JimP

happy B-day

I'm prevented to set either up in a full-room set-up on proper stands, etc, so who knows which is better that way. In nearfield like the photo, I like the Omegas a bit more - more 'live' sounding if that makes any sense. (the piece that unlocked my enjoyment of the Omegas is the GS-1 as preamp - now I can make micro volume adjustments over a wide range, which is important sitting so close to the speakers).

Headamp should market the preamp feature more prominently - it's a fantastic preamp.

Same stuff, but finally got around to setting up in new apartment. My aspiration to set up a proper 2-channel system in the living room is a no-go, with my 17 month old daughter now running around (what was I thinking buying this stuff?). However, the fall-back set-up in my den, in near field suboptimal arrangement (shown in photo**) sounds amazingly good. 80% of my listening is through this, and when I need a headphone fix, good old HD650 or HD580 single-ended through GS-1 is sufficient. The LDVI sitting on top for that last drop of balanced headphone experience or to nudge up the ambient temperature (as good as it sounds, it'll probably go sometime this year). My desk/computer is about 3-4 ft away from this setup, speaker single driver is about ear-level. macmini-->optical out-->840c-->GS-1 as preamp*-->Almarro A205AmkII (4.5wpc)-->Omega Super 5 (custom side ported) *did not intend to use as preamp, but works fantastic as preamp to give me precise and wide volume control with Almarro, the lack of which use to drive me crazy with this amp) **camera flash makes it look like the left speaker grill is dented. weird (My Leben CS300 + Harbeth P3ES will be set up in the bedroom, fed by Airport Express-->miniDAC as source. Not sure which I like better, will keep both systems for now).

yes, it sucks that they can't do there own ALAC. But as a testament to how good the iTouch is, I'm impressed at AAC VBR 256 -- this is now my portable rig straight to IEM. why bother with portable amp. Hope they get the ALAC bug worked out...

Since I'll be using this purely portable (no amp), I've decided to just go AAC. Found some applescripts to do it easily, no more skipping. Not sure what's going on with ALAC, this is latest firmware and ALACs are ripped fresh in iTunes. Cover-Flow is very cool...

there's a work around which is to turn off auto 'screen off'. tried it and ALAC no longer skips. but I suspect this will be to the detriment of battery life. maybe I should go to AAC for the the Touch...

OK I bit the bullet and purchased a 32g Touch for myself, as my wife raves about the iPhone she got recently. So far, pretty impressed with it, especially the wifi capabilities and the Remote application. One aspect however is pretty annoying - skipping on ALAC file playback. Googling the problem, it seems prevalent. Anyone else having this problem?

Crappy, I'm relatively new to tube amps and no experience with sp extreme, but couple of observations that may be helpful (or not): 1. Don't settle for sustained hum/hiss/crackle in your tube amp. Dead quiet background can be achieved with tube amps, eg, my Leben tube integrated amp, my Earmax Silver Edition (had the AE before, regretted selling and reacquired the SE), and even my LDVI (there's mechanical noise, but that's a different story) all have dead quiet background in operation (aside from some noise in start up/shut down). 2. PC as source (especially USB out) has not been too compatible with my tube amps. Once I moved to optical out (eg, 840C as dac, or Apogee miniDAC), tube amps returned to silent background. 3. Trouble shooting left and right noise. Try switching left output tube for right tube (and cleaning pins in between). That worked for me with my Almarro. Or if same noise problem follows the switch, then you know it may be the tube itself. Again, above may be irrelevant to your situation, but just FYI.

Just donated (small amount = equivalent to one week of my daughter's organic baby food...she has to face reality sooner than later)

belated happy b-day!

clearly you guys have not had direct experience with this...it actually sounds like.... "rolla coastah...rolla coastah...rolla coastah, of luv" [repeat] seriously, AMP = GREAT for price - but even with 'silent' fan fix, there is audible mechanical whir. I'm ok with it, may drive others crazy (you should have heard the original!)

ask your mother

the video reminded me of an old CSI episode...it was meant to be light hearthearted, that's all

oh nooo!!! nate is a furry...

Grahame, that was truly awesome! made my day...thanks for posting.

This is nothing new as it seems quite a number of people run the pico dac only...I've tried the pico dac (usb to PC) vs. 840c (redbook CD) both into the Leben. This is not so scientific, but doing my best to level match by ear and flacs of same CD, and Leben has input selector switch so I can go back and forth on the fly... And I'm having a Crying Game/Soylent Green moment here - maybe 840c does details bit better, more an etched sound, but Pico does better bass and overall fulsome/smooth sound. I'm trying to calmly convince myself the 840c is better...but as someone else commented on the Pico on HF, "Justin's making a cracking product".

would Pamela get half a boob job? would LD go with one fan design? sorry it's all or nothing

from now on this will be referred to as the JimP (pronounced 'chimpee') mod. and JimP will always referred to himself in third person because that's what MOTs do. JimP believes the JimP Mod actually improves the cable sonics beyond their original state. So how much should JimP charge for the JimP Mod?

...and here in action with Asus 1000H (which looks huge in pic, but the netbook itself is pretty small). this is a pretty sweet portable/transportable rig!!

It's here! This thing is massive and weighs a ton (was led to believe it would be tiny and portable...). Quite disappointed that it can't take 4-pin XLR. Oh well, hopefully the sonics make up for it...

Nate, appreciate the offer, but no need - KG's explanation was all I needed. (I was trying to disassemble it earlier, but didn't realize it's the metal part that twists off). Good as new now.

Piss me off...I notice the sleeving on my Zu (Senn) cable has frayed/detached from the underlying cable (4-pin XLR termination). My own fault as I've been using the HD650-Zu quite actively these days as I've been using headphones a lot lately (with the Leben and LDVI). Is there (a) a simple way to fix this, or ( ghetto wrap it with duct or electrical tape? No, I'm not going to get a replacement, I'm pretty content with the Zu + Senn. [mods, pls move if its in wrong forum, not sure where to post this]

congrats on the 840C, the casualty for me was the DAC1 (booted out the door). however, I've kept my miniDAC-USB - quite a 'swiss army knife' in smallish form factor, with non-fatiguing sound (...and goes to '11')

all are redbook CD rips, so 44/16 makes sense then, thanks