Miscellaneous

Hey guys, a friend of mine wants to send his AudioTechnica phones back to Japan for service. Does anyone know what to put on the customs declaration? What is a safe description and value? Thanks in advance

So I've got tons of SHN files. Its easy enough to convert them to FLAC, but I've really got lots. It'd be nice to be able to listen to them first so I can then convert them straight to WAV to burn to CD, rather then having to convert them to FLAC first only to find out its a shitty tape. Yeah I'm lazy, but if I wanted to work I'd go to work. I've searched for a SHN plugin for foobar, and though I've read about it lots and have found plenty of links claiming to lead to it, all of them are dead. If a SHN plugin can't be found, can anyone recommend a free player with a working SHN plugin or native SHN capability I could download. Thanks.

Looking to update quite a bit lately and I am moving on from all my Mephisto dress shoes to something a bit more modern/interesting. Couldn't find a shoe-case thread here hiding amongst murses and bicycles so I figured we could have a nice discussion of something I assume most of us use. I have Allen Edmonds right across the street and an Alden one train stop away so they are first on my radar. Fashionista Colin pointed out the Peal & Co. option as well made shoes available at Brooks Brothers so I am looking at them as well. So what does the well-appointed Head-Caser wear for daily dress, casual, sport shoes around here?

Do any of you have a shower filter? I have very sensitive skin and was thinking of trying one.

Audio theory question. If you have two components with separate volume controls in your signal chain (in my particular case a passive pre-amp and a headphone amp), what would be the preferred method of setting the playback level: Max out pre, use amp pot; max out amp, use pre pot; half and half (or whatever other proportion you fancy)? In practice, using an SPL meter to crudely level match, I can't discern any particular difference in sound quality. But I'd be interested to know if there's a rule of thumb.

My LP of Roland Kirk's Blacknuss has amazingly good sound quality imo, and there is no surface noise anywhere other than one spot where it skips. Is there any way I can fix this skipping, or is it a lost cause?

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.

Title says it all. As of 3rd December SME announced that they were no longer supplying pickup arms, and now would only provide them integrated with an SME turntable. https://sme.co.uk/2019/12/03/sme-product-announcement/ They instantly removed the entire pickup arm category from their website. Thus ends pretty much to the month 60 years and >1 million arm sales since Alastair Robertson-Aikman sold the first SME pickup arm. Of course, the new owner (Ajay Shirke) and the new MD Stuart McNeilis can do what the hell they want - but it seems to be a major strategic error to withdraw from arm sales. The entry price for the lowest cost SME package will now be t…

I think a few people heard this at CanJam last year? Anyway, it's now shipping. Obviously the focus is home theater, but I wonder if it can be applied to "simulate" out-of-head stereo listening? EDIT: I just RTFA more closely, and it can indeed do stereo.

Every couple years or so I email Sound Organisation to see if there is a Rega dealer in my area, never having any hope that there will be. I've been buying all my gear via the internet since I got into this game in 2006, and as much as I love the many benefits internet shopping provides, I have always wanted to form a relationship with somebody local. I like doing business with people I know, which is probably why I've completely stopped using ebay, audiogon, or even head-fi, I'd much rather buy and sell my crap here rather than deal with the teeming mass of insanity that is the open interwebs market. Lo and behold they get back with me, and there is a new hi fi deal…

Normally the Sota TT/SDS/L3000 rig sounding like totally beyond awesome yall (IMO ), but something went a bit awry last night. It still sounded quite "good" but the magic was dimnished; I wasn't feeling the emotion and energy I would have expected from some newly acquired LPs (Judas Priest, Madonna, Opeth, Bryan Adams). The dynamics and separation weren't in full force and the balance/resolution was also a tad "off". Then today at lunch I noticed the shelf, and consequently my TT, were tilted by a significant amount to one side. Damn - I'd moved all my audio gear around the previous day and forgot to level the TT. Of course I'm somewhat miffed that apparently my floor …

Who has heard or owns them? Pretty premium price...I'm fairly eager to know how they sound...

Hi, After lurking here for a while and giving up on the advice at another forum, I thought I would try asking about a problem that has been bothering me for some time. I am having substantial problems with my cell phone pings being picked up by the headphone cable. I am running a nuforce HDP and HD650s in case someone else has experience with the same problem and setup. So I see a few options: 1) Shielded headphone cables. (Although the price scares me vs option 6) 2) Craft a EMI blocking filter (Perhaps with an inline Neutrix EMC series XLR pair or equivalent), or maybe a ferrite core? 3) A magical audiophile solution I am not aware of. Preferabl…

So I realized that my LP Custom and Guid JF30 are just rotting under the bed, so I was thinking of getting cans for them at first, then I thought "hey, why not do a 2-fer and see if anyone might trade these two for one stompin' dreadnaught?" So I find a 1970's Martin D-41 and the guy might do it... Uh oh. Gear Acquisition Syndrome in effect!

