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It's been a long week so not a lot of time to sit down and listen to the CRBN but when I've done so, they always deliver. No issues at all like the first set had and they are very comfy for a couple of hours or so. I'll try to sit down for a few hours straight but they are so light and the earpads so supple that I don't foresee any issues. It did take me a while to get used to the more diffused sound stage as I thought they were off balance a few times. Just the different presentation playing with my head... I'll take some more time until my final impressions but how about some teardown pics instead. Now do remember that this set was headed my way and Audeze knew I would tear it apart... so they were nice enough to not fully adhere the earpads. That's why they have the paper backing on them. First shot showing the gorgeous carbon shells. Earpads off showing the baffle and the nylon screws which secure the baffle to the back. The 3M adhesive they are using for the earpads is very strong so these are no easy headphones to get into. The earpads are very thick and some of the nicest I've ever seen so I don't foresee having to replace them anytime soon. Another shot showing the (phenolic?) baffle. Now remove the screws and the set comes apart, the baffle screws through the earcups and into the back piece. There is quite a bit of foam behind the drivers but it is very open. Audeze were shooting for a fairly high damping design so this makes sense. Here is the frame with the foam in place. That small dot falls off easily which is good, that means no adhesive in place to make a reflective surface inside the foam. The back cover is a very nice piece and I like the use of fine mesh to keep most things out of the cups Now remove the foam from the picture above and we have the back of the driver. They have gone for connections through the structure to the different elements unlike say Stax who take it all to one point. Nothing wrong with either way of doing things. Here you can also see the construction of the cable which is woven and it feel like it's two triple strands from the Stax plug, up through the cable split and into each cup. I do wonder how much capacitance braiding the cables like this does add to the system (a flat cable always be superior in that regard) but its similar to what Sennheiser do on the HE-1 and Mr. Speakers on the Voce. Far cry better than the crap Hifiman call a cable... on a 18k$ set of headphones though. Another shot the driver free of the earcup. Same thick woven material used for the dust covers front and back. Side profile showing just how thin the driver sandwich is and also its MRI safe roots are evident. Not a whole lot of metal in that, similar to what Sennheiser did with the HE series back in the day. The HE60 was just two pieces of extruded plastic, painted gold and then the mylar stretched onto the frame. Kinda funny to see this approach compared to what Stax are doing with the SR-X, ever more complicated stator designs whose benefits are not quite clear. Last but not least, the very nice plug on these. That is aluminum and then molded plastic... very nice indeed.

Further along in converting the garage to a proper shop, they poured the concrete for the foundation wall today. I had to leave a mark while it was still wet...

And...it's done. We'll, the concrete part. Steve and I need to build a wall, put in doors and a window, get a little electrical done, and then start making sawdust again. This time with a serious dust collection system and air filter in place.

Retirement is like a permanent vacation. Albeit mostly a staycation. “Up North” for a week of leaf peeping, hiking and discovery. Nicest cabin I have ever stayed in.

I built my sister a redwood clad mailbox stand Then Steve and I tried to dig post holes in dry, compacted dirt before hiring a guy named Sergio to do that task. We set the posts with a high tech expanding foam product made by Sika that worked great. It is in a bag with two bladders that you pop to combine and then pour in the hole. It works very fast and was set in three minutes. No bracing and waiting for concrete to set.. The best part is that Home Depot had marked down these bags from $10 to $2.38 and when I checked out they were rung up as $0.01 each. Two cents for footings is pretty cheap.

I have finally completed my "return to the hobby" stack, by finishing up a recasing and upgrade of my 13-year-old M3. The design itself is 16 years old now, and it still has the same compromises from way back then..... but with a modern OPAMP, easy to drive phones and reasonable execution, I still think it sounds bloody marvellous. Highlights are a HiFi2000 galaxy case, FPE panels, ADA4627-1B OPAMPs, TKD 2CP2511 pot, 2" sinks and 110 mA output stage bias, complete electrolytic re-cap with Panasonic FR and Nichicon UHE, S11 at 27V, magnetically shielded SumR transformer (30VA, 12+12V), Cree zero-rec Schottky diodes, and a deliciously gaudy volume knob (so shiny, I had to edit out and hide my own reflection!). Sitting between the R-2R DAC and Focal Clear as my office rig, I'm a very happy camper.

Got up early to enjoy spectacular September weather.

Moar steel and a vapor barrier.

This was a few weeks ago, but just got pictures after installation today. It's a floating bench that a customer asked me to build to match their dining table. It's 8/4" Rift Oak.

