The One and Only Big D Thread

@Thad E Ginathom
"I'd spend thousands on speakers before upgrading the electronics"
That's a really good way. I got my Martin Logans and Martin Sub first as well. It took me 5 years for me to find a preamp that I would buy. Preamps are so hard to find that have all the things that I wanted. The Freya has exactly everything. If I ever get a Turntable again, I want a seperate phono stage anyway. I'm with you. I have a secret as well that pertains to your philosophy. I prefer to keep it.

 

I'm guessing - Buy cables first and build the system around those.

 

@Marvey
Here is something to get your mind off of work. Fresh shots.....







Headed out to hit some redline. New Track tires in back smellin' up the FRS.

 

@Dino
Speakin' of cables. My new Krell KSA-200 is in dire need of the Morrow Audio Cables. I have gone over my music collection, and with my Pro Audio Canare XLR Cables that I have hooked up now from the Freya to the Krell..... the detail and soundstage is diminished a very lot. The company I bought the amp from didn't give me the "Short Out" XLR inserts for the amp. Called him today and he is going to send out Monday the pins. It's going to be 3 long weeks till I get my Morrow Audio XLRs, and if I can get the Short Out pins, I can use my existing Morrow Audio RCA MA4 Reference cables and have great music again. CABLES MATTER.
pic

 

Not for me. That may be where Big D and I part company. Cables are bits of wire: end of story.

That is where I started to get disillusioned with the whole audiophile thing. Audiophile-recovered or not, I could still go for some expensive gear (not the GUTB price-label spec-sheet sort though) but my cables would never cost more than Blue-Jeans.
cables that do their job. Is all!

But if this this portends a cable-thrashing session, then I'm sorry to have had a hand in starting it, and I won't take part.

 

@Thad E Ginathom
No argument here.

 

@Thad E Ginathom
I think @Dino was making a cables joke. I have a neutral stance on cables.

 

I was joking around about Big D's secret that he would prefer to keep.

Or I hit the nail on the head.

(I think I have an idea of your priorities @Thad E Ginathom and cables are not one of them.)

 

@Dino
I have a secret. You are one of my supporters. You may be privy.
Let's get back to the party.

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Koss ESP-950 Electrostatic Headphone
Vesper Pad Mod (Leather and Alacantara)

2nd take on the Koss headphones and get them sounding great......

I have some new cans. Koss ESP-950 shooting thru my ear canals, and they sound pretty darn good with some help from our friends.

On their own... a little like the Martin Logans. Thin. Electrostatics need FRIENDS to help make them fuller with the sound. Have I found a solution for the new Koss ESP-950?

The answer is..... with the help of @cskippy YES.
On their own, not going to win the Oscar. With the "Right Stuff" in the musical chain.... Oh Yes (I'm having a moment right now). These can be coaxed to sound quite the headphone. The Vesper Pads are..... 'Just F%$$Kin' buy them. Don't even consider buying this headphone without buying the Vesper from Fong Audio. Someone in Russia builds them from scratch and are worth every cent. Wait till you wrestle to put them on, if you are not a pro at this sheet. I got the hang of it, one half hour later.

I am very pleased with the sound coming out of my Asus Xonar D1 Sound Card. It has Dolby Headphone. What a day we are having with that in the music chain. It add body like my 2 REL S3 subs add body to my Martin Logan ESL electrotatic speakers in my Livingroom. Just what the doctor ordered for giving the midrange the body it needed to make for a great rendition of the track. There are 3 room settings. Only 2 are viable and shown below. Then I show you the other settings of the Asus Xonar D1 Sound Card. It is quite the card. I have also bought the Asus Xonar D2, but it does not have a Headphone output. Scrooge!! It also takes a driver from Windows 8 to work on Windows 10. I am currently using my Workstation on Windows 7. my next Workstation build will be with Win7 and Win10 Dual Boot. I have software that needs Win7 to properly operate and sound is one of the criteria.

