Miscellaneous

Hey! So, I'm looking for a portable player of sorts to placate the babies on the way to China. Requirements are long battery life, or the ability to take AA or another battery pack, and pretty much kid proof. Doesn't have to play DVDs directly, if the ripping process is pretty smooth. I prefer the tablet style. Seems like there aren't many options out there... so, I figured I'd ask around.

I bought a SB Solo for my daughter to access her home dvr and tv. My router is in a different room from the dvr/tv. Slingmedia sells a device for $80. Are there any that anyone recommends that I can buy locally in an Office Depot, etc. Also, does anyone think there will be a problem using it with my Apple Time Capsule which is a wireless router.

I'm trying to decide between a Panasonic 50PZ80U (50" plasma) and Sharp LC52D64U (52" LCD). Both 1080p. It will be mostly used for DVD, Blu-Ray and Xbox 360. Not much cable viewing. The room it's going to be in has two large-ish windows on either side of the TV, but the shutters can be closed. Viewing angle will be pretty much straight on, or at a 15 degree angle from either side at most. The Sharp is about $250 more than the Panasonic, but that isn't a big deal. It's hard to see them properly setup in a store since there aren't HT specialty stores in my area. Any suggestions or other recommendations? ~ $1500 (+/-) shipped is my budget. Cheers guys

So...I've been thinking. I need to stop dragging all my CD's around with me everywhere. Especially to meets, and to friends' places, when I need a very specific subset of my CD's -- the ones with which I'm most familiar and like. My "test" CD's. So what's the best recourse? I'm thinking: laptop->DAC, perhaps external hard drive->laptop->dac. I was thinking about something like a hard-drive-based digital media player (basically, an external hard drive with a play button): ...or perhaps even: (Obviously, there are more entry-level-priced equivalents.) But I haven't heard anything really about the hard-drive based ones, anyone heard any of these tha…

Just stumbled across an announcement from a few days back that Sony is pushing a new CD standard called "Blu-spec CD". The articles I've found on this seem a little confused with many suggesting it's a new format, but as far as I can tell they're simply manufacturing Redbook compliant CDs to higher tolerances. Here's some of the more informative links I found. [url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/11/05/blu-spec-cd-sonys-new-cd-boasts-high-quality-is-based-upon-blu-ray-technology/]CrunchGear Archive Blu-spec CD: Sony

Is anyone in the UK using a Zerosurge or Brickwall surge protector ? I've asked zerosurge and they say they can fit it for 240v, (though with the standard US plug type and receptacles,) if anyone in the UK is using one of these I'd be greatful for some feedback on your experiences. :I know only a few of the members are UK residents but am ready to be suprised by relevant insights : This will be for protecting the beta22, mini-dac and any other audio related goodies I later acquire. I'm currently looking at getting a http://www.zerosurge.com/HTML/modsres.html 1MOD15WI thanks

So, I recently stumbled on this site (http://src.infinitewave.ca/) where they compare various software-based SRC implementations. The tests compare 96kHz conversion down to 44.1kHz. Clicking on "Help" brings up an interesting article on the whole subject of SRC in general. Just by clicking through the results of a few popular DAW and audio editing apps, there are noticeable differences in the results that come out of that. That leaves me wondering...how good are the hardware-based upsampling algorithms in DAC's today? From DAC's such as the PSA DLIII's to dcs Purcell's, just how good are those hardware-based upsampling algorithms? If someone were inclined, would the…

Here's something new for HC. I love to wear sandals. For the last 10 years or so, I've been very happy with Birkenstocks. Recently though, I've started suffering from shin splints even though I've been wearing Birkenstock sandals. This is a basic version with no cushioning and I think that the lack of cushioning is the problem. So can anybody recommend nice, supportive (I have a high arch) sandals? There are enough geeks (like me) here so I'm hoping to get some excellent responses.

After 3 years Rockbox 3.0 is out. You can get it here: Rockbox 3.0

I am so excited about getting this new laptop. It has 1GB of memory, 16 GB SSD, 8.9 inch LED display (1024 X 600), XP Home SP3, LAN and Wi-fi, weights 2.28 lbs and is pretty small to boot. I can't wait to get this thing in and try it out. Battery life isn't that bad at 3 to 4 hours as well.

