Leaderboard

Doing some work on the site today so there will be periods where it's down. Edit: Server move and forum software update have been completed now. The search index has to re-index so it'll be a few hours before that's working normally again.

The Niche Zero arrived last week and I've gotten to use it. So did the Chemex. I chose the 6 cup which worked out well for my situation. I'm the only coffee drinker in the house, but if I have a guest I can certainly brew them a cup as well. The Niche is gorgeous and very substantially built. Is it worth the money? That's a relative thing IMO. It is excessive so I think best for the hardcore coffee drinkers that would make good use of it and/or those that really get into the aesthetics and function of the machine. It is pretty damn fun to use and look at. It has a lot of settings and because you can go well beyond the dial, and arguably need to for the finer or coarser grinds, it requires a bit of practice / experiment but nothing too complicated. The Chemex I am still experimenting with. Drinking a Rwandan Ruli now and it is AMAZING. It was damn good in the French press as well so it's solid coffee. The thing is there is a substantial difference with the Chemex. First...I love the French press. It makes delicious coffee simply IMO. You get ALL the coffee flavor and what comes with it. The Chemex is a much more polite cup of coffee...cleaner. Probably easier to drink. I'd liken it to cigar smoking...those that have been in it a long time I have found lean towards the more robust profiles. HS

The speakers are pretty small

Was at the local pet store the other day, and, as always, I went to play with the adoptables that were on display. Went to pet this guy and he just rolled over. Almost took him home. I thought this would make a great poster.

That cat should be named Brent for the size of its head.

Oh, man, RIP Andy.....several friends listened to Gang Of Four, but their appearance in the movie "URGH! A Music War" got me into them more. So many great songs, such a unique sound. "What We All Want" used to play in my head SO much!

I bought one of these and got them on Tuesday. Been spending a lot of time with them since then, I ordered with both pairs of pads. Some thoughts: The stock pads are irredeemably garbage sounding to me, the bass is off, the midrange is simultaneously forward and recessed (way too much 1Khz and not enough 2-4Khz) and there is way too much treble in the 8-10Khz range. I legitimately had a hard time listening to these. I'm sure some people will like these but this is reminiscent of the SR-507 in terms of how forward/thin it sounds (not a good thing). With these pads? Not a fan. The other pads I ordered which are the ones the creator says has the more laid-back nature is much more to my preference. It is somewhat more forward in the midrange than 007 (which I think is a good thing, 007 lacks a bit of energy between 2-4Khz for me), but I would not call it particularly shouty. It certainly is less shouty than something like the 404LE for instance. With these pads the treble also becomes fantastic, very similar to 007 treble to my ears. Bass was a mixed bag, when I first got them I felt like they were lacking a bit of slam/impact despite going very deep/having good rumble (much like 009S). Over time I feel like the bass has improved in this regard. I think burn-in is a hot load of garbage (other than minor changes in thiele-small parameters) so the more likely answer is the pads softening up a bit. Overall I really like the headphone with these pads, it's what the 009S should have been in my opinion. It seems like a good counterpoint to the 007 if using the dark pads. Slightly more forward, but with a bigger stage than the slightly more intimate feeling 007. Some annoyances: pad attachment uses rivets similar to SR-Omega. Not a huge issue but kind of scary to work with since the dust cover is basically exposed to the screwdriver you use to remove the rivets. Also means it takes a while to remove the pads. The pads do sit on very nicely once attached though. This headphone is also heavy, I have no issue with 700+ grams of weight but I know the approx. 650 grams this headphone weighs is gonna be too much for a lot of people. It's still more comfortable than 007 for me due to the fact that my head is too large for 007 (headband rests against the arc) but I don't think this will be the case for the vast majority of people. Currently this costs about the same as L700mk2 and between those 2 picking this one (with dark pads) is a no-brainer to me. Pretty stellar headphone overall, definitely a keeper. From the pictures this looks like the "dark" pads due to the round ear opening and the higher quality leather. EDIT: Swap around what I said above most likely. The pads I thought were the "dark" pads are the ones that came installed on the headphone.

