postjack

so pricejapan has these for 555USD shipped. is that still the best place to procure eastern electronics?

I like what DC said. my budget threshold has always been <$1000, so I read a few reviews, read some impressions, then from that pool of generally well received sources I choose a DAC based on two more things: 1) features and 2) does it give me that "feel-good" DAC sensation? when I read reviews do my brain electrons tingle and say "yes this is the one"? so while I truly do love the sound of my Quad CDP-2, I also like that it just makes me happy to own it. doesn't hurt that the rest of my gear is Quad of course. to more directly answer the OP's query, yes I feel like the DAC market is way more saturated then it was 5 years ago. and I agree that most of your $500-$1000 DACS are probably at least pretty good. I really like the looks of this Peachtree Decco2.

fiery wrath inside reks

nah, the second rule of head-case is the findings of the State Recognized Qualified Technician and his x-ray machine cannot reasonably be disputed. you must be thinking of rule #3. damn this place and its rules!!

^^^that's my shit right there. maybe my favorite record last year. Anders Osborne - American Patchwork

Jazzfest 2010! We started things off in an odd fashion with the progressive house mouse, Deadmau5, at the CAC on (first) Friday night. As usual the folks in charge of entry at the CAC are a bunch of amateurs, with a line wrapped around the building leading up to ONE guy checking IDs and putting on wristbands. Maybe they were trying to build up hype with a long line, but to me it doesn't make business sense, because people outside aren't inside spending money. But once we got inside everything was great. Easy to grab a bottled water, easy to get in the bathroom (unless you were waiting for a stall, a little bit of a line there ), and plenty of room to dance. It was hot as hell though, much hotter then I remember it being last year. Openers were Force Feed Radio, who started out weak but the second half was hot. I love that moment in a rave when the DJ just hits it right, and the crowd just starts vibrating. They definitely hit that point halfway through the set. Next was Javier Drada, who was good, but it was typical trancey house stuff, and there was one moment of DJ fail when he lost the beat. When Deadmau5 finally took the stage at 1am I knew we were in the hands of a DJ that knows his stuff. This guy has blown up in recent years and for good reason. He runs the gamut from house to trance to IDM to glitch and everything inbetween. Very versatile, but always highly danceable. Highlights included his Legend of Zelda remix, completely with little Link-like mouses on the screen running around with sword and shield, and an incredibly high energy mix of Rage's "Killing in the Name Of", with long drawn out buildups of all the important parts. I don't know too much about Deadmau5, but he has quite a little following, plenty of folks wearing their own giant dead mouse costumes. The crowd ranged from classic rave kids to goofy hipsters to fray boys to the occasional hippie geek like myself. Bottom line is I know Deadmau5 tours the festival circuit pretty heavily, so if he is around and you are around and you enjoy a rave, go check him out! I finally collapsed exhausted at about 3:45am in our hotel and had a solid nights sleep. The morning brought the big moment: my first time to ever go to the Jazzfest proper. I've been in NOLA many times for Jazzfest night shows, but I've never actually gone to the fairgrounds. This year I vowed to remedy that. My GF and I were cautious about going because of the foreboding weather forecast (tornado and hail apocalypse) but everything looked dry and miraculously the storm broke around NOLA and instead ravaged Mississippi and north Alabama instead, so we left our Metairie hotel and headed to the rugby field at city park to catch the Jazzfest express. I've read mixed reviews about the express but personally I can't say enough nice things about the experience. Easy to get there, easy to park, about a one minute wait in the will call line to grab our bus pass and admission ticket. The bus was about half full when it left, and we were inside the fairgrounds in minutes. Aside from staying at a friends near the grounds this has to be the easiest way. When we walked in by the Gentilly stage Bonerama was opening with the Other One and I ran into an old friend of mine. Totally awesome. I had all these plans to catch certain bands but like most festival plans we abandoned them in favor of wandering and discovering. We somehow ended up at the Blues Tent for Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, then at the WWOZ Jazz Tent for Guitar Woodshed featuring Steve Masakowski (astral project is going to be the shit!). After the late night dance party the previous day it was really nice to sit in the shade and listen to incredible music. Eventually we abandoned the comforts of Heritage