Just heard a long segment on the Today current affairs radio 4 programme (in the UK), about the ESA BepiColumbo mission to Mercury. It has just done its first flyby of Mercury - the first of 6 before it gets captured into orbit in 2025. My interest in this, is that I was overall project manager for one of the 12 instruments on board - the Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer. That uses X-Rays from the sun, the reflected X-Ray light from Mercury having the spectrum of the elements on the surface of the planet - so how much iron, silicon etc, with a 10km resolution. It was launched in October 2018 After shakedown to make sure everything worked after launch, it then did a maneuver past the earth to send it on its way to the inner planets. Since then it has done two Venus flybys and yesterday the first Mercury one. So why go to Mercury? First because it is a rocky planet that has never had an atmosphere, so to learn about how the earth might have formed, Mercury is a good place to learn. Also it is the second densest planet in the solar system - very close to the Earth's density. In addition it has a magnetic field (no-one knows why), and ice at the poles (which is weird given how close it is to the sun). US interest in Ariane 5, is that the James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on one of those, imminently.

Currently at our first concert since covid. Wilco outdoors in Napa with proof of vaccination. Feels weird but good.

progress continues

For those playing along at home, the short wall to the right is in and all the sheathing is on. I got the copper door pan today but won't put that in place permanently quite yet.

Milo & Otis took a big step towards enclosing the new shop today. We framed two of the three walls with rough openings for double doors and a 4x4 window. All studs are old growth straight grain Douglas Fir that I salvaged from the house my brother is about to tear down. Straight and sound and fun to work with. Tomorrow we will build the third wall on the floor and then plop it into place with the sheathing and clapboards already on it because there is no room to work between the rock wall and the framing over on that side.

boards actually fit. well shit.

Fleet week in SF with Grahame. USS Michael Monseur first up.

The doctor gave me his OK two months ago so I'm finally recovered ... I haven't been able to train much so tomorrow I just want to finish and have a good time in the middle of the peloton with my friends and coleagues.

Latest ping pong action for a retiring Park Ranger.

So Colin and I heard from someone (@grawk, perhaps) that Costco had some OK-ish steaks. Slim pickins, but we found some that didn't look too terribly bad. Wagyu cap, seasoned with salt overnight and left on a wire rack in fridge, then hit with ground peppercorn before hitting the Weber. It didn't suck.

Everything in F360. Since that part worked out I threw caution to the wind and did the top of the coffee table.

this is a put together chassis of a specific size. where he bought the chassis i do not know, but it completely comes apart, all 4 sides, the round corner pieces etc. Then he had the front,back and top all machined. all panels are .2 inch thick. And the front wood piece is esentially a stick on made of unknown wood. absolutely every single thing about this is fucked to the max. broke the anti-spin pin off the pot and did not even bother to drill a single hole to prevent the pot from spinning. Some of the work was definitely done by an nc mill, and a really shitty one at that. on the mill i used, everything was accurate to .00001 inch, and it really was at least this accurate. this thing is barely accurate to .008 inch. nothing on either inch or metric boundaries. and the holes for the power supply board were drilled by hand, and blind tapped, 2 of the 4 holes went all the way thru the panel. But the worst is the way under-rated power transformers which were potted with definitely the wrong stuff. And wiring all the filaments together. And the stax jack it turns out is also massively fucked. And force held in with rubber o-rings. Gold plated hex screws with the gold coming off. And the tube sockets were really low quality garbage, as bad as the russian crap that mikhail used. The 3 boards from jlcpcb were a total of $65 with shipping. and shipping was half the price. The hand dremel tooled boards were so utterly fucked, no reason for any of this. Somebody really high on really bad drugs did this. Not even mikhail or mike bean (hennyo) could do something so utterly and completely fucked. Wow, i gave hennyo a compliment, yikes. The 300v tube supply is actually pretty clever and kind of unique, but also utterly fucked because he had the pass tube cathode wired to ground when it had to be connected to 300v. And the bias supply with a 100k series resistor. Guaranteed to kill your headphones. Its not my money going into this, so i will continue till its either completely finished and working or the tube diode power supply cannot be made to work. Looks like the repair price will be about $1500 in parts, plus the original purchase price of about $5k. All the improvements to the amp board are in the new board. There are places for solid state diodes on the power supply just in case. There is no reason for any of this. So far i have about 30 hours of labor in this. The mikhail es1 ended up about 50 hours of labor. Yes i'm fucking nuts. all you have to do is take my board files, have them made, stuff with parts, slap into chassis. how fucking hard can it be.

