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This past weekend I went up to my Maine condo. Met up with an Audio friend for lunch in Portland, then worked my way South back to the condo. I ended up talking non-highway routes (Rt 1), and made stops coincidentally at several places Karen and I visited last Fall when we did a similar trip. Was both sad and wonderful, good memories but emptier without her. For anyone travelling to Southern Maine, some fun foodie places: The Cheese Iron in Scarborough - https://www.thecheeseiron.com/ Holy Donut in Portland and Scarborough (and a smaller location right near my condo!) - https://www.theholydonut.com/ Len Libby Candy shop Scarborough and home of Lenny the Chocolate Moose - https://www.lenlibby.com/ Maine is a beautiful state, lots of great small towns near and off the water. When we would go up, we'd literally feel the stress wash off and our shoulders relax as we crossed the bridge from NH into Maine. Gratuitous pic of Lenny the Moose.....

And I'll add Paul McCartney's favorite. When I found out Melissa was pregnant, the first album I thought of introducing to future Esmé was Pet Sounds.

Veggie Curry and Fixin's

You're shocked? ... Just like our sponsor!

RIP Brian. Another prodigy gone. Figured I’d drop his favorite song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortnin'_Bread#The_Beach_Boys_version

http://caked-up.urbanup.com/13461795

We had a holiday a couple of months ago in Japan. Fed up with sticky rice and lotus root in all its forms, we cracked in Tokyo and found a curry restaurant. This is quite a big thing in Japan, with endless options. Base curry. About 20 additional things you can add. Five quantities of rice, and heat level. So I had seafood (tick), no additional options (tick), standard quantity of rice (tick). Which left a choice of heat level. This went from 1 to 20. 1 was base level. I chose 5, reckoning that would be a bit hot. Now I can take heat. But a 5 was right on the hairy border of heat. In the UK, where you are never more than a few miles from an Indian restaurant, anyone having a Vindaloo is worthy of respect. Well a 5 was way, way beyond Vindaloo heat, and at the level where you just shovel, and under no circumstances touch the water or beer until you have finished. Now bear in mind that the heat index went up to 20! We joked that anyone ordering a 20 would be issued with a health warning, and an ambulance ordered to take you to hospital! I have to say that a Japanese lady on an adjacent table ordered a heat level 6, and ate it like it was nothing to write home about. Respect.

Veggie Curry

Chicken stuffed with haggis

Took a Boat To The City Saw some controversial art. SF prices? Walked to a tech conference, where the zeitgeist is not just AI, but agentic AI. With phat/sick beats. And the expected A/V kit. Had a tech demo from a CEO, as one does. No need to be alarmed, citizen. Your timer starts now ... The conference ended with a nerd get together ( Code Block Party) Then some San Franciso Street Life And a First Thursday Gathering with one of many Waymos. Then back past the art, In time to catch the Last Ferry back a busy, but enjoyable day

Wait... Not everything that LTT reports on is accurate... I'm shock, Shocked I say...

That statue is, as the kids say, caked up.

Sometimes things can be two things I mean, who makes a "mono" headphone amp?

A simple breakfast, however, one of the high school boys that works at the store on weekends brought me fresh eggs from his chickens. He wanted to bring something, because he really appreciates the food I bring on Saturdays. There really is a big difference in taste. These were layed yesterday. More than I can say for myself.

Getting ready for a trip to the Perigord by trying some local recipes. Grilled duck breast and duck fat fried potatos sarladaises.

I've replaced all MPSW56/06 with matched using circuit from here. I've also replaced my LEDs with matched LEDs. Previously the LEDs were correct at 1.7Vf but they were rated 20mA while the new ones are only 2mA. The amp still has that intermittent rustling noise when warming up but volume was quite low. I've also realised the high pitched turn off sound is not normal after reading back like this guy. Since I'm not in a rush I spent a few days tinkering with the biasing and offset. With lower offsets between -O/+O to ground, there's no turn off high pitched noise on se output. With lower offset between -O and +O, there's no turn off high pitched noise on bal output. Lower offsets during turn on mitigates turn on thumps but it will affect readings when the amp has warmed up to temp (also the high pitched turn off noise returns on either se or bal out). All 4 VR pots on the board will affect every reading that needs to be checked. Finally settled with a setting that has soft turn on thump, no high pitched turn off noise, lowest rustling warm up noise on my very sensitive Final Audio Pandora Hope VI with 16ohm impedance and 105dB sensitivity. On HD650 and HD525 there's no noise floor. My throwaway portable Oneodio Pro-50 has a medium noise floor and very low warm up noise. The only downside about this is the +ve and -ve biasing voltages are different 750mV and -740mV. Being only 1.33% difference, I don't think I'm too worried. All in all such a great project. Maybe my next Dynahi SuSy I'll just use MPSA and see how it runs.

RIP Brian Wilson - 82

RIP Sly Stone. The word “genius” is often overused, but this guy was a true musical prodigy… at least until he cooked his brain with all the drugs he was taking. His life and the life of his band were lovingly covered in a two-parter from one of my favorite podcasts. Part One: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-history-of-rock-music-in-500-songs/id1437402802?i=1000658945434 Part Two: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-history-of-rock-music-in-500-songs/id1437402802?i=1000660854985