some people are just immune to it. My mom for instance prefers to use the standard definition channels because the channel numbers are easier to remember and type. She says she can't tell the difference between that and full HD so :shrug:
Pro sound engineer here. There is not that much difference between SD audio and HD audio. SD only allows stereo and not surround, but can deliver perfectly good quality, assuming a clear broadcast signal.
This is random but universal audio (interfaces + plugins) way overrated?
Follow up question, but once you get to a certain point of converter+preamp quality, is focusing on something that improves workflow what really matters?
No and yes. I am not a particular fan of UA and don't own any of their gear but unless something has changed in recent years I think they deserve their good reputation. I think of them as good middle-range rather than fancy or premium.
In general the more something is marketed to musicians, the more it is likely to have a slight bias designed to flatter the source material, and your tastes may vary depending on what sort of music you like, eg British stuff tends to have a gentle double EQ peak, American stuff tends to be a little more punchy in the midrange, Japanese stuff slightly more flat, Swedish and German stuff has a sound of its own, and so on. These are very slight biases, and maybe they're what 'sounds good' to engineers based on linguistic and musical differences.
Stuff marketed to film/broadcast tends to emphasize accuracy and fidelity (in the marketing materials anyway...). These days anything other than bargain basement is neutral and clean enough for that sort of work. Although I owned much more bulky and expensive gear, I've done several feature films with a small portable recorder by Zoom that costs only a few hundred dollars. It sounds great, because I plug great microphones into and use great headphones to monitor (and know how to listen!), plus I work hard to control the dynamics and you generally don't need the same sort of dynamic flexibility for film work that you need for musical performance.
If I was recording music I'd say the same recorder is just adequate because for musical purposes you want some nice color and pleasing dynamics. If you're lookinga t several options in the same price bracket and not really sure which to go for, play around with the external controls. The quality feel of the front panel, knobs, and buttons/switches is a reflection of the internal engineering quality. If you like the physical feel of one unit over another, you'll probably have the same experience with the audio path and the software stack, if it's digital.
> My mom for instance prefers to use the standard definition channels because the channel numbers are easier to remember and type. She says she can't tell the difference between that and full HD so :shrug:
Pretty sure our cable box just automagically switches over to the HD channel when you tune into the SD one.
Oh, sorry, I was talking about the traditional TV that comes through the old standard antenna cable. In those, the TV itself lets you do it, but I realize that it may not be possible in paid TV services. I wonder why they don't themselves move the HD channels forward, though... I suppose by now, an overwhelming majority of TVs have HD.
I don't understand why those TV services don't have channel translation. Where the HD boxes default to the HD channels and the SD boxes default to the SD channels.
> My mom for instance prefers to use the standard definition channels because the channel numbers are easier to remember and type. She says she can't tell the difference between that and full HD
Is this referring to something on Discord or traditional TV? If the latter, is it referring to audio or video? Your replies have all assumed different answers to those questions, I believe.
I was referring to the video. It was a little bit of a leap that I didn't make clear, but it was just an example of someone able to completely tune out the quality of the media they are consuming and I imagine that can carry to voice calls
That said, I really think some people are just immune to it. My mom for instance prefers to use the standard definition channels because the channel numbers are easier to remember and type. She says she can't tell the difference between that and full HD so :shrug: