deepak

I'll have to think pretty hard about this one, we had a lot of great music in 2007. Thanks for the very thorough run down Ian.

We don't normally celebrate the holidays, but I was surprised to get a very nice gift from my parents- a Littmann Master Cardiology stethoscope. Quite a nice surprise since I was planning on getting one soon. And I had a few other nice things waiting for me that I sent to their house which I wasn't able to get after Thanksgiving. A Grado SR-325 that I plan on modding, Beethoven 60 CD Masterworks boxset (ordered a hell of a long time ago from amazon, never expected to see it), new The Who - Who's Next (MCA Hoffman mastering) CD. And the CDs from the Headfi holiday gift exchange that I promised my exchange buddy I wouldn't open until I've sent out his CDs (still tweaking one of the things that I'm sending him ). edit: and not that this has anything to with the holidays, but I've been considering seriously over hauling my vinyl system, since I'm really loving the sweet sound I'm getting

Same here, great looking rack.

Last 2007 bump

The best part about the Float is you look completely normal wearing them

I've never heard or used an X-Fi, but I think they have bit perfect digital output. As for amp recommendations, there are people here that know a heck of a lot more than me (in the lower/mid spectrum) so I'll wait for them to chime in.

A headphone amp should improve the sound of most headphones, but a poor quality headphone amp can make things sound worse. A good DAC should improve the sound. But I believe the Audigy cards muck around with the digital signal before sending it to the DAC (basically they aren't bit perfect) so I'm not too sure how much benefit you'd see from the DAC. Using a DAC and gaming will have no consequence with CPU use or your frame rate since the Audigy DSP is still doing all the processing- it's just sending that to the external DAC. I'll recommend the E-MU0404USB. It's not purely an external DAC, instead it's an external soundcard, via USB. It sounds very good for a ~ $180 unit and has a built in headphone amp that will be adequate until you want to upgrade it later on. You can also use it with an external amp later on, and as a DAC IMO it's exceptional for under $200. The only caveat is the headphone amp is bright (emphasizes the treble) and will be a poor match with Grados. But it will not give you EAX/advanced positional audio like the Audigy. However since it's USB you can unplug it when you're gaming and just use the Audigy/headphones for that.

North Star M192 is around $1200 for a demo unit from Perotta Consulting. A clear step above the Benchmark and Lavry. And I've heard it in a hella nice speaker system and it didn't disappoint any of the people listening.

Me too man, it was a nightmare on Christmas Eve But that live blues made my entire day better, and the two hour delay totally worth it.

RIP, one of the greats I'll be listening to Montreux 77 today...

K1000 + 300B monoblocks + blues musicians singing Christmas songs? (which I did get to see at O'Hare Airport )

Merry Christmas guys, I just woke up to a lot of cool stuff Yup

It's not the first time he has sent a self-shilling PM

I'd be interested as well, wasn't a big fan of the HGA silver ICs. Then again there could have been many factors why I didn't like them.

Just a reminder about giant blackgates and palm tree beer holders from the Casino thread. Beware the beer dispensing palm trees!!!

For completeness sake

Did you play Bioshock? I preferred it to COD4.

Those Borders coupons are great

But you get the suitcase

Sorry to hear about the misfortune Nate, definitely sucks when something you actually need breaks I can't offer much advice, but I've always liked Yamaha receivers. My old one is going strong for 7 years at my parent's house and they bought another a few years ago that hasn't had any problems. And we have one in my apartment now that hasn't given us any grief.

Looks like oicdn's post was deleted?

Razor takes place when Lee Adama was commander of Pegasus, so it doesn't give away anything from season 3. But it might make more sense to watch it after season 3 because Lee changes quite a bit in season 3 (not that it has anything to do with Razor, but it makes it more interesting IMO).

Yeah that's a serious mindfuck alright. edit: season 3 isn't stagnant. The first 4 or 5 episodes are damn good.

At the end of 2.5 is that when they land on New Caprica?

Conning won't be necessary