HeadphoneAddict

Thanks, I have a 1Tb with only 80Gb free, so I need a 1.5 or a 2Tb now.

I got an email from Apple that said they could not process my payment and to call my credit card company. I called Chase and they said Apple never tried to submit the charge and that there was no fraud alert or hold on my account. Basically Chase hasn't seen the charge attempt yet nor is there a hold for the $622, although they saw a $10.38 charge for the iTunes music store earlier today. I called the Apple store toll free number in the email and they said it was a mistake and a lot of those emails went out in error. Apple said the charge was approved and to ignore the email, but that it will not be charged till it ships. At that point I told them there is no charge on hold according to Chase. They said don't worry, and just check back in a day or two. I don't know what to think.

That HD is now $118. I must be doing something wrong.

I'm using a Targus portable mini 4-port hub which works for me fine on my Macbook. I don't get any drop-outs or sonic defects that I can hear. The USB cable has two heads and plugs into both USB ports, which seems to provide enough power to connect 4 items without power or data flow issues.

I picked up a silicone skin from Accessories, iPod, iPhone, Zune, Toys, Gifts, Sporting Goods, Samsung, LG, Blackberry & More , which I ordered on the 17th and it arrived on the 24th. It looks decently made, and should protect it until my Apple case comes in.

BENZ Ace Red phono cartridge.

Mine is a pending or hold on my Chase card now.

BENZ Ace Red phono cartridge, only used twice and in storage for 3 years.

teh kitteh likes warm

Gives new meaning to the term "Couch Surfing".

Patrick82 has been busy I see.

Sorry I missed this till just now. I would like to say bee careful and watch your ass, or break a leg, or whatever one is supposed to say when this happens. We all appreciate what you are doing for our country and theirs, and we're all so very proud of you!

Recent snow shot of Cheyenne Mountain, captured with a 3mp iPhone 3GS - click to access the full res photo - no editing done: Cropped version:

I agree the emotion SE is beautiful, in terms of aesthetics. I know nothing else about it. In a MM cartridge the magnet moves with the stylus while the coils are stationary, and the magnets usually have more mass than the coils; so in a moving coil cartridge the lighter weight coils are moving with the stylus. Some people feel that gives the MC better transient response, at the cost of lower output levels and needing a higher gain preamp. But many MM carts are quite good because a lot depends on the diamond needle's geometry as well as the internal engine that pulls the vibratory sound from the stylus and converts it into electrical energy. This is what I learned back in the 70's, so things may have changed a lot. Even back then there were some high-out put MC cartridges available which I owned. Otherwise I am still in the learning phase as well.

I've been thinking, and if I don't like using my iPad with my VZW MiFi for internet then you guys will probably be seeing me sell it here so I can get the 3G version. If the MiFi could give more than 4 hours of internet on a charge then I'd be less worried. I suppose a couple of spare batteries for it would be in order, because I suspect I'll be using the iPad a lot as my eyes keep getting older. [rant mode on] Apple definitely should have drivers for bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and I don't understand why they haven't done that for the iPhone yet. I think it took two years to get A2DP stereo bluetooth headsets working, didn't it? I'm an Apple fan boy as much as the next guy (5 Mac computers and 2 Apple TV in the house), but I think that they get it in their head that nobody "should need" a feature and they arrogantly decide not to offer it (no Cut and Paste for 2 yr, no fully functional BT or removable battery, and no Flash are some examples). I think iPhones should offer tethering (ATT sucks), and iPhone users should be able to share their internet with their iPad. I also fear that Apple will try to keep some iPhone accessories and iPad accessories from working on the other device, like no VGA out of the iPhone and no composite video out of the iPad. Or no SD card reader for iPhone "because it has a camera". And, will they offer the iBookStore to iPhone/Touch users? I keep thinking the real Steve will say, "iPhone users really don't want to read eBooks on a tiny screen" so they wont offer it. I'll be surprised if they do, but one can only hope. And, will they offer iBookStore for the Mac and PC? Many of our FM transmitters and chargers for iPods broke with Nano 3G/Touch/iPhone, and I fear that iPad wont be able to use a lot of those, and then we have to upgrade dock acc's again. Want to guess whether your $120 whiplash audio LOD for Pico Slim will work with iPad? I'd say 50/50 chance it wont because they might change the dock pins again. I have to keep a couple of 5G iPods around just so the kids can still watch movies on their 7" sonic impact video screen, because the 6G classic or 3G-5G Nano isn't compatible. The kids got MTX iPod boom boxes for Xmas a couple years ago that sound great, but they need to be used with an older 5G video or 2G Nano because they can't charge the newer iPods. It's just stupid. So, I'm expecting moar stupidity with the iPad. [/rant mode off]

The SR404LE sounded better on the eXStatA and SRM-717 than my GES, otherwise it was a little too dark. I would guess that it would also sound good on the SRM-1 Mk2 Pro. It does respond to a change in amp and source. It's easy to drive loud, but needs the right combo to sound right. In the end, even though I recently had a chance to buy back my 404LE, I like the O2 a good bit better.

I don't know what all the features of Simplify Media was/are, but it sounds like a few of you liked it. I've been using DOTTUNES and I can listen to my entire iTunes library from anywhere with a 3G or Wifi connection with my iPhone or Macbook. You should check it out. The only problem is that it doesn't let you share videos or photos, just your music playlists. You can give people a user name and PW, or set up a guest account, and you can set which playlists certain people have access to. It uses your home internet bandwidth to serve the music, and people can access it by trying to visit your external IP address from the web. If you don't want to have to worry about remembering and logging into your external IP address and want an easy to remember domain name, then you can get someone like no-ip.com to issue you a domain name that links to your home IP address. You also can run an app that no-ip.com supplies on the home computer that updates your external IP with no-ip.com if it changes, so you can still get into your home computer.

