mirumu

Lol. He was half the fun of reading HF.

I remember thinking that when they announced the iPod. Maybe you're right, but the market can be surprising at times.

Yes, warranty be damned! Where I draw the line is taking a soldering iron to it before I've even heard it. I do own a Chinese tube amp myself, it's the Xiang Sheng 708B. It's not going to make anyone dump their high end gear but it's not as slow/mushy sounding as many others appear to be and overall is rather pleasant sounding. Cost me about US$80 and I think it's easily worth that. Build quality is low and it appears it needs modding to bring out the best in it. I think generally speaking you get what you pay for with the exception of some really good bargain gear and shabby over priced stuff. Repairs etc have never been a concern for me. Living on the other side of the world it's just as much hassle dealing with a US company as one from Hong Kong or China.

Haha, that was pretty much my thoughts too. I'm not about to speculate on the sound given I haven't heard it but it's hard to get overly excited just based on the tube choices. I do think Mr Woo does a great job of building amps though.

I think the iPod, etc and portable amps have their place but there's clearly limits as to how much performance you can get out of them and how much money it's worth spending on them. In terms of cables, I do believe in some sonic improvements offered by cables based purely on my own experience but when you're limited by a shoddy DAC and the iPod dock connector thick multi-strand cables made of exotic materials are pointless. Personally I do use a portable amp but primarily as a work rig. I have actually taken a larger tube amp into work in the past but it's a risk for theft, etc. It's much easier to throw a portable system into my bag at the end of the day. When it comes to cables, I just rolled my own with a short length of quality OFC, some gold connectors and a little silver solder which I already had. Cost me less than $10 to make and is more than good enough for an iPod interconnect I feel.

I've noticed that too. I wonder how often it's actually due to someone hearing both "versions" and noticing real differences? More likely just people redefining the argument so they don't have to disagree. On the topic, I've been borrowing some Ultrasone HFI-2200ULEs. I honestly quite like them but the sibilance is rather extreme. Anyone who can't stand sibilance would absolutely hate these. My tolerance for sibilance is somewhat high and in most other regards they seem quite nice, not too relaxed, not too forward and the bass goes quite deep. I wouldn't buy them myself but I'd sooner wear them than the SR-80 or HD555.

Now that makes a lot of sense to me.

I've been a Mac user for many years now (well over a decade), I used to own a Newton and own an iPod today too (I got in at the third generation at the point I found they had reached the usable level). The iPhone isn't really a product I'm looking for. I appreciate some of the features, especially the integration between the phone, email, IM and web functionality which is the kind of thing Apple is good at (the Newton was great at this too), but it's not worth enough to me to warrant buying the iPhone. In terms of it's music playing ability, it's just not got enough space for me, end of story. As for the camera, well I don't need to carry a camera around with me every day, I'd rather have a good quality stand alone camera. My current phone (A Motorola V3 Razr) does have a camera but I don't use it, I certainly wouldn't pay extra for one. I like the V3 because it's small and is great for ringing people and sending the odd text message. Honestly, if they put a 120GB 1.8" hard drive in there I'd be much more keen given that I could replace my iPod with it but as it stands, it's a good phone with poor music playing and camera functionality in a form factor that's too large and costly given it's feature set. Oh, and of the people I know who use Macs and own iPods, none are planning to buy an iPhone. It's the people who own PDAs/smartphones and don't have music players/cameras today that seem most interested in it. There's certainly a market for that kind of device, I mean people buy those big bulky Treo's and Windows Mobile based devices. Maybe Apple will pull these users in? Some of the success of the iPhone may depend on how fast they get new models out that add features people really want and actually fix whatever issues the early adopters find. I think only time will tell with that one.

lol @ the peter-meter.

No tubes? I'll go with the blood option then please...

"An Error Has Occurred! The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you." Hehe, I see I'm missing out on the fun.

Yes, it has been an interesting read. It did seem like some favoritism was shown by the mods at times but I'm in no position to comment on whether it was appropriate or not. If Robert had actually turned out to be innocent it would have looked like a beat-up but that's moot given the outcome. Definitely best if things can be resolved without lawyers. If Kevin says the amps are identical then it's good enough for me. I wouldn't have bought a Headphonia anyway but I certainly don't believe in giving any money to unauthorized rip-offs.

Wow, count me in!

Just applied to join. Last-fm doesn't track my CD listening at all but my iPod is synced up every few days.

I seem to have missed this one, have to grab the Blu-ray if they deem to release it in the south pacific region . Oh, and I'd kill to see Pink Floyd play Animals live, I loved that album.

I was browsing Amazon last month some time and saw this on their lists. Surprised me since it wasn't long since With Teeth. I preordered on the spot although didn't really know anything about it. Definitely looking forward to it even more now.

I like what you're impressions suggest. Definitely makes me keen on trying out some experiences with wooden cups myself. It also makes me wonder what woodied Omega IIs would sound like as well.

Good time to sell it seems given the current demand. I'll be interested to see what your thoughts on the sound of your new purchases are. I'd been thinking of making some wooden cups for 404 drivers at some point.