It's official the R5's are cat approved

As the good father I’m I gave my son my NAD M51 DAC. I think he needs decent equipment with balanced outputs. So now use this as my DAC. Sounds great!!! Don’t understand why I didn’t finished this long time ago… wife is very understanding…

So, I actually have a miniDSP EARS. I don't particularly like posting measurements from it since it is notoriously unreliable due to improper acoustic impedance as well as a couple other issues. I decided to measure ES-1a and compare it to a couple of the headphones that have been mentioned in here so far. These are not industry standard measurements and should not be treated as such. They are highly unreliable and should be completely disregarded above 2-ish Khz. Lower if you want to be conservative. You will also notice some wiggling in the FR at low frequencies due to room noise, especially for the 007 measurements, this is not an accurate representation of the bass. SPL these are aligned at is not the actual SPL used for measurement, and note the much more compressed scale than what is commonly used, this will exaggerate things that are otherwise not problematic. Compensation used is HPN. ES-1a (dark pads) and L700 (stock) ES-1a (dark pads) and 007 (blu-tack modded) ES-1a (dark pads) and 404LE (not quite perfect seal, creates the bass rise) ES-1a (dark pads) and ES-1a (stock pads) All these measurements have 1/12th octave smoothing, I consider that most accurate to what you as a human will hear. I'm happy to provide unsmoothed plots if anyone wishes for it though. Note that this has the midrange coloration that is much more in line with 007 than the lambdas. It still benefits from bringing down the midrange a notch in EQ. The null at 5Khz is audible with sine sweep but I do not hear it in normal music listening. Once again: EARS is highly unreliable and should only be trusted below 2Khz where it is mostly accurate. Also note that very slight position changes will alter the treble response especially much.

There's no way the L700 is better than the 007, at least in my experience. The L700 sounds more artificial and "off" at least in terms of midrange tone, whereas the 007 sounds more natural and is better in nearly every technical aspect. The issue with the 007 is that it's one of the least user-friendly headphones out there, hard to amp, very fit dependent, self-adjusting headband system that's awkward and keeps pulling the headphones out of position, modding required for the Mk2 models, etc etc. The 007 has the potential to sound really bad in the wrong system whereas the L700 generally sounds similar from system to system. But the 007 will scale and leave the L700 well behind. In regards to the 007 being too dark or too laid-back - just EQ 2-6khz up a little bit and problem solved. You need an amp with plenty of headroom though. There are reasons to fix the L700 Mk1. My broken yoke on one side is one. It's a good thing the new ones are metal. Also, the earcups have little tabs on them that prevent the top of the earcup from swiveling outwards far enough, putting too much pressure on the top of the earpad, and not enough on the bottom. It's an asinine design, and I'm guessing the extra bend in the yokes in the Mk2 is there for that reason. It would have been smarter still to delete the tabs entirely. Granted, the L700 is still rather good. Very punchy and dynamic, with a very 3D and holographic stage. The latter is probably the best aspect of it, that and the general forwardness of the presentation. But the 007 it ain't. RE: ES1a - interesting, and I'll put it on my radar. Maybe if impressions keep being positive (and I want to see some more comparative measurements) I might pick one up later down the line. Lots of other things to get to first.

I am working under the assumption that L700 and L700mk2 are sonically identical or at least very close. I've not heard the mk2 but owned the L700 mk1 on 2 different occasions. I see no reason for stax to change the headphone, and most forum posters elsewhere seem to have noted that it is very similar if not identical. Just a caveat. I don't really think L700 is better than either SR-009 or SR-007 (but I can understand someone preferring it tonally) and that the difference between them is quite apparent. I feel the same with regards to the ES-1a. ES-1a has a more even treble response, better bass (which is of course at least somewhat alleviated by blu-tack mod which I also used). The staging on the ES-1a also feels larger to me. The midrange peak of the L700 and ES-1a sound similar to me (in terms of what frequency it happens at) but with L700 reaching a slightly higher amplitude and therefore being somewhat more shouty. Build quality seems good to me, I'm a little skeptical of the strain relief but it seems fine I suppose. The entire headphone cup and yoke is aluminum (which is the reason for it being so heavy). In that regard it feels a lot like SR-009. The headpad and stock earpads are lower quality than what stax offer but the "dark" pads which are in a different leather feel very high quality/smooth grained leather. The headband and baffle are nylon, they feel sturdy enough. The headband is very similar to the headband my SR-Lambda has but it does feel slightly more solid. I think the slider on one side is a little loose, however. I haven't felt anything worth complaining about at least, and judging from the pictures on their website the driver assembly seems well done too.

All India Radio is again offering their 54 albums discography for just 56AUD which is about 36USD http://shop.allindiaradioband.com/

Always wanted to build one of those, still think about it from time to but I've got too much stuff as it is. Maybe if I find a second audio room or something...

KQED tv in the SF Bay Area is showing it on Feb 25th. "The Birth Of the Cool" is part of the American Masters series here in the states. Can't wait!!!!!! https://video.kqed.org/video/miles-davis-full-trailer-7g0kyq/ The promo is interesting. Seeing the clip of Santana reminded me that I ran into Carlos in the audience of Miles' last concert in the Bay Area (Paul Mason Winery). The first time I saw Carlos Santana at a concert ( as an audience member) was when Leonard Bernstein and the NYP played at Concord Pavilion.

