Not an article, but a series of “newsletter” emails that will start Friday, from Craig Mod (who you may know from tech, photography, walking) on Northern Japan Jazz Kissas. He’ll then delete the list at the end of the 16 days of visits.
https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/165/
in other news, significant amounts of topping la90discretes are overheating and burning up.
the eha5 is based in part of the la90d. so expect those to be burning up soon.
I used the T20 and T30 for a while in a light travel kit for a few years before I ended up with a Nikon Z7 that I got from our good friend Gene. Those Fuji bodies are probably an ideal size/feature/image quality compromise for most people that want something better than a phone photo, and aren't pixel-peeper nuts like me. The little 15-45 zoom lens is excellent for its' tiny footprint, same for the 27/2.8 pancake prime. The 50-230 zoom also has great image quality considering the aperture limitations, at a very svelte weight.
So those are the rangefinder-style models, but X-T30 II would be the same sensor (and sims, etc.) in a thin SLR-style. So same photos, but a little larger. Appears to be at Best Buy. X-T3/4/5 would be larger still, but very similar. X-S20 too. And X100T and X-Pro2 would have to be bought used, but very close. All those would need a lens.
This amp is already costing us money ...but it's not what you think.
People are buying entry level STAX headphones, thinking they've got a hot new affordable amp to use them with. Then it turns out to be a piece of garbage and we get a returned headphone to deal with.
My recommendation would be to look for a used STAX amp in a similar price range. They work great for many decades.