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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/06/2022 in all areas

  1. Congrat Shelly! As for myself, packed for a trip to Alaska tomorrow. Going for my Brother's memorial. He passed last winter, but his wife wanted to have the memorial in warmer weather. I'm happy about that, because when I was up there for my Sister's passing 3 years back, it was Christmas, and cold, and dark and depressing as hell. I haven't been up there in the summer in at least 15 years. Actually looking forward to it.
    8 points
  2. Well I think we are already Vermonters as we went shopping in New Hampshire today.
    7 points
  3. Not today, but yesterday: Yumi accepted a job in Durango and we are under contract for this place. Higher interest rates and COVID pricing is a bitch but at least we’re not buying in CA. Time for another HC meet? We got a big basement god people to crash in. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/96-Walker-Ln-Durango-CO-81303/13939794_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
    5 points
  4. Lol! I’ll be staying at Rice, at least for the foreseeable future. Would need to switch fields (data science/AI/machine learning probably) and get a work from home job to move out there permanently. I really only need to be at Rice during the fall and spring semesters and can probably visit once a month during the fall semester.
    3 points
  5. The KGSS is a robust and reliable unit. I've heard of precious few (none come to mind immediately) that had issues when built by a competent builder. Birgir would certainly more than qualify for that standard. And while that chassis is compact I'd wager it has far better (and just more) heat management and dissipation compared to the original design's on board heat sinks. The original design was fine, don't get me wrong, but inherently needed more volume to operate in because airflow across the heat sinks could be limited. Comparison wise just look at what the standard KGSS has been compared to before. I don't think any of the modern(ish) Stax amps can compete with the KGSS (others feel free to correct) and have no experience with the commercial models you are referencing.
    2 points
  6. Finally caught up on final, first 1/2 split season Better Call Saul. #kimwexlerfanclub
    2 points
  7. It is likely that the #80 mesh is not easy to make a stator by hand, which leads to the failure of the omega driver, and the driver housing made by resin at that time was not as strong as later 007 009 though. There are some DIY estats such as Perun and Phenomenon in Russia, they use much lower number size copper mesh as stator. I have owned a pair of perun, the stators are made of about #10 copper mesh, the mesh itself is very strong actually, and is glued to the PCB holder with structural adhesive. As for the glass stator of the HE90, the glass is indeed rigid, However, as a stator, it does not play the role in the Sennheiser advertisement at all. The only thing I can expect is that the glass is chemically stable and not easy to be corroded or oxidized, and Manufacturing microporous glass plate is extremely expensive which also leads to the insane price of the HE90... Unfortunately, Sennheiser is now not planning to stop, they use even more expensive ceramic based PCB stator on HE1.😦
    2 points
  8. Meanwhile WWDC ... https://www.theverge.com/23155997/wwdc-2022-keynote-live-blog-announcements-ios-ipad
    1 point
  9. I listened to this one yesterday. I think I had different expectations.
    1 point
  10. Congrats Shelly and Yumi! I'm very pro CO meetups, even if I myself am thousands of miles away. Durango is a truly charming town, and while the price of houses now is eye-watering, you sure chose a good one.
    1 point
  11. Congrats to both of you, Shelly and Yumi! House looks awesome indeed....LOVE the views! Safe travels to Steve. And Jim, welcome to New England! How does it feel to not pay Sales Tax buying in NH?
    1 point
  12. I would guess/expect a high-amp.de amp to be in the same league as a midrange Mjolnir amp, but I only base that opinion on the recommendations of others who know that high-amp.de builder personally. I have never owned products by either person. I hope to visit high-amp's workshop myself this summer. I have a 353x now, and I am getting a Carbon built because the 353x is good for an affordable amp, but not powerful enough--the Carbon I'm getting is not by Spritzer, but that says nothing about Spritzer's reputation as a builder, which is unquestionably impeccable--I mean, I doubt there is anything on the internet that mentions problems with a Mjolnir product. That should tell you something. One thing I am curious about is what kind of pot/attenuator/misc. is used in an official Stax amp, as I am currently trying to decide on whether to have my Carbon build upgraded from an rk27 to a Goldpoint47. As I sit in front of my 353x, I'm wondering what Stax itself uses. I understand that Spritzer uses the best components he can find in all his products, though.
    1 point
  13. Garden Party Afternoon Tea, To Celebrate The Queens Platinum Jubilee There were savourys And later, Sweets Which I availed myself of.
    1 point
  14. When I was a kid we had a Chinese restaurant in Anchorage named Dynasty Restaurant. The sign was lighted, but the Y was burned out. It stayed that way for years. I guess it didn't hurt their business too bad.
    1 point
  15. Congrats! 🍾 Can we get those tax rates in Texas?
    1 point
  16. https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/top-gun-maverick-lego-trailer/
    1 point
  17. Watched Milo rescue what we assume was a waterlogged field mouse of some sort. We just happened to wander into Stretch's garden and Milo miraculously spotted what he first thought was a mole, in a PVC drain pipe. He was barely able to keep his head above water. No telling how long he was trapped in that pipe. Assuming he fell in while looking for a drink. Milo was able to grasp him with some kitchen tongs Stretch grabbed. He set him in a bushy area to hopefully regain his strength and resume his/her field mouse duties.
