Jon L

After further experimentation, I'm sticking to NEAT with Scotch. I revisited Johnnie Walker Blue, which my dear friends/family (who are not "whiskey people") sometimes gift me on occasion. I must confess I'd rather drink a good cask-strength bourbon over Blue... As far as Scotch goes, where I have less experience than Bourbon, I believe I am strictly an Islay lover. I'd much rather drink Ardbeg 10 or Lava 16 over non-Islay single malts I've tried in past, such as Glenfiddich 12 or McCallan 12. Is there a must-try non-Islay single malt I am missing out on?

Puwhaaaha! Turns out BevMo has Lava 16 LISTED at ridiculous $99.99 but has it on sale for $62.99 currently. Used the $10 BevMo coupon to buy 2 bottles. Lava 16 is exactly what I've wanted, peat and smoke with complexity and sweetness. Also feels higher in alcohol content than stated 43% ? This Scotch/Bourbon thing could erode into my audio budget... I'm afraid to go deeper and $$$. BTW, what's the feeling on adding few drops of water to Scotch? I do it successfully mostly to high proof bourbons, 115-120 proof at least, but Scotch starts out lower in proof anyway..

Dang, local Cali BevMo has Oogie for $83 ☹️ On the bright side, it seems in Cali, Costco membership is not needed to buy just alcohol, so let me make a strip soon..

While I liked Laphroiag 10, I believe I prefer the Ardbeg 10, which I can drink easier/more. Both are in $55-60 range at local Bevo, and what would be a good next step Islay Scotch without breaking the bank? Laphroiag quarter cask, cask strength, or?

Colors are a problem with Sony. I would never use out of camera colors from my Sony A7R, but I have gotten used to carrying my Colorchecker passport, at least a grey card. Colors out of my Canon 5D III are much nicer out of camera; however, they are still not neutral enough for any serious work IMO, so I end up using Colorchecker anyway.

I think Nikon hit one out of the park with the Z7. I can almost feel the Canon exec's sweating bullets, as Canon is supposed to unveil their own mirrorless full frame camera soon, which I doubt is going to be as capable as Nikon's version. As for me, I am going to use my original Sony A7R into the ground as its svelt size and portability is unbeatable, as newer mirrorless full-frame cameras continue to get larger. Sony A7R vs. A7R III size Sony A7R III vs. Nikon Z7 size

Indeed.. Kind of reminds me of Electrocompaniet gear.

Getting into Bourbons recently... What took me so long??

Actually, a couple of days ago, he decided to assemble the remaining Takachi cases into amps and "blow them out." When they are gone, they are gone apparently. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=156447.0

Handily better than NCore 400 mono's I've tried in the same system before. In fact, it exceeded my expectations enough that I am ordering another one just like the one I assembled, before the big-name companies start selling their versions using this module and charge tons more $$$$ after the usual big-name reviews, etc...

It's finally here. Just finished assembling so no impressions yet...

Is that amp your company's amp? It doesn't seem to be on your website and says "Flux Lab" on it?

Looks like Cobra King LTD driver's removable "Spaceport" made of aerospace aluminum will fit nicely into that headphone port, sure to improve sound ...

AMD stock way up. Damn, why didn't I think of buying some..

Forcing Windows and Linux kernel redesign, which is expected to cause 5-30% Slowdown for all Intel chips made in last 10 years.. UNfreakingBelievable. If not fixed at OS software level, huge security risk looms. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

Veerry interesting. Amphion is one of my favorite home speaker brands, and I wonder how much their studio line sounds different from their home line, i.e. Argon 3.

Over at Audio Circle. Supposed to be the next great thing in class D. At $700 for ready-to-tighten (no soldering required) 1200 w x2 stereo balanced amp, I am going to get in on the group buy. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=153645.0

How did I miss this completely?? Inner Fidelity RMAF video:

I was thinking it might be nice alternative tranformer box for electrostats and dynamics (presuming design is safe unlike WEE),.... until I saw the price

Jonathan Valin: "Oh, and I’ve saved the best for last. Not only are the 30.7s the handsomest-looking large Maggies of all time (in their blue trim and snow-white panel covers), they are also among the best deals Maggie has ever offered. They cost $29,000 the pair (release slated for January). That’s not chump change, I grant you, but compared to the price of the six-figure speakers they so successfully compete against, it makes them, perhaps, the greatest bargain in ultra-high-end history. " http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/magnepan-307-loudspeaker-part-one/

Having recently looked into setting up home wireless audio, I highly doubt Bluetooth will improve "enough" over time, i.e. ever become lossless. Highly touted aptX bluetooth is not even lossless, and even the latest and greatest high-tech bluetooth implementation "aptX HD" is not lossless, in addition to requiring both sender and receiver to have aptX HD capability, which only a few devices currently support. For me, any kind of high-fidelity wireless audio system cannot be based on bluetooth, notwithstanding how much I enjoy my UE Boom bluetooth speaker in my shower. I feel the same way about DAC's with USB input as I do about spdif inputs. These are simply fatally flawed ways to transmit digital audio and should never have been allowed to become de facto standards. on surface, USB seems to have better chance with various "improved" asynchronous methods becoming available quarterly; however, IME, it takes Herculean efforts on hardware and software side, not to mention various USB-enhancing filters, power supplies, and various doohickies for USB to sound "pretty good." Even then, I feel I can play a redbook CD (or better yet a good high-res disc) in a good one-box CD player and achieve significantly better sound quality than the said CD player's USB input..

Now Yahoo admits Every single Yahoo account was hacked, all 3 billion, in 2013 breach https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-cyber/yahoo-says-all-three-billion-accounts-hacked-in-2013-data-theft-idUSKCN1C82O1

Dang. How did you find out, through credit monitoring? Trying to decide if I want to sign up for Equifax free credit monitoring or not..

I just found some unauthorized charges on one of my credit cards, yet again, and had to go through the usual CC fraud department song and dance. I thought Chipped credit cards were supposed to be safer, but so much for that. There's got to be a better way...