clarke68

Probably my best eBay score to date...all nearly mint condition vinyl for around $5 a disc shipped. Only listened to Impala so far, but it is a seriously good session.

Well it's really quite a bargain, then! Ahhh...that explains your new avatar! Bummer about the shipping damage...as the unit must be at least a contender for 8th (9th?) world wonder, you'd think it would have been placed on a silk pillow and hand-carried to you by a team of four Sherpani porters.

Given AP's track record, I'm not sure if I want to wait to come over until the SACD's release, but if it does actually ship this month I'm game! I think such a comparison will reveal the SACD to be severely lacking in dust pops...

According to the Q/A thread over at Hoffman's, there was a delay at the pressing plant that will get the first 3 SACDs out by the end of November. Inspired by the "10% off for Halloween" coupon they emailed out, I ordered Capuchin Swing in a flurry of optimism. We'll see how it goes. I did pick up Jackie's Bag on LP. It sounds nice I guess, but $50 and you have to turn it over 3 times to hear all 6 tracks, I'll leave the rest of the limited-edition releases to the true vinyl-philes.

I've been fasting from Stereophile this year...I just saw the November issue in Borders the other day. I about spat my coffee when I read that the K-XR preamp is "the 8th Wonder of the World"! Well, somebody please congratulate Charles Hansen for me. As far as I know, this is the world's first piece of audio equipment to qualify for "world wonder" status, although I'm a bit foggy on what the other seven are. From your experience last week, would you say this preamp is truly the audio equivalent of the Great Pyramid of Giza?

Corey Greenberg, one of the most entertaining writers to ever grace the pages of Stereophile magazine, now writes almost exclusively about wet shaving at http://shaveblog.com/, therefore wet shaving must be at least as cool as audio, despite what some of you unfashionably hairy audiophiles think. Personally, I roll a Merkur HD with Persona Super+ blades and a Rooney Super Badger brush. The real fun for me is changing out my shaving soap (cream rolling?), currently I'm using a Classic Shaving mug soap in the sandalwood scent. Not only is my first post at Head Case in the shaving thread, it's in defense of the shaving thread...am I doomed from the get go?