Voltron

I'm pretty sure I just sent Dan my 4070s to try out with his BH. Hmm.

HBD Neil!

1. Woke up in SF at 5am Pacific. 2. Went to the airport and found out that my 7:30 American flight was canceled. 3. Got the travel agent to re-book my colleague and me on United at 7:28. 4. Arrived at the hotel in Times Square after a looong cab ride. Lots of people and police on the street when I ran a quick errand to get some beverages and snacks at Duane Read. Thought it must be a Late Night stunt. 5. Within the first 30 minutes, I heard live music and realized it was Paul McCartney who is on the show right now. 6. Went out to check it out and watched 6 great songs played from the balcony of the studio. Thought how amazing this was. [Above the LATE NIGHT marquee in a pink shirt] 7. Went to Tribeca to meet The Monkey for dinner and drinks at Brandy Library. We had a great time drinking whiskies and eating some nosh. 8. Left the restaurant and walked down the street to get a cab. Who else but David Letterman, Billy Crystal and a woman were chatting on the sidewalk as we went by. Nice way to round out the NY evening. 9. Now watching Letterman interviewing Sir Paul on TV. Life is pretty good.

Why can't you? It's after the exam.

Happy birthday, protector of the public interest! Cheers

Bjork -- Voltaic (Live)

Tiny Vipers -- Life On Earth

The Most Serene Republic -- ...And the Ever Expanding Universe

^? I got this Kennsington Slimblade and the fricking thing will not stay paired with the Mac Mini consistently. Not sure if there is anything to be done...

I like it. Her voice has the same quality but the instrumentation seems a bit more big, lush and orchestral than the last one. Interested to hear what the album sounds like.

New Roman Times -- On the Sleeve

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)