I've been thinking of expanding and moving my office rig. At the moment I face the back of my office (back to windows) with my rig set up as Headroom style rig using the Headroom stands. For pretty much my entire day I fact the back corner of my office looking at the computer screen with my back to the window. As a result, I rarely use the actual desk portion of my office furniture. Here are a few pics of the layout and one with a crude drawing of what I am considering. Current layout: Proposed future layout: I question whether this is overkill. I already have the speakers, I would just need stands. Either the low gain beta I have in my office now or th…

Was sure whether to post here on on music forum but...6 of 1, etc. So what's the dif in SQ and overall value between the Gold cds (mofi, dcc) and xrcd? Just heard about xrcd in ad from exclusive disc. Some interesting stuff there so I was wondering.

I don't know what KG has to say, but I've had the chance to carry a DBT at my place using cryoed and uncryoed tubes on my speaker amp, and I spotted them with 0 errors . This doesn't mean the cryoed were better. They weren't. Cryoing was clearly an awful thing on power tubes. On caps I also noticed clear differences, but for obvious reasons it was impossible to carry a proper DBT. Probably some parts change more undergoing cryoing than others. Not sure the plastic sheet on an electrostatic HP would change a wee bit.

I know that java-fi will probably have my head, but I need a good auto coffee maker for the morning. Yes, I have a French press, but I just don't have the time in the morning most days. So, here's what I need: a reliable coffee maker with a timer that makes good joe. Flavor over looks and not too expensive. Help me.

I have been so good for so long - no new purchases. However, now I feel that itch for an upgrade / new product. Here is my current set ups: Speaker System Denon 3910 Thorens TD160S with ATML440 Muscial Fidelity X-LPS Aksa GK-1 Preamp Aksa Power Amp Speakers Main Headphone Rig Denon 2910 RSA Raptor (no flames, I like it!!) Headphones HD580 with Cardas AKG701 HD590 with SAA cable (ditto the Raptor). Desktop Computer Rig Monica11 USB DAC M^3 diy job Work Setup Bithead with the HD590's These are the options I am considering: (1) A Pico. I am finally ripping my CDs to Flac on a laptop for portability. Pros - sho…

I think it's time for me to finally pick up a RCM. I've been using a dry brush mostly because all the vinyl I buy is new, but I'm starting to buy more and more used. Any suggestions? A used VPI HW-16 looks like a decent option that can always be upgraded to the HW-16.5, but I have no idea if the older model had any problems. Any comments, suggestions, or other recommendations? Thanks.

My ideal power strip thing would be a Power Squid with individual switches for every socket leg. Does such a a thing exist? Also, any power strips/surge protectors of any type that you think are worthy of recommendation?

I love this hobby, so whats up folks8)

Any one else here into car audio? This is a little install I did about two years ago. I plan to change it up a bit when I get back and maybe compete a little more. 2007 Tahoe install - MP3Car.com

See here.

I am wondering if there is an eBook reader out there that has the following features: 1) ePaper display 2) full PDF/Word compatibility 3) OS X compatible

I've never been allergic to anything my whole life, been woodworking on and off for decades and now it seems I've become allergic to certain woods! I've been getting little tender bumps on my fingertips for a few weeks and now after a couple of days going at it my whole hands and parts of my arms are now filled with a rash that's both very sore and itches like a fucker. I don't know which wood(s) might be causing it but it's really depressing. I ordered some barrier cream, got some work gloves and am taking Zyrtec and rubbing cortizone cream to get the itching down. I don't know why it's only affecting my hands as there's dust and chippings everywhere when I'm working…

Per title, and no, not DVD-A, just plain DVD. I have a couple of concert films that I would like to extract the audio to CD (lossless). This is on a Mac. I played around with OSEx and mac3 something or other last night and managed to extract AC3 files for each track from one and get them converted to AIFF, but it was somewhat less than intuitive. I haven't compared the sound of said CD to the DVD yet, but it seems fine. Also, the total content was a bit outside the range of a 700Mb CD (at 1:30). If I were to compress it slightly to try to fit the whole thing on one CD, any suggestions? If I extracted the AC3 to mpeg4 (m4a?) would that save any space? Thanks -Chri…

Like the title says, I need some help ID'ing some 6SN7's that I'd like to list for sale. Basically, I just want to make sure that both parties get a fair deal. I'd rather not find out later that I sold a $50 for $10 or vice versa. I've got 10 that I'd like to list (of the way too many that I've accumulated) since I'm now pretty much exclusively using 7N7s. If you need more information just as, but I figured we'd start with pictures and go from there. And huge thanks in advance. Batch 1: Batch 2: All have been tested on my Jackson which can do everything short of conductance (but it does have a better than average LIFE test). They all test good to very …

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