Deckkie Brekkie

I wish my kids cared more about high quality audio. Very nice of you indeed.

Yes, those imperfections of the Aluminium on Todd's headband is indeed correct. There is a story behind it though, mid-way in our production our Anodizing guy decided to go rogue. The finished parts weren't dark enough and for some reason he was not able to rectify it. We were left with some inventory that was fair but far from perfect and as a small Manufacturer, we couldn't afford to scrap it. Eventually, we did find a reliable Anodizing company and have been working with them since December albeit, they are interesting to deal with as well. This leads me to believe either there is some money to be made in the Anodizing industry or the entire industry has undercut itself beyond sustainability. Furthermore, we made some changes to our tool-paths as well and have added an additional facing operation on all sides to improve the surface finish without needing additional processes like brushing or sand-blasting. This may seem like something to do since the beginning but since we don't have a 5-Axis that we own, it adds more machining time and lowers our output even more. Every single part is made in-house. We also have transitioned from 3D Printed Earcups to full Injection Earcups. Again, to improve our production rates so we can focus on things that are more delicate and intolerant. Anyway, I do take the responsibility but just wanted to share why. With vertical integration although QC is in our hands, it is challenging to be this stringent at this price point especially when you are running out of Capital.

Fit February starts tomorrow, which means today is Fat Fuck Friday!

FYI the search re-indexing is about halfway done now. Edit: Re-index is now complete.

There are definitely feature differences between Mac Office and Windows versions of Microsoft Office applications. Casual users won't notice, but power users (particularly in Excel, but also sometimes in Word) will notice a lot of Windows features are completely missing in the Mac versions. And, of course, some Windows Office applications are completely missing Mac versions (e.g., Access, Publisher, etc.). The great thing about running a Mac is that you can use both, though. Install Windows 10 via Boot Camp or Parallels/Fusion and you can switch over when you're hitting those feature limitations. Some of the Microsoft Office365 licenses allow installation on multiple devices, so then you're only out the cost of the Windows license (which you can bring over from a spare Windows 7 install key: https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/you-can-still-get-windows-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key/). Then you just have to remember that the CMD key is the Windows key and the Option key is the Alt key. The Office files are totally interoperable between modern versions of Microsoft Office, e.g., 2016+ (and I recommend only using the newer Office 2007+ XML file formats: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx because the file sizes are smaller, they are an open standard, and they get corrupted less often). Other applications are slightly less than 100% compatible with complex Office files, like Apple's iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) or LibreOffice.

DIY Bookshelf Speakers- Ambrosia Maple, Black Walnut & Brazilian Cherry.

R5s arrived:

Just ordered: KEF LSX: KEF R5:

We use office for mac at work and I also use it on my PC at home when I'm doing work on the weekends. The features ARE NOT the same. They are more than 95% the same, but that last 5ish% can vary between the two platforms as the Mac version usually gets new features a bit later than the windows version. It is hard to say for sure whether she would or would not mind the platform switch because the Office apps have so many features that what really matters is if the if ones she specifically uses are or aren't there. There are thousands of features in these office apps and every user tends to use a specific set of them. Unless she is an extreme power user and macro god though, I bet she'd be fine on the mac version.

I arrived at the same conclusion. Other than french Press, the pour over is my favorite. The Aeropress is versitile but leans towards the acidic side for me. That said, I still use it regularly. I'd love to get into espresso, but kitchen counter space and cost to get it right keeps me from going down that road.

the v60 rocks. just about done with this Ethiopian after getting mixed results on aeropress. make one brew with this hario and it is significantly better from start to finish. i think the aeropress will be reserved for experimental purposes. used James Hoffman method, very easy and seems like a good base recipe to adjust off of for new bags. also i love getting two reasonable cups from one brew.

well i'd really intended to get a kalita for pour-over instead of a hario v60 but i came across the v60 drip decanter and it looks about perfect... uses a plastic size 02 so i can make two cups for Mrs and me and save time. plus Prima restocked the untabbed 02 filters which are (apparently) hard to come by now so i ordered a bunch with the decanter. pour over come at me bro.

First I'm going to agree with Jim on NAD's quality. I've owned lots of their gear over several decades, and it's bullet proof. I also have that same feeling about Parasound. Everything I've owned from them sounds great and just keeps rolling, like an old Subaru.

Goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye etc.

RIP Andy Gill of Gang of Four at age 64. Of pneumonia. Fuck that. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/arts/music/andy-gill-dead.amp.html