aerius

Could be worse, a local audio dealer put a VdH Colibri on a Project Debut just to see what would happen. It turned out to be shockingly good, obviously the 'table was holding it back but it wasn't as silly as it sounds since the qualities of the cartridge still came through. More on topic, if the used 'table was the one that you used to make those comparisons against the Galibier, I don't see anything wrong with sticking a top of the line cartridge on it. It may be a $300 'table but it sure doesn't sound like one.

Are they LCD or CRT monitors? I have 3 CRTs and a pair of LCDs, the only one that's significantly off after calibration is a 10 year old CRT where the tube is pretty much worn out. The other 4 are pretty damn close to each other with the CRTs having the edge in image quality.

My monitor's fully calibrated with the Colorvision Spyder so it's pretty close to dead on. Short of a $13k professional broadcast monitor it's not going to get much more accurate. The camera's a weak link, but if I'm careful with the settings & exposure it's fairly close and any remaining errors for this type of photograph can be removed in Photoshop. This is why I can't shoot the same photo on a sunny day, my camera would be completely unable to handle the contrast and no amount of editing can fix it. It wasn't hail, it had rained earlier that day and the air in the river valley still wasn't 100% clear. You couldn't see any fog, but if you looked about a mile into the distance everything was visibly soft & washed out. In the photo, the trees were just far enough to get a bit of that effect.

Bingo, we have a winner. The only person who'd know for certain which one is the most accurate is me, since I'm the only one who was there to see the scene with my eyes. Which goes back to the audio world and all the music which we use when auditioning equiment, doing comparisons, or just writing up casual impressions. Unless you were there for the recording & production of the music, how would you know how it's supposed to sound? Yet in countless review & impressions posts, and I'm as guilty of it as anyone else, people claim that so & so is accurate and this gear is coloured since the music they're using should or shouldn't sound that way. But outside of a few rare cases, how can you know? Of all my CD's there's maybe 2 where I was there through the entire process with the musicians so I can definitively say, "yes, this is what the artist says it should sound like", and another couple albums where I can make a reasonable guess since I've been to the venue and I know the characteristics of the recording equipment. Everything else is a crapshoot, I can say what kind of gear makes it sound best to me but I can't make a guess at accuracy. 3rd one down is the most accurate one. The photo was taken on an overcast day with small breaks in the clouds so the lighting is soft with fairly low contrast which allows more saturation on the colours. I got the picture just as the sun was about to break through so there's a few highlights on the tree tops. The rest were edited for various effects.

The problem is I thought of that and randomized the names before uploading. I knew someone was going to take a look at the filenames so I took care of that.

Same photo, five different interpretations. Some changes are obvious, others are more subtle. Which one do you like best, and which one do you think is the most accurate representation of the actual real life scene? Something to think about and keep in mind when we're out listening to gear, doing comparisons and so forth.

A few more pictures and some brief comments. The LP rig K340 setup Pixel pusher's McAlister amp Nice comfy couch Thoughts. The Esoteric UX3 is a definite improvement over the earlier Esoteric players I've heard, which were the SA-50 and either the SA or DV60. Paired with the McAlister tube amp it sounds great, none of the soul sucking dry sound of the earlier Esoterics. It was criminally fun with the PS-1, fat kickin' bass just the way I like it, it grooves, it feels, it passes the blues emotion test with ease. I also found I liked the HP-2 more than before. I've always respected it for its abilities & qualities but I can't say I've ever loved one, but I think I'm coming around on that. I do like it now, partly I think it's because my tastes have changed a bit and also because it would make a good compliment to my RS-1. Oh yeah, Philodox' apartment needs to be treated with ERS paper since the tube amps were picking up a nearby radio station. Either that or it should be wallpapered with aluminum foil. It's the first time I've ever heard a tube amp picking up radio, it was pretty cool actually.

We had a meet yesterday at his new apartment. We had all the expensive Grados. Except the GS1000. Because it sucks. Someone also brought a crappy CD player that no one wanted to listen to, as you can clearly see from the "no disc" status. We also discussed the greatness of Grado quality control, or how every Grado had the same kink right at the cable Y where the wires split. We were astounded at how every Grado from the 225 all the way up to the PS1000 had that same kink at the Y. Oh yeah, and someone said that the pads on my Senn 580 looked like they were made of panties, or pantyhose. I'd like to state for the record that this isn't true, it was made from an old skirt. I'll let the other guys fill in on the gear & music impressions.

To be honest I don't know why. Could be compensation for lack of a choke, insufficient filter stages, or lack of some form of regulation. Or maybe he had a solid state rectifier in the prototype and switched it to a tube without making sure everything was still in spec. Could be one of dozens of things, and no one other than the designer knows for certain.

2 stage grounded cathode amp with RC coupling and transformer output. Cathodes are bypassed with generic electrolytic caps. Power supply violates the maximum capacitor size limit for a 5AR4. Max capacitance for a 5AR4 using a C input filter is 60uF going by the datasheet, the Woo is 330uF.

Yup, Dave Slagle makes pretty awesome AVC's, I prefered his to the the copper S&B unit.

Currently on track 5, I'm liking it so far.

The Capitole & Prestige are close enough that it doesn't matter, at least with CDs. I'd be shocked if I could tell them apart in a blind test.

The only difference between the two parties in the US is whether you get a reach-around when they fuck you in the ass.

I suppose I could use a few more versions of Scheherazade and Dvorak's 9th...

Cowboy Junkies' debut album from MoFi. Personally I think even the CD layer beats the hell out of every "audiophile approved" CD/SACD that I've heard.

It's not that bad. Some Lowther speakers are well over 2 Teslas. Mind you they're not an inch from your skull like a headphone driver.

I seem to recall a certain someone saying something about "no 'stats for '08!" I wonder how that one worked out...

Well, either you're buying a TTVJ Millet 307A tube amp or you're building a similar tube amp of your own.

Be sure to sample BC's #1 cash crop

In case you're not being sarcastic, "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid" are the title tracks from their respective albums.

I don't know, I initially read the thread title as "another reason for me to get the gun tonight", which makes sense and made me click on the link to find out who boomana wanted to shoot tonight. I was greatly disappointed.

Jimi Hendrix - Red House (Isle of Wight version) The Doors - When The Music's Over

It was the LL1676. K&K Audio / Lundahl Transformers: Superb results with LL1676 in 1:1 mode by Lynn Olson