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Best value pub steak was @ a bar attached to the El Toro hotel. $5 for a decent rump with chips. It's no longer available (probably making a loss) and is now $10 and even at that price worth the money. However, of the "cheap steaks" (IMO anything under $20) the best was at the Milano Restaurant in at the Lansvale Hotel and Resort. $13 on a Tuesday evening you could get a 400gram cut of rib eye on the bone with beer battered chips and salad with a choice of mushroom, pepper or diane sauce. One of the better steaks I've had period, let alone for a budget steak: I wrote a full review of the place here soon after it opened here: Milano Italian Restaurant

I love eating out! I used to take photographs and write reviews for all the nice places I ate it on my blog. As I moved up the ladder, taking photos became less appropriate and hence the reviews dwindled. Speaking of Chorizo, there's a place in Fairfield called Martinez Brothers that does the best Choripan (chorizo + chimichurri in a bread roll) for only $3.90 used to be $3 but that was a looooong time ago. They also have a nice selection of salamis, cheese and other delicatessen goods. More to come as they come to mind. Yes I love food =)

Being Vietnamese Pho is one of my mainstays, there are a few suburbs near me - Cabramatta and Canley Heights where Vietnamese immigrants have flocked and entire businesses are run and owned by Vietnamese and the choice of food is fantastic. One of my favourite Pho shops is also one of the cheapest, it's in Cabramatta and is called Pho 54. It's in a tiny store, not very nice to look at but has been there for as long as I've been alive (probably longer) and has just the best, simplest Pho and at only $6.50 for a basic Pho bloody good value to boot!

Lots of choices in Sydney, but one of my favourite places at the moment is Deniros's Restaurant/Pizzeria Simple, authentic Italian pizzas that usually have no more than 4-5 toppings. Thin, soft bases with fluffy and crunchy crusts. Pasta is ok, but pizza is great, and reasonably priced considering the quality. Service is good and consistent overall. Restaurant is nice and clean but a little cramped.

x2 it means you have to deliberately want to see it. mouse over is a bit too easy to do accidentally, this suits the need very nicely.

cool, never heard of lobster reubens, concept seems good. best lobster i ever had was from this place (everyone claims to be the best, but this place is hard to fault!): simple but delicious, grilled lobster and chips. i think the beauty was in its freshness. this shop was right on the waterfront in fremantle in western australia - a hot spot for lobster fishing.

Ah, so my memory is not so bad as I do recall seeing them go for much higher. Not that I am seriously interested as I could not justify that kind of money on a discontinued headphone with its inherent problems. Someone else might be though... maybe Elephas needs a third

Omegas FSOHF, is that price pretty good?

Am I reading that right? 8 ohm impedance!

I see, I thought it was an emulator.

I think it started with an S... Sony maybe?

WINE? VMWare?

G'day mate

I guess each person has a different definition of minimal But in my eyes minimalist is the least possible components That would be either DAP > headphones, or CD player with headphone out > headphones. In the case of stats, minimal would need to include the energizer as I don't know of any CD players/DAPs with appropriate outputs. If we're going to define relatively minimal, well then that's a whole new can of works as what is the line where minimal is no longer minimal? Also I don't think cost should have a part in it, more the number of components/complexity.

I think only fitz can answer exactly what he did, but it sounds like he modded a transformer to become an integrated stax amp

yeah stax transformers/adaptors (ones made by stax are pre-fixed with SRD need a speaker amp) whereas stax energisers/drivers/amps (Stax branded are prefixed with SRM) are basically dedicated amps

It means increased prices for vintage gear =( Classic catch22

2008 appears to be shaping up to be the year of the stat

x2 Without people willing to ship international, I would be doomed to pay local pricing or worse, not have access to good gear at all. Believe it or not, I've generally had the same or faster delivery times from the USA/UK than from the other side of Australia. In this case, if you do go ahead with the sale, make sure it's fully traceable. Buyer pays shipping obviously and if he doesn't agree to paying the premium for shipping then I would respectfully decline.

very much plump. if anything there's more springiness than the SR-404 but then again, the SR-404 has a softer sort of leather. these feel like vinyl

I think Spritzer does something similar, but in his headphone cupboard. IIRC He has an always on bias line that keeps the stators charged. And now, the progression of Stax's Lambda style earspeakers through the years:

Have been listening to the SR-Lambda standard bias for the last hour or so. Impressions so far compared to the SR-404 are a less detailed sound overall. I remember going from the Lambda pro to the SR-404 and loving how less fatiguing it was. The upper mids were smoothed out and less peaky but not at the expense of detail or impact, if anything the SR-404 was superior in both regards. Comparing the SR-404 and SR-Lambda side by side, the Lambda is relative to the SR-404 as the SR-404 was to the Lambda Pro, but unfortunately at the expense of detail and impact. However, this makes it a more relaxed listen and better for background listening. On the other hand, I consider the Lambda pro and even the SR-404 a more engaging listen, I could not use them for background listening. Sound quality aside, this pair are in great condition, and I'm surprised such an old phone has lasted this long. I think the headband is smaller on the Lambda compared to the Lambda pro and SR-404 though, since I have a large-ish head and have maxed out the headband on it, whereas with the SR-404 and Pros there is still a fair bit of room to spare.

SR-Lambdas arrived this morning. Plugged them in and let them charge while I'm at work. When I get home they should be nicely charged up and ready to go

The serial on mine is A8921 so I guess that makes it an A model?

Say I've got an SRM-1/MK-2, what's the step up to the SRM-717 like? Is it a worthwhile upgrade, if any? Or should I shoot for something like a used KGSS?