Superpredator

I've sporadically enjoyed SG-1 over the years. Atlantis turned me off instantly. I've watched all of SGU in the hope that it would be SG's answer to BSG, as it's clearly intended to be. It's been a mixed bag so far. Whereas BSG exploded my brain episode after episode, SGU often merely feeds my brain Chef Boyardee. I will say though that it has picked up since the start of S02.

Happy Birthday! Did I do it right?

I'm digging it. Makes me want to get a cowboy hat, but I think it would emphasize the astounding roundness of my head, making me look like a radish with a butt chin.

I probably won't use the line or sub outs except to play around, as I mostly wanted it for its main function. Anyway, it's here. I just set it up, so I don't have much to report. It's certainly no dud, that's for sure.

The other day while driving we saw a guy riding a bike toward us, making a right as we were making a left. To our astonishment, we saw what looked to be a child sitting in a basket above the handlebar. "That couldn't be a kid, could it?" we said. As we passed, extra cautiously, we saw that in fact it was a child-sized doll. The guy looked rather unkempt. We simultaneously marveled at both his creepiness and his ingenuity--what better way to make people notice your bike and not run you over than to put a fake toddler in the basket above your handlebar? On the drive back from the grocery store we passed him again at that very same intersection, and that's when we noticed his fluorescent orange construction vest. This guy was hardcore for safety. There's a possibility that he was homeless, which makes me a little sad, but I'm glad he has a strong sense for best bicycle practices.

HBD!!

I moved gigantic rocks that the previous owners' son formed into a shitty walkway years ago. My neighbor told me he learned how to make paths while interning at some parks and recreation agency, and it shows.

PriceJapan was sourcing them for somewhere around $580 when I was looking to buy, IIRC. Definitely where I'd purchase for $555 if I hadn't bought used. I posted some early impressions elsewhere, comparing the W1000X to the W2002, W11JPN, and (from memory) W5000 and W100. Essentially, and this is an oversimplification, the W1000X sounds like a hybrid of the other ATs I've owned. It isn't limited to one side of the genre spectrum or the other the way the 2002 and JPN are, and it takes the better qualities of the 5000 and 100 while leaving most of their considerable flaws behind. Great performance without the pitfalls that come with specialization. A very nice release from AT.

Because. The longer I wait for something to come, the less likely I am to write about it. And I like to write about stuff. It happened with the Yamamoto, and it could happen with the Trafo. By the time I've had a chance to thoroughly listen to it, I will have spent many delirious hours hauling boulders, knee-deep in worm shit, obsessing over tomatoes, inundated with vegetables, fruit, and chicken from my CSAs, and returned from two weeks in SF. In other words, my mind and life may be somewhere else. I will barely be indoors until October. If I didn't know that, would I have ordered amps with lead times in the first place? No. I've been babying 300 seedlings I started in March that I'm only just planting now. I don't need your tips on patience. I'm looking forward to the comparisons myself. $1250 + $24 shipping. I specifically requested all latest revisions when I ordered, since there seem to be several iterations. I passed over the unit Eng Vista had in stock, as it lacked the ground lift. Not sure about the line-outs.

Good advice. I didn't make it clear, but I'm not actually in the market for a new DAC, as I'm pretty satisfied with the M24 I've been running for the last few years. Of course, contentment didn't stop me from impulse buying a new amp, so you never know. I try to stay on top of new gear, and I feel like I have a decent sense for amps, since their design usually corresponds with the headphones they should be paired with. DACs don't really offer such clues; they tend to either be very capable, capable or half-capable. I was able to note pretty obvious differences in the DACs I've owned, but I'd never try to match them with phones the way I do with amps. It's usually clear when you've got a headphone/amp match/mismatch, and I think this makes it simpler for people to comprehend and communicate what it is they're hearing. Not so easy with DACs. When people talk about DACs, the best DAC they've heard is the best DAC ever... for very few communicable reasons. It gets pretty nebulous, and useless. I should organize another Philadelphia meet and demand moar DACs. Exactly. The Source forum over there is filled with that kind of noise--threads that go on forever about how amazing a DAC is, with very few pauses to compare it to anything else. Unless they're all equally amazing, something doesn't smell right. I can't understand Audio-GD's huge lineup at all. It seems masturbatory. How about offering one or two DACs that you believe in completely? A little vintage would be nice. I hate that people seem to expect audio technology to advance at the same rate as computers and cell phones--always looking to buy something new, shunning the old. Such a retarded habit. I have had my eye on that one.

Around the time I first joined over there it seems like there were fewer choices in DACs. Benchmark and Lavry seemed to be the go-to options, though there were certainly other contenders: Apogee, HeadRoom, Grace, Bel Canto, Monarchy, Channel Islands, and others, as well as various experiments in NOS: Ack!, Lite, etc. Then came Zhaolu, and it seemed to usher in a new micro-era of willingness to tread away from the beaten path. Audio-GD's extensive DAC lineup is a good example of the proliferation of options these days. I really have no sense for what the standouts are anymore (among similarly priced products). I'm not sure review reading is terribly illuminating, since people usually seem to have less experience with DACs than amps. Can you throw a rock and hit a good one?

US distributor received my Trafomatic on Monday. Ordered Apr 11. Not too bad, considering the 7-8 weeks I waited for a Yamamoto. However, I need to stop ordering amps with long lead times.

Hey me too.

Caprica is indeed pretty good. I was expecting a sort of live-action exploration of a Ghost in the Shell-type world based on the pilot, then it slowed and got a little dull. It did pick up several episodes ago, but I think they spent too much time trying to create human drama that wasn't entirely convincing. It really flowed effortlessly in BSG.

I've been enjoying Justified and Southland. The latter is sort of like The Wire Lite in terms of quality, perhaps like a cross between Cops (which I hate) and The Wire in terms of content. There was a nearly cinematic scene involving a cop protecting a witness that took me back to some of the most intense moments in LA Confidential. Justified keeps peeling back to the layers to reveal offbeat, fascinating characters played by highly competent actors. Every last one of them can keep up. Both shows are very refreshing after the horrendous CSI-type programming that took over during the mid-2000s and sapped what little faith I had left for humanity.