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I am actually tempted to contribute again right at the deadline and leave you one dollar short from Champion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tyll is the last person I'd accuse of selling out. He's one of the few reviewers I read and listen to. Having said that, I often don't hear things the way he does. But that's fine. Use honest, educated opinions like Tyll's, use your own ears, use whatever metrics and science you know, and put all of that together to guess if something is for you or not. Changing your mind in this hobby is a pain in the ass. The internet remembers everything you say and nobody realizes that the situation in the real world always changes. So if you say A and a few years later you say B, people will assume you either sold out or have no idea what you're talking about, when in truth you're just being honest about things as you see them at the moment. It's one of the reasons why I don't post about headphones much anymore. But then again I have nothing to post anyway, though 10 years ago, that didn't stop me.

I'd contribute $-50 to the cause if it would help

Meanwhile ...

My last "walk"

Took my son to the annual Autumn Motorsports Day at the Brooklands Museum, site of the famous prewar British speedway. Many, many fine cars were out on the track -- including two retired but still frisky F1s (former rides for Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso), scores of vintage Bentleys, JPS Lotuses, a gang of Martini Racing Integrales. It was a good time! Best sound by far, though, was the 24-liter Napier-Railton. OMG what a machine ...

Astro, please stop now and save yourself the embarrassment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin Fantastic story, and unusual because it's current-ish hard science fiction.

We returned from SC last night. Some downed limbs, one shingle and nothing more. We had power when we returned and according to the NAS, we only lost power for 18 hours. The upside to that is Karen decided we absolutely need a propane grill .

ah, too bad, I was hoping they were trying to torture ocd folks

Oh dear, you've been a very, very naughty sub-editor, haven't you? Yes, you have! And you think it's clever, don't you?

Exactly. We can change our minds without somebody throwing money at us.

Pizza

Nice starters, what are you having for the main course?

I agree with this. Sadly the price gap between the two has been eviscerated.

My guess is that the baseline for headphones has changed with the Flow / Utopia / Elear. What was great last year might no longer quite cut it, and the gap between stats and dynamic / planar cans has shrunk. So the level of focus and critique gets sharper. The Audeze range has great bass and mids, but the treble is kinda broken. In the past that was overlooked, but not anymore because the yardstick has changed with the new cans. So Audeze drops off the WOF and gets a "nice, but not good enough anymore" from Tyll. You might agree or not agree with this approach, but at least it is a hell of a lot more up front than the usual "everything is wonderful, go buy it now" bollix that is spouted almost everywhere else.

It's a phallic symbol on wheels. What's not to like?

I am officially liking this 73,000 fucking times. Jealous. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Absolutely! We actually would have bought it today but they are out of stock, so it is on order.

Sharing a tasty pork Bahn Mi Sando

It wasn't a biscuit, it was a McGriddle... Pancakes as a bun. Crack is all the way around. Will talk more later. Love this kid! **BRENT** Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Last weekend was the Civil War Century and it was 96F, super sunny. That made for an interesting ride. I fared well, but it was pretty exhausting. Took plenty of electrolytes. With the Hammer Endurolytes didn't get any cramps or pains, so that was great. For me, these work better than SportLegs. Cheerio!

Heard the Focal Duo at the SF HF meet yesterday on my rig. My impressions of the Focal Utopia: A real contender for best dynamic headphone. A bit heavy, but otherwise very comfortable to wear. Build quality appeared excellent. Sound was very clear and very detailed. Background noise at the meet was a bit of an issue, but you could tell Utopia is a very technically competent headphone, potentially better on technicalities than the HD800 but would need to evaluate at home to be sure. Not a bass monster and does not compete with planars in that regard. While soundstage is good, does not have the uniquely massive soundstage that is my favorite thing about the HD800. The $4k price is unfortunate. This is a headphone that needs to cost $2k at most for it to be a good value. My impressions of the Focal Elear: The buzz is that Elear sounds somewhat like a HD650 plus. I would agree with that assessment. Should be a must listen for the HD650 fans. As I much prefer the HD600 to the HD650, the slightly tonally dark Elear isn’t a headphone I’d consider buying. Priced at a grand, it is nice to see a step in the right direction on price. Should be $600, but at least its not $1,500. Between Utopia and Elear I lean very strongly towards Utopia.