Miscellaneous

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've been considering the purchase of a pair of C-pads for my ms2i's but am have trouble finding any opinions of them or descriptions of how it changes the grado presentation. Do you or have owned a pair? How did you like them?

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.

If an amp/source was going from 220v to 110v or vice versa, is there a decrease in SQ?

...with iTunes! Just realized it was just over a year ago that I, the Luddite IT Guy, finally caved and began the arduous task of importing my CDs into That Infernal Computer Thing. It started with the iPhone... when the 3G came out in Canuckistan in July '08, I knew I had to have one... I needed the e-mail functionality for work and it was just so much cooler than a Crackberry... oh and coverflow looked pretty darn neat as well. I did throw a few albums in to iTunes as soon as I got the iPhone just to have some material on there, but didn't get serious until the end of September. Rather than sleeping for two nights in a row, I schlopped in about 200 CDs. I was…

World's most amazing subwoofer has no woofer | The Audiophiliac - CNET News 13k for the hardware and 25k for config and installation

This is either brilliant or the most tortured metaphor ever: http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/05/03/do_high_quality_headphones_really_make_music_sound_that_much_better.html

hey all, This forum is great. I'm new to the audio world, and its been fascinating me for a while since I innocently stumbled upon head-fi when researching new headphones (ended up spending 6 times more than I originally wanted to...). Then I found this forum, and I've been casually reading through some of the posts for a while now. Besides tempting me to spend money I don't have, it has also kept me highly entertained. So I decided to join. I'm not going to pretend to know much about anything, and I don't plan on posting that much for fear of instant insult barrages (you guys are all asshats ). Just so you know how much of a newbie I am to this audio world here…

Some of you know stuff about car audio -- Samich? I forget who else. I'm going to be living with this car ('03 Lancer ES, non-Evo, non-wagon, non-anything really, completely entry-level) for a while, so want to upgrade the sound system, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars doing so, as it already has > 120K miles on it, and I'm about due for a car-totalling. So the current system sounds crap. Lots of distortion, doesn't go loud well at all. Replace the whole system (including the head unit)? Buy a new car? Or go piecemeal: sub first, head unit and speakers next. I'm not a complete dumb-bass-head when it comes to cars, but poprock just doesn't sound ri…

This is an odd topic but I'm looking for quick answers. I am having some Ikea solid beech wood butcher block counter tops installed in the Mayberry kitchen. They suggest sanding, sealing and oiling but they do not really give a lot of specifics. They sell some linseed oil but not a sealer and I am not sure if a sealer is necessary or recommended for use on butcher block counter tops or what to use and still be safe for food handling on them. Anybody have ideas for specific products or general procedures to employ or avoid?

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

it's another afternoon to evening in the city by the bay. I'm going to class, getting out of discussion, when I see a beautiful tree against a lit stone building. The sun is going down... I prepare, set up, click, hold... and when i get back home, I realize it was too slow... the image isn't as sharp, i'm shaking too much. I meet a group of friends at a restaurant, I take pictures as they come in, but they wink too much when my flash goes off. The light around it isn't bad, but being indoors is a disaster for this lens. I tell my camera not to flash. I get two results, either it's kinda dark and the guy sitting next to Teresa (my subject) isn't even visible. Or...…

I have a guy (overseas, who has good feedback) interested in buying my cd player from agon. I was wondering if anyone has used this or knows anything about it http://escrow.com/ Thanks

Hi, we are a potential problem. The specific problem concerns lying.

Hi All, I'm thinking of buying two measurement mikes and turning my new mannequin head Bob into a binaural head with ear canals etc. Once I do that I will also send it off to be calibrated and then the fun will really begin To do this though I need a dremel or something that will let my router out a couple access ports etc into the back of Bob. Anyone have something suitable I can borrow?

I am think of getting a small handheld camcorder but don't know what to look for. I assume a bigger sensor is better for low light and you want a decent mic, optical zoom, and decent battery life. That's about all I know. I have read that midrange ($300-$600) is the sweet spot for someone like me. I'm just going to use it for the usual recording friends, family, etc. I was thinking of something like http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AW54Z4K/thewire06-20 or http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AWZFJ22/thewire06-20 or http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-CX380-Definition-Handycam-Camcorder/dp/B00AR95FRM/ref=dp_ob_title_ce or maybe something even cheaper http…

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.

Perhaps I'm too trusting of the human kind. I had an ad on Craigslist for a camera, and this guy called and wanted to a trade with his lens plus cash on my part. He says he is coming from about about an hour and half away and wants me to meet him half-way at a Starbuck's. Sounded reasonable, so I agreed. Drove 45 min to this Starbuck's and sat on my ass for 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, and finally had to leave after an hour. Apparently the guy called me from some sort of internet phone/google voice, etc because the phone number rings and goes into a beep. Messages come back "invalid." The e-mail address I got out of the guy comes back "Delivery failed." Wow, the…

Because of my mold problem, I am looking to get another air purifier. Right now I have the Winix Plasmawave but I am going to keep that in the room with mold and put the other one with in the room I sleep in. Any recommendations? The Winix is good but doesn't have activated carbon filters so I don't know if it is as good as some others. The mold specialist said that Honeywell makes good ones. Anyone tried those? What are the important qualities. I know that a good HEPA filter is the most important. Should UV sanitizer be avoided because of Ozone? Avoid ionizer (the Winix Plasmawave has this)? Are activated carbon filters a lot better than regular carbon filters?

My wife bought a Formosa model S4104 guitar. She bought it because it's signed by Stevie Nicks. Just for kicks, I decided to see what Formosa guitars were about. Google returns no useful information. Does anybody know anything about Formosa guitars?

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 have a 2 year old staying at the house this week and I am afraid she is going to want to put legos or some other toy in the front port of my Monitor Audio 6 (for some reason Tim wants to have her play right next to the speaker system). The speakers have front ports. Would it be ok to cover the front ports with some sort of light cloth for the week (while the system is on). This is the main tv setup so I can't put the speakers in a different room. I'm not so concerned about the sound but whether it could damage the amplifier. My guess is that is probably ok but will look like shit. I was thinking of using thin like a disposable dish cloth like this.

Hello everyone, I hope this is the right spot for this. I have recently been buying stuff at a local liquidator, because money is tight and I'm always on the lookout for good deals. I've had a relatively good experience with this liquidator, and have for instance bought three Huion USB drawing tablets for $60, which I promptly turned around and resold on eBay for $180 before shipping. So, when I saw they had listed a pair of Sennheiser HD660S headphones, I knew I had to win them. I got them for $161! I picked them up, and sure enough they were new...But the wrong model! The box, and case is all genuine Sennheiser, even the original manual for the HD660S was incl…

So I am thinking about replacing my roomate, but the main reason that I haven't is because the volume of my snoring is turned up to 11. I've been told not only can it be heard through the wall but through the floor as well to downstairs and that's a hard thing to see if a potential roomate can handle without doing a trial run which is really f'ing awkward to arrange. My snoring aside.. you can hear everything through the wall including talking normal volume on the phone. So I want to sound proof it up. What's the best way to do it? I'd prefer to only do it on my side if possible since I'm not sure I want to invest money into making it cosmetically appealing especia…

Thought I'd start a thread for any interesting CES gear (audio or otherwise). First is a DAC. Anyone know BMC gear? http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/01/06/pre-ces-b-m-c-audio-announces-puredac/ Seems the XLR comment is off.