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Took Emily to the airport this morning for her flight to Philadelphia where she starts her nine month government program contract to work with inner city kids helping them to get into college. The program manager was excited to have a Notre Dame graduate on board and so it seems all of the students in her group. The best part so far is that these kids really want to be there and really want to go to college but they lack the resources that other kids have available to them. The challenge for Emily will be to help these under resourced kids make it to the big time. We are hoping for a major win if she is successful in getting one of her students admitted to Notre Dame (biased?). Fingers crossed, asking for HC positive energy to be sent to Philly.

I was looking at Umut's pictures and I found these pics: I found him on the walk side, It was winter and pretty cold, he got deep teeth marks on his chest and I took him home to cure his wounds. Umut, when I brought him home: Umut, after few months (like before/after pictures): And him, sleeping like hoomans: My familiy started to love cats with him and started to care street animals. Moral of the story: Never judge street animals by their looks.

Seems more or less correct to me. In general less distortion sounds better than more, and low order is less offensive than high. Most people can tolerate a bunch of 2nd harmonic distortion and very little 7th for example. Exactly how much is unclear, and how much 7th you might be willing to tolerate for no 2nd (or vice versa) is also unclear. Some of us are also willing to tolerate slightly more 3rd to eliminate the 2nd (and this seems to be a divider of preferences). What is clear is that the brainstem amplifies dissonant sounds and diminishes concordant ones, and that how much your brain does this is dependent upon a lot of factors, including musical training. Additionally, if you take a distortion free signal and purposely add 2nd harmonics to it, it won't sound like a tube amp. It will just sound worse than it otherwise would have.

I was thinking the same thing, but then I listened to them on the t2 the other day, and, well, I don't need the money.

build it, put it in a super fancy box, and sell it for $37k betcha it sounds better than the high priced spread, at least no stupidly expensive and useless input transformers. its a push pull amp, so it might actually sound a bit different. besides which its winter what the fuck else are you going to do.

^ That really puts to the sword to the notion that the whole is more than the sum of it's parts. Like Frankenstein's monster, it should have been left segregated in the spare parts bin...... That is most assuredly in honor of the panel of so-called high fidelity experts who voted the DAC the best that money could buy. Wood you believe it...? How about the fact that it gives the DAC it's organic sound...? What about as a sacrifcial anode to keep termites from attacking the rest of the DAC...? OK, it's the secret ingredient that makes the DAC so treemendous....!

None of this is actually true. The problem with tubes in a DAC is that they are high impedance devices with low transconductance. That makes them less effective as buffers, and less effective as low input impedance devices for IV duty. They also tend to be a little noisier. Moreover they are lower distortion devices than transistors. They sound good in spite of any distortion they might add - not because of it. As a cure for digititis, whatever that might be, tubes will do precious little. Arguably they are useful to add some gain (perhaps in a DAC with a simple resistor IV) where they may be superior to transistors.

Todd let me borrow the Utopia as part of his loaner series and these are the real deal! Total clarity and extremely even handed across all frequencies. Bass is scary good as it goes very deep but js also very fast. Layering is a strength but soundstage is not. Overall I would say these are the best headphone in or out of production (never was an R10 fan). $4k is a steep mountain to climb but these are worth it. I can easily live with my LCD-X forever but these are a clear step ahead in every area. PS the two headphones I regret selling are the PS-1 and pink driver RS-1. Dusty good luck if you sell your pair

The beef and some vegetables are cooked inside the Pumpkin. It was actually pretty good. A Lithuanian/Persian/Polish dinner. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking at this pic, I expect to hear some announcer saying... "Coming this Christmas, a heartwarming tale of a rag tag bike club and the crazy antics that turned them from losers into winners, when their new coach, played by Billy Bob Thornton, teaches them about bike racing, alcohol abuse and life in general." Rated PG13.

I'm imagining some guy with a wrench, running around loosening bolts. If I found some asshole doing that I'd call him a loser.

Happy birthday li'l bro. I raised a dram of Lot B in your honor last night. Heck I might even do something similar tonight. In your honor, of course. Cheers!

Finally installed my winter/rallycross wheels and tires. Really happy with the look.

