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So, as my soap opera story with the X9000 is coming to a close (for now), I have to correct a few things after I visited a friend yesterday. Originally, I wanted to hear it on analog, but due to a technical glitch it wasn't possible, I forgot that the Carbon only has XLR, I assume an XLR-RCA plug converter would have worked, but we didn't have one. Anyways, in some ways this was better, as I could listen to various recordings that I am more familiar with (and get annoyed by how much better they sounded compared to home). The test setup was the Linn Klimax Renew DS with the KGSSHV Carbon (also a cheap IC that might not completely suit the X9000, but the source did that, so it was fair). The experience with this DAC is much different. Now the Carbon can flex its muscles, the sound has also levelled up compared to the standard KGSSHV I carried last time, that was something that we agreed on. Before at home, when I pushed the volume to bring up the bass, it became strident and unpleasant. Remained clean this way. While at the start, I liked the 007 Mk1 most of the time, as we switched back and forth, my bias toward the old Stax house sound started to lessen, and I tended to gravitate more towards the X9000 on occasions, and appreciate more of what it was doing. It also took no prisoners in revealing what it's old nemesis is doing wrong, there is definitely a fair amount of leeway still to tweak the sound of that to a more optimal level, but it is always going to be more towards "romantic, sculpted", rather than "modern, engineered". These two headphones do seem to work quite well as a combination, because it's basically an either-or situation. Either the X9000 still sounded a bit bright, dry and analytical and just generally revealed things about certain recordings that weren't great. Or, even though it was possibly best the 007 Mk1 sound I heard, it was still too warm - coloured towards slightly V-shaped - soft and slow, particularly in the bass. The X9000 bass is much higher level, far ahead with regards to detail, if a bit too little at times. To be fair, most of the time I would have lowered the volume on the 007 to reduce the bass-heavy character with the Carbon, which made it a little tiresome this way. Simply enjoyable to listen to, if one gets used to it and stops analyzing - and if it is a question of which one to choose, it does give a much higher budget to the rest of the chain. There is a particular difference with male vocals, which sounded more accurate on the X9000. With female vocals, differences were still there, but seemed less exaggerated. The textures of each instrument are rendered incredibly on the X9000 with much higher dynamics, although in same cases, the more compressed 007 MK1 did seem to keep the music altogether better with more of that meaty fullness the 007 was designed for. One particular oddity about the X9000 that did not seem to change from what I had observed the first time, is that for me, it is weird to have a brighter sound but with high frequencies that are a bit subdued with too little sense of attack and decay. While the treble isn't perfect on the 007, it seemed to render much better. As soon as the music had "no treble", the X9000 instantly sounded way more impressive. Would they tweak this in the next evolution and potentially take a step backwards with regards to sheer resolution? I have my doubts. I might actually revisit the 009 at some point, maybe if I loose the rest of my sanity to trade up for a T2, which from my understanding is a little warmer than the more neutral Carbon. Obviously even brighter than the X9000, but I don't recall this problem, could be be a decent headphone to build upon that is not valued highly on the used market. I am personally not a big fan of this X9000 and 009 character in that I have to have a really solid, well-tweaked chain (maybe go full analog even), otherwise they just bother me. I can still scale back to the DA11+727 mod+007 Mk1 and enjoy a reasonably decent (highly compressed, muddied up, smaller scale) sound that is mostly free of brightness (rounding off the V-shape a bit). But on the other hand, they do incentivize tweaks chain that may take away a big amount of time and energy, but they can be also improve other headphones. I could have carried quite a few other headphones that would have sounded really great on this chain - will do this on the next occasion for sure. It was more of a question of comparing two headphones that sound great in different ways, rather than one being better than the other. So in the end, no matter what headphone you try to voice an opinion, you need to see it from all angles, which was part of my overly hostile attitude towards the X9000. On this occasion, I didn't listen to rock music, which I think is where it's just not the best at. The massive variability regarding the chain adds complications, but I just fail to sense that in most cases. I was just randomly sleuthing for opinions about the Qualia which I feel has arguably more interesting treble rendering with even more exaggerated, explosive dynamics than the X9000, but more pressing issues elsewhere), and I found this from Asr, whom I always enjoyed reading, basically why I bother writing these in the first place: "Er, I wouldn't call my SR-009 review "scathing" and if that's how you took it, then I clearly have to explain further. Most of the reviews I write are attempts at balanced counter-opinions (because nothing is perfect—I operate from the assumption that just about everything is subjectively flawed in some way), while "scathing" for me would be more like my review of the HiFiMan HE-400 where I had very few positive things to say about it. The SR-009 is a very good headphone by any consideration, and I was comparing it to the OII MKI, which for me was the closest ever that got to sonic perfection (but still missed the 100% mark in some key areas). If I'd compared the SR-009 to something like the HD800 on the GS-X, the review would've reflected way more positively in its favor." Then I also looked up some more and found this: "If you play an instrument (from the orchestra, that is), I think you'd find that the SR-007 would convey a much more natural & realistic tonality than the SR-009. I typically find that people who don't play an instrument but listen to classical music seem to prefer headphones like the SR-009, and other similar ones like the HD800, for their soundstaging (which isn't unsurprising, as they both do a credible job of reproducing "concert hall"-like imaging). So it depends on what you want from your listening of classical music—accurate tonality, or the concert hall soundstage? In contrast to the SR-009's concert hall, the SR-007 puts you on the stage with the orchestra, and pretty much right at the conductor's position. And of course, to get the most benefit from the SR-007 you need to pair it with the HeadAmp BHSE and a really good source component. The BHSE is overkill for the SR-009 though." This one I am not sure if I can agree with, since the 009 may need a different source than what the 007 may be happiest on and I feel like every Stax likes power. For instance, one could have a Carbon as the middle element, and then try to vary the other two things in tandem with each other. I was listening some classical tracks I auditioned with the HE90/HEV90 in 2016 and before that, an audio engineer gave me some explanations about how it "should" sound - which unfortunately I forgot a long time ago, but I do have some recollection about that sound as I continued using these tracks for evaluation. While the 007 had much more of that "vintage-like" resemblance to that sound than the X9000, compared to how I remember the HE90, it was heavier in the bass, less forward (more coloured in general) and even when supported by the Carbon, it was still a bit soft and not as dynamic. Once again, this is where the X9000 might have the lead over the HE90 - but again. that wasn't necessarily driven by amp that realises its full potential. In any case, on these "budgetary" Staxes, the music itself still sounded really excellent at the very least. Happy listening!

