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Wasn't sure the best place to post, but this is pretty cool. Chris is my nephew, he is brilliant (as is my niece, they met at MIT). https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-chris-williams-assigned-to-first-space-station-mission

Quick update: it’s 6 AM here in California and I just wrapped up some late-night tweaking. Someone PM’d me earlier asking how I solved the offset and balance issue, and I can finally say: done. Offset is now around 0.3V and balance is about 0.2V. If anyone else is running into similar issues, here’s what worked for me: 1.CCS Set Resistor: I kept the CCS set resistor at 1.5k, which gives around 22–23mA static current. You can try lowering to 1k if you want around 25mA, but I found 1.5k sufficient. The more plate current you have, the higher the offset you will get. 2.Cathode Resistor: Changed from 3300Ω to 7k–7.5k. A larger cathode resistor gives you a deeper grid voltage. I could only find suitable 7k wirewound resistors on Mouser – they’re a bit bulky but still fit. Note: Larger values will increase the offset, so some trial and error is expected. 3. Grid Pot: I replaced the 10k pot with a 50k, which gave me a much wider range to trim both offset and balance. Final bias: around 24–25mA static current, Vgk ≈ -75V. Hopefully, this helps anyone else dialing in the Megatron XL and happy tweaking!😊

The original is on the right... the left one is clearly a fake

Soccer Mommy does Pavement

Arctic Monkeys - AM vinyl Forgot that I had this record. Not a bad song on it. Qobuz - 3 songs in. Enjoying so far.

Stax have been having issues with fit, so it's not surprising. The new Lambdas never fit on my head properly and the yokes needed modding. The Mk2 versions improved things, but not enough. They're obviously not testing their stuff on a wide enough range of heads. At least the Lambdas with their cheap construction are easy enough to mod with 3d printed parts. The X1 fits very nicely, however, but I could use more steps in headband height adjustment. To be fair, the original 007 was also not perfect with the fit, as the self-adjusting headband was too tight, but that could also be modded. So, business as usual?

Well, High Rollers. You can’t debate an angry person, waste of time.

I tested the first series of SR-4070 headphones and couldn't quite understand Stax's testing approach. The fit was extremely challenging, which made them seem not ready for commercial release. In contrast, the SR-4070 Mk2 models were a noticeable improvement.

After almost a week the smell from the stock SR-007S earpads has subsided so I put them back on... and they lasted there for a good hour before I removed them. What the hell were Stax thinking with these... Going from the 007Mk1 pads it was a drastic downgrade, bass, upper bass gets this reverb effect to it, midrange looses all definition and the top end is very peaky. The soundstage and imaging being poor on a 007 is pretty much rock bottom for performance. So I went back to the Kennerton pads as they were a better fit for the new arc and lack of rotation compared to the Mk1 pads. Sound is much tighter and more controlled with them with minimal downsides. As it stands now, I'm going to go with the Kennerton ECL-01 pads but I've gone on a bit of an earpad buying spree (as if I needed any more...) so there might be something better out there for them. To anybody with a set of SR-007S's, I'd recommend trying other earpads as the 105mm size is pretty common and they are easy enough to install.

File under: Exceeding the attention span of nearly everyone. Five hours of Gamers Nexus explaining why chaotic tariffs are a dumb idea and how they ruin everything. I watched the first installment over a couple evenings while grinding loot in an RPG. I haven't watched the second one yet.

Adam "MCA" Yauch died 13 years ago today. August 8, 1964 - May 4, 2012. His is one of the few celebrity deaths I mark every year. Kurt Cobain might be the most iconic Gen X musician, but I maintain that the Beasties were the true voice of the entire generation.

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

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

Connie Francis died on July 16. RIP

Not really any new news, but Sunshine was mentioned in the NYTimes today https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/maine-arrest-paddleboarder-homicide.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XU8.U18S.PmIKYhI8LmAu&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (Gift article)

Dear lord. Today's news is insane, and leaves me with more questions than answers. Sunny was a tough woman. Not superhuman, but definitely world wise and not easily intimidated. She grew up in a harsh environment and knew how to fend for and defend herself. There's some missing piece of this story we still don't know. Is this kid a physical giant? Did she know him? I suspect she did. Did he manage to sneak up on her? This would be an insane story in any location, but in a quiet town of ~2000, it boggles the mind.