We have every other form of cooking thread, so why not baking? I'll start with today's lunch, leftover from last night's dinner ... Clearly nobody is going to hire me for my crimping (or photography) skills. But they were delicious nevertheless. The crust is a rough puff pastry made with 1/2 whole rye flour. The filling is yellow potatoes, peas, green onions, and chevre.

Remember to follow all weapons health and safety instructions.

Was talking to my Mom on the phone, when something flew in the front door. I caught it out of my peripheral vision. Assumed it was a big moth, so I kept talking to my Mom. Once I hung up, I went into the bedroom to investigate. Whatever it was, Suzy had it trapped under a nightstand. I flushed it out, to find it was a big ol' scrubjay. Took a little work, but got the poor bird back outside relatively unscathed.

After seeing the new hotness it is pretty wild going 20+ years back in time to the older gen destroyers.

I refinished the top of this Tice Original the original finish hated HD800 headband material - in fact it destroyed multiple pairs and I had to really sand deep to get the gunk off, GooGone failed me. The new finish hopefully will fair better, it’s cooler in color now except for right on the edges where I couldn’t get all the finish off. Time to put this back into use!

My plan this morning was to do a quick 25 mile bike ride then go for a sauna. Oddly enough I managed to do both on the bike ride-

Commissioning a new PC, DELL Optiplex 7090. My son Rob came down and helped out, putting an addition 1G SSD in there, moving bookmarks across, and putting one of the spinning rust drives out the other PC in there will all the legacy files. It is physically tiny, in spite of the fact that it has an i7 processor. It even turns out it has a backup battery in the power supply. Anyway, it goes FAST! I've gone for LibreOffice to keep as far away from the Gates evil empire as possible, and eM Client email software.

Inspired by Doug, I made a focaccia recipe from the NYT -- focaccia with herbed honey plums and prosciutto. The dough didn't rise as much as expected but it was delicious.

From a few days ago: whole wheat focaccia with fresh mozzarella, parmigiano, and grilled onions and shallots.

Chilling up in Maine.....

First test part cut with Fusion 360.

Watched The Blue Angels do their fleet week thing from Tiburon.

One of the next-door neighbors brought back croissants from Paris (not kidding) and insisted that they be used within 24hrs. Challenge accepted. Bacon, fried egg, and cheese sandwich complete.

SR-X9000 (flagship model with new fixed electrode MLER-3) officially announced in Japan - MSRP 693,000 yen - Official release date 8th of October, 2021 - Mesh stators (used in SR-X Mk1 and SR-Omega), diaphragm area 20% larger than SR-009S - Lighter aluminium housing with tilt guard mesh structure, 434g weight (excluding cable) - Stainless steel arc assembly - Detachable cable (2.5m and 1.5m length supplied) - Paulownia storage box https://www.phileweb.com/news/audio/202109/16/22761_2.html Looks like a modernised SR-Omega, cheapest domestic price 623,700 yen here: https://www.fujiya-avic.co.jp/shop/g/g200000060690/ US price 6200$ EU price 6850€

Feels appropriate to leave this here: Pokemon x Grado collab! That is a line I never thought I'd ever write. Life is indeed stranger than fiction sometimes. https://blog.gradolabs.com/pokemon-center-grado-headphones/

Cinnamon roll. One of a set. Made from some enriched oatmeal and whole wheat dough.

We Get Requests Oscar Peterson 1964 Just a taste:

I'm watching What We Do in the Shadows, The Morning Show, Foundation, Archer, The Premise, QI, Ted Lasso etc.... But, in order to be supportive (I also tend to post when my Hollywood sister has a new project), I feel it fair to announce that my (60 Minutes) brother's written another free-to-download book about plastics...So he's ended up the guest on this podcast... Uncomfortable facts warning:)...

