Edwood

Yay for teh internets, me hardies. Arrrrrrr!

The Music Fidelity V-Link is very affordable, also is a plug and play no driver 24/96 USB adapter, but it is a huge brick. I'd say try one, keep it at home or the office, permanently attached to the computer. Keep the Halide Bridge for on the go, since it' much more compact. Although if you end up liking the V-Link and you don't really ever use the Halide Bridge on the go for portable use, buy two V-Links and still end up spending less money than for ONE Halide Bridge.

Thanks, Mike. BTW, Happy Birthday a bit early. I used cheap Mexican Mesquite Lump Charcoal from Smart and Final. Sparks died down mostly the fire was done fully burning, but there were a few strays shooting out here and there. If I didn't hate Walmart around here so much, I'd get the Royal Oak lump charcoal. I got some high temp Permatex Ultra Copper RTV and sealed up the top and bottom vents. Going to let it cure for a day or two, and then I'll be ready for some Low and Slow action. Probably will start with pork shoulder for starters.

Finished assembling the Lil Grill Bot. Bought a small bag of Mexican Mesquite lump charcoal from Smart and Final and lit her up. (Man the chunks are huge, had to break them up a bit) It's been a long time since I've done charcoal grilling, let alone Lump Charcoal. Wow, I was not expecting the sheer amount of snap, crackle, and pop and all those sparks flying out, and even when shut, sparks went flying out the bottom vent. I have a concrete balcony, so no worried there, but there's a big tree overhanging my Balcony, and all wooden eaves and stuff around. Kept a fire extinguisher handy, but nothing else caught fire, just a nice micro pre-4th O July fireworks show. I followed the directions, but it seems like a really really tiny amount of charcoal. Here's how much I had in when the fire just started to die down. The charcoal never went out, it stayed hot and red all the time until I closed both vents to shut it all down. Never had to add any additional charcoal. Started off small and easy, two NY Strip Steaks. Overcooked them a bit for my tastes, but they were so completely evenly cooked. Then did some ears of corn. I got the temps up to around 550-600F according to the BSK's built in thermometer. With both Vents wide open, it never got any hotter, so I couldn't get those burned in grill marks. I guess I need to add more charcoal to acheive a higher temp? I'll definitely have to get a Maverick ET-732 soon. Not bad for the very first grill. A nice warm up to the day before the 4th. I'll build my confidence up with easy ones like steaks. Then move onto trying my first low and slow, probably pork shoulder, for a mouth watering pulled pork fest.

Just got back from OSH. It's cute. Not as big as I thought it would be. Perfect size I think. Quite a heavy little bugger, though. All the kings horses and all the kings men.....

Well, Orchard Supply Hardware has a newer defeatured version of the Big Steel Keg on sale after 15% off 4th O July sale for about $370 after taxes. (OSH Version doesn't have rolling base, no shelves, stainless steel grate rather than cast iron, but otherwise exactly the same, other than the exterior color). I can always buy the Cast Iron grate later. Since we have two trees overhanging right into our balcony and wood everywhere, an insulated grill is the way to go. The OSH version of the Big Steel Keg seems to be a much nicer price. Although I don't get the whole lighter weight thing? How much does a Big Green Egg weigh? Because I had a guy at OSH on the phone hold one for me to pick up later. I'll need help since it apparently weighs about 115lbs?! Definitely insulated heavily. -Ed

LOL, loved the Marauder's McDonalds drive thru ordering. Is it just me, or they showed clips for this one last year for Here's what's coming up in the series? -Ed

I would hope that the use of a USB charge only cable (or a wall wart charger with USB connection) would work at the same time with SPDIF input, otherwise, the JH3A makes my HifiMan HM-801 battery life look good in comparison. Hey, John. Try one of those USB Y-cables, the ones that usually come with portable hard drives. Use only one of the USB connections, that's the power only connection. It's usually the one on the very end with the thinner cable. If in doubt just try each one by itself and see if you still get sound with SPDIF. -Ed

Just got a German import of the Semyon Bychkov conducted Multichannel SACD of Verdi - Requiem. Was pretty much a blind buy based on a review on SA-CD.net. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001B223T2/?tag=sacdinfocom08-21 Took a about 2 weeks to get it from Amazon.co.uk. But so worth it. It's up there with my favorite 1968 recording with the Vienna Philharmonic and Opera. Going to give the Multichannel a go, so far just gave the redbook layer a spin. -Ed

Verdi Requiem, the requisite blow your ear drums, Dies irae. Just got a German import of the Semyon Bychkov conducted Multichannel SACD.

I've really been getting into Multichannel SACD's and DVD-A's lately. Too bad they're all pretty much dead formats. And many of my favorites are out of print, and going for insane prices on fleaBay and such. Captain Hindsight says, you should've bought them when they were first out to begin with! OK my job is done here, goodbye!!! <whoosh> <sigh> -Ed

Wow, those are some bitchin dovetails, nice work Steve!

No worries then. I'd rather spend the time on Mayberry Madness.

Cool, glad it looks good to the naked eye in person, because it looks like ass in that Facebook pic.

Meh, I'll wait for a real CanJam. I don't need to go to another speaker centric show, I go to CES every year.

How did the artwork turn out this time, Vicki? They look really rough/jagged on the edges on the Facebook pics, was hoping it was just bad compression/resize for the online pic. The original art has very very very smooth edges, in fact they were given vector files to begin with.

What about the Big Steel Keg? http://www.bigsteelkeg.com/ I like that it's more durable, seems to be easier to move. *Edit, fuck, I'm a year too late for these. Meh.

Welcome to 2008. Loved it when I first head it at CanJam in Florida. Got one the first chance I got. Still my absolute favorite headphone device.

Happy Birthday!

Well, it was originally supposed to have SPDIF Coax, via a 4 pole 3.5mm jack. Hopefully they meant a dedicated SPDIF jack. Hope it keeps the USB DAC function as well, although I doubt it will be anything fancy like 24/96 asynchronous. But one could hope.

Happy Birthday!

Damn, Ric. It's about damn, time! Glad to hear it worked out finally!

Nice! Looking forward to your impressions. Mmmmmm. I needs me a good brew again......

Just got my V-Link today. Wow, pure plug and play bliss. Plugged it in, and blamo! Just works. I have it hooked into the Coaxial SPDIF input in my HifiMan HM-801. The V-Link may be a fairly large brick for what is does, but for being under $200, I don't care at all!

Just pulled the trigger on the Music Fidelity V-Link, since Amazon has them for Prime free ship. Easy to return if it doesn't work out or whatever reason. So much cheaper than the Halide Bridge, which I was considering as well.