Miscellaneous Latest Topics

The Official Head-Case Photography Thread.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:03:08 +0000

After blathering in several different threads about photography, and blindly looking around for an already extant thread, I'm making this one. The purpose here is for me continue to natter on about my mad obsession with light painting, and maybe even get a response or two. I've just posted about my issues with cross processing and slide film development, as well as discussing lenses in the recently bought thread.

HC Bike/Cycling Thread

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:20:57 +0000

Since Mike deleted the old one, I'm starting a new one.

Did 80 miles today. It was the best cycling weather I've experienced since getting a bike. Absolutely perfect. I accidentally didn't get up on time (had my phone, which is my alarm, on silent and didn't know), and rushed out the door, forgetting that I didn't take the new saddle off my bike and also forgetting chamois cream. I got lucky and think this saddle is a winner. No issues at all. My butt and bits apparently like leather saddles. I road with my "team" from the Smart Ride, and this week, there were some stronger riders, so averaged 17-18 going north in the headwind, and 20-22 coming back south. Really fun folks, so had a great time. Doing 60 tomorrow, as this is the last weekend I can do any miles before the event.

I think we should ban Mike.

Google Android OS

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:42:12 +0000

I just started using my Droid X today and, so far, I'm very impressed. I know there are a couple of members with Android devices and there are a flood of them hitting the market right now.

Right now, no news of netflix yet, hulu+ is probably working hard on making android their next big release, and Android 3.0 should start preparing for release at the end of the year. Not sure thats going to make as big of waves as 2.2 Froyo already has. So far, I love this damn thing and think its only getting better. Any particular apps I should look into? I'm waiting to root it for when the expected Froyo update arrives hopefully within two weeks.

Head Case Motorsports

Sun, 17 May 2015 16:22:35 +0000

I think it is time to have a thread for everyone to discuss their cars, what they are doing to them and where we are going to have our first HC Road Trip Meet.

Brent seems to think a trip to the Tail of the Dragon in NC/Tennessee would be in order. Maybe a road trip to a track for a track day?

Of course a primary reason for this for me is to follow all of Nate's functional updates and Rex's rocket booster upgrades to see what works and doesn't. Not that I do not think your rockets will work Rex.

Watches

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:35:21 +0000

Anyone know anything about Fossil Watches? Good/bad/indifferent? Relic? I was initially looking for an LCD/analog watch of the likes of this, but ended up falling in love with the looks of this one, due to (a) its almost all-blackness, and ( the cool use of the wood, and the way the numbers drift outside of the face.

Who knows, maybe I'll get more than one. I'm thinking of getting this one, too (again, due to its almost all-blackness), but I'm worried that the red "throb" might be visually distracting.

Thoughts? Anyone know of any other companies that make that analog watch on an LCD face with the "throb"? I'm a high-tech guy, so I should have a high-tech watch. I'm happy with my Guess watch for every day use, but I want a nice one for meetings and dressing up and such.

Guitar-Case

Thu, 26 Dec 2013 00:02:50 +0000

I decided not to necro-bump Bryan's 2009 thread as it was kind of specific and not in my budget. I played through high-school but have not played in 20 years. I am looking to get back into playing and I am looking for a great acoustic and a decent electric setup to start with.

I am thinking about looking into a full custom for the acoustic but it is pretty hard to figure out how they handle from websites.

A few decent shops around my parents place in Dallas that I intend to check out when I get back there this weekend. First on the list is http://www.theguitarsanctuary.com. Has a decent selection of factory and small shop guitars to try out.

I know there are several players here at HC. Anyone have any favorite acoustic makers that I should look in to?

Tidal v. Qobuz?

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 19:12:28 +0000

Qobuz streaming officially came to the US on Valentine's Day. Anyone else giving the 30 day free trial a try? Like the background text info on releases, etc., though that can get in the way as a player occasionally. Seems to have more releases per artist, though some major artists missing in comparison in Tidal, though that could be simply my preferences. Handles high resolution (24/96-24/192) differently (no MQA). Seems to dislike using the word "album."

Cool Kickstarter/Indiegogo Campaigns

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 06:29:02 +0000

Figure there are enough of these to start their own thread.

Anyone brave enough on this one? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellobragi/the-dash-wireless-smart-in-ear-headphones

Music Making

Sun, 05 May 2019 04:59:58 +0000

I know a couple of us make music as well as listen to it, so I thought I'd start a thread on it.

For example, despite being a classically trained musician, I had never heard of Negative Harmony before, but now I'm all over it.

Also, I found this instructive:

Shave-Case: The official HC hair removal thread.

