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When you've teamed up with Naim and agreed to show their name in the product photo, but really you don't give a flying F about their shit.

I have been using my Twisted Pear Audio Buffalo II DAC with a Volumite digital volume control for a few years. Earlier this year I decided to expand it to a dual-mono setup. In the process I also added the Amanero/Hermes/Cronus/Rhea USB-i2s adapter with isolation and re-clocking. I used two chassis I have purchased some time ago and house the PSU in its own, separate chassis. A Placid HD powers the digital section and GR LV powers the Legato I/V converter and "The Wire" balanced headphone amp (the small module on the left side of the chassis).

I accidentally hit the wrong button while trying to type and posted some unintended nonsense (as opposed to the usual intended nonsense). Here's the cliff notes version of what is upcoming ... All of these circuits are fully differential. Everything except the DSHA2 is transformer coupled on both the input and the output and happy with balanced or single ended. All of the output transformers are newly custom designed by Lundahl for me. Available with steel core or amorphous cores for an upcharge. DSHA2 is really tiny, direct coupled, transformer gain amplifier for use with balanced headphones.. DSHA3 is kind of the default amp. It uses transformers for gain, and it is very clean, very quiet, and just works well. Gain is low, but it has the power to push pretty much any headphone. DSST1 (which stands for Differential Solid State Triode) was developed with PretentiousFood. It looks the same as the DSHA3 from the outside, and it uses a circuit that emulates triodes with transistors. It has a bit of a bloomier midrange, can have higher gain, and is easier to drive at the cost of a little more background noise. Copenhagen-S also looks the same and has a punchier bouncier happier more midrangey sound. It is the "Solid State Pentode" amp making it kind of a current source/transconductance amp. (Copenhagen-V, the tube version, is on hiatus.) L3 has tubes in it and costs a little more. Pics to come in about 2 weeks. Ravenswood (DSHA4) is basically a DSHA3 with an additional driver stage, microprocessor controlled gain and input, and is big and powerful and over the top.

I'll take one of each.

Is there a CliffsNotes for the technically illiterate on the basic differences between the above-mentioned coming attractions? OK, I'll just ask the HF question. Which would be moar bestest with Utopias?

They did sound great, best thing I heard at the meet. Meeting Doug and Jeff was a pleasure. Doug had to go and tempt me talking about his upcoming L-3 (:

Pudding!

Curry With a bunch of Brits

I heard the Massdrop Senn 6xx this past weekend and it doesn't sound like I remember 650s sounding, which was dark. I'm gonna snag a pair.

You do have a nice burger there, Brent. Your waist is so much slimmer these days, but your boobs are enormous!

Red comes home with me. @cutestory took her sister.

*shrug*

But when will the HE400S V2 MkII subseries 3.1 w/ earpad mod come out? There's huge debates on whether or not Sennheiser's various driver changes to the HD6xx line over their years caused a change in sound or whether it's just due to the earpads flattening out over time. So far I've been too busy collecting and not collecting 'stats to care, but might pick up a dynamic headphone for the Dynalo Mini so need to do some preliminary research. I still have a few trusty vintage orthos (Fostex T10, T20v1, T20v2, T40v1, Concept CE-H, Realistic Pro 30) laying around if I want planar sound.

Doug was explaining to us at this recent meet but all I heard was, this stuff is gonna sound really bitchin' blah, blah, blah, no caps, blah, blah, simple design, blah, blah, L-3 has a really cool, cheap Russian tube, blah, blah, we made triodes out of transistors in the DSHA 3 (?), blah, blah, blah, L-3 will have more power, blah. The Utopias sound awesome with the L-2, slightly better (?) than the Dynahi. The phones can be a little bright.

I like this variation. (Not in reference to you Dusty. Just in general.)

Fight Club. I haven't seen this since high school. I saw it for the first time in the theater. I now recognize how much this influenced me. Perfect movie for 16 year olds exploring politics. It's really good. Also really stupid. I love David Fincher. Glad I grew out of this. Fincher is great, though: his Zodiac is still the best mainstream movie from 2000-2010, in my opinion. If anybody ever directed a movie version of Neal Stephenson's Zodiac, I'd want it to be Fincher.

Ginger cake with lemon curd, sticky toffee pudding,whipped cream,raspberries ... And now, After Eights!

Damn!!!

I thought about seeing Hacksaw Ridge, until I saw who directed it.

they're smaller than they were last year

Gynaecomastia FTW!

I had a great time yesterday at the LA meet. It was a pleasure to meet @cutestory and @blubliss in person, and of course Dr. Professor @dsavitsk, Ph.D, Esq.

these conversations always remind me how happy I am I stopped with W10VTGs and JH13s

I like vintage RS-1s.