a few impressions from the SoCal meet: no. 1 " Audeze CRBN , silky, great low end for an estat, impressive soundstage, faster than the lcd-5 but without the same tactile feel. Sounded MUCH better out of the mjolnir audio than the Z10e. Very different than Stax, and I really enjoyed these. I may not even need to hear the sr-x9000 before deciding to put my order in. Sounds like the waitlist is until Jan … crazy." no. 2 "The best sound for me were the Audeze CRBN's. These are my next dream headphones. They sound totally different from Stax, and have their own sound signature that I really liked. They were musical and had a visceral slam/punch I haven't heard in my own collection of electrostatics. I've never heard the HE-90's, but the CRBN's sound like what I dream a HE-90 would sound like." no. 3 "Unfortunately I don't think they bring anything to the table. As a big 009 fan, I think if you are making a non typical estat-like estat, you better have something special to justify the specific amplifier requirement. This definitely doesn't have either the 007 magic or the 009's extreme detail and lightness. I might need some more time with it but so far I haven't found anything impressive from them." no. 4 "listened to the CRBN after auditioning the LCD-5. Solid headphone, although I preferred the HFM Shangri-la Jr. due to its superior soundstaging and overall refinement. Probably my favourite headphone that I heard today! I detected a bit of grain in cymbals on the CRBN, although the audition was too brief to make any definitive statements. Bass was definitely above average on both the Audeze and HFM by 'stat standards. Some dynamic compression seems to be a fact of life with this technology vis-a-vis planars, but the Shangri-la Jr. does offer more resolution than even the Susvara, and I'm intrigued for sure. Will listen to both again tomorrow and update my impressions." no. 5 "CRBN (some un-obtainium set up). After hearing these I understand why some people warship e-stats. The CRBNs have a delicate presentation, but they don’t ever sound thin or lacking in body. The overall frequency response is very similar to the LCD-5, but the presentation is a lot different. The bass is excellent in texture and level, easily better than the Susvara. Not as punchy as the LCD-5 though. Midrange is equal to or better than anything here. More body to the vocals than the Susvara. Treble, comparing here again to the Susvara, the Susvara are pretty magical, but I like the texture of the CRBN a little better. The soundstage on these is larger, open and layered in a way where I could easily forget I was wearing headphones. The build quality and comfort here again are equal to or better than anything. As far as pure aesthetics, these are the best looking headphones I have ever seen. In person they are stunning." no. 6 "I had a short opportunity to A/B test CRBN and 009s on Mytek & BH. (Also heard CRBN on Mjolnir Audio but I felt the A/B test was much more interesting.) CRBN sounds very tonally correct, polite, but didn’t carry the sparkles nearly as much. Sound stage is smaller than 009s. I felt CRBN is more similar to Elite and Utopia than to 009s. I personally would pick 009s every time over CRBN. I didn’t get to test bass heavy songs at all, which I heard is what CRBN excels at. What a pity." no. 7 "But now for me and the one BURNING question I had was how does CRBN sound on the Blue Hawaii Special Edition? As some one who still owns and enjoys the original 009 my curiosity was peaked! And honestly... for starters I feel like CRBN does everything the original 009 set out out to, it retains that insane sense of speed and detail I love about 009 BUT has a slightly denser tone with noticeably stronger bass with all the detail and transparency I've come to expect. It's sound stage is a little more intimate too and all in all while I still love the original 009's lovely tone, exceptional nuance and delicacy. I could 100% see my-self picking up CRBN as a compliment for when I want that extra bit of weight, heft and intimacy without any lose in the speed or detail that I love about Electro Stats! But overall I feel that CRBN really captures and delivers the true spirit of Audeze! Powerful, detailed TRUE to life BASS! A natural weighty mid range with amazing speed and clarity that alongside with crystal clear highs are all presented within an outstandingly cohesive and precise sound stage. I for one can't wait to get a little more time with BHSE and CRBN! It's likely going to become my new favourite thing to hear at each show until I'm ready to pick up a set for myself!" no. 8 "Overall a fluidic, semi-sweet / modestly dry (in a good way), linear sound with the full FR represented. Bass texture was spot on but overall leans ever so slightly towards a brighter signature not far off from Stax SR-009. Soundstage was great as well, but may be a small step behind Stax Lambda series in that regard. Sense of PRaT was nearly impeccable, though drums may not hit with quite as much authority as a well driven dynamic or planar headphone (something Mark Cohen of Audeze also confirmed). These pull it off so nicely that one may not even notice any shortcomings whatsoever, and can do almost any genre with finesse and seemingly left over headroom to boot. This paired exceptionally well with what I believe was the Mjolnir Audio Carbon e-stat energizer. For a comparison to the SR-009 I would have to do more testing, but I would say the SR-009 has superior sense of resolution, speed, depth and emotional / visceral quality. Not necessarily better overall, just different." no. 9 "Holy moley this was the headphone of the show for me. I'm an electrostatic headphone fan, and the CRBN's bass surprised me. I find the SR-009/009S to be too bright for me and I much prefer the Dan Clark Audio VOCE over them. I don't know how the Mjölnir Audio Carbon sounds since the only thing usually at these shows is the Blue Hawaii, but the CRBN sounded pretty solid out of it. Volume-wise, I needed to turn the volume knob quite a ways for the CRBN, so either the Carbon doesn't output a lot of power (which I doubt since it's made by spritzer/Mjölnir Audio), or the CRBN isn't very sensitive (whose technical specification is unlisted on Audeze's website). There was good texture and presence in the bass region, more so than the other estats I've heard, but it didn't overwhelm the midrange. The midrange had excellent clarity and timbre overall, but was a tad bit warm-sounding to me from the bass region. Unlike any other estat I've heard, the bass seemed to take the main stage away from the midrange, as the mids seemed laid-back in comparison (which reminds me a bit of the 007 MKI from memory). The frequency response sounded more linear/smooth overall compared to what I'm used to hearing from the SR-404. The treble, like a lot of estats, was silky smooth and retains a lot of detail overall. Image separation paired with the Carbon sounded excellent, which is another feature I find estats to do well compared to other transducer types. The soundstaging seemed a bit small compared to the 009/009s/VOCE to me, and was more rounded than the SR-Lambda series. Compared to what I'm used to hearing with the Lambda series, the images were spaced more around my head versus left/right and vertical, which I appreciate. Also like most estats, I was able to turn up the volume really high without experiencing any fatigue. The other transducer types don't seem to be able to replicate this effect, and I have no idea why. Comfort-wise, these rock. Audeze's headband on the CRBN is quite comfortable. Paired with the supple leather earpads, the CRBN fits snugly, but not too snug on my head. The oval-shaped earcups fit on my head pretty well even with glasses on. At 300 g, this thing is insanely light! The "cube" pattern on the earcups' grill is also pretty unique-looking. I feel like I've seen this pattern somewhere else, but I can't put my finger on it at the moment. The strain relief parts from the earcup look more sturdy than those of STAX."

