luvdunhill

ha! (I think). Burn-in also counts as non-stock.

have you installed the connectors? I mean, I could be totally full of crap (fungi your check is in the mail, thanks for getting my back)...

stock IC and power cables?

your ears?

yes, but can you move the ring portion of the connector?

heh, I shouldn't have stopped you from trying them out... that wouldn't have been cool. I just don't think the build quality is any better than the usual suspects.

have you heard the LCR version? What's not to like? price? I'd sorta like to compare it to a good solid state design. (LCR transformers in general, not necessarily this design, but it would be a good start).

security doesn't seem to be its strong point. Expect exploits soon.

tooth fairy's

I've only used 4, but all of the rings loosened up after they were soldered. Perhaps someone has one on hand and can check. Just put your thumb on the ring and put your index finger on the tip and the middle finger on the sleeve. The try and push the ring through (in between your other fingers)... kinda hard to describe

hm.. so, I'm not getting an overwhelming response "go try this, no one has done it". It would definitely be the road less traveled. I have ruled out the Sowter attenuator transformers, as they cannot handle the signal without saturation. In fact, as aerius mentioned, any 100% mu-metal / permalloy solution will not work unless it's air gapped to support DC. So, as far as the "coupling capacitor" hating crowd, which is worse: 1.) an attenuating resistor + coupling capacitor on output 2.) a transformer

not that you really care about my $0.02, but that Furutech 1/4" is kinda crappy. The center ring portion of the connector sometimes get loose, which is very annoying. it does for me at least. And material where the conductors attach are pretty crappy as well.. thin and of some lame gold-plated material.

I'd like to see off-axis response

well, the 9v battery can be used in place of the zener diode to provide a voltage reference. I have no idea if there are benefits, some people posted at DiyAudio think so, some don't. I'd have to try both to really comment further though.

I've actually hacked apart a Zu cable, and the interesting thing about it is that it uses a very complex cable geometry. I messed around with it, and then recovered it and reterminated both ends. I expected the microphonics to reduce, but actually they didn't. I'm attributing this to the tight cable winding. Anyways, I'm under the impression that the only thing I'd pay extra for over and beyond UPOCC or silver these days is the more complex cable geometries.

yeah, the camera is great when I'm outside shooting pictures, but I seem to want to take pictures of DIY stuff either late at night or early in the morning, and at those times I'm confined to my small office with it's really crappy overhead lighting. I need to look into a flash at some point ...

yeah, I'm still working on the jig. I can test 3 x 2SK170 at a time now and 1 x 2SJ74. I can match Vgs at varying currents as well as measure Idss. I need will order parts to get this up to 5 and 5 (the board will look a lot more crowded at that point). I can also order the zener diodes as well. Anything else you think is lacking from the kit at this point? side note: I think I'm getting better with using the flash on my G9... what do you think of the pic?

They are one of those "don't ask if you cannot afford it items". I think the standard D9nf are around $7k a pair and depending on options, they can fetch double that.

replacing a few resistors

looks good. So the zeners won't fit? That sucks. One tip for the loading resistors. Go ahead and bend the resistors and stick the pins on them, and then solder them in the board. Makes things much easier. I use a clip on heat sink to hold one pin while I solder the other.. I'm sure other more specialized tools can be used as well. Also, your heat sink is upside down edit: stick the zener in the battery holes, I bet it will fit there.

nope.. I guess peoople are having issues with the cleaning fluid getting on the labels? I don't really see how this could happen, as there isn't anything mechanical that would mess with the labels... as for the VPI, yes you can do 2 mats. It didn't work for me, as it's hard to store the mats in a way that they don't get contaminated. This was the problem for me at least.

yeah, i have a NG 2.5Fi. No issues at all with it being messy, all self-contained, so this must be a complaint with the cheaper NG models.

Try to hear these: http://www.feastrex.com/ Sorry for your wallet in advance, though....

I had a VPI and wouldn't own one again. In my opinion, it's a flawed design. First, you put a dirty side down on the mat and clean the top side. Then the clean top side goes right back down on the dirty mat. Everyone disputes this, but I compared side-by-side to my current RCM and it's night and day. Whatever, I have no desire to get into a pissing match over this, but usually VPI (not RCM, all VPI products in general) buy one then tout it as the greatest thing ever and really have no basis for these claims as they then refused to try anything else. Anyways, I would look elsewhere.