catscratch
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Posts posted by catscratch
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Happy thanksgiving to everyone!
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Remember how I said I'm not playing Valheim? I'm playing Valheim. Yeah, it's good.
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I bought mine in 2007 or 2008, I don't remember, but I also didn't port mod it. So that might have helped fix the issues too. I did port mod my current 007A and yes, it makes a huge difference.
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I had an early 007 Mk2 from that batch and I thought the midrange on it had some of the same issues that plagued the SR-404 and other Lambdas from that series. But I wonder if that's fixable with EQ. The L700 responds really well to EQ in the mids. But, I sold it and then got the Mk1.
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A modded 007A is pretty close to the mk1 especially if you EQ it, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The mk1 is perhaps a tad more resolving in the mids and smoother in the highs, but the mk2/A is more dynamic and impactful. So there are tradeoffs either way. Good mk1s are getting harder to find in great condition so getting a 007A or mk2 and modding it is generally a safer bet.
Oh yeah, Edifier has a new headphone out, don't they.
Wow grandma, what fat wallets you have!
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I used to DM a lot, maybe 15 years ago. Haven't done it since. DnD is basically all about the group you play it with. Get good people and it'll be great. Get a bunch of boring dorks and that's what it'll be. But learning to DM actually teaches a lot of writing and storytelling skills and isn't easy. I certainly was bad when I first started and it took years before I really learned.
I do miss it, but now everybody's got families, jobs, obligations, responsibilities... the time for a bunch of nerds gathering in basements is over. For better or worse.
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Wow, the idiot... committed credit card fraud because he was angry at a customer? ... ... If I facepalmed any harder I'd knock my own head off.
I have a McAlister heap of scrap too, but it's in a basement that flooded a few times (though the amp never got wet afaik) so it's probably beyond repair. I'll check. It never worked properly to begin with so no big loss. McAlister pulled some dodgy shit with shipping it too, delaying it forever then claiming he sent an amp that was lost. At the time I just wrote it off as a learning experience.
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Very interesting tech since it looks like it can easily trickle down. However I don't know how well it works, whether or not it has any detrimental effects on sound, or whether it's a more effective method than digital EQ and DSP. But very interesting nevertheless.
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4 hours ago, Beefy said:
I think that was one of the things that struck me when coming back from a long absence, that electrostats seem to have stood completely still, while planars and dynamics have come forward in leaps and bounds. I don't have enough experience to judge whether they have yet reached the heights of the best stats, but the different rates of progress are quite stark.
In any case, yeah, the more options and competition, the better.
Oh, I think you could make the argument that the electrostatic market has gone backwards. Meanwhile, absolutely, there's a ton of movement and hype everywhere else. So if someone hasn't heard a top 'stat system, and has been keeping up with developments in planars and dynamics, then it's clear where the perception comes from.
But then you hear a good 'stat system and you understand.
This is why I'm moderately hyped about this - the 'stat market needs a good shakeup - but we'll see how it pans out. Looking forward to Spritzer's teardown! And if it's good, who knows... (looks at wallet) (wallet: why are you looking at me like that)
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3 minutes ago, Beefy said:
Oh totally, I was mostly being facetious. But even then, a couple dB across several kHz is definitely in the audible range.
And I'm being a pedantic prick so ignore me 😀
Regarding "progress..." If electrostats were really old these days, maybe some of these new planars and dynamics that came around as a result of this progress would actually sound better than the old electrostats. But that hasn't been the case in my experience. IMO this progress malarkey is just another FOTM, with the big revelation being - drumroll please - that "neutral" doesn't mean "bright as fuck!" Wow, we've come so far!
But, seeing more electrostatics, or cool new things like RAAL - and they've got a new circumaural headphone announced too - is actually interesting, and the more good headphones out there, the better. Besides somebody needs to light a fire under Stax's ass and what better way than actual competition. Maybe this way they'll stop making headphones with headbands that crack, ergonomics not designed for human heads, amps that are defective by design, or tuning that's best served as an advertisement for EQ plugins. And if not, well other people will make stats too.
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HD650 has a slight resonance around 5k together with a very small peak. But we're talking a few db at most.
Definitely interested, but don't know if $4500 interested.
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Happy happy unbirthday,
To you
To you!
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1 hour ago, Beefy said:
Awesome, I hadn't heard this. I played a LOT of Quake 1 back in the day, and distinctly remember the soundtrack done by Trent Reznor. It was completely revolutionary at the time.
The Doom reboot has set a new high bar for game music in the past few years, so hopefully they try and step it up even further with a new Quake.
Definitely check out Dusk then, if you haven't. It's heavily inspired by the first Quake, but takes it a step further, borrowing a lot of level design tricks and atmosphere from games ranging from Portal and Half-life to immersive sims like Thief and System Shock. It seems like a simple retro throwback shooter for the first few levels... but it's not. There's a lot more to it.
Edit on the topic of soundtrack: I think id/Bethesda parted ways with Mick Gordon, but they still have Andy Hulshult, who did the music for Dusk, Prodeus, Amid Evil, and a whole bunch of other recent boomer shooters besides, and I expect if they really are remaking Quake and want a metal soundtrack they'll have him do it. So it should be good, he's very talented.