I'm finding I'm not getting enough headroom on my Melos pot since the Northstar DAC outputs higher than my previous DAC. (And the Melos might have a pretty high gain) I like have a lot of room to play with on the volume knob, but right now I can't take it past 9 o' clock. Is there something I can do that won't degrade sound quality? This is only a problem with my HP-2, using the Melos as a preamp works fine.

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

I was pondering the idea of sound design when it comes to amplifier design. I am wondering if amp designers know what a circuit is going to sound like before they make it? So is it the case that they think about the sonic attributes they want to create and design an amp to suit or do they just build an amp with little concern for the sonic side of things and aim to keep the variables (such as THD) in an optimum range with an expectation that the amplifier will sound good at the end? In addition to this are there things a designer can do to deliberately change an aspect of the sound, such as increase the warmth, widen the soundstage or increase the detail? Sorry for …

Anyone know of a portable sound recorder that lets you rewind and playback events from a live recording while still recording the main track? This is an ability that may help me when expressing my thoughts in discussions, it will be voice recording and on a budget of £200 ($300) or less. Something digital with inbuilt speaker would be what I'd need. Douglas p.s. I won't be able to converse much

So I'm slowly putting together a computer, and I'm thinking about the soundcard, and I read this blurb in the lastest "Maximum PC" about the Asus Xonar Essence STX, which claims one of the highest SNR (124dB) I've ever seen on a card (yes, yes, I know you can't hear it, whatever) -- anyone familiar with this card or with this line of cards? Looking through NewEgg, they have others that they claim have low noise floor/high SNR (E.G. Asus Xonar DX). Any other recommendations? HT Omega seems to be rated pretty highly over there, too.

I need some reasonably priced speaker stands. I've taken my Daber Audio Monitor 3's out of storage, and I've shipped them to my new home in the Sacramento area, but I'll want some 18" to 22" stands to get them at a good height. I've combed the web, but thought you guys might have some recommendations that I may have overlooked.

Sigh... It's not like Time Warner was a beacon of excellence. But when Spectrum took over, many things have gotten even worse. In no particular order: Monthly bill went up through various reasons including higher prices for newly "developed" bundles/packages. Spectrum got rid of the best mbps per dollar plan and offer either slow or "fast" plans, not the middle one Timer Warner had. My Spectrum cable box keeps stop working randomly, displaying messages like "To receive this channel, call customer care." When called, customer care has no clue, does not speak English, and I have to go through the algorithm hell multiple times until I waste my time to sc…

Hi Head-casers, I've been thinking a lot of time about speed (or perceived speed?) of the phones... How come that I could feel that one phone sounds faster than the other while both of them can produce or reach about the same frequency spectrum (eg. ES compared to dynamic)? Without comparing, it is difficult to hear that perceived speed, but switching from HD650 to STAX and vise versa that "speed" difference become very audible. What I mean by speed in this case is the "free flowing" or un-congested sense of the music through the phones.... Is this the right term to understand it as the "speed"? How come that a driver that can vibrate good at 10Khz or so (dyn…

hey y'all I was just looking around, trying to figure out how loud (objectively) I listen to my music. I saw spl meters, and was wondering if those worked for headphones, like the HD650. If those do work for that application, which meter should I get? I was looking at the Radio Shack brand one, or this one: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Extech-407730-Decibel-Digital-Sound/dp/B000EWY67W/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_2]Amazon.com: Extech 407730 40 Decibel to 130 Decibel Digital Sound Level Meter: Home Improvement[/ame] Let me know what's what. Thanks

Been "playing" my friend's guitar every day for the last two weeks, so I think it's fair to say that I'm pretty serious about learning acoustic, especially given that my enthusiasm for saxophone has gradually been dwindling the last half year or so. Anywho, I plan on buying my own guitar this summer, just wondering what brands I should be looking at. Keep in mind this is just a starting point for me, so I'm not looking to spend too much money, say a budget of like $300-400. My friend has a Yamaha; I really have no reference for what a decent guitar is but this one seems alright. Thanks for any/all help, much appreciated.

My listening room has new carpet in it, and frequently when I touch my headphone equipment I give it a good shock of static electricity. Do other folks have this problem, and if so, what do you do about it? Buy a metal bar and touch it before touching the equipment? Rubber mat? Chop off legs and replace with peg legs?