justin

Went to Mellow Johnny's bike shop in my free day in Austin. They had a Santa Cruz Superlight I wanted to try. On paper it seemed like everything I was looking for -- a little smaller than the Tallboy, and cheaper. It rode OK on pavement but the backend was really loose on gravel or slick grass. Sitting right next to it was a Santa Cruz Tallboy, same bike I rode in Fairfax except maybe different front fork. It was a raw aluminum look and is sweet. When I rode it in Fairfax, I thought it was way too big for me. This time it felt right and I had no problem getting on it. Could the rental have been setup differently, or am I just getting used to adult sized bikes? I rode it and it was great and the size feels good. Then took a rental Giant Anthem on a trail here, which was all rocks and not a lot of fun. The Giant was a size small (all they had), which fit my legs, but I was really cautious about going over the bars and now I see the benefit to a proper fitting size for the torso. Then stopped by Bicycle Sport Shop where they had the exact same Tallboy for $350 less, except they don't want to be accommodating on shipping/sales tax issues. So I left and will keep looking around - Mellow Johnny's will ship for me if i want it. Might need to do some local rentals in VA on home trails

i dont think I can buy a bike until Dinny has bought at least 3

Checked out one of the bike shops in Austin that was nearby. They had a Santa Cruz tallboy which appeared to be the same as the bike I rode in Fairfax, but it did not feel as big this time, like it was 1/2 to 1" lower. Something must have been set up differently. It was on hold though. I called Mellow Johnnys in Austin and they have a medium SC Superlight, i forgot to ask if it was a 26 or 29er, but im going to check it out tomorrow. ive been wanting to see one of those but the closest SC dealer to me in Virginia is 120 miles and they don't stock it

Lack of population and lack of money

i'm going to use my extra day in Texas to look at mountain bikes in some of the country's flattest land because more stores sell them here than in the Appalachians of central virginia

in celsius

probably to cover the top of the metal can which may be at a high voltage

no idea what DAC dinny is on i've been using the Oppo BDP-95 as the Sony XA5400ES is only built to withstand 8 fedex shipments.

Does Dinny's DAC do DSD?

if that X-Sabre DAC is really machined from a solid block of aluminum, thats pretty ridiculous even if it is Chinese aluminum machined in China. I use a machine shop in China now for as much as possible (and its the best work I have ever received, by far) and it would still cost me a few hundred $$ to carve out that block.

is there a way to add a SD card to the mix? i'm not sure its possible to use an iPad as a digital source while it pulls files off an external card/drive.

doh...yes, i would have it connected to my laptop. the CD player could not be, which was why it was an issue. i guess the playback off SD card or USB stick isnt really needed. it's just too bad there's no clean way to do it with an iPad instead of a full size laptop. Thanks for the help, you've all reached your quota for audio discussion in 2013.

I think it may finally be time to do away with CDs for the meet rig. Plus, shipping the CD player back and forth to meets is costly and takes up expensive table space, and they eventually break. Time to go DAC-only. At RMAF, i did have a few people come up to me wanting to play their files off SD cards or USB flash drives, and I was not equipped to do this with my CD player...another DAC advantage as I know some of them support this. Something small and lightweight would also be a plus as it makes travel/shipping easier. any recommendations?

throw out that Analogue Productions box and start over. that would piss me off.

the ray samuels suite, a fine choice. you can travel together.

i want to join team florida. the weather SUCKS.

maybe Mikhail is interested

at this point, i may be driving, so i could help out.

yeah, i got 5,000 of them. they test good for about 700V, or at least most of them do. a few percent do not. the quality of the leads is poor. They also test full of lead, thanks to Kevin Gilmore's testing. not that i would care, but the box says Pb-Free which makes the whole thing suspect.

prices just went up for me on plane tickets, and we're more than 2 months out. looking more like making the 8 hour drive and then don't have to worry about shipping gear either

the U.S. dealer cost and U.S. retail cost should fall as well, but that's not how it works Kind of thing people in Canada/Europe/Australia are always bitching about I would also expect the SR-009 lead time to jump really high because of this. The 4-5 weeks that a particular website is quoting is not accurate. It's more like 4-5 months at this point.

thats my cost after factoring in shipping/cc fees, but why not...can always get more if i need it.

i now have about 25k in worthless Stax inventory, and my own stuff just got 20% more expensive in Japan. only positive is i might have more BHSEs to build

global reservation center is finally acknowledging the existence of CanLanta 2013. but, still only for 1 night. i have reserved friday may 3 checking out sunday may 5. must call back again to get my 2nd night under the group rate.