Voltron

Imogen Heap -- First Train Home (New single)

That's a fucking steal for a great headphone. Nicely done.

The Dead Weather -- Horehound

Nobody will have the Spectral SDR-4000S that I heard, but Min and Dan have the older version of the dac, SDR-2000.

I bet the combo will be $18-20K

Listening to the 4000 made me want to buy it even though I was focused on hi-rez and computer audio. It is that good, even if it is a one-trick pony. The new DAC is something that will be very interesting, especially if it has a new transport.

I'm pretty sure I saw Kathy Peck doing HPA's impressions at CJ.

You might figure out that Harley is a pretty serious reviewer from the fact that he is editor in chief of TAS and has more than 700 audio equipment reviews published, as well as books, etc. I understand your comment to an extent, but you have to read the context of his article and you pretty much understand what he is getting at. Plus, there can be some lame comparisons made, but when somebody like Harley says it it the best Redbook playback he has heard, that is saying a lot because he has heard and reviewed everything. You can take it all with a grain of salt if you think he or all of the audio press shills, etc. And Andrew is right, Harley is a bit of twit. He was ultimately comparing the $5K Alpha dac to the $12K Spectral CD player, which is a very tough comparison for the DAC. I actually did this exact comparison at a store in Berkeley. The Spectral does one thing incredibly well, and that is play the shit out of CDs. It is not hi-rez and it does not have a digital input but the sound from CDs is nearly unbelievable. The Alpha does more things, is hi-rez, and sounds great. It did not sound as good as the Spectral on CDs, but then again it sounds great and way better than most things in the price range for CD playback. Add to that fact that the Alpha is much more suited to hi-rez and with that is sounds simply fantastic and you have a lot more to offer for the money. Of course, I am still curious to do a much more thorough comparison of my Amarra Model 4 or JP's Sonic Model 302 against the Alpha because the first time at CJ09 was messed up and inconclusive. I may try to get an Alpha for the August 9 meet.

Lago di Como, Italy

Bowerbirds -- Upper Air

Can't somebody do a lolsquid with that pic?

You mean by JP#s carrying it up North or some such?

Harry "Sweets" Edison & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis -- Simply Sweets (needledrop)

Happy Anniversary Nate! Great weekend.

That was supposed to be in the listening thread. Oh well.

$4500 preorder and $4990 normal retail.

The Jayhawks -- Music from the North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology

No, I don't think it is a typo. The review even mentions that the prototype has 10 tubes but the final will have 11. Jack Wu told me recently that they had achieved a breakthrough of sorts in their last prototype that made the amp better. This version of the prototype is supposed to be headed my way soon for the Aug. 8 NorCal meet.

Why, I wonder.

So shut the fuck up already!

Two separate albums. Sorry. Both are great, though, and the McBride is one of the best new jazz albums in years. See what are you listening to for the album arts.

That is the album I just bought yesterday, so July 21 came a little early this year. I know the 45 RPM vinyl is still coming out at some point, and I think there is an SACD, but the CD was in the store yesterday.

Bob Mould -- Life and Times Christian McBride & Inside Straight -- Kind of Brown

I guess I am curious about all these graphs and things, but I am listening to mine right now and they are really kicking ass. I am actually using the Moth 300B speaker amp with banana plus to XLR adapter. I was trying the AKG K340s that came with the adapter and they sound like pathetic hollow images in comparison. The HD800s are not a dead-bang sure thing best cans in the world, but they can sound simply fantastic. This aint a bad way to power them, I must say. Listening to Bob Mould and Christian McBride's new albums and I gotta say it is good shit. Sitting on my porch in Mayberry with a beer by my side doesn't hurt, either, of course.