darmok

…and the display, and the antenna BT.

... Bluetooth functionality and tubes just seem amazingly incongruous to me. I seem to like the sound of hybrid designs but this better STOMP the competition for what it costs relative to the TA-66.

@rhythmdevils the DAC is what made it interesting to me. Not a lot of ROHM DACs on the market, and this one is also modular and can accept other DAC cards.

Call it an even $10,000 with Mjolnir 3 and a Noire X thrown in and it's practically a steal!

I suppose one solution would just be to switch the power strip that's hanging under my desk to something mounted right-side-up on a tray that's hanging under the desk. Then I can hide the brick without worrying it's going to fall down and break a toe while I'm working.

Oh that smashed toe thought is a terrible one!

NAD 3020 vs toe: https://i.imgur.com/C1mUatq.jpg . Lost the nail a month later.

The internal amp is a touch upper-mids pushed, but far from a deal killer, but I agree for $150-ish it's quite good especially with slightly dark headphones. DM13->MMB (OPA modded)->Vali3 is a stellar "cheap" combo. My only real concern is longevity of the transport mech.

@yotacowboy ha, DM13 -> MMB2 -> Vali 3 is my current setup for dozing off in the Eames chair

to the extent I've noticed it, I think the upper-mid-forward thing is a common trait in CS43131 DACs. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as upper-treble fuckery does, and in the case of the DM13 I've heard worse things for quite a bit more money

Just got that update as well. We need to combine our powers of patience, of which I have none.

Team Nocturn or Emberstone?

@RestoredSparda Emberstone! Can’t wait to see it in person. And sorry, no extra patience here either

Isn't shopify also that one platform that's oddly keen to host all the white nationalist, hate-speech-forward stuff on their platform? All the middle fingers indeed.

I've been using this: https://a.co/d/fSkWROA with a Modi MB that doesn't like chewing on modern USB, and it's pretty flawless. I've no use for I^2S, but the option remains.

@yotacowboy I bought and returned one when it came out bc it didn’t work on the Mac. What’s the maximum sample rate it exposes?

I've only run it out of iPhone running Roon Arc and Shanling M6U running Qobuz, 24/96 the highest thru Arc; played fine. At some point i'll have to try it on my MBP/MacOS.

It’s nice, I just didn’t like the quarter inch jack. Didn’t make it as portable as I had hoped.

I just reviewed several portable battery-powered DAC/amps, like the Mojo2 (https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/portable-battery-powered-dac-amp-review-r1309/), and I’m going to review larger “transportable” ones soon, including the XD05. Basically, it’s nice, but it’s huge, and it does have a noise floor with more sensitive IEMs, whereas the Q7 is totally silent. So it kind of depends on your needs.

I have long since thrown away my medoms, and haven't seen a balun in decades.

Nulab

@Claritas we have a winner

The ethical aspect is more important than the legal aspect.

@Claritas yeah, I was joking off the old gravity meme there. I figured the ethical concern was covered under the "good idea" thing...

I also keep getting emails from ZMF about my wood. What do you know about my wood, dude? Nothing, that’s what.

What a tease

@Armaegis if you're out of gain, you're out of gain. hi-z doesn't automatically imply low dB/V sensitivity and vice versa. but calling a load "hard to drive" has a meaning and the higher the impedance, the easier it is to drive

@Thad E Ginathom I've yet to find a dongle that handles the HD 800 S well. I had hopes for the Go Bar, but it's a big fat nope

HD800 at 300R needs 2Vpp and 7.3mA peak to reach 101 dBSPL peak. Average power is 2 mW.
HE-500 at 38R needs 2Vpp and 58mA peak to reach 101 dBSPL. Average power is 16 mW.

Is it wrong that I consider the 1500 to be a cheap turntable?

@Merrick not once you adjust for anything cheaper than the 1500 being garbage

The weakness is not just the tonearm, but the tonearm wire. The bearings also wear out over useage. This is why older SL-1200 MK2's are hard to find in good condition - not just the motor function, but I would say 50-70% of what you find out there is that the arm needs to be replaced. It would be nice just to replace the worn out bearings, but it is not like that. I have a Rega RB-250 arm with Cardas wire on mine.

Those pads are really good on the 650 as well. Gets rid of the 3 blob effect a bit and comfort is really good. You lose a bit of the intimacy but still worth it imo.

Finally got to hooking up the Cinemags to the Modius, and it’s goood. Too thicc from the GS2 XLR though.

I just remembered that I wanted to try the Custom Cans mass loading mod for the 6XX.

@darmok please do report in if you try that mod. I have that same one on the backburner, after some signal chain stuff. I'd love to know how it pans out.

Not weird at all. Use what works for you.

This is a recording of violin concertos. They're contemporary, so the works are under copyright, but plenty of recordings have been released in the US. Could be a rights issue, could just be that the release is fucked and there's no incentive for anyone to fix it.

It's odd that it's streaming on Apple Music and Amazon but not Qobuz. It's available for lossy purchase on the former two as well, but not for lossless purchase on Qobuz, Presto, or other usual stores. Fortunately it looks like Supraphon's Czech store doesn't check IP geo on download purchases and they have it in FLAC.

A long time back, I went through a tedious and unfriendly online purchase process of a major classical-music company, to buy a download of a very expensive boxed set. Only to receveive, right at the end, that nasty little putdown, "f**k Off: we don't sell to *your* country."

Fine. A rights-respecting buyer with cash in hand turned to torrents. With no feeling of guilt whatsoever.

@Merrick Nunchaku has gotten better as the tubes have burned in, but it's absurdly microphonic. Still don't think I'd recommend it for that reason alone. For phone battery drain, a magnetic charger stuck to the back of my iPhone is a better portable solution than the CB19, though I do use that when dozing off in the Eames chair...

I personally would not qi/magsafe charge a phone while also running a device that pulls a lot of power and generates a lot of heat. Great way to put a ton of strain on your battery, given that wireless charging is already less efficient and generates heat on its own.

@Merrick tbh I haven’t found that my phone is getting very warm while doing this, but also I’m usually starting with close to a full charge so the inductive power is just keeping everything topped up