Below the Asus Xonar D1 Headphone Interface........
It is the best I have ever owed. The Creative Labs was good, but this sounds miles better.

A: Dolby Headphone: Reference Room with Sound Absorption
B: Dolby Headphone:e Livelier Room
C: Straight Headphone: Just Tube Amplifier injection
D: DSP/Equalizer: Tailor Sound thru Equalization / DSP Presets





Well then. I like the "Dolby Headphone Reference Room" and the "Dolby Liveliver Room" settings hands down the best. Reminds me of why I spent so much on the 2 RELs. This is a very nice headphone that is Electrostatic. There are advantages to this technology. And as you can see, there are ways to bring it into the audiophile realm of being great.

PS: I forgot to mention that the volume that can be turned up to ear splitting levels without any distortion. I was really amazed at the ability of keeping everything intact at such loud volumes.
Goodnight all. Big D out.

 

Nice! Glad to hear that they improve the sound. Small correction; Darin doesn't make the pads, he's a distributor. Vesper Audio makes the pads, and I believe they are in Russia? Anyways, I just got my pads in but am without my ESP 950. I had returned my initial pair to take advantage of the $549 price. I received the new pair today but they are hardly new. The box had visible damage to it, and the RCA cable package had been opened and taped shut. I was okay with an open box item as long as it worked. Well there was only one problem....no headband. f**k! Can't exactly listen to them without that. So they're going back for a refund.

I'll get another new pair probably Sunday or Monday but this has been a shit show. I hope it gets resolved without any further issues. I'm dying to hear the 950s again as what I heard was excellent and seems like it only gets better with the Vesper pads.

 

Musician's Corner..............
I didn't think I would be back tonight. I had to secure my musician side of my life. I like to play Acoustic Guitar and needed a new setup.
Used to do Fender....
Now to a Martin Dreadnought Clone with the Godin Q1. To ask what the heck are you going to do with one of the best clones with the Godin Q1.....
Here goes.... I don't expect you all to see anything but blue skies here...
OK here's a video of what da heck I'm talking about with an Acoustic Guitar with this Godin Q1. Oh Wait! There's more. It's called a Marshall Acoustic Amplifier.....
Oh Yes.... Now you understand.... Marshall Amp.... Marshall AS100D Acoustic Amplifier.... Now we're talking....
Pic



Now I didn't pay this much. Oh no. I'm freakin' cheap. But this is the Taco to your Burrito. Or is it the..... Oh fu%$^k it. You get it. This is some shit for the Acoustic Guitar guy that is sitting there wanting to impress the blonde that has the best body he has ever seen (lol).
Here is a great video of the capabilities of the amazing Acoustic Guitar amplifier........



Sure as the sun does shine, it was my third order of the same Guitar (Seagull S6 Slim) that I got it right. 1st time was just an offer. 2nd time was a great condition one with killer case. 3rd time was one with the Godin Q1 installed into the Seagull S6 Slim. WTF. The 1st order got refunded. I explained that the bourbon flow exceeded the possibility of comprehension. The 2nd Guitar, out of Buford, Ga, was a perfect condition model that is coming tomorrow and doesn't have the electronic capability of the Godin Q1, and the Marshall Acoustic AS100D Amplifier. Holy Shit. 2 Guitars are coming. The one with the Godin Q1 is brand new @$489.00. I'm going to string the both of them before my final call on what to do with either one of them. That's how we do it here. You would be suprised on how one could be a total shit. That's why testing is in order for products. And this is what the Big D does. We test the living shit out of these things, and stretch them into Gungnir Multibit. If they work. We'll let you know. If they suck. We'll tell you that the shit stick is on them as fast as you can say "whodat".

 

@cskippy
Holy Moly. The shit stack seems to have hit the peanut butter. I hope you can resolve the issue. Me and all me peeps are pulling for ya.

 

Drinkin' Jim Beam Bonded 100 proof. Weeeeeeeeeeee.............

