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I just upgraded my mom's mini-PC to Win 11 today, with Win 10 ending support this week. You can pay $30 for one more year of security updates, which was my original plan. But then you NEED to create an MS account, and use it to login to your machine. That was a no-go for my tech-scared mom. Upgrade went fine, though. Machine is a bit slower, but it'll hold for a while. I had a little fun with Ubuntu. I got a Celeron-based Chromebox for $25 from a used Electronics store in Maine a few weeks ago. I was able to download & install a new BIOS for it, upped memory and SDD drive ($50 total), and loaded Ubuntu on it. Still a tiny bit slow, so TBD if I'll keep it like that. It was just fun to play with the innards and BIOS of a computer again.....

He won’t dedicate, he won’t deserve and you know it. Still he may win it.

Installing Windows 11 without a Microsoft Account - they make it annoying as usual (Windows 11 Pro only):

Let's see if I'm gonna have a happy birthday...

it should be noted that with the 1700 volt output stage parts, its real easy to upgrade to +/-600 volt power supplies. going to need a much bigger box with heatsinks on both sides.

I can think of worse things than trump dedicating the next year of his life to winning a nobel peace prize. I hope he does, and I hope he deserves it.

In the Wake of the Edmund Fitzgerald https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/arts/edmund-fitzgerald-gordon-lightfoot.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sk8.MyaM.8WtsXHa1Kr_6&smid=url-share (gift article)

Old DOS games on PC speaker, Ad Lib, and Roland MT-32 part 2 (skip the long preambles if you lived through the era - yes, we know Macs and Amigas had better sound):

^^ Hoping things combust internally for him and the administration by 2026 Nobel voting.... But for now, moar HDD stuph

Fourier Transform Speakers....unique, be interesting to hear..... Video about it:

I checked your schematic and compared it with your previous hardware photos, then corrected a few small errors(From both sides of us). Here’s the updated layout. It’s basically reverse-engineered from the pictures you posted earlier. I also derived the schematic from it, but it’s quite messy at the moment. If anyone’s interested, I can post that version as well.

Unfortunately he may get it in 2026.

Looking at the CTR curve I would choose the operating range between 1 to 2mA of If. Since the nominal CTR is 20%, the phototransistor side would be designed around 200uA to 400uA. Adjust the resistors such that the desired normal bias voltage is centered around this range. The phototransistor could operate off the 110V supply if you don’t need the full 510V range for the bias adjustment (why would you?).

Viva are indeed a special kind of stupid as well. I think they use felt adhesive pads for furniture (to protect hardwood floors) to help their crap circuits filled with some of the worst parts available sound better? Yup makes sense.... Seriously, they use those Rifa PSU caps that are known to crack and short circuit in the audio path. If only there were any better parts out there... 🙄

Holy shitballs, that's like conspiracy theory level of mods! Ric Shultz at EVS does some pretty crazy things at times, but I will say I have always heard improvements with his work. But yeah, what the actual fuck was that modder thinking?!

viva does the same shit wrapping various capacitors with wool of some kind.

This is something special as none of this actually does anything. Ferrites work at certain frequencies but the wire has to pass through it... not just have it vaguely in the same area. Lumps of aluminum tape and felt on the cables... yeah nothing at all. It seems like a bad DIY project but I have a sneaking suspicion that somebody is doing this as a service and charging a boatload for it.

Thanks a lot. I've been thinking of a 300K resistor cross the h11d to limit the upper grid voltage.

When your audiophile OCD has OCD?

better put a 300v zener across the output of the h11d

Someone had a massive snake oil OD... good god. Must be a vibration damping freak.

I wasn't sure where to put this but this is a PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC so might as well be here. Found this thing dirt cheap in Japan, clearly modded and thought... why not. Might be fun... but boy ohh boy this is utter insanity. It was showed as up and running by the seller so I needed to go in and see how I could change the voltage on it. I didn't snap any pics of it when it arrived but here is one once the felt strips had been pulled off... yeah felt strips: That's the bottom so it was covered in these strips. Now I dug deeper: So there was this layer of aluminum tape that was painted and sealed on the edges with this rather coarse paint, almost like the stuff you'd use to make chalkboard finish. Then underneath there was come copper tape and the adhesive on this was nasty shit. I attacked it with IPA, acetone and adhesive cleaner (mineral spirit) and now it is mostly off the outside. I had to use plastic scrapers to get it off and machine polish the top over (due to all the small scratches from cleaning it) but it looks okey. Now I had yet to open it as the top cover is pushed up through the bottom and you need 4-40# screws to do that... something that is impossible to get here. Two weeks ago I found myself in Chicago on my annual visit and Kevin hooked me up with some that did the trick and here is what I found: Now one starts to wonder about sanity and what hose clamps have to do with audio quality but yeah... this is the most insane shit I've ever seen. This is the top cover and here is this paint the whole unit is covered in. No idea what it is but it is rather inert and I had to scrape it off the top and bottom panels. Seriously... hose clamps. This is so retarded it isn't even funny. A few things to note, see those felt strips, same as were on the outside of the unit and those ferrite beads and rods are all over it. Now to switch things up a bit, here is what looks like a brillo pad around the transformer. It's not steel wool and it was around it all. Here is another shot of the steel what ever and those rods glued to the bottom of the chassis. Also see the silver bits attached to the cables... yeah more on that later. Here it is with the cotton? pulled out of it showing what I've stepped into. How many hours did this take? Our lovely hose clamps again but look at that transformer. It is wound in aluminum tape, then the felt, then some rod, then more aluminum tape... Then those rods on the bottom of the chassis... I've started to peel stuff off and it is like an onion Main transformer and in the bottom right hand corner are all the cable ties holding those silver bits on the cables. Yeah, that is about 10 layers of aluminum plus some small ferrites and rods... Why? Fuck knows... Main transformer peeking through the madness as I need to get to it and read its markings to covert it to 230V. I'll have to do some more cleaning but this was just too good not to post...

I really like this album. The song selection... the way she plays. I've listened to it twice in two days. Good morning coffee music. She got a new fan. ex.