My dick feels interesting.

Twenty years ago today the world of music changed forever. Tenacious D Tenacious D September 25, 2001 Like you don't know, but opening track:

I got a tape of this album as a present for my birthday in 1984 right after it released and this is still one of my favorite soppy songs to this day. Also has the great Blasphemous Rumours. So I am listening to Some Great Reward.

and

It's been a month but the CRBN is finally here, well this is actually the second set I've received. First set was one of two units to have an assembly issue which Audeze have now identified and fixed. I sent that one back and they sent a new one out. Now these are loaner sets but if I want to keep it, I will buy it. Just wanted to make that clear as I always own everything I tear down. The first set was setup to make it easier for me to take a peek inside so the pics I'll post later, will be of that unit. They are identical though and to say the CRBN looks gorgeous... well that would be an understatement. First thing that came to my mind when lifting out of the sturdy aluminum flight case, was a comparison to the Hifiman Shangri-la jr. Similar price range (I paid 4000$ for my set back in the day) and by comparison the Shangri-la looks like a 200$ Aliexpress special. The carbon fiber headband, the forged carbon earcups and nice thick leather earpads. Yeah, this is for sure no Hifiman product and it really puts Stax to shame with their shitty SR-009 headband design. Not that I was expecting anything less from Audeze but the attention to detail is nothing short of exemplary. Nice long strain relief on the cables as they enter the cups, the quality of the Stax plug, the sheer comfort of having these on the head (even with my melon of cranium) and the list goes on. The only issue I could find with them (and it was true of both sets) is a rather strong chemical smell as they are fresh out of the box. It doesn't bother me at all but it might bother some so best mention it. In terms of amp requirements, they are rather power hungry. It was a clear design choice to make them a bit less sensitive so the amps need to be pushed further in terms of volume level but it's nothing extreme. I had a KGSSHV in my system when the first unit arrived so I kept that to compare against the new one. It drives them just fine but the Carbon is a better choice with roughly 4 times the power. I would place the KGSSHV/KGST as the baseline for them to get excellent performance and it only gets better from there. Now it's been only been an hour or so with this second set (a few days with the first one) so it's early but first impressions are great. To keep it short, it's what the Sennheiser HE90 could have been but never managed to do. The CRBN has that same ethereal, diffused quality but with far more midbass and bass presence. They are not the bass monsters which the 007's can be but there is enough there and they are not bright or forward sounding at all. I'll post some more impressions later and the teardown pics as well.