Miscellaneous

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.

I am not sure if I can post this, but here is the link to this article, which I found very interesting to read Stereophile: Tim de Paravicini: King of Tubes Now I am wonder what kind of balanced output configuration my Unico have, because of this: "Lots of people have made so-called valve CD players with a couple of token tubes. Most of them don't actually address the problem correctly, because a lot of them, if they're going to offer balanced outputs, actually go back into op-amps to do the balanced output configuration. So they've got this token tube doing not very much". Here is some article about Unico and how it works with output thing http://www.audioenz.co…

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?

Pretty cool link I've found on H-F, it's a bunch of A/B tests to measure how well you can hear distortion. The tests are simple and well-made and you can compare your results with the average of the other participants at the end. Audibility Of Distortion

Hello. I'm new to this forum & wanted to say hi. Well, as the title of the thread asks, does anyone know of any good audiophile stores in the Philippines (Manila specifically)? I will be going there next week, so I thought I might have the opportunity to check out some cool gear while I'm there - stuff that might not be released in the US or stuff that I could find at a really good price. Any suggestions or pointers would be great! Thanks in advance!

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?

I'm a moderate photography fan. I've had a couple of good reflex cameras for 35mm film, but since digital took over film, my only digital camera is a Canon Ixus 50 which makes OK pics. I've been considering to get a decent or maybe more than that digital camera, but there are so many options... All I know is that I'd like to avoid huge cameras (my favorite one was my Pentax A1) and now with digital LCDs maybe a reflex isn't that necessary. I started to look at some options and then the Leica M8.2 came out as a compact, versatile and probably great quality one, which would allow me to swap objectives. The problem is the price. At about USD6000 just the body and USD1300…

I'll start. Father Postjack (since he's clearly the priest in this arena) I have sinned, I said no stats in '08. I bought 3, and should have kept the Lambda/SRM combo.

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

This was fun last year, lets try it again. I discovered the DL-103 this year and it became my favorite cartridge. The same DL-103 went dead less then a year later, which is distressing. Hopefully the next one will last longer. As accessories to the DL-103 I purchased a Cinemag SUT (currently on loan) and a Hagerman Bugle. I also purchased a Bottlehead Seduction from thrice. I still own both these phono stages. I bought a digital stylus force gauge, which is awesome. I sold a Grado PH-1 phono stage somewhere in there, and at some point I owned a Grado Platinum, Grado Sonata HO and Grado Sonata LO, can't remember if that was 2008 or 2007. I bought and sold a be…

Their new amp, the Bosangwha, is beautiful (to these eyes.) However, it is a $4000 pair of monoblock chip amps. I like them because they make unique products, and because they have honest-to-goodness innovations like the gaincard. I dislike them because they fuse arrogant bullshit like tea ceremonies and heritage pottery with audio equipment, and are ridiculously priced. You can DIY a gaincard for about $150, and while I understand a premium going to the R&D, a 20x premium seems a little steep. They're free to charge whatever they like, but still... So my question is, does the wrong outweigh the right, here? Lots of companies make mediocre products that a…

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

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.

Anyone have any experience here? Kinda tempted by the 3M MPro 100 (which appears to be running $300). With VGA and composite could be good for laptop/iPhone/Touch use.

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.

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

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

Just in case anybody missed this on the other site, the story of the Mullard Blackburn factory Me loves my XF2's...

What do you guys think? First Impression Music's Ultimate Disc | Computer Audiophile (don't skip the PDF)

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

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…

I have an older B&D 14.4V Fire Storm cordless drill. This drill has 2 speed ranges and a wide range of torque settings. i really like it except for one minor problem. after many years of light use, i tried to use it only to find that both batteries are toast and that the charger puts out nothing. A quick search of the web shows that this is not an uncommon problem with these batteries and charger. I searched the web again and it looks like 2 replacement batteries and a charger would be at least $80. It occurs to me that I might be able to get an entire drill kit for not much more than that. So can anybody recommend a drill kit with similar features in the $80…