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Today was a very special day. They say, never meet your heroes but today I met the man, the myth, the Legend of the Spritzer. I flew down to Reykjavík to deliver the first production RR1 to ever leave Indian shores. It was an honour to meet Birgir, I still remember reading his posts 7-8 years ago when I got into the hobby and owning an Electrostat seemed unfathomable. So, delivering my Headphone to the STAX Mafia is an occasion to celebrate. Had commissioned 2 custom KGSSHVs. Our primary Amp of choice for upcoming shows. Really fortunate to be lucky enough to visit Iceland. Even though it was a short business trip, will be back with the family someday.

It was awesome meeting you and getting the headphones hand-delivered. My impressions will be coming soon but a small sneak preview after a very limited time with them (aka I couldn't help myself), don't let the price fool you to think these are budget headphones...they don't sound like that.

One of the Best sounding Pomps I have heard.

Designed by a guy called Steve Sells. I hired Steve straight from University back in around 1990 when I was running Engineering at Wharfedale. We were planning to re-launch Leak, and I said to Steve "Design the best power amplifier you know how. Exotic components, silver wiring, multilayer boards - no problem". He designed a stunning piece of work. When I took it to the Audio show in London, and wired it to the speakers, a sound like a quiet tinny radio came out. Turned out the shorting straps were still on the back of the speakers - and Steve's amp was playing the cables into a short circuit. The sound came from the force between the cables. Took off the shorting straps and pow! Awesome. Fast forwarding several decades, and Naim likewise let him off the leash. And Statement was the result.

After 7 hours on bike with a lot of rain, I just wanted to get home, have a hot shower and listen to this while resting: Brad Mehldau

Hilarious:

Chernobyl is brilliant. Both in storytelling and in impeccable attention to detail. As someone who has lived in the Soviet and post-soviet times, I can tell you that they've absolutely nailed the look and the feel.

HBO’s Chernobyl. Not fun times.

Possibly some spoilers: https://i.imgur.com/KpOrSbE.gifv

Each power amp weighs 220lbs, and the centre preamp 155lbs. Lighweight it is not.

Chernobyl is totally chilling! Can't help but think what would happen to the world if that happened here (USA) and now! Enjoyed watching Amy Adams destroy her "nice girl", Muppets Movie image in Sharp Objects. Not perfect but still quite a story IMHO.

Test Tone @ Home live right now: http://mixlr.com/illuminator/chat

This story has been circulating on all the vintage synth groups I'm in: https://reverb.com/news/old-potent-lsd-found-on-a-vintage-buchla-red-module

I still love the HODINKEE blue shell strap on my Pre-Moon. The period 16mm buckle is what completes it, and it really sets off the deep scratch Dunhill gave me in February. And I'm aware that the hour register isn't resetting correctly anymore. This watch will need a service next year, probably. I'm not looking forward to it. Good thing I have a new Speedy.

Belated Happy Birthday!

Re: Mini Dynalo I thought I had posted this here, but apparently I didn't (had some PMs going at the time). When I was getting ready to ship the last mini out that I built, I noticed an odd problem in that occasionally DC offset on the SE would jump to ~500mV at startup. To make a long story short, I determined via scope that the Meanwell bricks don't always start up at the same time. When the + comes up first, the servo opamps freak out briefly, causing the offset. Without the 0R jumpers in you'll never see this. And it only affects SE output; the balanced output offset is always fine. A month or so ago, while perusing diyaudio, I ran across a comparator circuit used for power management in, of all things, the O2 amp. This circuit, placed before or after the regs, with proper parts selection for voltages, would cure this "problem". I realize virtually no one would build one of these for SE output use, but one thing to be aware of. If you are using SE phones with these, wait about 30 secs. before plugging them in. I did PM this info, and this circuit to Kerry, but he has a lot of fires burning and redoing the mini probably isn't even on his radar

I've only got direct experience with the dac1541 and ADI-2 Pro and DAC. Generally I regard the RME to be a better deal than Soekris, if you think the features can help you. IMO the EQ can help out many headphones, especially bright stuff like the HD800. If you're used to THD in your chain, then the RME will sound too naked, even if it's the "right" sound. The headamp in the RME compares favorably to many of the dedicated stuff up to around 500$. Also the separate low-power IEM stage is virtually noiseless, which is good if you have something like a Campfire Andromeda or similar. The Soekris does tick more "hi-fi" boxes. R2R, no-feedback discrete output stage... To me it's a sound that compliments the RME, as it's a tad more organic, mostly due to higher THD. I sometimes feel that the bass on the Soekris is weaker than on the RME, but I might just be imagining this. Both units have superb resolution and seemed virtually immune to source jitter, so I can't see much sense in clocking them externally.

Absolutely amazing episode. I am going to have to watch again to soak it all in. Hilarious