Inoculator

My friend is getting a Sugden for a home demo and he is praying for it to work well with his Spendor 1/2. Because we don’t have that many good options here in India. Yea, I was eyeing the M33 for that very reason. A simple, all-in-one solution.

Yeah I need to eventually do a write up on the M33, I have been waiting to get my turntable in (yay COVID shipping delays) before I do a final write up. Is it perfect? No. Is it an incredible and versatile all-in-one? Yes. If someone needs a streamlined setup it has relatively few compromises and an overall musical pleasing presentation. Overall like it more than the Naim Uniti Nova.

Great. I look forward to your impressions. If time allows, please share some thoughts on the Grahams and the Sugden too. Hardly any reliable impressions of these gear out there.

Just disappointing to see the DR numbers are between 4 and 7, ugh.

I thought the recording sucked pretty hard.

I am bound to be wrong sometimes @bixby, maybe the Yggdrasil LIM just makes everything sound pretty good. Vocals and how they were layered did it for me via the LS3/5a

I’m a big proponent of decoupling speakers and subs so I’m not at all surprised at your findings! Going to have another look on that site, like you said it’s all priced very reasonably. Just shipping and import duties are something to consider for me…

I've used Herbie's products for years. Tenderfeet under disc players and DAC, and baby booties under lighter game consoles, Apple TV, and now Pi2AES even. I haven't added anything to my Coda amp yet, but that thing weighs 110 lbs so not sure Tenderfeet are the best choice. :)

@zonto They make firm tenderfeet for components up to 200lb! I stuck with the soft tall for my Sugden since just 35 lbs. Glad to hear other folks around here have enjoyed. I have not tried the baby booties, will have to check that out for pi2aes/rega PSU.

Good thing I hope.

I didn't realize just how right she was until something clicked for me recently. Yeah the omni effect is like walking around with headphones, but they also stage like headphones. More of a headstage than a soundstage if that makes sense.

@Gazny mostly at least, just a bit bizarre to get used to. Positioning right is very fine line between really nice bass slam and fuller/more textured mids closer to wall and nice air to the sound further from wall. Finding that sweet spot is tough. Going to test out DIRAC for final refinement sometime next week, as things a bit boomy where I landed on.

Long story short, this is my 2nd Khozmo product, and does not disappoint. Very well constructed/designed passive that removes my nervosa over transparency, while also giving me new functionality. Remote on my Sugden A21SE did nothing but volume, Khozmo has standby, mute, controls display brightness, and is a joy to use. A+ stuff. All electronics removed from signal path and external PSU.

Is that rack made out of gigantic pieces of Ikea bamboo?

@Garns yep! I had a post in the audio racks thread about the build, but that thread seems to not be available right now either. It is a Salamander/threaded rod style rack, and I just drilled the corners of ikea bamboo countertops. Worked great!

modern shoegaze gods
https://youtu.be/6EfP1nV-xtE

@Wilson I got the chance to see them at Red Rocks when they were opening for Fleet Foxes/touring their B sides album the year before that video, amazing stuff. Sun setting, lightning storm brewing in the distance, truly unforgettable.

Yes, indeed! They are mesmerizing live as well! Hoping to catch them on tour next Spring. Think tix go onsale soon.

Initial impressions all overwhelming positive. Midrange feels maybe a little sucked out/muddy, but need to mess with positioning and get them broken in. I bought them to confidently fill a large open concept space, and for a wide sweet spot, and on those two counts boy do they deliver. If you have never heard an omni (which I had not), it is trip. Stage/imaging stays perfectly locked in as you pace the room.

Great looking room. I also no longer believe you have any children. ;)

@Soups haha right? Got to splurge on setting this space up after moving/selling our old house. Taking a lot of work to get them to respect this space, toy storage and room to sprawl out at the back of the room. Have sacrificed whole downstairs rec room to play room space. I actually chose the Ohms partially for kid safety though. No driver they can poke!

Granted my time with Zu's have been limited to audio shows, but the same recipe, even with some additional salt or garlic usually nets a similar flavor. Sorta like how Zu prefers to show their speakers: DJ on the 1's and 2's, kinda crap gear, played too loud in a space too big for the speakers.

FFS Zu, just commit to the branding that they're ragged-sounding PA speakers in car-color painted cabs, and you can't make them sound demonstrably better no matter how much superglue you dope the cones with. There's nothing "hi-fi" (or even natural) about the sound.