    1 point
  18. Greg, it's common knowledge that the Yeti prefers fermented Yak milk. However, the Sasquatch is a lover of Red wines, preferably with truffles and fiddleback ferns on the side.
    1 point
  19. Same. Can't wait to see how things play out.
    1 point
  20. Last night finished the first-half of the last-season of "Better Call Saul". Looking forward for the second-half.
    1 point
  21. The sound: it’s spectacular! Compared to a Stax SRM-007tii with 60’s Mazda Brimar 6CG7’s or 50’s RCA long black plates with D getters, the sound is far more relaxed, analog, detailed, expansive, dynamic and musically involving. I can’t wait to get some NOS EL34’s in here. The Berkeley Reference DAC shows off the Megatron’s speed and transparency; the DAC and Megatron are both detail monsters. The Megatron is a far more capable amp when connected to the Berkeley Reference DAC than a current low-noise, low-distortion reference amp, such as the Topping A90, which I also have. The balanced inputs: dead quiet - perfect with the Wireworld Platinum 8 series XLR interconnects. The voltage gain: I can’t imagine needing any more gain than I’m getting with the 1958 Holland D foil getter E180CC’s (thanks to the community for the tip on these) and the 1948 RCA 5751 triple mica black plates. I will say that this amp takes a solid hour to warm up, however. Temperature: just touched 126F on the exterior of the right transformer case after a couple of hours - the internal temperature was typically within a couple of degrees when previously measured, likely due to the machined vents around the tubes. SMALL UPDATE: Kevin suggested some whisper fans to deal with the heat buildup; this is an excellent idea. Hum: there is none whatsoever, there is only dead silence, irrespective of where the pot is positioned - it’s absolutely impossible to tell whether the Megatron is on, when powered from a current-gen PS Audio regenerator set to 120V. Definitely T2 level stuff! I CANNOT THANK KEVIN ENOUGH
    1 point
  22. ^ How so? Both NwAvGuy and now ASR have exposed for example several Schiit models to be very poor. Now Schiit has started to improve their products and they also add measurement data for their products. This lack of detailed product information is and has been a clear handicap of the hifi industry definetly NOT in favor of the consumer. I really can’t see any arguments against this positive change.
    1 point
  23. Thanks for the couple of PMs from kind members offering help in amp building. Very much appreciated! I have also found one potential friend of a friend, who has good experience in electronics building, so I might also go with the DIY path together with his help. - - - I also don't want to turn this into an objectivist vs subjectivist debate. One thought that came to my mind was the case with NwAvGuy around early 2010, which many of you probably know... this guy who just started to measure DACs and headphone amps and exposed many of them to be crap. Then he designed his own O2 amp and later also DAC, which were cheap and measured, and sounded, great. Then he disappeared. I really enjoyed reading his looong blog posts and the way he challenged the hifi/audiophile industry and communities with hard data compared to subjective and biased (unintentionally) opinions of random people. I was sad to see him disappear and later very happy to see AudioScienceReview continue where he left off. Now that I have just entered the wonderful world of electrostats... and started to sell my traditional headphones ?... the case of NwAvGuy came back to me and a comparison to this forum -> you guys have designed and build amps, that clearly challenge the incumbent market and my tip of the hat to you sirs! I do still wish, that somebody would also measure electrostatic amps. I have searched and asked for these, but I haven't found any. I asked Amirm/ASR about this and he said that there are risks of damage to the measurement gear with electrostatic amps and probably that explains their scarcity.
    1 point
  24. Oh, did they? Anybody with two-thirds of a brain has known that since the brand started. If I wrote a long, boring blog-post about Hitler being bad, would I be exposing Hitler as being bad?
    0 points
  25. Incorrect. The opposite, in fact.
    0 points
  26. NwAvGuy did add a lot of value to the consumer audio world, though I would dispute some of his measurements and claims. I have no substantive comments on his O2 (except that it was one of the first amps I built myself, and I quickly stopped using it because it produced the awful DC thump on turn-on and turn-off common in annoying-fi — which none of the significantly better amps I built later did). However, the ODAC is a piece of junk. With Mac system volume set above 50%, it produces nasty and extremely audible clipping. Perhaps my unit is defective. ??‍♂️ I certainly don't intend to buy another one just to find out. Not a single other DAC ever performed so poorly in my system.
    0 points
  27. The O2 did not sound "great." I would argue that it sounded like "crap," but I didn't have a cat in my lap the times I heard one. But what do I know about how instruments are supposed to sound; I only made it through three years of conservatory. And, after all, a violin has a lot of distortion when played in the air. A violin has no distortion when played in a vacuum, so that is clearly the best way to listen to violins.
    0 points
  28. That guy was a total asshole... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    0 points
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