Square for the mud and chaos of the Acura stage. Here I was really wishing we had brought in chairs if for no other reason then we could setup camp somewhere, but we braved it and enjoyed the Meters immensely. Then we went on to experience was has to be the highlight of the day for me: cochon de lait! it is the best pork dish I have EVER had. the bread was PERFECT, and I'm a big bread snob, and the cole slaw really tied the whole thing together. Add some of the hot sauce they had handy and my gawd. We wrapped things up at Gentilly with MMJ. Tough call with S&G across the way, but all we could do was make a decision and stick with it (turns out it was the right decision, Art's voice was reportedly in poor condition). Didn't hurt that the Jazzfest Express exit is right next to the Gentilly stage. After we setup I wandered to get a coke and checked out the Congo Square print up close, it really is gorgeous. The Bennett print is all well and good but Congo takes the cake, just beautiful colors all around. I also heard a mandolin wafting through the air and stumbled upon Sam Bush at the Fais Do-Do stage. It was one of those special festival moments, very cool. Back to MMJ: Jim James knew the sacrifices people were making to catch MMJ and thanked the crowd for choosing them, and they didn't disappoint! Hell of a show, complete with some old favorites of mine (Mahgeeta and Golden in particular). In the end of course he invited the Preservation Hall Band up for some tunes, which was outstanding. We bailed right at the end of the show and caught the last of it in the short line for the buses. We drove back to Mobile totally physically exhausted but aglow with the fest. My GF loves live music but is NOT a festival gal, but she had an absolute ball and said she will definitely do Jazzfest again. fast forward to second thursday: Had a truly amazing time at Down on the Bayou II. I was literally first in the door and my friend and I posted up front and center. The show started at 9:10 and we made it through five and a half hours of a brutal New Orleans musical beat down before stumbling outside into the cool air and driving back to Alabama. The show was billed as Jojo's Mardi Gras Band featuring special guests, and was a benefit for the New Orleans Musician's Clinic, who lost a government grant this year which provided 90% of their funding. Here are a few choice iPhone pictures from the show: My buddy and Jojo. :-D GPJ showed up early... ...and Dirty Dozen showed up late! my new hetero boyfriend Anders Osborne joined this guy: Papa Mali and this guy: Mr. Bill Kreutzmann of Grateful Dead fame for a few numbers, including an incredible Love Light. :banana: of course some of the natives came by to dance and sing... and of course Widespread Panic took the stage for a few numbers, including one song I didn't recognize (JB was reading the lyrics off of papers on the ground) and Guilded Splinters. and one of the most special parts of the night for me was a rendition of "Tipitina" with Jon Cleary: oh and Batiste was pretty much on stage the whole night ^^^ and then the inevitable occurred: We were treated to a few songs by Gov't Mule, sans Matt Abts, who Warren said was "missing in action". ) Bonerama was a real treat! christine oldman made her presence felt a few times: and just to give some perspective on how small this place is (capacity 800 IIRC): then they had a poster auction for the Musician's Clinic, and this fan was completely lit and covered in glitter and jumped on stage to try and sell that shit. then things really started cooking after 1am when this cat walked over from stage right: and of course Jojo was happy to welcome Luther Dickinson (Black Crowes, North Mississippi Allstars) on stage! and that wasn't even everybody. one of the finest moments of the night was when John Gros from Papa Grows Funk came out. that guy is just amazing. pic of the little scene outside at about 2:30am: so it was pretty much the shit. The sad news is that this is where my Jazzfest 2010 journey ended. I really wanted to do more, but exams next week and professional obligations prevent me from playing anymore. Jojo made it clear he wants to continue to do these Down on the Bayou benefits for the New Orlean's Musician's Clinic, and he said that next years will be much, MUCH bigger, and that all the folks who came to the show last night have first dibs on tickets for the next event. Pretty cool! I LOVE JAZZFEST we should so have Canjam 2011 in NOLA next 'Fest and just not bring any gear at all.

awesome. their first two records are two of the best albums ever made, IMO.

woah nice. i always considered one of these for kitchen cookin' music...

i've really grown to love Mastodon. it took quite a lot of listening and seeing them live, but I love 'em. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Tell 'Em What Your Name Is (vinyl) really powerful old school smooth James Brown-esque r&b funk. saw them open for Robert Randolph last year.

