Hopstretch

See below for current setup, complete with some castoffs from Mike that just arrived today. I'd be interested to hear more about this mod for the 12Ls, Dusty.

HAS ANYONE REALLY BEEN AS FAR AS DECIDED TO USE EVEN WANT TO GO LOOK MORE LIKE? Obviously.

It's the continuing desktop clusterfuck. Like an arse, I decided to add an analogue source as well, so I needed a preamp. Thought I'd run it active with the headphone amp on the tape out and the powered monitors on the pre out. But it turns out there's a wicked hum in the speakers that way. Passive, though, it's beautifully quiet and transparent -- so the bodge setup right now is both sources into the pre, line out to the headamp and loop through that to the speakers. This appears to work fine from a SQ perspective, but still begs the original question about where to be setting the levels. The simple answer, I guess, would be to sell the lot and buy a Zana and be done.

Audio theory question. If you have two components with separate volume controls in your signal chain (in my particular case a passive pre-amp and a headphone amp), what would be the preferred method of setting the playback level: Max out pre, use amp pot; max out amp, use pre pot; half and half (or whatever other proportion you fancy)? In practice, using an SPL meter to crudely level match, I can't discern any particular difference in sound quality. But I'd be interested to know if there's a rule of thumb.

Cocteau Twins -- Milk & Kisses

Mine's easier listening!

Beck -- Sea Change

TLDR.

More likely the extreme magnetification of those drivers has teslatized its component moleculites.

OK, not USB, but I bet this little setup sounded quite nice for a "mere computer rig".

It puts the cups on the headphones or it gets the hose again.

Build me a T2 or I squeal.

I don't even want to know what the wife said when you told her you were getting heavily into 65-year-old army surplus, Nate-o.

So, so wrong.

My nominee -- most well-deserved facepalm of the week.

Win win winny win win!

Two men enter, one man leaves -- with all the audio stuffs.

The Beatles -- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Mono) Haven't seen this much mono going around since the girls' dorms at college.

The Beatles -- Rubber Soul (Mono)

I feel out of it today, too. The accompanying sore throat is probably a bad sign. And kids are like predators, they can smell weakness.

The current-gen iPod Touches just got a nice price cut ahead of the launch of the new ones. The 32GB is $120 off at $279.

Whatever the actual case, I'm going to enjoy imagining that the reason they're on sale is because of some hungover Chinese silkscreener running off a thousand pairs with "Hammcher (sic) Schle". Would make the Head-F1 debacle seem a mere hiccup.

Did they really try and write "Hammacher Schlemmer" on the earcups and run out of room? Can't see the pic too well on my phone.

Good deal on a classic integrated amp. AudiogoN ForSale: NAD C325BEE

Oh ye of little faith! I still think the category they're trying to define is interesting. Instead of a player that just happens to have digital inputs, it's a DAC that just happens to include a transport. Huge difference, see?