Voltron

I just dropped my computer on the ground as the stupor bowl took a wild turn. Happy birthday anyway!

Frank said the parts cost was $2K but that might be a little low. It is not dual mono, as I understand it. One PS powers the driver tubes, which are 6BX7GTs, and the other PS powers the output tubes, the Soviet GM70s. The nice thing is that Frank drew out the schematic for thrice and he is going to part it out and spec some amps (possibly) for the impressed listeners. The K1000 sounded really nice, but I actually thought the HP-1s were gorgeous. We all agreed that Frank needs to slap on some speaker taps and maybe a 4-pin XLR instead of the 1/4. Nice stuff.

Happy Fucking Birthday!

neilvg loaned me spritzer's former Lambda Sigs and they are the clear winners over the Lambda Pro. I haven't had enough time to compare closely but from the first listen I preferred the Sigs. Oh well, I guess I should have bought them before Neil when I had the chance...

Dean Wormer!? . . . DEAD!

I thought there was no authority to question?!

Nice impressions grawk. I am very curious about the comparison of the Duet vs. Pico dac only so plug them into that M3 already!

Happy 50th again!

Bill Frissell at Yoshi's SF -- twice. The first show on Thursday was much better than the second on Saturday, but I liked both. He played lots of covers from from Dylan to Bacharach. Good stuff.

Not as much as I was hoping for, that is for sure. Great American Music Hall in SF has a show I think would be fun on Friday night. May Gauthier and Mark Olson, founder of the Jayhawks. She has a great voice and they are co-headlining so it might be interesting. Check out the link http://www.musichallsf.com/artist_pages/mary_gauthier_mark_olson_020108.htm Social Distortion with The Aggrolites Friday, February 1 9:00p at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA Cassandra Wilson at Yoshi's Jazz club in SF, and Chris Botti at Yoshi's Oakland. The Bluegrass & Old Time Festival (not to be confused with the FREE and much larger Hardly Strictly Bluegrass) is in town that weekend. David Grisman would probably be the best bet on Friday night. FRIDAY, FEB 1 David Grisman Bluegrass Experience. The Independent 8:30 / 9pm, $30. Buy tickets online! Martha Spencer and Jackson Cunningham, John McKelvy. McGrath's 7:30 / 8pm, $10. Buy tickets online! SATURDAY, FEB 2 KIDS' SHOW: Gayle Schmitt and The Toodala Ramblers. Randall Museum 1pm and 3pm, $9 adults / $6 kids. Buy tickets online! FILM SCREENING: Sprout Wings & Fly, Talking Feet, Martha Spencer and Jackson Cunningham between films. Red Vic two showings: 2pm and 4pm $12 (or both Sat and Sun for $20). Buy tickets online! Grizzly Peak, The Atlas String Band, Nell Robinson & Red Level. Atlas Caf? 4pm, free. The Crooked Jades, The Stairwell Sisters, Spring Creek Bluegrass Band. Noe Valley Ministry 7 / 7:30pm, $20 / $22. Buy tickets online! SUNDAY, FEB 3 WORKSHOPS: Jim Nunally (guitar), Sophie Vitells (fiddle), Brian Oberlin (mandolin), Mark Petteys (banjo), Scott Nygaard (guitar), Eric Thompson (mandolin). Verdi Club 12:15-5:15pm $30. Buy tickets online! Bluegrass & Old-Time Jam. Verdi Club 5:30-7:30pm. Kleptograss, Scott Nygaard & Paul Kotapish,Belle Monroe & Her Brewglass Boys, The Mercury Dimes, Toshio Hirano. Verdi Club 7:30pm, $10. Buy tickets online! FILM SCREENING -The Ralph Stanley Story, Sourwood Mountain, Town Mountain between films. Red Vic two showings: 2pm and 4pm $12. Buy tickets online! TWANG CAF? -The Atlas String Band, The Knuckleknockers. Epic Arts Studios 7:30pm, $10. Buy tickets online! Handel Music: The Pyrotechnics of Handel and his London Oboists Sparks will fly when this all-star lineup delivers works by Giovanni Battista Sammartini and Thomas Vincent, along with a big helping of Handelian magic, including The Royal Fireworks Music. Written to celebrate the end of war, this iconic work finds renewed eloquence and dance in a chamber version published months after the original performance of 1749. Friday, February 1, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00 Saturday, February 2, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 8:00 Sunday, February 3, St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, 1661 15th Street near Misson, San Francisco, 3:00