I don't know anything about the Luxman. I own the HD800's and do not own the T1's, which should indicate which I prefer. I am just saying that the T1's can sound OK. Pleasing, even. I didn't hate them. Reks should listen to whatever he likes.

I agree that driven with a non-0 output impedance the T1 is decent. I used them with the L2 with a 600R resistor in parallel for a while and found it to be a good combination.

You are a very creative man. Plus, it would be a great product given the smaller desktop footprint...just sayin'.

The hyperbole was supposed to be humourous (with a "u" - learn how to spell, yankees).

I guess I am not understanding what was said above. My interpretation is that the data for 10 subjects would look like: Flat pads better - 3 414 pads better - 1 no difference - 6 is that the correct interpretation or am not understanding what you wrote. Not trying to be an asshole as I don't want to take Zach's job, just trying to understand since I still have a few Grado phones.

The Hifiman Massdrop headphone is seriously shitty. Sounds like an utter turd...

Copenhagen, DSHA-2/3/4(?), L-3... that's a lot to look forward to!

Yes, but I've never been a fan of those Senn pads. I'll get the regular flat pads from TTVJ if the new ones aren't an improvement.

You have to mod the 414 pads, and I've double blinded it: they don't sound as good as the flats. 30 percent of listeners declare them as sounding worse than flats, as opposed to 10 percent the other way. With 10 people, the p-value is okie dokie. This was done with HP-2 headphones, but I think it's valid for other Grado phone.

Guns N' Roses – Use Your Illusion I I haven't listened to this CD in a while... I had it first on cassette years ago. Now I think I understand this album a lot better, having had more life experience, relationships, broader musical knowledge, etc. It's an incredibly ambitious album, putting together larger-scale and more complex arrangements than their first hit album, Appetite for Destruction. I prefer the second album, Use Your Illusion II, because it has a bit more depth and emotional range. The first album is more straight ahead, showcasing a bunch of straight-up rockers with minimal filler. There is a bit of variety – Spanish guitar on Double Talkin' Jive, blues-rock piano on Bad Obsession and Dust N' Bones, and, of course, the symphonic strings of November Rain. Listen for the complex rhythm and accompaniment guitar parts going in an out in November Rain – they are often lost in the mix against the overwhelming vocals, lead guitar, and strings. Overall, it's an exhausting, intense experience, just the way it was meant to be. There aren't many slow or quiet songs other than Izzy Stradlin's laid-back You Ain't the First. The overall tone is aggressive and combative, often feeling conversational, as if Axl or the band was telling off a series of exes. There is a bit of sweetness in my favorite of the bunch, Don't Cry and November Rain, but the majority of the songs are unrelentingly in-your-face, until the album ends, appropriately, with Coma. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long and all that...

I loved the Radiohead on the player piano. I'm also worried about Elsie. And the designers of the hosts broke Jacob's first rule of robotics: never make your AI sexbots faster and stronger than people! The Terminator is not a how-to guide!

Phone banking for Hillary. Pennsylvania here I come!

I did post some updates somewhere but I might as well copy them here: Not much has happened since I posted that but I'll work on the PSU at some point and then I can do final assembly. The schematic is here:

I think the super audio best friends or whatever they're called is where you want to hold that particular debate, thanks.

I highly recommend my portable headphone amp. It's a few years older than some current portable amps, but they don't give me the same warm sensation...

Euthanasia Yolanda is history!!! Showed up to protest today. Was a little bummed that only two others were there, but it ended up not mattering. A Mr. Hooker (yeah I know) came out to ask if we could talk. After listening to my story, he asked if I would be willing to give a written statement. I said yes. As I was finishing my statement he came in to confirm that "she" was no longer employed there, and that her actions were in no way in compliance with policy. It feels good to stand up and be counted!

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I'm picking up my second amp from Doug tomorrow personally at an LA meet. I can't wait to see how she turned out.

Speaking of shitholes, I got dragged to the worst strip club in the world today during a corporate farewell. Sad, fat Bulgarian girls with mustaches and maybe three teeth between the entire English van driver clientele. I am permanently less horny for having ever darkened their door.

My carbon steel wok. Can't even remember how I seasoned it originally - it was ten or even fifteen years back. I just rinse with a sponge, dry and wipe over with some oil.

The Beyer T1? It stinks, even compared to the K701

I bet you could. He'd even pay all the bills.

I already ordered the Rega.

Stopped from my chores to watch salmon try to fly https://vimeo.com/187893812