I must admit I really admire your patience, perspicacity and erudition in crafting such a sagacious response to a relatively brief comment. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

I still appreciate that he came out to say something, even if it didn't amount to much. Certainly a lot more level-headed than when cavalli stopped by to grace everyone with his presence. Maybe I've also been desensitized but I didn't even think people were being too "flame"-y about things either haha Also Lampizator is some sort of sick joke, all it takes is a quick peek under the hood. But it's magic, has to sound good right? To this day I wonder what the wood is for

The funny thing about astrolube is utter lack of understanding of anything. So tubes must the be the same as all other tubes, "cuz toobz be magical!!" As it happens and I've heard two of the top end Lapazitor dacs and what utter turds. Seriously, this stuff is so bad that you have to question the sanity of the people to claim this is high end or they just don't grasp the concept of high fidelity. You know, the annoying bit about the end result being as close as source as is possible... Let's not go into how Lapazitor is built or designed. One of the Carbon owners was adamant that this was the true solution to all DAC's and even sent me some of the correspondence with the owners. Yeah...their idea of a power supply design is to listen to two equally sucky versions and then pick the winner. Who needs to measure noise and shit like that? As for the MSB dac...well that is my dac in the pictures and I can safely say that everything he stated is utter bullshit. This unit was bought directly from a dealer and the only upgrade done to it was replacing the USB input as there was something wrong with the original one. The rest of it left the factory like that.

Yes, I agree the embargo hurt innocent Cubans, but what's the alternative? Castro didn't leave us a lot of choice. Yes, America wants it's enemies, real or perceived. That's how the military machine stays in motion. It is very sad. War is business. He went far beyond that. Look up the firing squads. He made it clear immediately that he had no intentions of giving up power, or holding elections. Not only did he kill his opposition, but he had many revolution supporters shot as well, because he thought they held too much power. He ripped children from the arms of their parents at will. He stole property and wealth on a whim. He was your average megalomaniac dictator, nothing better. My point is that the mere passing of time should not lesson the actions of a tyrant. Let's just hope that Cubans can have a better future starting now.

Astro, perhaps, if you took the time to know somewhat of the topic you were posting about, and before you took it upon yourself to sarcastically call out those far more knowledgeable posters contributing in the various threads in this forum, you may not be the continual equivalent of soylent green and comic relief that seems to be your undeniable forte whilst you attempt to add to the tenor of this forum and this thread in particular, but sadly, it is my melancholy duty to inform you that your postings are comical at best, and asinine in general thus resulting in the many negatory replies to your posts, and, adding to the status quo, your total inability to, or perhaps complete disregard for the rebuttals your posts receive, you continue to chronically suffer from the proverbial foot-in-mouth disease, and contrary to popular belief, this post is not a diatribe against you but a rather belated attempt by myself to attempt, perhaps, not futilely, to educate and admonish you with the intention of rescuing you from further displays by yourself of your penchant to display your ignorance of the subject matter and it's context which is so necessary to the understanding of the postings herein contained, plus it also has the added benefit of ameliorating the comical content of the ever present contrarians who just love to point out your fallacious understandings which are so frequently proffered in your posts for their amusement and delectation but to the detraction of your personal prestige within these hallowed portals of knowledge and dissemination thereof, which has contributed massively to those here with the right attitude and resulting in their elevation of worth, knowledge and skills in DIY as well as other areas of social interaction as can be readily seen and recognized within this forum, and so I hope that this slight rebuke is taken in it's proper context as an educational expose which will no doubt be seen as negatively impacting on the fun factor by those who are awaiting every post of yours to ascertain what mileage may be derived from your ignorance which is overtly expressed in you posts and to be butt of ridicule and demeaning jesting from the more astute and enlightened denizens with a greater than modicum of humour and irony.

Dogs in the morning. Kids in the afternoon. Great day.

Have a fantastic day! Don't think of it as two away from 30. Think of it as your first Birthday as a home owner. (I had to type home 3 times before not putting a second 'o' where the 'e' goes. Habits ya know.)

Happy Birthday!

You're* Feliz cumpleaños, mi amigo de cerveza! **BRENT**

Happy birthday bro' Bryan!

Happy Birthday!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Happy Birthday Bryan! I hope your new digs are treating you well.

Happy birthday, and yes, whiskey indeed!

Nice, Jeff. My friend Marc and I went out and did some more exploring in the local woods and took a loop I'd previously skipped. It was great, but definitely the most challenging section of the trail so I'm happy to have found it.

Happy Birthday, Bryan! I will emulate DOTU and toast you with some appropriate whiskey this evening.

Found out today it is an easy ride from my house to two large cycling paths with 100s of miles of routes to choose from. Did a quick ride this morning including a bit of single track, which was a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

Happy Birthday, Bryan! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Bryan!!!