The SF Jazz Collective on March 15 is another must-see show at Zellerbach. Still not sure why they are playing there instead of in SF as an official part of the Spring Season at SF Jazz, but there it is. Any interest?

Not a hater in general, just hating you for trying to make me think that my $12K in dac/transport is not as good as this $500 shiny shit-box Mac Dac. **Note to Mike: Sorry that this doesn't contain any positive vibes you hippie.**

Fuck you.

I guess I should be excited about this Duet thing, but I have to wait a little longer to hear it. I have to admit that I didn't even know it had a headphone jack. I could easily sell my VDA-1/PSU and be more than half way to the cost of the of the Duet. Dan, the USPS Priority Mail Pico package could arrive today but I would expect tomorrow at the latest.

Shit, if Mike is getting the Duet out to you that fast I better get the Pico out too. Justin didn't like the pine-tree drinks (aka gin and tonics) so that is not a proper incentive. Perhaps free vodka, room and board, and a trip he can write off will be adequate. Not to mention the outrageously fun collection of people who will be there, plus Mike.

It's the least I can do for somebody who had their car smashed up and stuff stolen. I hate that shit and remember the last time it happened to me -- years ago -- walking up to the car with a smashed out window and the dash torn up, and having a surreal moment like "I know there's something wrong here, but what is it exactly... ???" Anyway, Pico will be on its way soon for your comparo pleasure.

The Pico really is great and I have been using it as a DAC only in my office this week. I am going from a mini-to-RCA into my Headroom Desktop amp/dac/pre with Home modules. I have done the A-B comparing the USB input directly into the Headroom and using the RCA analog input from the Pico a few times and the Pico wins for sure. The HR dac is good and sounds very nice for an office setup with powered M-Audio BX5-a speakers, but putting the Pico dac in place of the HR dac is an instant improvement. I'm still very impressed by the little bastard, and his creation as well! Just kidding Justin, you're not a bastard at all...unless you don't show for Mayberry! And Dan, I will send you a Pico for comparison purposes because I don't have any travel upcoming and there will be others at the meet soon who have them, including Justin unless he is, in fact, a bastard. Send me info and I can send you the goods in the original box.

Nice impressions I_D! We'll have to do some Apogee Duet to Pico comparisons at the Mayberry meet. That Duet is getting some seriously overblown lovin' from some quarters. Hard to imagine it is SO good.

Nobody in this thread seems injured at all. People have just been pointing out that you are acting like a dick.

Straight up jackass with his jack-ass-hat on.

x2. Listen to mine every day at work. Mackies can be good, although more expensive than the M Audios. What are those white speakers that Tyll is ga-ga over? He shows his new desktop amp setup with them all the time. They sound damn good.

Both of them do. Ben here is incredibly lazy. No Pico for you!

I have lots of Slappa cases broken down by genre and alphabetically. Their new D2i version gives the greatest flexibility because the actual sleeves have inter-locking ends so that you can add more in and move them around without taking CDs and booklets out of the sleeves to make room on fixed pages. Overall I love this system and it allows much easier changes/additions to your collection.

Do you think I would be using that piece of shit Dell if it wasn't for work?

Thanks. I enjoy the AD2000 and go through phases listening to them pretty regularly and then forget all about them. They are often in my office and I listen to speakers more there. They are somewhat warm but pretty detailed and I like how comfortable and open they are. Can still hear the phone, etc., as needed. I just posted these pics on HF and realized that the screen shot is Thrice's first post from this thread. Can I get in trouble for posting a pic of HC even without mentioning it? Hmm, I get I will find out.