HeadphoneAddict

Hope you're feeling better now.

How do we know that isn't grawk?

How many minis did you order?

Wow, you must have been exhausted too. But no fever?

Maybe Evelyn didn't remember you because she isn't Amy?

Apple says my 3G iPad mini will arrive on 11/20. But I think I'm going to offer it to my college daughter while she's home for Thanksgiving. If she accepts the gift but I had fun playing with it before she leaves then I can get another one.

My daily watch is a 6 year old Casio with analog dial and SS band (with small digital sub-display). I like that it keeps time so well that I only need to adjust it by a minute or so every 6 months when I change it for daylight savings. I still have two Invictas, and I will wear one occasionally like jewelry for special occasions, but when I go to grab it I find that the time is always wrong, enough that I'm not sure if it's slow or fast. The other Invicta that I didn't like as much and hardly ever wore just had the battery die in less than a year. Meanwhile my Casio is on the same battery it came with in 2006. I think that I like a watch to be a timepiece first and style second. I really miss my grandpa's Rolex, because it was both. However, my brother is mostly into the style and jewelry aspect of it, or the swiss bragging rights. But I could just get a new battery for the like-new dead-battery watch and send him that one. Maybe the Seiko would be better for me.

Thanks. Can you recommend anything in my price range that you would consider "grawk worthy" ??

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."

Do you have a Headamp KGSS or a DIY version? Does the typical DIY KGSS sound pretty much the same if they're built right? Get well soon!

Wanted to know if they were reliable, accurate or well thought of, and which of the two might be better. I bought a couple of discounted Invicta watches for their looks, and I'm not impressed with their accuracy. I gave one to my brother as a gift and the bezel came off. Invicta wanted to $60 with postage to replace it. So I bought him another one for $59. But this time I'd like to get him something nicer in the $100-200 range for his birthday next month.

How much would you expect that one to sell for?

The DA100 Signature is a little more smoother sounding than the Apogee mini-DAC, while the Apogee seemed a little crisper around the edges of a note. Some would say the Apogee was slightly more aggressive sounding. But I don't feel that the DA100 Sig is less detailed although the attack is slightly softer, and the soundstage on both was similar. Side by side the two DACs were more similar than different, like 95% the same. But, with my KGSS or HEV70 driving my HE60 or SR-009 the Stello DA100 Sig was the more pleasing source for long listening sessions. Same with listening to HD800 out of my Woo WA6. I kept the DA100 Sig over the Apogee because I planned to get the CDT100 some day and wanted to use the I2S input. In this bedroom rig I'm using a Marantz CD5001 via coax as transport right now, which is still pretty good. My Nuforce CDP-8 is much better, but I'm using that in my big rig downstairs. The other inputs are the same, with USB, Optical, Coax and AES/BDU, as well as balanced and single ended output, but now I don't have to use a mini>RCA cable like I did with the Apogee. I should note that the Apogee via USB was better than DA100 Sig when used in native mode, but with the up-sampling on the DA100 Sig it's USB input improves greatly. Also, inexpensive amps like DV336i, EF1, CTH, Grahm Slee NOVO, and Travagans Red were a slight upgrade over the Apogee headphone out, so I wasn't using that feature anymore. And I don't have an extra volume attenuator in the signal path anymore.

Thanks for the help.

More details? Wondering if the process is still similar to in the past.

And what would that be? Simply something a little better than my #2-4 DAC's, or one on the same level as or better than the PWD? I think the Stello DA100 Signature is an excellent match for my balanced KGSS and Woo WA6 amps in the bedroom. I use the PWD in the basement rig with my balanced KGBH, ZDT and EF6 amps. I use the DAC-100 and DACmini with my Macbook Pro as a DAC/amp combo, choosing one depending on which headphones I'm using. If the NuWave is reported to be noticeably above the Stello DA100 Signature (or their old DLIII) I might consider one, but I'm not sure I need another DAC right now. I had previously considered a Lavry DA11 but was put off by the lack of RCA outputs - it was fun to play with the PIC to affect the soundstage and crossfeed when I tried it. The Wyrd4Sound DAC-2 also looked appealing to me and was under consideration for a while. In thinning the herd I sold the DLIII and Apogee mini-DAC, but not with plans to buy moar.

Not yet.

I've been considering one of these Seiko watches, what are your thoughts? Black Monster SND701 Chronograph Watch

Not sure if serious, but yeah. My top performers are PS Audio PWD, Stello DA100 signature, Nuforce DAC-100, CEntrance DACmini and Audioengine D2 wireless DAC. I would not want to get rid of any of these right now. My favorites with high performance/weight ratios are the DACport and Pico DAC-only, which I also plan to keep a long time. The HDP with S11 PSU is at or above this performance level depending on the rig it's in, but not as portable. The S11 makes a big difference in it's performance. This one is expendable if need be, as are all the ones below, although I don't plan to get rid of any for the time being. The uDAC-2's, iBasso D4, HR Micro DAC, and Audioengine D1 are pretty good portable DACs and just below the above three (based on their line-out performance). I probably don't need any of these with the above DACs around. That's followed by the tiny Hifimediy SABRE and Stoner Audio portable DACs which do not suck one bit as a DAC but do a poor job driving headphones. The rest of the DACs are not as good, and are based on PCM2706/2702 or C-media chips but often have a nice amp built-in.

