Asr

Alison Krauss & Union Station - "A Living Prayer" Massive Attack - "Inertia Creeps" I also find both to be surreal and unnervingly haunting in very different ways.

I've been calculating some purchases of support discs, audio equipment racks, and power conditioners for a while and went to go look up some more info. Should be getting my BHSE today finally, whoooo! May not have a chance to set it up and listen until next week though. So I might as well ask now, anyone know if KT77s (Genalex Gold Lion) will work as a drop-in replacement? If the answer is a maybe/maybe not, any harm in just trying it to see what happens?

Music Direct has a demo Denon AH-D7000 for $750: MUSICDIRECT - DENON - AHD-7000 REFERENCE HEADPHONES

Redbook CDs (most of these were acquired for RMAF - and will be acquiring more next month) AC/DC - Back in Black Dream Theater - Awake Eric Clapton - Unplugged Esthero - Breath From Another Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV [ZOSA] Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Mogwai - Mr. Beast Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream Smoke City - Flying Away (trip-hop) Soundgarden - Superunknown Steely Dan - Aja The Blue Nile - Hats (pop/rock) The Clash - London Calling Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall Tool - Lateralus If anyone has any recs for mainstream & highly popular metal or industrial bands btw, I'm all ears (I'm only familiar with Type O Negative). Or blues or soul for that matter. So far I've only dug into rock and jazz. eMusic Downloads (last set - will be cancelling my membership now) (all electronica as usual) Atrium Carceri - Souyuan Circular - Nanotopia James Bernard - New Life Lusine ICL - Freak EP Lusine ICL - Language Barrier Mind Soup - Love Songs For Gifted Children Peace Orchestra - Peace Orchestra Sounds From The Ground - Thru The Ages Thomas Fehlmann - Lowflow

So how many butt wiggles have you counted with Rihanna so far? Also: What support discs are you using under the cones there? What power cords & interconnects are you using? Did yours come with those snazzy RCA & XLR jack covers? What tubes do you have on there? (As those don't look like the stock ones.)

Dell recently came out with two new netbooks, Mini 10 and Mini 10v. The 10v is $299. Link here: Dell Mini Netbooks: Colorful, Small, Light Weight

B22 or Dynahi are really the only amps that meet your criteria.

Self-correction: apparently the multi-quote at Head-Fi turns orange over there too, I just hadn't noticed earlier. So my bad. Also I wasn't referring to our one and only DAC-buying Monkey, just monkeys in general.

Cambridge Audio close-out at Audio Advisor. Last batch of these units that have been made (due to the new 650 series): 640C V2 (CDP): $350 640A V2 (int amp): $370 640T (tuner), $280 (4 left) 540C V2 (CDP): $300 340T (tuner), $230

Multi-quote, dude. Like I did just now. And unlike at Head-Fi it turns orange when selected so even a monkey can be trained to use it.

I'm not adept with any specific techniques or tools when it comes to shooting through glass - I usually just try to shift my position to get reflections or light out of the way, and of course the focus point should be set to your intended target. Generally speaking, fewer lights/reflections will show up the closer you are to the subject. Also, it helps to point the camera away from any light sources, if at all possible.

^ Did you observe that the amp is upside-down?

Or JH13 with GS-1 or GS-X instead, so you have a lower gain to play with, because the GL's is 6x (well, unless you get Justin to modify it or you know how to do it yourself). Or the AE-2 if you'd prefer to skate with something cheaper. I used to think the Cayin HA-1A was pretty good with the K701, but if you'd prefer to buy American, there's only Woo Audio.

Ayre QB-9, Bel Canto DAC3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, or North Star M192 MKI, etc, at a minimum I'd guess. Or maybe the HeadRoom Ultra DAC. It's time for you to get a serious source to go with your serious amps.

Random pics taken at and near the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA, on Friday last week. 1, 5, & 6 were taken with my Tamron 17-50, the others were taken with my Sigma 50-150 (a fantastic lens btw). (click any for larger)

Pics! I also created this Web page for Head-Fi, if someone would do the honors of linking from the meet thread yonder: 2009 NorCal Head-Fi August Meet AMB's stack of Gamma2 (y2) DACs blessingx intensely checking out the JH13 jpnum's Stacker II hybrid Icarium's: Slim Devices Transporter, HeadAmp Gimore Balanced Reference, & Spectral SDR-2000 Icarium's Dynahi and Assemblage DAC-3.1 Bottlehead customer's SEX amp mikeymad's: Singlepower ES1, Marantz SA7S1, & Woo Audio 5 The fine folks behind Bottlehead ("Doc" on left) Bottlehead custom amp - front Bottlehead custom amp - top Eddie Current's Softone Model 3 CD player ironbut's Technics reel tape player Eddie Current's Laconic ZD Micro Donald North HeadAmp Gilmore Lite & Cambridge Audio DacMagic FallenAngel's Balanced B22 foo_me on Grado HP1000/HP2 Woo Audio WES FallenAngel's Balanced Dynalo (Dynamid) my HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE (sourced by my Pico USB DAC)

I have no idea how Accuphase achieves their identical-level single-ended and balanced output, someone else will have to speak for that. In the past they didn't use dual-differential DACs, that might have changed recently though with their latest CDPs. Well that would theoretically be nice, but I'm not sure Accuphase implements the balanced output correctly. The DP-500 that I used to own did not sound better balanced compared to single-ended, it sounded exactly the same.