I enjoyed the SR-404LE more than my other Lambdas, and found them to be less etched and a little darker sounding like my O2. They reminded me a little of an electrostatic HD600. But in comparison to my O2 Mk1 the 404LE just didn't sound as good. So with as much as I listen to the O2 and HE60, I sold the 404LE in the first month I had them to help pay for my WES amp upgrade. I don't regret selling it to help buy the WES, but I still do miss the 404LE.

I didn't order the Apple case, thinking it would be nice if another one was out sooner.

That was actually a pretty decent review.

Well, Boo hasn't come back yet. For my son's sake we decided to adopt a little female 6 mo old kitten at the Humane Society this weekend, and if Boo comes back then we'll be happy with 2 cats. My son is in a sleeping bag in my bathroom right now with the cat. Socks is a little scared of the new place, so she's staying in the master bathroom and getting a feel for the new home while we try to "kitten-proof" the house. Boo was a naughty kitten when we first got him, and he chewed on things like headphone cables, but after a while we were used him being a mature cat and didn't have to hide stuff anymore (4.5 year old).

It really sounds great. [snip] Beats my DLIII and Apogee mini-DAC. I typed several paragraphs about my thoughts, but I decided not to post them because it's just not fun anymore having my impressions of gear dissected and beaten down. Besides, I started to drift off topic about how I don't want to spend more on analog if I can be happy with just a better transport for the PWD... That's what Craig said - to look at the PWD, WES or my power center as the source of the issue (APC UPS, or Monster noise filter power strip). The reason we're thinking PWD is that the DLIII and Apogee mini-DAC didn't have hum with both amps connected, with all else being the same.

Okay, half of what Craig said to me today was over my head, since I'm a doctor and not an EE. Craig said the ZDT PSU is grounded via the wall plug's 3rd ground pin, and then the ZDT chassis is grounded to the ZDT PSU's 3rd pin ground via "high frequency ground", where there is a resistor and capacitor between the wire and where it is connected to the case. He says this will appear at first to be floating when I was testing it for continuity, but it isn't. He said that if I want him to install a switch where I can bypass the resistor/capactor he can do that, or I can by pass it myself if I think this is causing an issue, or I can run a wire from the ZDT PSU to the Amp, or from the AMP to WES. Or he said I can try to figure out why the PS Audio PWD is causing the WES and ZDT to not be on the same level when connected at the same time (although it could also be the WES, or my power filter). So, basically he thinks there is some kind of differential between the WES and ZDT that may be coming from the PS Audio or something else like my power distribution device, and that is why tying the two amps together helps. He suggests that I try a power distribution device without noise filters or noise cancelation stuff (fancy term for simple power strip). And also said I could contact PS Audio if I think their DAC is doing this. I have spoken with Alex a couple of times at PS Audio, and if changing how everything is plugged into the wall doesn't help I will pass this by him to see if they have heard of anything similar with hum/noise with two amps connected. I have to check back with him anyway because they put the warranty down as expiring 3/2/12 instead of 8/29/12, and I need them to update it for the extra 6 months I am missing. So, this weekend I will try a few more things and report back. Sorry I am so ignorant about this stuff, but not everyone who uses the gear knows how it works in order to enjoy it. I still can't understand how a computer knows what a 1 or a 0 is, and makes a "decision" to do anything. It all seems magical to me. (Techy peep says, "Well, see if it sees a one, it opens a gate"... "Interrupting here, but how does it see anything? Does it walk over and say, let me get that door for you?", "No, it sees a signal"... "Stop, how does anything know to send a signal?" "If you'll let me explain, there are 0's and 1's..." "Um, How does it know the difference between a 0 and 1?" - it's a chicken and egg thing to my mind, so don't worry, you don't have to explain it to me here, I'm too stupid to get it. )

I got called about another "found" long hair black cat today. But it was really just hanging out in their area and not in their possession, so it took my son and I an hour just to find it. It looks like the smaller brother of our cat, about the size and hair length of the other female cat from the 9th. This one has balls and claws while ours doesn't, plus ours was about 3lb heavier; so we knew as soon as we saw it that it wasn't ours. The people who called about it said it was a new stray in the area since March 1st and they've been feeding it, but our cat didn't disappear till the 2nd; so that was the first clue it might not have been ours in the first place. We wanted to believe they just had their days mixed up. They were too busy moving and couldn't take it to the Humane Society to see if the owner could be found, so they put an ad in the paper. The Humane Society saw the ad and called us. We took said cat to the Humane Society for the finders, where my kids promptly found three cats they want to adopt (one for each kid). It's been 10 days since we've seen Boo, and we suspect the coyotes got him the 1st day (they were in the yard 20 minutes before he snuck out). My wife and I discussed getting ONE female kitten tomorrow, and if Boo comes back we'll just live with 2 cats (and a dog). My 14 year old picked out a 3 year old cat (de-clawed and spayed), and we don't know how it will like the dog but it's very friendly and likes attention, unlike the missing cat who is a recluse at times (all cats have aspergers). My son likes a 6 month old grey tabby, and my eldest daughter likes a black and white 6 month old kitten (all female). I just can't abide by having 3 cats to replace one, and in case Boo comes back he wont be happy. Not being a black cat is a bonus in case it gets lost too, because I have gone to look at 10-12 black cats in the past 7 days that aren't ours. Who knew there were so many of them that get lost within 2 miles of our house.

Isn't there another set of monoblocks already there? Seems like putting those things in front of the speakers isn't the best place for them, being subjected to vibrations and such, unless they are there as room treatments and it helps the sound.