Yeah, that was 28 years ago for me, but I'm pretty sure the interviews took all day. They lead us on tours of the facility and introduced us to teachers and staff. While we were distracted and overwhelmed by the process they observed us for whatever they could use to assess our interest and commitment while "selling" the school to us at the same time. Then they did a couple (or 3) one-on-one interviews asking us questions, but inviting us to ask them questions too. I think it helps to have a couple of prepared questions, that could be used to show the degree of thoughtfulness that you put into the process. And as stated before, they expect you to be nervous but want to see how you handle the stress and whether to keep it together well enough to do your part. Don't sell yourself short, but don't act like you are perfect either. They love people that are well rounded, well versed in other subjects other than the sciences, and have been self starters most of their lives and involved in the community. I think doing things like being a math teacher after giving up on med school before, and having a real life before committing to a return to medicine could be intriguing to them. I went to med school with someone who was a PA and went back to be a doctor, another was an olympic swimmer, and another a ping pong world champion. In my case I applied right out of a 4 year BS degree in Microbiology, but had worked in and volunteered in hospitals during high school and college. I was a founding member of a jewish greek fraternity at my college, and held 3 different jobs during college (lab assistant, pizza delivery, and printer's assistant). I held a 3.5 GPA, but got a 65 out of 70 on the MCAT (they score it differently now). I'm sure I wasn't nearly as well rounded as many other applicants, but I got into 3 out of 4 schools, so I must have some something right. I was happy that Baylor College of Medicine had an early decision process, so I interviewed in November and was accepted in December. I got to turn down Texas A&M and University of Texas Houston when their offers came in later. Texas Tech was my first interview, and I didn't do so well, so they had placed me on a wait list in case there was an opening later. So, good luck and don't over-think it!

PS Audio PWD, Stello DA100, Nuforce DAC-100, CEntrance DACmini and DACport, Audioengine D2 and D1, Headroom Micro DAC, Pico DAC-only, Nuforce HDP, two Nuforce uDAC, two Nuforce uDAC-2, Nuforce uDAC-2 SE, Nuforce uDAC-2 Gold, iBasso D4, Stoner Audio UD100, Hifimediy SABRE DAC, Penguin Amp DAC cable. Plus a few DAC amps combos with no line-out, like HiFiMan EF2, Meier 3MOVE, Practical Devices XM5, Vivid Audio V1, Nuforce Icon Mobile, Nuforce Icon desktop, Travagans Green, and a Creative USB DAC with 3D crystalizer.

And just to be clear, the music would reside on the NAS or on storage connected to the computer that is running twonky server, and the PS Audio eLyric app would run on the iPad to control playback from server to iPad, where you connect iPad to the digital dock. ServeToMe would run on Mac or PC where the music resides, and the StreamToMe app runs on the iPad for controlling the music playback. Stream to me is the cheaper option, and you can use it over 3G, but I don't know if it's bit perfect like eLyric. To access the StreamToMe music over 3G I think you have to know your external IP address, and set your router to allow access to the service. Inside your home there is a list of local servers, and you can also set up a manual server address to access the home from the outside (IP and port). You can select what folders ServeToMe will share, and your iTunes playlists are available as well. AND, it plays FLAC and ALAC, WAV, AAC, MP3. Some of my AIFF plays, but I had a hi-res one that didn't play while the others on the same album did. It also lets you stream movies, and not just your music. If the movie is DRM iTunes protected it will offer to load the movie in safari using quicktime, asking for your StreamToMe user name and password to log in via browser.

My ears are starting to roll off by 12.5Khz so I can't say they are less rolled off or more rolled of than the JH13Pro. But when I turn up the volume high I can hear 16Khz with both IEM, but it's still fading a lot for my old ears. JHA claims they have better extension, but most owners of the ES5 (at the other forum) feel the ES5 go up pretty high as well.

As Grawk said, you can use iTunes home sharing to access your music, and it can stream in lossless. They also make wifi external HD's for iPads. One is the GoFlex satellite. MotionMedia also makes the G-connect wifi external HD for iPad. Oh, you can also use apps like TwonkyServer or an NAS, and use PS Audio eLyric to play the music on your iPad or redirect it to another player like the PWD Bridge or Xbox 360. If you don't want to invest in an NAS and don't want to leave a computer running 24/7 with TwonkyServer, the LaCie LaPlug will convert any USB hard drive into an NAS with music server (that works with Bridge and with iTunes as shared library). StreamToMe for iPad/iPhone will let you stream music from your computer without needing to have iTunes open, if you run the ServeToMe app on the computer, and it works over 3G when you are not at home.

I NEVER said retina on Macbook 15" is too small. Quite the opposite - it's the easiest Macbook screen for me to read (smoother lines, better contrast). My problem with the mini screen is the small text when I used Safari is grainy with less contrast, which makes it more blurry to me. That same size text on my retina iPad screen is sharper and easier to read.