The Monkey

You guys have convinced me to get a bike.

Looks cool. I like this: "USB 2.0, 24/192, Async, Completely Buzzword Compliant
"

OK

Happy Birthday!

The thing that has always impressed me about the Bose phones I've tried is how comfortable they are. Bose really has that down.

Credit unions and smaller local banks are where it's at these days. The big banks are a mess. For various reasons, we were kind of stuck with our big lender, but I would gladly have gone with one of the smaller outfits if I could have.

The above are solid suggestions. Few wine lovers would be disappointed with an '82 First or Second Growth Bordeaux.

FINALLY closed the refi on our apartment. Truly one of the most frustrating and anxiety-ridden processes I've been through. The banks simply do not want to make loans to anyone and only do so if you drag them kicking and screaming, by the hair, to the closing table. Jesus.

Heh. Of course, right after I make the above post, "Wild West End" by Dire Straits comes up...and sounds like shit. It's lossy, so there's that. But it sounds hot, tizzy, and aggressive. Not at all what I usually get out of this track. So, not perfect. But what's perfect?

For some reason, whenever I have a new headphone my go to tracks tend to be Dire Straits. They sound great out of the Fidelio-Yo-Yo. Perhaps tilted a bit toward the midbass, but, to my midfi ears that's a forgivable and conscious design decision. Some grain up top, as mentioned by Tyll. But smooth and lots of fun. One of those headphones whose flaws are mostly guilty pleasures (nice bass, plenty of mids) and the sins are mostly of omission (e.g., not the last word in detail, soundstage is pretty limited). I think some of you will think the bass a bit too much. There's definitely some thump there. But the mids are very nice and the treble, while slightly grainy, stings in the right places.

word. Essentially, the HD 600 gets replaced by the $1000 HD 700. Lame.

Agree that this is not a stupid question. And I readily defer to Greg's judgment. The only bit of advice I will offer is to piggyback on a thought offered by Greg above: consider a three-pack. As a wine lover, I would much rather receive 3 bottle of ~$200 wine than 1 of ~$500-600 unless the one bottle was something absolutely unique. Also, sometimes it is worth considering a great bottle of something else for the wine lover. By answering Greg's questions above, perhaps we can come up with some non-wine alternatives that might do the the trick. I find this useful with my dad who has vastly more wine knowledge than I. If I can find the "wine lover's scotch" I sometimes give him that instead.

They smell like Corinthian leather.

They smell good. Which is important.

Favorable, I think, Shelly. But it's been a while since I've heard the 650.

I note that the cord SUCKS, but the build quality is otherwise really nice. On par with the B&W P5. Maybe better.

Got my Fidelio L1 today, and after 30 mins of listening, I like it a lot so far. Of course, I have to burn it in for 10 weeks and change the cable to baby unicorn hair, but so far so good.

Because "from what I've read" means you're immune to propaganda?

I think that's a safe guess.

^That looks good.

Mike Score's side project lasted longer than anyone expected.

Happy Birthday!

Not sure if I remembered to update: I only received one glass. I have not yet smashed it to smithereens.

The choice of bamboo is interesting. I have bamboo floors in my apartment. They look nice, but overall they suck. All you have to do is give them a hard stare and they dent. It's also impossibly easy to scratch them. I wonder if these cups will exhibit similar tendencies. I prefer wood to grass.

Yet another revision...