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Yeah. No.
On the plus side, Roboquest is a very nice roguelite FPSÂ (though still in early access) and definitely recommended if you like that sort of thing. Also, rumors are flying about a Quake reboot, which means I should probably get back into Quake at some point so I'm not completely useless when it comes out.
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For the Clear, drop 1.2khz by 2db and 11khz by 5db with Q-factor 2. That goes a LONG way towards mellowing them out. Also you can drop the 6khz peak, but it is nowhere near as problematic as it is on the Utopia and I generally don't bother.
Of course, YMMV and when it comes to treble peaks, everyone will hear them in different locations and with various degrees of severity. I hear peaks at 6khz, 8.5khz, and 11khz, but it's the last one that's the major issue.
Clear reacts better to EQ than Utopia does IMO.
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It could be. Focal drivers use lightweight metal diaphragms with a very thin and flexible surround, and they have a very high degree of excursion so they're able to displace a lot of air despite being quite small. They do operate near the limits of excursion though and have less maximum SPL capability. But I'm non engineer and have no clue how that relates to listening fatigue.
In terms of tuning, they're rather Sennheiser HD6X0 like, though they trade off less linear highs for better extension in the bass. This tuning and overall character is why I like them in the first place.
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I finally sold my Utopia. I just wasn't using it enough. Yes it was very impressive, but it was far too fatiguing, and a $4k headphone that you could only use 30 minutes at a time wasn't worth keeping. Sadly, I think the Clear falls under the same category too, I can listen to it for longer than the Utopia (1-2 hours) but still it's not an all-day headphone. I don't know what it is about Focals, but they seem to irritate my ears in ways that other headphones don't.
Regarding the DSHA-3F, it is a very transparent and resolving amp, and if you want to max out the Utopia's resolution, go with that. But it doesn't really change what the Utopia is. And you find the Utopia borderline, the Clear with the DSHA-3F is nearly as resolving (the highs are worse, but the mids and bass are similar) and definitely less abrasive.
You could also try a bit of EQ, the Utopia does have a narrow 6khz peak and exaggerates treble past 13-14khz by about 6db or so. But to me that only mellowed it out a little bit.
So, I think I'm leaving team Focal, since my ears refuse to cooperate.
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Happy belated birthday (missed the thread) and welcome to the 40+ club. (del Toro voice) As your attorney, I advise you to start drinking heavily.
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Speaking of not procedural generation, Prodeus is pretty great. Imagine if id went on making more Doom games instead of going 3d with Quake, or what a more modern sprite/3d hybrid would look like. There's some really stellar sprite work and general art work in Prodeus, and in terms of gameplay I like it quite a bit more than Doom 2016 (never played Eternal) - it's faster and more old school. My #1 pick for lo-fi indie shooters still goes to Dusk, but Prodeus is a firm #2 at at this point. Highly recommended.
The boomer shooter market seems to be... booming.
(i'll see myself out)
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I thought it might have been something like that. Thanks for doing the work to get the site back, I was checking every day for it.
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Happy birthday Senor Stax!
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Ok brain, riddle me this. When you grab a stainless steel pan straight out of the oven with a bare hand, what happens? What's that? You don't know? Ok, go right ahead.
Now that I won't be playing games for a few days, I can reveal that I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic quite a bit with friends (and solo) and for the coop shooter crew it is definitely a game to check out. I haven't really played Killing Floor or Left for Dead or anything like this so I can't compare it to other coop shooters, but the mechanics are solid and definitely feel inspired by some of the old arcady shooters I used to play, and the fully destructible terrain and very impressive procgen keeps the levels varied and interesting. I have a few hundred hours in it already and am looking forward to more, as soon as I can grab a mouse again.
And no, I'm not playing Valheim. Maybe later sometime. Much prefer first person over third person games.
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Think HD600 but with better detail, much better dynamics, more linear and extended bass, and elctrostat-like imaging, but at the same time slightly artificial tembre and peaky, somewhat piercing highs.
I so badly want to like them but they're too fatiguing for me. But for someone less treble sensitive they should be perfect.
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Bloody shame. The HD650 is what I use 90% of the time. Would suck for that to go out of production.
Did their earphones sell well? I never thought much of their earphone lineup and I wonder if that's more important right now than full size headphones. Were their noise cancelling headphones good? There was little innovation coming out of them over the last 10 years and the only models I was interested it were the older ones.
I think a smaller, slimmer headphone division focused on the enthusiast and pro market would make sense, because competing with Apple and Beats in the consumer market is gonna be a long shot. Play to your core strengths, and be realistic about the size of your market. Their core strengths are full size headphones, tuning, driver design, and offering value, and those things scream pro/enthusiast to me and not consumer or even luxury. Focal beat them to the luxury market anyway.
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The Headcase Stax thread
in Headphones
Posted · Edited by catscratch
Thanks for the impressions. Since you mentioned the new Lambdas - I would very much agree and reiterate that the new Lambdas have issues with design, build quality, and frequency response. They needs mods to achieve a good seal and they need EQ. Without it they're a mess, but a technically interesting mess that does a number of things quite well. The midrange resolution with these new drivers is really impressive. With mods and EQ you can fix at least some of the issues and make them a much more compelling.