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I think you're safe. It's a step down soundwise, and it doesn't have the 1/4 inch thick casing. It would be convenient with the headphone amp, but I usually find those tacked on amps to be lacking.

They are very different headphones and the ES-2a easily beats in terms of price but I'd lean more towards the 009D in terms of raw performance. The 009D is really growing on me and what amazes me is how Stax can release crap like the X9000 and the 007S and then this... Both the X9000 and 007S are headphones I'd never listen to for fun while I've been logging a lot of hours on the 009D.

Damn you LAiV. Just after I’m satisfied with your Harmony µDDC and µDAC you release a new, cheap combo DAC-headphone amp. Yo Rob!

How would you compare it to the ES-2a which is about $800 cheaper?

Hell yeah, Adam! The only advice I have is get after it and as someone else I follow on Strava would say, "This suffering is a privilege." Well, maybe one more thing - don't ever worry about comparisons to others. One of my good friends from 30+ years ago rides 8,000+ miles a year (pilot) and when he rides centuries with us barely breaks 140bpm at 50+ years old. I just can't be him. I'm a year younger but have always outweighed him by 40lbs even when we're both fit. He also doesn't know how to have fun, so as usual balance is the answer.

It’d been six weeks so I dialed up empanadas again.

Slowly but surely continuing to improve. I've got a long way to go before I can challenge Nate for FTW (w/kg I have no chance), but its amazing how much a little bit of regular riding improves your cardio.

The Controversial Photography of Martin Parr

I was just checking to see what else I might have missed from his career, at IMBd. But it seems that Sanford and Sons was pretty much it, at least of anything significant. He was perfect for that unassuming role. RiP.

(Referencing an older discussion about music vs musicals) I'm not a fan of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar....but I love that song "I Don't Know How To Love Him." What a wonderful rendition! Especially considering it is not in their native language. The folk song and their harmonies was wonderful too.

Huon pine? Is it from Middle Earth?

Any style, any language, and Pelageya always makes it sound good. From Jesus Christ Superstar And back to Ukrainian folk song

Demond Wilson, Last Main Cast Member of ‘Sanford and Son,’ Dies at 79. You big dummy!

Look like 1544's to me too and that's not good given the gain is a quarter of what it should be. It is just me or are the output tubes AC heated? Those wires seem to run right to the transformer...

Looks like they cheaped out on the input transformers (LL1544A I think). Bass response is poor on these compared to their bigger brothers (LL1690/LL1676) as is level handling - they'll clip from a lot of modern sources - which will ultimately limit the output signal.

There is not enough detail to retrace anything or know what is on the heatsinks but from a build quality standpoint... this is very dire. One thing springs to mind... where is the power supply? Seriously, where is it? Also signal wires make no sense, that bias supply has be scratching my head, that's not how you do point to point wiring and servicing this would be an absolute nightmare. Does anybody see 20k€ here?

1 metric boatload of labor goes into building stuff like this. And then making more and more. compared to a bunch of other stuff at this price level this is actually worth the asking price. No idea of performance. Highly similar to megatronxl. In 10 years when the electrolytics need replacing its going to be a multi day project.

now we have it.

Good luck.

This is my latest to add to the growing collection, I think a may have a problem... oh well. This is a Simon Marty guitar, it features his innovative radial bracing, the back and sides are ancient Huon pine, salvaged before a dam flooded a valley, estimated between 1000 -1500 years old, the neck is Australian rosewood and the top is spruce.

Kazuhito Yamashita 25 March 1961 – 24 January 2026

Sad indeed. R.I.P. Catherine O'Hara.

I mean, at least he isn't Daniel Tosh. But sorry, that's the best I can do under the circumstances (Epstein files epic disgust today). Not in the mood for tolerance these days.

Wow. OK, so at least now I know that he was repeating something he heard. And probably not something he meant as a direct attack aimed at me personally. It's still incredibly poor judgement, but that's much easier to navigate than the alternative. This morning when my direct manager came into work, he immediately asked how I was feeling, and said he'd been worried about me since I escaped early the day before. We went somewhere private and I told him some things that I'd gone through during the AIDS epidemic that might bring some understanding to my emotional breakdown. Some of those I've never spoken to anyone about. I don't want to elaborate on that here, but a lot of my issues stem from survivors guilt. You think you're beyond events that happened 40 years ago and out of the blue something triggers you all over again. He was incredibly sympathetic and completely understood how that could affect me the way it did. He's straight, but "California straight", which is to say very insightful and dismissive of anyone who isn't. I explained to him that I decided I didn't want to take this event any further. I didn't want to admonish this young man, and I really didn't want to involve upper management. He respected those wishes, but he did suggest that tomorrow (Saturday), while all of the office staff and upper management were away for the weekend, he direct myself and this young man to a private office space. He told me that if I were willing for the two of us to have a private, civil conversation and explain some of the events that I'd discussed with him, and what triggered my response to the 'joke' he told, he thought this young coworker would be sympathetic and it might be a positive lesson to learn earlier as opposed to later. I'm not completely comfortable doing so, but I do think he's probably correct. And I don't want this to fester. As much for my own piece of mind than any other reason. We'll see how that goes, but I do suspect his instincts are good ones.