Not all sources with "balanced" output have it at 2X the single-ended output. Accuphase, for example, has it at the same level.

Nope I only listened to the SR-Omega and 4070. I saw that Lambda Sig but was running out of listening time, and I would've rather listened to an LNS anyway (don't recall seeing one though). What? What's that I heard from the peanut gallery? I'll post pics too, granted they're not as nice as Peter's, but they're still something, right? Shure SRH840: Forgot to add these to my earlier impressions. These sounded ok, wouldn't say they're terrible, but not outstanding either. Fine SQ for a closed headphone maybe, complete with closed headphone-type bass. Useful amount of isolation I'd guess. They had a lot of pressure though, and got "hot" quickly. Pleather earpads, ick. Qualia 010 w/ Small headband: I tried these on for kicks (they were Justin's). Perfect fit, zomg. If Sony still sells headbands, I might pick one up!

....hrmm I think I have to try this Dodson DAC now. Damn you, Monkey! And I think you discovered why I returned the BDA-1.

'Twas another great meet in the regions of Northern Cali, kudos to JP for pulling off a shindig not too long after the chaos of CanJam 09. The more laidback & chill vibe made it easier to soak in everything this time, and there was lots of stuff indeed. More stuff than I had time to listen to. As usual, it's the people who make the meets and the crowd in attendance was a round-up of both frequent regulars and fresh newbies. Always great to reconnect with familiar faces (especially those in Team NorCal) and meet new ones, though since this was a mere 1-day meet, I inevitably spent more time talking to those familiar faces and trying to get pics of it all, though I did get to introduce myself to some MOTs like Bottlehead, Neko Audio, and Donald North Audio (I missed the latter two at CanJam 09). Impressions below, pics to follow later. Didn't get to listen to as much as I hoped, had to jump the meet early to catch my return flight. Would've liked to join in on the post-meet activities, will make it next time! Spectral SDR-2000: Transport was the Spectral SDR-3000 and amp was Icarium's HeadAmp Gilmore Balanced Reference with my own music. Headphones were my own Qualia 010. I was definitely impressed by the SQ - fast, clean, clear, no squiggles. Every single musical element was perfectly in focus and crystal clear. Sounded really good and would love to hear it again, especially in quiet conditions. DNA Sonett: Source was the Sonic Frontiers SFCD1 and headphones were my own Qualia 010 with my own music. There was more mid-range than I'm used to, which I also disliked - but would probably be more ideal for more people. Something in this system contributed to a lack of speed and precision, and the soundstage seemed smaller than usual too. But it did have a very full mid-range, and lots of texture to the mid-bass. Stax SR-Omega: I came away from these with a ZOMG reaction. It's true, they really are awesome. They seemed to have a very natural frequency balance and sounded very fluid, with no particular emphasis in any part of the spectrum. But more than that, it also allowed a very insightful look at the entire musical picture and all the elements in it, with a very surrounding soundstage. I liked these quite a bit, but I think I liked the next headphone even more. Source was Voltron's Amarra and amp was the Woo WES. Stax 4070: I liked the SR-Omega, but I instantly fell in love with the 4070. It rocked me to my core. I can't pin down exactly what made it so intensely awesome for me, but I had an almost emotional response to the music, which is pretty rare for me. Alison Krauss literally almost brought a tear to my eye. I'm seriously considering a purchase of these now, they were that awesome! (I didn't really have a fit issue either, though I will add the earcups are huge!) Amp was the Woo WES and source was the Amarra. Audeze LCD-1: I think these might end up being one of the great <$500 values in dynamics. They're pretty damn good all-around - fast, clear, relatively deep tight bass, what else do you need? They're also moderately efficient. My only issue with them, they look kinda ugly and the way they fit may not be conducive to all head shapes (certainly not mine). HeadAmp BHSE: I hunted around for a source for my amp and eventually decided the best course of action was to plug it into my Pico USB DAC. It works, it's great for its price - so why not? And it sounded pretty good out of the Pico DAC too - I listened with my SR-X MKIII which bowled me all over again, just a great headphone. I did only a brief test listen with the OII to make sure it worked properly. Looking forward to spending much more time with my own amp very soon now.... Senn HD800: I saw a few pairs around on various systems and decided to check them out further just to hear if they were any better out of other sources and/or amps. Verdict: I prefer my Qualia, HP1000, and AD2000 trio and don't regret selling my HD800. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the JH13 trounces the HD800!

Will anyone be able to take my BHSE after the meet and then ship back to me sometime afterwards? I'll cover the cost of course. Would like to try to avoid having to take it with me on my return flight if possible.

I'm already planning on taking my BHSE and OII, with hopefully my Plinius CDP or something equivalently high-end that the RMAF snobs won't scoff at. Also I think you meant the late Al Stiefel.....