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 18:14:45 +0000

I've been meaning to make a thread about this for over a year at this point. Last July I bought a Lord dual edge razor. It was like $12 and worth about as much as I paid for it. I also bought a 100 pack of Astra Platinum blades. Astras are made by Gillette in Russia. They offer a decent, but not amazing shave. The quality control is about as good as one might expect. After a few tentative weeks, I stopped using spray shaving cream and bought a Van Der Hagen brush, soap and bowl set. Unsurprisingly, shaving soap offers a much better experience than canned foam. I also invested in some pre-shave glycerine soap as well as some post-shave products (an alum block and bottle of witch hazel). A couple months after my initial purpose, I bought a pair of vintage Gillette razors off eBay. One is a 3-piece and the other is a 1-piece. 1 piece DEs are almost universally "too clever by half." Mechanically they're amusing, but the shave they offer is usually inferior to a 3-piece. The head on the Gillette 1 piece I bought was quite nice, but the handle was too small and my carpal tunnel howled every time I used it. In short order, I determined that I could mount the Gillette head on the (substantially larger) Lord handle. I used that combo until quite recently.

About a month after I bought the two Gillettes, I ordered a blade and soap sampler set. I tried out the Sharks (good for like 3 shaves, then they turn to crap in short order) and Feathers (just about the best) first. Full disclosure: I still haven't bothered to try any of the others. Unsurprisingly, I bought a box of 100 Feathers a month after the sampler pack arrived. Blade-wise, I haven't looked back since. Feathers are comparatively expensive per blade ($25-ish for a 100 pack vs $10 for Astras), but they are so much better the point is moot. I get 5 good shaves out of each blade, and the quality control is exceptional.

My right wrist has continued to ache, and even the Lord handle has become a challenge. I've toyed with the idea of getting a Merkur "Blue Barrel"

...but it's maybe TOO big. I've heard reports that it's only good for certain angles. I ended up buying the Merk pictured in the photo at the top. It's a heavy piece of German steel. The grip has thusfar been pretty comfortable. The head is significantly more aggressive than the vintage Gillette I had been using and I have had to re-learn shaving with a dual edge. I've nicked myself with it a number of times, but it is clearly capable of offering a very close shave.

I've had to shave since I was about 14. I've hated it for nearly a quarter century. I'd put it off as long as possible. I had to use 2 electrics and a disposable razor to go from 3 day's growth to clean shaven. By investing in WWII-era technology, shaving has gone from being a hated chore to a nice hour-long ritual I do in the evening. I've likened shaving with soap and a DE to driving a manual transmission. It's not for everyone, but for some of us it's the only acceptable option.

Power amp advice

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 04:06:27 +0000

I currently have an Odyssey Stratos Plus power amp which I have used for I guess going on 20 years and have been pretty satisfied with. I was thinking about upgrading it as these have gone from the Plus model to Extreme models. Klauss of Odyssey is now offering a Kismet amp. I can get my Stratos upgraded to the Kismet pcbs with a larger power supply for a fairly reasonable price. However, I ran across an opportunity to get a Mark Levinson No. 23 for around the same price as upgrading the Stratos.

Reliability is a large factor in my decision. I've read a number of threads on diyaudio related to repairing Mark Levinson gear, and most of them seem to be a massive PITA to work on. This amp is no exception. The amp I am being offered would be coming from a Chicago dealer. It was repaired by Stereo Rehab in Chicago with some thermal issues (one bad channel). The explanation given doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, and I can post that if anyone wants to see it. Stereo Rehab is not an authorized ML repair facility; they do warranty the work done on this for 1 year.

My only interest in this amp relates to the superlative reviews it got, and thoughts from some that these still hold their own with pretty much anything on the market. They apparently were very well built (and designed), using high quality parts, but the parts and architecture of these is jam packed together. Cosmetically, the amp looks virtually new, at least outside.

Any thoughts on this appreciated. Right now, I'm leery and leaning against going for this.

Beard Battle

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 06:30:07 +0000

I know we have Shave-Case, but for those periods of wanting to keep hair have any suggestions for beard treatments to keep things manly soft and not bone dry? Currently using Viking Revolution Beard Conditioner and then alternating between Honest Amish Balm and Mountaineer Brand Beard Oil, but it's time to reevaluate the options. All ears.

Audio companies behaving badly.

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 23:49:33 +0000

I've given the idea of this thread some thought on and off for years (going back at least as far as Mikhail's Bad Hair Day) but never actually made one. ADD is a hell of a drug. Also been busy with a few other things. It's not secret that there are many companies that make and sell high end audio products that look shiny, cost large sums of money and have questionable performance. (There's also products that are expensive, shiny and sound incredible, but y'all know that of course.) It's not unheard of for companies to engage in lawfare against competitors and critics they dislike. BOSE is infamously litigious. Earlier this year Tekton Audio went after critics over reviews that made them unhappy. I didn't follow that drama too closely, but I saw the headlines popping up a number of places this spring.

