Dusty Chalk

Billy, it's back in stock as of today, and there's a $99 one at amazon if you search on invicta skeleton (without the lizard strap, I think).

Also, what is important to you, and what are you looking for, prat, smoothness, headstage, bass?

K1000's...with mistletoe.

I suspect that English is not his first language, can anyone confirm? 5687 -- I wouldn't be afraid (since he's violating the rules anyway) to press your point, and try to rephrase your question -- he may be using babelfish to translate it.

There is a part of me that actually likes that watch, but I like the one you posted for yourself more. Except for that huge fucking knob. What is that, a doorknob? I know it's a "look", but I guess I'm just not the target market for that look.

I would disagree with this statement.

Think of it as the population problem correcting itself. Darwin awards in large groups.

Woofer inversion, definitely -- they have a visible outward tilt on the bottom (well, the passive radiators do, anyway). I may just have to go for the mods, though, as the woofers are one of the standard mods.

x2 I revel in my strangeness -- I had a co-worker who asked me what "that thing" was. "It's a DAC." "Why?" "To decode digital into analog." "No, yes yes, I know that, but doesn't the CD player have one already?" "Yes, of course it does." "Then why?" "Because then I can run it through this thing." "What's that?" "It's an upsampler." "What does an upsampler do?" "It changes the bitrate from 16/44.1 to 24/96." "How does it do that?" "Interpolation." "But it can't create any information that isn't already there, right?" "Yes." "So...why?" "Because I think it sounds better." etc. Fuck 'em. Pretty much. Or fuck with 'em. "I have a friend who has two." "But you can't..." "Yeah, I know, he only has one set to 'upsample'." "What's the other one for?" "To reduce jitter." "Can you actually hear jitter?" "Me? No. Him? Yes." etc.

I'm sure she's explained this to you already, but just in case she hasn't: The theory goes, if your body thinks it's not getting enough calories, then it stores them as fat. If you're on a high-calorie-burn regimen, then you need to eat more than (some threshold) before you'll lose weight. It's leftover from our hunt-and-gathering days -- there were times as cavemen that we wouldn't eat for days, so our body would store up the food as fat, rather than shit it out, whereas if you're always consuming enough calories to compensate for what you burn, your body will eventually figure it out and expunge the rest.

No, it's a scientific fact that you can't hear all the detail in music until you hit your mama.

Good luck!

Pfff.

Do what, get her pregnant? There were a lot of "thats" in that post.

It's the only version in SACD, so technically, yes, it's a remaster.

That's not side-by-side, that's one on top o'th'other.[/pedantry]

Following that theme: Free Bird Green Grass and High Tides Made in Japan Lots of occasional Jethro Tull songs (Heavy Horses, No Lullaby, Dark Ages, Flying Dutchman, Pibroch (Cap In Hand), Baker St. Muse, Minstrel in the Gallery...) Lots of occasional Genesis songs and tuplets (Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea, Behind the Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal, Duke's Travels/Duke's End, Dodo/Lurker, In The Cage/Medley [from Three Sides Live], Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers.../...In That Quiet Earth/Afterglow, etc.) -- but you'd have to rip them that way (which I'd recommend anyway, since since when do you listen to them otherwise, anyway?) Live versions of Talking Heads songs (Life During Wartime is practically an aerobic workout just watching David Byrne run around the stage, Born Under Punches from The Name of This Band is..., also: Houses in Motion and The Great Curve).

You know, when I am king, I'm going to declare National "Bah Humbug" day -- and then the national drink will be some variant of a black and tan. Went back and looked -- you're right (of course) -- but I could've sworn I remembered that at least one year, they caved in to pressure and called it a seasonal brew.

But...but...but...less gear to hide! I'm not trying to talk him out of it -- didn't you see my "separates vs togethers" comment? LOL, someone's been drinking. Man, I wish I could drink. Has the Anchor SeasonalMerry Fochin' Christmas Brew come out yet? I need to grab a six.

That's just disturbing.

Yeah, variable as opposed to fixed, thereby rendering the preamp moot.

Brain lapse -- I knew that. They've even started making integrated amps with built-in DACs. Yeah, one of those would probably be fine, too. Especially if it has a USB or Firewire connection that matches whatever you've already got. I was reading the new Benchmark review in the current issue of Stereophile in which they deliberately chose USB 1.1 because (a) it's perfectly sufficient for uncompressed 24/96 stereo, and ( it forced them to use their own drivers, allowing them to make it bit perfect.

So you're a computer-as-source guy? That's fine, as there's been some discussion of CDP's with digital inputs (read: DAC with a built-in CD player) and variable analog outputs. You don't need the CD player, but unfortunately, there's even fewer DAC's with variable outputs. So I would still recommend either that (DAC or CD/DAC w/variable outputs), or a DAC and a preamp (separates vs. ...uh... "togethers"). You really want bang-for-the-buck, I highly recommend active speakers. If you get a small pair of monitors, you may need to flesh them out with a subwoofer, but those exist. So either a 2.0 or 2.1 setup.

Sounds to me like you need to rethink your whole system. Yes, speakers are most important, but I think you should upgrade your system all at once. I understand the hesitancy to go "all out" while living with your parents, so I would recommend active speakers, driven by CDP with variable outputs and be done with it. There's all sorts within your budget -- did you know that Wharfdale make monitors (active speakers)? Look at these prices! You could, of course, spend more, and get more, but the Wharfdales sound surprisingly good -- give them a listen if you can. Did you want to be able to play anything besides CD's?

I believe the one I see pretty much every weekend (actually, it's more like every other weekend) is a Faroudja professional-level upscaler that looks pretty damn good, but is several years old technology at this point. It's probably comparable to the Faroudja upscaler that Masterlu mentions in his first post. You may also want to look at the Lumagen HDP, as it's several hundred dollars cheaper (US$1199), and looks like it has been the recipient of trickle-down technology (though don't hold me to it, as I have not yet confirmed this) -- notice how it has "SD and HD per-pixel motion adaptive deinterlacing" listed as "newly added"? Dew et -- it will revitalize you DVD collection, and render upgrading to HD moot.