Shakedown hike complete. It’s kind of cool how the Apple Watch has gone from a goofy communication device with watch 1 to a full on health and fitness device today. It’s a great training companion for aspiring weekend warriors like me

I completed the first balanced mono CFA2 amp, so I ran RMAA on it. The DAC2 balanced output right channel goes in on a XLR 2 foot Mogami 2534 cable and outputs on a 1 foot XLR cable to a Benchmark ADC1 USB. The left channel goes in a XLR 2 foot cable and a 1 foot XLR cable to the ADC1. This compares the CFA2 balanced mono to the cables. I had to set the ADC1 left channel to 10 dB gain to equal the CFA2 gain which shows 0.3dB lower than the left channel. This results in the CFA2 balanced mono gain at 9.7 dB.

https://www.boathousesb.com/

Well this should be fun to test out on the trails this weekend! That number next to SPY on the other hand... that is not a number we like to see.

Another Detroit style pizza, this time with Wisconsin brick Cheese, pepperoni, white onion, black garlic and kalamata olives. Mmmm

Popped up at Qobuz grand selection. I enjoyed it.

Breakfast Sandwich on Brioche baked farm egg, smoked cheddar, black pepper bacon, scallion butter The Elvis banana bread, peanut butter, black pepper bacon, wildflower honey https://www.helenaavenuebakery.com/about-2/

The CRBN is not warm. It’s treble dimmed with a 3hz peak. When you compare it to a headphone with strong highs you can immediately tell it’s rolled off. Not a worthy $4,500 purchase unless you have the sensory sensitivity of someone autistic.

Louise Fletcher, aka Nurse Ratched, RIP https://www.npr.org/2022/09/24/1124904771/louise-fletcher-cuckoos-nest-nurse-ratched-died

RIP Hilary Mantel, author of the Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, and his slow fall from grace with Henry VIII to execution at the stake (in Oxford). She was age 70, and died suddenly. One of the very few people to have won two Booker prizes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63005841

Not real, but I wish it was.....

Thanks. I am lucky with Esmé, though it's more a fight now, than in the past. All part of understanding self-image, I suppose. But if you lock them in a bubble. I certainly agree on the dials (though I still kinda want one). Even Leica has reintroduced labels. SL vs. SL2/SL2-S.

Blue Train: The Complete Masters John Coltrane 1957 https://album.link/i/1636572781 Example: A good expansion set of a classic album. I like the addition of the alt takes (like the example). It really makes me think, how did they pick the one for the original album? They just liked it better?, because they all rip and they are different. I don't really need the mono versions, I listened to a couple of the mono tracks and compared them to the stereo, and I way prefer the stereo mix. And not just for the soundstage, but the dynamics. There are times when mono mixes are the ones to listen to. This one was not for me. I will probably use this set for future listening though, to have those extra tracks from the '57 sessions are gold for me.

Please let me know where I can locally pick up one of these Shop Foxes.

I checked out The Wooden Boats of Lake Leelanau show.

Also in the absence of real diners, looking for a restaurant open weird hours, with a variety of items on the menu (last weeks favorite may be hated this week), and both a discounted kids menu and truly kids friendly (that was a learning experience)… well, the options narrow quickly. Basically Esmé popped and my relationship to Denny’s did a 180. And yes, also problematic Black Bear is preferred, though you lose the hours.

I'm being all butch again. Thursday dinner with Dorothy Corrin and Alden.

I vote for a Denon D9200. More discrete looking than the ES-R10. Really efficient and great sounding too! I still find the ES-R10 better but I don’t think it is suitable as an office headphones.

Me too. Hifiman stuffs are probably the worst thing I have ever bought in this hobby. Never again.

The srm-001 is an opamp driving a fet that drives a transistor (cascode) into a load resistor and is cap coupled to the output. (cascode differential) The jade2 is an opamp driving a transistor that drives a mosfet (cascode) into a load resistor and is cap coupled to the output. The calculation of output capacitance is flat out wrong as the middle of the cascode is AC ground. (cascode differential) Just about identical. Obviously the jade2 consumes a bunch more power and puts out a bunch more power. I own 2 hifiman products. Both are built like shit. I'm unlikely to buy hifiman products ever again.

Listened to Liberty Mutual ads as part of a Spotify free tier subscription during an MRI. I guess everyone has a low point in their musical journey.