Recently dCS audio got rather aggressive toward a small reviewer because of his negative review of their Bartok DAC/streamer/headphone amp widget.

I cannot comment on dCS gear myself. I did a search of HC for info on them and found one snarky comment by myself about the resistor layout on one of their amps boards, which was followed by an informed and even more snarky explanation by a certain Icelander. It could well be that they make great products. Their legal dept is another matter entirely.

Roon aquired by Harman (a Samsung Subsidary)

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 22:31:48 +0000

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/27/23978507/roon-the-popular-high-end-music-streaming-system-has-been-acquired-by-samsung-subsidiary-harman

https://news.samsung.com/global/harman-acquires-roon-a-popular-multi-device-multi-room-audio-technology-platform

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/harman-acquires-roon/

https://darko.audio/2023/11/harman-buys-roon/

https://twitteringmachines.com/harman-bought-roon/

https://www.whathifi.com/news/harman-acquires-roon-heres-what-that-means-for-subscribers

https://news.harman.com/releases/harman-acquires-roon-a-popular-multi-device-multi-room-audio-technology-platform

And the Roon side of the story, and many comments from their user base / community

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-acquired-by-harman-international/257414

Dead Equipment Thread.

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:48:30 +0000

This is an idea I've had for years. I have a lot of audio equipment and other gear (but still a tiny fraction compared to many HCers). Much of it is in less than 100% working order. Some of it is "door stop" or "paperweight" status. There are bits I'd like to get working again and things I'd do better to throw out. I am sure I am not the only one.

In no particular order:

HeadRoom Milllet(t) Hybrid serial #1. Pete's name misspelled on the front panel. Class A circuitry. I bought it from one HighLife 10 years ago. I strongly suspect it's got bad caps. This is among the top pieces of gear I wish to restore. It's got real history to it. Also it sounds amazing when it works. The logistics of repairing are complex. I have to find someone who is willing to work on it. I've looked at the HeadRoom site and I hardly recognize it these days. I get the strong impression that they do NOT service old HR gear (or even acknowledge that it exists.) After I find someone to fix the amp, I have to send it and the PSU to that person and wait however long. The problem is I only have one HeadRoom DPS, which is currently being used by my HR Balanced Desktop (now my most used headphone amp.)

Tascam 122 Mk III. The greatest cassette deck ever made, full stop. Bests Revox and Nakamichi units. (Tapes recorded on a Nak and played back on another Nak might sound better, but that's a severely limited prospect.) Mine has at minimum bad belts and possibly a bad gear. A clever friend of mine bought one and restored it himself. He said it was nontrivial, but not impossible.

A pair of Unisound AU265 speakers. Way back in 2010, a website with the silly name ThingFling listed these for $100 or $200 shipped They were like $1200 new in the 00s. One of mine rattles like a bastard when any amount of bass goes through it. I genuinely do not know if it's one of the drivers or an issue with the cabinet. I'd love to get this pair working again because the Unisounds look like proper pieces of furniture and are the big burly battered black boxes that my NS-1000s are:

My (sainted, octogenarian) mother would much prefer the Unisounds to these things. The NS1Ks are so imposing that the contractor we had in the house to fix some electrical problems talked about the speakers almost as much as he did the actual work he had to do. I thought it was hilarious. My mother was less amused.

Symetrix 528E voice processor. Not an audiophile thing at all. For a good 15 years it was THE preamp to mate with an Electro-Voice RE20 microphone for speech purposes. As someone who has spent entirely too long pontificating about ...all sorts of things on the mic, I love the combo. There's actually a company that refurbs and even improves 528Es as a cottage industry. I was going to pursue this route ...then covid hit and life got complicated. I still have plans to pick up that thread.

Audio Research LS-9. Very solid preamp with mixed balanced and SE I/O. It's a totally solid state design, which is unusual for the manufacturer. I found it to be very neutral. Whatever I put into it came out of it the same. Mine has ...issues. One of the switches is missing a bat after a wire got caught on it. Also there's some internal problems. I suspect bad caps. TBH I should really restore this thing but I'm not sure I can be arsed any time quickly. It really is a great pre.