Happy Birthday youngster.

the big yellow caps are the output caps, the 2 analog devices chips are likely the dac chips (can't read the numbers) then discrete solid state buffer then tube output stage with what seems to be a current source for the plate. 2c51 a better choice than most tubes. only one resistor mod in the lower right corner. depending on how much it costs, possibly a decent deal.

Happy birthday Bryan!

Happy birthday, young man!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

It is with great melancholy that I put fingers to keyboard after perusing your answer to my previous missive, as it is very evident that the vital information contained therein has either been disregarded in a most cavalier manner or disregarded due to the lack of sufficient education or desire to glean the freely provided data and so it behoves me to correct some of the most blatantly obvious mistakes and inconsistencies contained therein as well as your previous postings which are quite evident to those with even a smattering of technical and experiential knowledgeability especially when you deride a most well known designer and builder of enormous repute as well as deign to question his obvious expertise in these matters whereas you, it seems, do not even understand the rudimentary differences between an amplifier and preamplifier as well as the most desirable specificational requirements required to occasion their performance at the most elevated level in that which is known as high fidelity and can be found in this forum in copious quantites in a plethora of pertinent threads, and yet the most flagrant of disregard for truth in performance is evidenced in your complete misunderstanding as to what constitutes real hi-fi which terminology seems to be highly misunderstood by the great unwashed who sadly equate this term with "sounds good" whatever that means whereas even the least careful thinker who would care to apply the logical extension of the terminology used would realise that if the source material sounds rotten then anything that would make that sad situation more tolerable is of necessity not even close to high fidelity and, as the sad situation is propagated on this as well as other forums to misinform and demean those gullible newbies who take this situation at face value in the severely mistaken belief that their new-found knowledge which they are avidly imbibing in has not even a skerrick of fact in reality and it falls on myself to inform you that you appear to be one of these poor benighted souls who have drunk from the polluted pond of misinformation, scuttlebutt, hype and popular myth and then you severely add to the odious problem by regurgitating this technical and practical diarrhoea as if it is twenty four carat certified truth to be consumed and digested as well as regurgitated to the next generation of poor susceptible victims of all this snake oil, unicorn tears, pixie dust, hens teeth and lastly but not least of all downright dishonesty to the cause of better reproduction of the individual's selected choice in the reproduction of sound in the most felicitous manner.

39 of them. And two transistors (both germanium). I have two (don't ask) one with the hernia inducing 175 high current unit (internal wiring is welding cable). First time I used it I stuck a random TO220 on it, and without much effort at all blew a red hot heatsink tab across the room in a hail storm of hot epoxy shards. I've just resurrected a 576 - a much more useful all transistor tracer. Tek went through a brain dead period when they stopped wax potting their HV transformers and went over to epoxy potting. Alas in the late 60's epoxies were not too well developed, and degrade. Transformer overheats and then crowbars the LT supply feeding the oscillator. Tek woke up to this issue pretty quick, and soon turned over to silicone potting, which worked much better. So I rewound it. Bit of a faff, particularly the 1400T of 40AWG wire on the 2.7kV secondary. I wax potted it, and the 576 now works perfectly - needs a re-cal though. Sawyers re-wind in place. Left over ptfe sleeved wire lurking around from my T2 build

Have a truly great one!

Give that birthday boy some bourbon! Happy happy!

Happy birthday! (party favour noise)

Happy Birthday Bryan!

It was Martin L. King Jr who said "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity". Now Astrowhatever, you're beyond dangerous and becoming nauseating.

You don't know the people here if you think a large number of us can't afford stuff like MSB. We simply choose not to because your amp looks, at first glance, to be a somewhat questionably built $300 box of parts (not including the casing or main power transformer), for $37k. If you truly wanted to share with us "what is really going on" you would have posted pics of the underside of the PCB instead of ranting and telling everyone you're not going to post anymore about enlightening us. Given that you yourself have mentioned you have built something that was better than what you sold people, for $4, there seems to be a trend. Some of us used stronger rhetoric than others, but we gave you a chance to tell us what was really going on and verify your measurements from an independent party, and you decided to run instead. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

Got out for a short ride through the local trails this morning. Decided to cut it short after I saw a six point buck, heard a shot about 10 minutes later, then 10 minutes after than came across blood splatter on the trail and saw a hunter tracking him through the woods. Stopped and talked with the guy for a bit, seemed like a nice guy. Then not 15 minutes later saw another two-man group of hunters and that seemed like a higher density than I wanted to be a part of.