Sherwood

Is there any compelling reason why I shouldn't buy 303/404 pads instead of 202 pads for my SR-Lambda? I may as well maximize comfort if I bother to change them, and the color mismatch is a non-issue for me.

I definitely like the first one more. Why did more CD players not have digital in? Surely we are not the only subset of audiophilia that likes DACs, right?

Did you spend all birthday logged into Head-case chat but not talking?

Casino is not yet an option for me. I am not a cool kid.

The one I bought was actually the one Reks linked to in the "best DAC under $1000" thread, but your link helped reinforce my decision, so to you I am eternally grateful, oh wanderer. It's certainly a fine-sounding piece of kit, though. I don't know if I go in for florid descriptions of how "analog" it sounds, or other such nonsense, but it gets the hell out of the way of my music, and looks great doing it. I couldn't be happier.

I heard the acute briefly in a system that was totally unfamiliar to me, and really, really, really enjoyed the system. It was my favorite sound of RMAF. That says pretty much nothing about the acute, except that it has good-sounding friends and will, in all likelihood, sound excellent itself.

I don't think it was such a bad rundown for production 'phones, though I really would have liked to see a Stax 02 and an SRM-007ta or something. The article's already rather esoteric for most cnet readers, so why not blow the thing all the way out of the water?

It always seems to be the people who sell ridiculous things for ridiculous amounts of money that bother me the most.

At the bare minimum.

All my progress in 2008 has been since July, which makes it all the more depressing. I fully switched from dynamic to electrostatic when I sold my HD580s, SR125s, AKG K701s and Millett Hybrid to fund an SRM-T1 (on loan to ASR). I bought Faust's SR-Lambda and fell deeply in love. I sold my Fubar II and bought an E-MU 0404 and an Electrocompaniet ECD-1. I pulled the TT out of storage and fitted three or four carts to it before settling on the 2m Blue. I also Switched entirely to seperates, selling my NAD C320BEE for a Moscode 300 hybrid amp (wow!) and a Parasound P3 preamp. Also bought and am now selling a pair of Magnepan MG12s. For 2009? I'm pretty pleased right now (and very broke) so my only plans are either to get into Hi-Rez playback via a 3x pspdif-modded DV-980, or to try the DL-103. Other than that, it's all about the music.

$100? No one in CA has picked these up in 22 days? I call foul.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgWn7zbgxZ4]too weird to embed[/ame]

i adore this album.

Did you get that picture from Drudge?

And to think how many times you fought me over the quality of the 0404s onboard amp...

If those interconnects Jay is selling are anything like the "Ultimate, Unencumbered, Brutal Truth" cable lifters and window treatments he sold me, you're in for a treat.

I also get the feeling that HC has more effective ways of keeping people out than banning them.

I'll send Larry some better CD's than "Jazz At The Pawnshop" if you decide to pay it forward this season, Steve.

GPH, I'm surprised that camera escaped.

Reks must like you, Red. No shovel.

Perfectly warranted, and thank you for wading through my mistaken grouping of two unrelated companies to come to my intention.

It is $1650 now, true, but it was $3300 on release. Here's a quote from 47 Labs' site: "Another feature is the casing. Both the DAC unit and the power supply are encased in a casing made out of Shigaraki ceramic, which has been used to make tea cups and vases for nearly one thousand years in Japan. It's totally de-electric and non-conductive character contributes to Shigarakis' smooth, open sound."

I know they're Japanese, and that many of their products are well-regarded. That's what made the question more interesting to me. Musical Laboratory is ridiculous, and an easy target (though I still like the looks of their stuff). 47 labs contributes real advances, but they are couched in decidedly non musical (or, in my opinion, relevant) housings. Those housings drive the price WAAY up, and I think they're somewhat cheesy. With that in mind, both their debatable successes and their debatable failures, what do you think of them?

You are very right, Deepak. 47 labs did design the Gaincard, and it was them I was referencing in the first post. The tea ceremony and the Shigaraki pottery are their things.