California Audio Labs tube DAC. I bought it from an HCr years ago. It needed a new chip and a tube. This is trivially easy to do, but I felt like a big boy when I got it working. It was actually one of my favorite secondary DACs. It was great for lo-fi content like streaming audio. Unfortunately, I used some idiot Monster Cable interconnects on it and those things grip like their life defends on it. One the DAC's RCA jacks came out with the stupid cable and I have never attempted a fix.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS USM. The "better" kit lens I got with my EOS 30D in the summer of 2006. I used it extensively until it stopped working after I took this shot in 2009:

TBH I don't think I'd pay to fix it. It's crap at the wide end and I'm done with EF-S until further notice.

Canon EF 35mm F/2. It's had a broken AF motor since 2009 when some idiot club goer knocked my lens on to the floor. I've used it as a manual focus lens for 14 years now. It's still a great lens. I'm probably going to buy the newish 35mm F/2 IS at some point. As I have said many times in the photo thread, 35mm F/2 is the best lens for APS-C or full frame in my estimation.

That's all the broken kit I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more, both here and still on the mainland. So HC, what broken bits of kit are YOU avoiding dealing with today?

Foldable phone anyone?

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 19:01:10 +0000

I've been using iPhone iterations for some years. I like the Apple ecosystem and all that, but I dislike their phones being larger and larger, those protruding camera lenses and their not having headphone jack. I think I could enjoy one of those foldable phones that fit into the front pocket of your jeans. Any experiences that you may share?

knife-case

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:35:35 +0000

I'm looking for a small folding knife to use when dual sport motorcycle riding. Most of its use will occur while camping. I was thinking of this Gerber, but am open to other suggestions. The Gerber will give you the idea of what I want and the price point at which I'm interested.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Maniacal Keyboards

Wed, 28 May 2014 14:49:13 +0000

I've been sort of into mechanical keyboards lately. I spend a lot of time typing, and I felt I should start doing it properly. Naturally, that has meant spending money on unnecessary things.

Out of DIY interest, I bought an Ergodox keyboard kit from Massdrop. Improbably, I assembled it correctly and I've been enjoying playing around with layouts.

I've not gotten too interested in the more esoteric collecting popular elsewhere on the internet, but this little thing sure is fun. I have some legended keycaps coming, soon, but I've gotten okay typing on the blank ones.

Anyone else interested in this type of thing?

AM radio station tour

Thu, 25 May 2023 03:36:48 +0000

Rare AM stereo station tour at KYET (C-QUAM):

Skipping to Pt. 4 at another station (WION):

Head Case Water Sports

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 21:37:27 +0000

Wanted to start a thread for those of us that are interested in the water and those things you can do around, under or on it.

Not sure if there are a lot of HC'ers that partake but should be a good place to discuss if there are.

Video from today's paddle on the Potomac.

Data breach password change

Sun, 29 May 2022 05:11:34 +0000

Just to alert others of this as I have an alert set up for any data breach of all my accounts.

I had a message that there was a possible data breach for my head case password so have changed it

T Bone Burnett Debuts The Pinnacle

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 03:11:35 +0000

https://www.stereogum.com/2184752/bob-dylan-t-bone-burnett-new-audio-format/news/

🤔🥴

Amazon Kindle

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:28:57 +0000

Color E-Ink would be better, but either way, it will have very very long battery life.

The best part is the Amazon "Whispernet" which is bascially using Sprint's EVDO network. Whether or not it has a full web browser that you can use for free has yet to be seen, but if you can surf for free, the Kindle will sell like mad.

http://www.amazon.com/kindle

Hardware wise, not really all that into the off white color that will get dirty really fast. And the whole left and right side being page turning buttons means accidental page turning galore.

Interesting product, though. Pretty spendy at nearly $400. It should really be less than $200 if they want them to sell alot, unless it has free internet surfing capabilities, then the $400 would be worth it.

Head-Case Darts

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 21:14:08 +0000

So I've been going out and playing darts quite a bit lately, and I'm sick and tired of getting beaten by my fairer-sexed companions. I'm also sick of shitty house darts, and shitty boards.

Since this is HC, and I have the space, I'm contemplating getting a setup for the house to practice, and have some darts to keep with me when I go out so we don't have to play with nylon nonsense.

I think I've narrowed my board choices down to either the Winmau Blade 5 (60$) or Blade 5 Dual Core (better, and 85-90$.)

The dart board surround, and the darts themselves, however, I'm not sure on.

Anyone here throw? Have a recommendation for some mid-level darts I should consider (I'll save the Hammerheads for the Christmas wish list)? What about a surround? I've ruled out the cabinet option, as it seems lacking, but definitely want to protect the walls.

**BRENT**

Video Gear

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:39:08 +0000

This many buttons requires a new thread. Who's buying a Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme ISO?

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/blackmagic-atem-mini-video-switcher-goes-extreme