HiWire

Looks like the BDP-105D is discontinued. I've given up on HDCD, so I'll look forward to reading reviews of the upcoming UDP-203 and 205. There's very little information about their audio sections, but I'm hoping they've been improved (not that there's anything wrong with the 105's output).

Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

Yup... ordered a set of replacement pads directly from Koss and it was 5 bucks... free ground shipping, too.

Grado flat pads aren't the only ones that crumble. I found a trail of telltale black bits coming from the Radio Shack foam pads on my old Koss Sportapros this morning. Time for a replacement.

Neko Case and Her Boyfriends – The Virginian

Shivaree – Who's Got Trouble?

Nightmares On Wax – Smokers Delight

So good/bad(?) I'll just leave this here...

It still comprises a huge amount of music buying, though. I can always get the mass-market cases from Staples, but I was wondering if people had alternative choices. Looks like there isn't much demand for high-quality jewel boxes any more. I was impressed by the scratch-proof coating on my Blu-ray discs so I started wondering if anyone was investing in improved CD quality... looks like the only market for that sort of thing is in Asia, specifically Japan.

Carl Cox – At the End of the Cliché

Very nice. I'll see if I can find some... I think they're out of production again.

I like the Super Jewel Box cases that come with SACDs, but it looks like they're getting hard to find (Acoustic Sounds still seems to have them). Also, I'm wondering if somebody makes good cases for regular CDs that fit the front and back (+ spine) labels properly. P.S. Has anybody heard the new Blu Spec CD2 discs? I'm thinking of getting Michael Jackson's Thriller in this format just for fun.

The Darkness – Permission to Land

I took a pass on the HD 6XX. I'll wait and see how prices go on Black Friday... not completely wedded to the Sennheiser sound.

Thanks for the update. I'm assuming the DSHA3 would work well with Grados, then?

Copenhagen, DSHA-2/3/4(?), L-3... that's a lot to look forward to!

Yes, but I've never been a fan of those Senn pads. I'll get the regular flat pads from TTVJ if the new ones aren't an improvement.

Guns N' Roses – Use Your Illusion I I haven't listened to this CD in a while... I had it first on cassette years ago. Now I think I understand this album a lot better, having had more life experience, relationships, broader musical knowledge, etc. It's an incredibly ambitious album, putting together larger-scale and more complex arrangements than their first hit album, Appetite for Destruction. I prefer the second album, Use Your Illusion II, because it has a bit more depth and emotional range. The first album is more straight ahead, showcasing a bunch of straight-up rockers with minimal filler. There is a bit of variety – Spanish guitar on Double Talkin' Jive, blues-rock piano on Bad Obsession and Dust N' Bones, and, of course, the symphonic strings of November Rain. Listen for the complex rhythm and accompaniment guitar parts going in an out in November Rain – they are often lost in the mix against the overwhelming vocals, lead guitar, and strings. Overall, it's an exhausting, intense experience, just the way it was meant to be. There aren't many slow or quiet songs other than Izzy Stradlin's laid-back You Ain't the First. The overall tone is aggressive and combative, often feeling conversational, as if Axl or the band was telling off a series of exes. There is a bit of sweetness in my favorite of the bunch, Don't Cry and November Rain, but the majority of the songs are unrelentingly in-your-face, until the album ends, appropriately, with Coma. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long and all that...

Any updated impressions on these pads? The flat pads on my HP2 are crumbling a bit.

What about a Cyrus CD player?

The Raveonettes – Chain Gang of Love

LCD Soundsystem

Massive Attack – Protection

The new USB Audio Class 3.0: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10719/usbif-publishes-audio-over-usb-typec-specifications My issue with this is the fact that they are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic (in audiophile terms)... you're simply pushing the DAC outside your device to the external gizmo. At some point, you're still going to need a proper analog stage in an even smaller external package (e.g., your headphones), or a big box thing to do what was inside the other box thing to begin with. For mainstream consumers, it's fine, just fine. One less thing to require adapters once they've switched all their headphones to USB Type-C connectors, Lightning connectors, Bluetooth... and let's not forget charging the batteries for all these devices. Adding new digital formats doesn't magically make things sound better, for all the hype MQA is garnering.

Did anybody notice the posting of this new teaser pic? Estimated price of $499, $1,199 for UDP-205: http://oppodigital.com/uhd/ Some details from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2016/09/23/hands-on-with-the-oppo-udp-203-ultra-hd-blu-ray-player/ and more from Audioholics: http://www.audioholics.com/blu-ray-and-dvd-player-reviews/oppo-udp-203-ultra-hd-blu-ray-player