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Hi first post in a while, I do highly recommend the OKTO Dac 8 stereo. It's a bit nerdy but sounds way better than the asking price and has held off my GAS for a new dac for nearly 2 years. Downsides, balanced output only and firmware upgrades via windows only (I believe). Bought it new with the ropee card installed for Roon output. I occasionally think about an upgraded endpoint but the consensus is the installed card is just as good as the usual $2k endpoint suspects

We finally got to see a local band that hadn't played local in a couple of years or so after they grew quite popular. Khruangbin...very eclectic, groovy music. Great show. Helado Negro opened. Pretty cool act I was not aware of previously. HS

Kate Liu, Piano (2025) https://album.link/es/i/1791052895 It's her formal solo album debut. A friend put the focus on her for her playing in some competitions and recitals. Some available on YouTube. I've liked it a lot.

Pavement’s Spit On A Stranger EP ex.

The Force is strong with this one... and it's jiggly.

This AI stuff may be worth looking into, er, for science!

Heart Like A Wheel by Linda Ronstadt (1974) https://album.link/xzjmctstnw69b Example: Just admiration of talent....

So it turns out that this thing was a complete disaster. The entire thing is plastic, including the drive sleds, rails and all mounting hardware. The decidedly cheap MediaSonic ProBox enclosures I bought years ago are far more better built. With that said, I'd be willing ti ignore the plastic nature of the QNAP here if it actually worked. It (not so) randomly disconnected all 8 drives three times in less than day. Two were while I was doing an rsync. That could be catastrophic. A friend of mine suspected it was a power issue. I've got the two MediaSonic units back in action. They have loud and annoying cooling fans as well as their police car like strobes: Seriously look at this. Can you imagine having TWO of these in your bedroom? I covered the LED bars on both units with electrical tape. As much as I mock the MediaSonics, they have been extremely reliable, working 24/7 for years on end. Zero disconnects as well. I'm now looking at two other options. One model went up in price by 20% since yesterday (thanks, Donny!) and the other is ...the OWC Thunderbay 8 I probably should have gotten in the first place. (To be fair to me, OWC is now owned by some vulture capital firm and their reputation has tanked in the last however many years.)

Note to self -- Keep the induction cooktop away from the oven exhaust when I am baking at 500+ degrees... Mostly cosmetic, but may effect longevity... 🙃