Render This Fast

[unixronin]

C|Net reports that nVidia is releasing itx GTX260 and GTX280 graphics chipsets today.  The GTX280 has 240 cores and 933 gFLOPS of processing power.

Yeah, that's right — almost 1 TFLOPS in a single GPU. nVidia claims the GTX280 can render three million triangles per frame.  That's some serious graphics performance.

I couldn't help but notice this paragraph further down, though:

Nvidia is also boasting that a dual-core GTX 280 can convert a high-definition movie into iPod video format in 35 minutes, compared to about five hours for a quad-core CPU system with low-end integrated graphics.

Um, OK, I guess I'm impressed.  Or something.  But you know, I can't help thinking that might actually mean something if an iPod had a high-definition screen.

It reminds me of an article I was reading the other day talking to a professional audio engineer about CDs vs. vinyl.  He made the good point that no vinyl record ever offers perfect audio reproduction and no vinyl record ever can, no matter how careful the engineer, because the playback stylus is a different shape from the cutting stylus and tracks the groove differently, even on a linear-arm turntable.  He discussed how the "warmth" that vinylphiles like to talk about as part of vinyl's "faithful reproduction" is largely composed of surface noise, and it isn't there on the master.

Then he went and blew his cred by saying that all compression formats are bad, and that he loads his iPod only with uncompressed raw PCM to get the most flawless possible reproduction of his classical music favorites.

Flawless reproduction ... on an iPod with a pair of earbud headphones?

Sorry, buddy, but you're kidding yourself there.  It may sound good, but invent a pair of earbud phones capable of flawless, 100% faithful reproduction, and half the audio world will beat a path to your door begging to license your secret.

Comments

[mazianni.livejournal.com]

Every self-proclaimed audiophile I know, if they have a portable mp3 player, seems to immediately replace the earbuds with, at bare minimum, a pair of $40 Sennheiser head phones.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

I have in-ear buds with Sennheiser drivers -- not bad. If I were this guy, I'd plug in a set of Shur or Etymotic molded in-ear drivers. (Assuming this guy can afford $200 headphones.)

The weak link may be the isolation of the stuff post-DAC from all digital junk in an iPod, a rather compact device. And this is assuming the DAC is good from 20Hz-40kHz.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

This is true, I don't know that he's using the stock earbuds. It was an unjustified and probably false assumption. Nevertheless, I'd still be a bit dubious about the idea without knowing what kind of actual output fidelity an iPod is capable of. There surely ain't room for much of an audio amplifier in there. There are reasons high-end audio gear is big.