First, welcome to head-case! Second, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but currently Quad 12L actives might be the most popular speaker on head-case, meaning I think more of us own Quad 12L actives then any other speaker. I used to own them and sold them for some reason I can't remember. Third, I also love those speaker stands, are they DIY or did you buy them somewhere? I see you have the Benchmark DAC-1, how do you like it? Its generally not appreciated around here but I've always been curious to hear one due to the high praise it receives elsewhere, the mainstream audio press in particular.

I'm one of the minority that dislikes the W11JPN. it was very fatiguing to me. how do you feel about the W5000? it's a polarizing can, but one I enjoyed. a little bass light but great headstage for a closed can.

thanks guys, just the stuff I was looking for.

OK, so I need to replace a resistor on one of my ESL-63s so it matches up with the one Kent repaired. Kent sent me very detailed instructions that I think I'll be able to follow. Basically I have to unsolder a wire, unsolder a resistor, install the new resistor and resolder the wire. The rest is just disassembly that can be done with a screwdriver. My screwdriver skillset is pretty strong so I think I'm OK there. I'm looking for suggestions for a soldering iron. Currently the resistor swap is the only task on my DIY schedule. To be honest I doubt I'll be constructing CMoys anytime soon, but who knows? So I don't need the best iron ever but I want to avoid buying junk.

Deadmau5 - It Sounds Like

Ween this past weekend at the Tabernacle in Atlanta was outstanding. just check out this epic encore: Ohio, Right to the Ways and the Rules of the World, She Fucks Me, Let Me Lick Your Pussy. For LMYLP Gener left the stage after the main body of the song and the bouncers started letting every chick in the venue up on stage. i have no idea how long they jammed it out while the massive crowd of females grinded on and made out with a grinning Deaner (to Dean's wife: he never kissed back) but it felt like 15 minutes. then Deaner left the stage yet they just kept jamming, before the drummer finally wrapped it up. tons of awesome moments in the show, but a smashing cover of Bowie's "Lets Dance" comes to mind. perfectly played and an insane amount of fun. iphone pic of deaner getting molested: anyway the brothers ween are both a bit old and lumpy but they still bring the darkness. an outstanding show! the overall dark tone left me feeling very icky and strange.

Indian tabac super fuerte are alright after a little rest. I also like rp vintage 2nds. I've been delving into the world of drew estate. smoked a few kuba kubas since the weather got warmer.

got my 63 back and it works perfectly. just really fantastic sound. before I had it fixed I remarked on how wonderful the bass and midrange was. now that there is no crackle I can hear how perfect the highs are. super crisp, never bright. still, I feel the most remarkable parts of the sound are the vocals and the bass. the vocals are the most lifelike I have ever heard, and the bass is loaded with layers of detail that I haven't heard in any other transducer. I'm using my balance controls right now to match the speakers, but once I get brave enough I'll buy a soldering iron and swap the resistor on my other speaker. Kent sent me the resistor and very detailed instructions. if I can solder just a little without burning a hole through my hand I should be able to pull this off.

Great news! I finally got off my lazy ass and shipped the speaker to Kent, whose turnaround was very fast. I'll just copy and paste his email for those interested in what was wrong with the speaker: I decided to go with lowering the bias voltage. I'll just use the balance controls if I can't replace the resistor in the other speaker myself. Since the other speaker is stock I'm sure it will eventually start making noise and make its way to Kent eventually. anyway I'm pretty psyched to have the working speakers back soon.

Finally got into Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Just freaking awesome stuff. If you are into character driven unconventional fantasy with lots of brutal violence, this is for you. Sometimes predictable, sometimes not so, but never cheesy, and always fun. I burned through the first two and am now 30% through the final book. I'll be sad when this one is over.

x2 and welcome to head-case!

sweet I was wondering if that was any good. i'll check it out.

i haven't listened to their new album. being honest, I haven't done the best job of following hip-hop in recent years, but Hell Hath No Fury is the last truly great rap album I've heard. beats so hot, so raw, the lyrics are fucking butter but so awful and unapologetic. anyway I'm open to suggestions for newer rap.

still a great record. In other RA news he is releasing his first serious metal album soon, under the name Orion. check out ORION for a listen. i think its hot, the guitar tone is very heavy and cool. sometimes his vocals sound like he is trying to take a dump. me: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

you rock naaman, stay safe and thank you for your service!

^^^martin sexton is great. i must have burned a laser hole through my "Live Wide Open" CD in college. opeth - deliverance