aerius

Speaking of Sarah, I just picked up a new Sarah Slean album which I didn't even know was out. Since I'm still downtown on a public computer, I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, in fact I haven't even opened the shrink-wrap. Orphan Music is the title and it's a CD of live & alternate studio versions of her songs.

For those of you who are living under a rock, Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong album is now out, got myself a copy the day it was released. Yes it's a christmas album, but it's got Sarah special touch, I actually like it more than her Afterglow album. Also out on CD is the full uncut version of Mirroball, this is a 2 CD set that contains the entire concert set. Yeah there's overlap with the Afterglow Live CD/DVD set but it's different enough to be worth it. While I was at the store I also saw the A Piano: the Collection which is the Tori Amos box set that comes in a piano keyboard. I didn't buy it but I took a look at the track listings and it seems pretty interesting. I'll probably grab it when it goes on sale.

Mickey Fremer's a crackhead. He was probably snorting some serious drugs. Either that or he's being fellated by the Zanden guys. Come to think of it, it was probably more of a man-train circle-jerk.

It's a tinfoil hat for electronics.

I suddenly realized I had a bunch of lead-acid batteries which could be used for powering the heaters. I charged them up and hooked them into the amp, and it sounded just like the benchtop DC unit. Unfortunately 6BL7's suck a fair bit of juice so I have to pull the batteries out and charge them every couple days. It's an interesting idea and sounds quite nice but unfortunately it's not practical for me. Oh well, back to AC power.

Would you rather be repeatedly kicked in the nuts or be anally violated with a dildo?

You do realize you're going about it backwards. "Resolution you can never imagine" means the resolution is so fucking awful that you can't imagine it.

So I've been on vacation for the last few days and decided to go play with my tube amp since I had nothing better to do. After reading a whole bunch of stuff on the diyaudio forums I got a bunch of stuff together and played around with various power supplies for the heaters in my tubes. First off was a generic DC power supply I got as a kit in the local electronics store way back when. It sounds decent, with Grados there's more background hiss than I'd like but other than that I didn't notice anything wrong with it until I got the good stuff. Next was a benchtop power supply I found in the surplus shop. This is the quietest power supply, with Grados there's just the slightest background hiss from the tubes which I can hear only in a fairly quiet room with no music going. If I leave the headphones on my head for about 15-20 minutes it's almost impossible to notice the hiss unless I unplug & replug the headphones into the amp. As for sound, well, it makes my amp seem even more detailed and easier to listen to. It was like getting a nice tube upgrade, everything sounds more real. Then I went to AC heating with some transformers I have from past projects. It was nearly as good as the benchtop PSU, and much better than the generic DC unit. There's just the tiniest bit more hiss and that was it, no buzz, no hum, nothing. This is the setup which I'm now using since I have no room and no way to mount the benchtop PSU to my amp. For all effective purposes, at least with the gear I have, it sounds just as good as the benchtop supply. Last, and worst by far is a switchmode PSU similar to the one in the amp which we love to hate. Even though mine was grounded properly unlike you know who, it still coupled a shitload of noise into the tubes. Completely unlistenable with Grados, and the noise was noticeable even with my 400 ohm K340's. It hissed, buzzed, and hummed, and made my ears hurt. It killed the details in music and made it very fatiguing to listen to. Absolutely horrible. What's next? I don't know. I like the idea of an amp that has 4 power transformers, it seems manly in a way. It also has no electrolytic capacitors anywhere on the amp and that's kinda cool too. I might get a new HV transformer so I can get rid of the last 2 pieces of silicon in my amp, go to a CT full-wave rectifier instead of the current hybrid bridge rectifier which uses silicon and tubes.

I don't know, I've managed to completely repress the memory of the worst amp I've ever heard. But the Hornet sucked ass, my 15 year old Discman sounds better than that piece of crap, and it only cost me $20.

Ok, so if I get the W2002, will my GF's sister then agree to do 3-somes with my GF & I?

What's the best headphone for picking up chicks?

I can't speak for others, but for me it's because I use my head a lot.

YYZ

Have you ever wanted to go up to some person and ask him a totally random question just to see how he'd react? I admit that I sometimes want to do that at my Customs job, after asking the standard "where you been, got anything to declare?" stuff I feel like saying something really random and weird just for the hell of it. Questions like "what's the flaccid to errect size ratio of your penis?" or "did you know that an iPod will fit up your vagina?" So what are the random questions you feel like asking people?

You can always count on Biggie's love of Sonys.

The Head-fi rules are quite simple: If they like you, you can do whatever the fuck you want, and the mods will even run interference and make excuses for you. If they don't like you, they'll make some shit up and ban you for it.

Spreading my knowledge & experience, contributing towards productive discussion, yada yada yada.

I did some thinking the other day and it occured to me that the best Grado tube amps I've heard to date were all transformer output. The PPX3 Slam I heard, while nice, doesn't have the bottom end control and slam that Biggie's tube amp and mine have. Both our amps are transformer output push-pull amps, his uses triode-connected EL34's and mine uses 6BX7's at the moment, loads of power and control for Grados. Given the low impedance of Grados, I think a transformer output would be the way to go.

I'm in therapy. The shrink told me I needed to get in touch with my inner child.

Vote now in the penultimate bad taste poll!

Alright, it's time for the definitive question. Vote now!

Probably one the best deals in audio right now, at least as far as mark-up is concerned. KG noted in a previous thread that there's something like $600 in transformers alone, nevermind the rest of the stuff in there. The only negative I see is that I don't like 6DJ8's.

Well whoever it is I think we should give him a gay custom title for shits & giggles.

It's like The Matrix, only a million times dumber.

Of course not. Tuberoller doesn't exist.