Just showin' off

It's Friday Night

 

Now that I am half off my rocker... Do you all want to know what the hell I listen to?
You cannot insult me.... I have Carbon Fiber construction.
Joking around is A OK with ME.
Let's get this Party started.
Friday Night
When I had some Jobs.... it was the night....
Playlist Anyone.....
Tidal...... Playlistt....



"Dropping the Beat: Fresh EDM"

 

I fell when trying to get out of my listening chair last night in the Livingroom. The tablet went flying, the chair is on wheels and went 2 feet to the right. I remember it happening. Didn't check for damage till later in the morning the next day. Everything is cool, no damage. Just my ego.
Beware of the "Bonded 100" knock out punch.

 

When I saw this pic I was momentarily confused by the handles. I have only seen them on the front of equipment. Then I thought about the weight, and handles on the back made sense to me.

 

To complete the Musician Setup....
You need a microphone setup. The Marshall AS100D is the top rated Acoustic Amp but it only has 15V power for microphones. So with a condenser microphone, you have to bring some 48V Phantom power. A small drawback for a great amplifier that can bring out the best in a acoustic guitar. Lots of controls. And I mean lots of stuff that is extremely useful.

So here's the Mic setup.....







I will be mostly playing near a table, so the inexpensive stand will be just fine for now. I don't need a shockmount because of the Tabletop stand either. It's a good Microphone for the money.

Bought some cables from Musicians Friend. They have a funny name for the branding. Check it out below......



That concludes the Musician setup except for some Harmonicas. The ones I have are just old and full of too much spit. The Marshall Amp weighs 50 lbs. I could see some having trouble carrying it into the Cafe for a gig. No problem for me. I like heavy things.

Mom pretty much pushed me to play again. I have an extremely deep voice. Kind of just like Jamey Johnson the Country singer. She kept mentioning that fact that I sold my Fender, and that was really stupid. And you really should get another guitar and start doing some finger picking again. The Fender acoustic had pearl inlay everywhere, Rosewood sides, Mahogany neck and other beautiful details that made that Fender really stand out. Bought it in a shop in Huntington Beach, CA back in 78'. Sold it about 7 years ago. Always wanted a Martin Dreadnought. Here I am with a good clone at least. The Martin Dreadnought goes for $2,500.00 now.

 

@Bulldog
I really like my Koss ESP-950 Electrostic headphones that I got this week. Review on this page 24 above.

 

@Marvey
Just wanted to say something that wasn't said.... with this thread.... "HFM Edition 6 Response to Fang (HF Censored)"

This is just from my experience living in the New York City area. Marketing was one of my key areas of study. I didn't want to work in NYC, and had to turn down many offers from companies that mattered. To do the commute is horrendous. I know. Done that. Here's my take.
When business men get together in the Asian Culture, they eat for hours, and drink each other under the table. It is a common occurrence to solidify the sale of their product to their Asain or USA distributor. When the dinner goes on for about 3 hours..... the truth comes out about the people involved in making the product sell. They are so intoxicated that the true person and intentions come to the forefront and the deal goes thru if the client makes sense. I have been in the Asian community for 47 years and respect their intellect in hashing out the pretenders. It takes a couple of drinks to get the client to screw up. When you get him all fucked up, he has no barrier. 3 hours of eating and constantly drinking is fun. But it also takes away the bullshit, and puts the client into the real meaning of why he is supporting the product, And why he is going to sell the living shit out of it.

 

Saturday... the Weekend.... Let's get the laughs going.........


I have introduced you to Vic, the professional Italian comedian that has a short fuse, and is funny as all hell.
Well here is more of the shit that I grew up with in my environment in the NYC area.....
More "Ticked Off Vic".....

Vic Dibeitetto (Pro just making George Carlin, "Itialian Style") comments

1 "Plastic Clips on Bread"



2 "CVS Receipts"



3") "Airplane Etiquette" (the best most funny)



Last Video is high octane reality of getting on a plane.
Been there, Not done Vic. But sure as hell one funny video.





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