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Bacon wrapped pork loin.

Starting with the salt and butter tray. Truffle and Greek butter with Hawaiian black salt and smoke salt and a meat tray with duck prosciutto , etc.

Well...these arrived this week via the Gilmore express and to make it easier for anybody looking for info on them, a new thread it is. As Kevin documented before, the amplifier is a dinky little thing and a direct clone of the Stax SRM-001. The amp is pretty much useless though as it doesn't have any volume control and you can't use it from a portable device as it needs a full 2Vrms input signal to reach usable volume levels. Here is a picture of the entire system plus what Kevin Posted: Opamp feeding a quad of fet's and into the output transistors. All AC coupled... Yet again another clone of older Stax stuff but onto the headphones. The build quality from the outside is pretty mediocre, flimsy plastic everywhere and the creek and rattle like a 50$ set of headphones. The earpads are actually leather on the important parts so that is nice. The cable is rather nice though, a bit stiff and microphonic but a far cry better than what Hifiman and Mr. Speakers include with their sets. I was first a bit puzzled as to how the phones were put together as nothing came loose with minimal force. I stated by removing the back of the drivers which just popped off: That revealed this very minimal damping foam: Now that got me to the back of the drivers but nothing budged. Then I go medieval on it and the earpads do pull off... there is just a lot of adhesive holding them on. I did take the pics afterwards which is why the pads are there in the previous pics. The adhesive is nice though as the pads are securely fastened and can be put back as the adhesive doesn't fall apart. Now we are onto the baffle and this is after I removed the first dust cover stuck to the front there. I'm rather impressed with the build quality and the attention to detail. The drivers are on the small side but that does mean there is room to raise the baffle and get away with flat earpads, Audio-Techica style. Now the money shot, the back of the drivers. Now, when I opened it first up it didn't look like that as there is custom cut, black tape covering all the connections and around the perimeter of the drivers as well. Really impressed by the attention to detail here. Now I did open up the drivers but the angle was really awkward so I couldn't take any good pics. The stators are PCB though and this was a well thought out design. I first though King Sound might have a hand in this design but this is leagues ahead of their crappy drivers. Now some notes, there are only woven dust covers here, two on the front and one on the back (plus the foam) so dust will be an issue. Both drivers on this set have started to squeal though that is at Pro bias levels. More on that later... On the whole though I just don't get this package, the cable on the headphones is too short so are they supposed to be portable? Sure but no normal DAP can drive them properly so it kinda doesn't work... The sound with the stock amp is pretty bad too, no bass to speak of and it is all compressed to hell. I fed it with a preamp to help with the silly low input impedance but it doesn't really help. Now the specs for the headphones are close enough to Stax (well...they use a Stax amp after all) so it is adapter time. The headphones use a bog standard 5-pin DIN plug (nowhere near to be rated fort the voltages involved though) so a quick trip to the local parts store and 2$ later I had a socket in hand. 10 minutes later I had an adapter and off the Carbon CC...well these are quite good. The 50mm drivers will not produce any meaningful bass output compared to larger units but over all, yeah their sins are of omission rather than adding something that shouldn't be there. To me these remind me of Stax SR-X Mk3 Pro's in some ways and what I've been doing with those drivers converted to Pro bias in different shells. The imaging is nice and tight with a solid sound stage, nice midrange presence and a nice neutral sound signature. The bass doesn't go deep but it's tuneful and fun and the treble is nice and extended without ever being bright. The lack of bass depth and bloom does make them a tad thin sounding at times but that is rare. Feed them well and these are very fun headphones to listen to. Bottom line is that the amp is crap and there are issues but there is also a lot to like here. The Massdrop Koss ESP950 setup is probably a better deal at 500$ but these are fun to play with.

Just returned from a fencing tournament so now Lance is qualified for two different weapons and four events at the Junior Olympics. By some wild coincidence we are having dinner tonight with two olympic coaches, two olympic foil fencers and some fencing parents. Best of all, no broken foils!

Special Saturday edition of Test Tone is live right now: http://mixlr.com/illuminator/chat

I'm curious, listening to it on Tidal. The beginning sounds more like any of those crappy autotuned albums, then it becomes british formulaic pop without the guts of any punk or even Oasis. Well, they say fucking at some point. We'll see.

There was an excellent eulogy by one of our ex Prime Ministers, John Major. On the Radio 4 current affairs Today programme. He got to know Bush very well when they overlapped as PM and President. Even when they were long out of power, Major and his wife used to visit on a regular basis, including several times over the last couple of years when Bush was really ill. He made the point that Bush's political philosophy was to have political adversaries, but never to see them as enemies. The comment above is a perfect example of that in practice. One of an alas older generation of WWII active service politicians the like of which we won't see again. RIP George W Bush

It was only a matter of time. X-mas gift to me... I expect the wifey will make me let her wrap it up. She loves to make me suffer...LOL. Already thinking on a brown alligator strap with proper Omega deployment buckle... Self control is overrated. HS

Well, mostly into custom speakers these days with Mivera Audio Icepower 1200AS2 Amp. Occasionally Stax SR009/007. 7K2speakers by drjlo1, on Flickr 0124180848b by drjlo1, on Flickr

Some of the best food I have had since visiting Veracruz, Oaxaca and Puebla about 30 years ago. robalo Callo de Hacha and lastly, instead of dessert a tasting of four different Moles

Oh, man. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/stephen-hillenburg-spongebob-squarepants-creator-dies The first three seasons and the movie are some of the best cartoons I've ever watched. They also explained like every millennial meme ever to me.

Played tourist in SF this afternoon, Where I encountered ... https://en-us.sennheiser.com/sf Sennheiser's only store in North America (?) Knowledgeable staff, and the usual suspects The new stuff isn't too shabby.

Thanks Stan ! You made me dream of a world full of fantasy, with super heroes, villains and stories from other parallel worlds. This world is now a sad place without you, without your humor and your imagination. Luckily you left us a great legacy, your super heroes and your villains today cry for you ... and me too.

Condolences, Wayne. My brother in law got killed in a bike accident this afternoon. 38yo, father of two, 6 and 3 yo kids. I can't find words to say how stupid and nonsensical is this.

Lost a dear friend, a truly gentle, beautiful man who was ever so kind hearted and generous with his time, and an incredibly talented and graceful musician... yesterday... to mental health issues that eventually could no longer be contained. We kind of knew it was coming, but it's a tough train to stop. He reached out, he was embraced, he knew that he had support, and yet we all knew, somehow, that this day would come. He had a million and one friends. We will surely miss you, Jon. You were everywhere all the time, forever performing and greeting everyone with your amazing Caymanian smile. Our tiny Island weeps for your tender and tortured soul. You always said that your music was your solace, peace, and grace, and that everything else was pure torture and never made sense. Hope you packed well for your next journey. Tonight is the opening event for the Christmas season here, a tree lighting ceremony that I perform at in front of 5,000 people. Jon was always backstage, every single year, to joke around and keep us all calm before we went on. But mostly to just be there for me as a friend, and to be a part of it. Told me once that it was the only Saturday night that he didn't book for the entire year because a backstage pass with Santa and his elves was just too much fun to miss... and now this. Anyway (sigh), that's him on the right.

Family friend passed away on Monday unexpectedly, as a pediatric neurosurgeon he spent 50 yrs of his life dedicated to caring for children. After his career as a surgeon he started and largely self-funded The Woodlands