@yotacowboy I do have some old notes from when I had them and found some redeeming quality, but yeah, not sure why they have such a devoted following. I will do a write up in the coming weeks. I will give it to Zu, their mod of the denon cartridges is superb at least.

@yotacowboy funny because when I first talked with the owner at my local hifi shop about the fact I was getting some Ohms, he said "Killer speakers. Have you seen the show Bosch?" Certainly would not turn down that setup https://ohmspeaker.com/news/ohm-goes-to-the-movies/

based on Bosch, they seem to work best when there aren't any wires connected to your vintage MC225 amp.

^Haha. And his amps don't seem to be switched on very often. Also, I wonder how much that show has contributed to the ridiculous prices now being asked for 6300 TTs.

Gorgeous presentation on these, just a really well thought out package/product. Great comfort. Wasn't love at first listen...but I think getting used to IEMS again. Went to the biggest silicon tips as most folks seem to, and that was the ticket, wasn't getting a good seal before clearly. I was Medium-Small tips in JVC spiral dots during my last go at IEMS, so I was surprised.

@loadexfa yeah I agree, I have found lots of folks don't want to risk USPS these days though so embraced FedEx. Maybe I need to try changing back. Being able to schedule free pickup was a godsend during the start of the pandemic when I was selling tons and taking care of of my one year old.

We ordered caviar that was shipped through FedEx. It showed up four days late. Caviar was still good, though.

Just kidding, it was room temp when it arrived so I binned $200 in caviar.

"When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight"

This is really an open vs closed compliment of the same headphone sort of deal (like Auteur - Ekon, etc). You can pick apart that they are different drivers but really enjoying the complimentary tuning.

Their site doesn't seem to indicate there's any protection against retaliatory bad feedback: https://www.usaudiomart.com/faq.php#feedback.

Not cool, man.

Some people are just born dicks. I once got neg feedback on ebay after a guy kept low balling me on another site. When I listed the item on ebay and he won the auction at a higher price than his lowball offers, he left neg feedback saying I was hard to deal with even though that was on another forum.

@yotacowboy I hate myself for continuing my descent into brit-fi snobbery...but guilty as charged. Something to it for sure.

I feel bad after watching you put all that effort into the Schiit stack, but good that you found something to replace (parts of) it in relatively short order.

@Qildail the life of a perpetual gear swapper...don't be like me. I am sure I will own the full Schiit stack again someday, really killer value setup. I am just always chasing the perfect synergy with the LS3/5A, I just may never find it, but thrill of the chase and all that. Going to be going back to trying some el34 push pull stuff soon also

Any early thoughts?

@famish99 my phrasing may have been a bit off. Pulled the trigger on a used Sugden A21SE, waiting on shipping for Canada, arriving next week. I have heard the sugden at a local shop before with my same model speakers and was impressed, but will really see once I have it in my space what I think.

@famish99 some quick follow-up now that I have had some time with it (going to spend a few weeks before writing long impressions). This is the most dynamic amp I have ever driven my LS3/5A with, hands down. Kind of surprising as I expected a bit more of a lush laid back sort of vibe. Instead this is a grab the edge of your seat/buckle up sort of experience. Very lively but still supremely musical and effortless.

Tube rolling in the Freya+ is pretty funny. Never like a massive swing in the character of the preamp, but just enough to push your chain into the sweet spot. Going to experiment a bit more still probably, but things feeling very dialed in.

I use my drop.com portapros with inline mic for gaming.

@Cryptowolf what?! How could you hate these bad boys? https://i.imgur.com/zRDT2Eb.jpg

to each their own. I have a setup with dark woods, black, and copper. Beige may work great for others.

@yotacowboy this is what you need to buy plus a RPi display. https://www.pi2design.com/store/p23/7%22_RPI_Display_Case_for_PI2AES.html
I have one, it’s awesome. Touchscreen to pause and skip tracks

@yotacowboy Late, but here is a photo of the setup! https://i.imgur.com/Cbt9E2J.jpg Not the most stylish or sophisticated, but better than nothing, I hope RoPiee continues to iterate on the design. In the past with roon I have just setup roon on a tablet and kept next to my system for visual feedback and as a big remote control, but a bit overkill for this personal/nearfield setup.

That’s looks great, man!

A guy goes to the doctor, pokes himself in the chest, says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this."

Doc: "well, don't do it, then!"

I love that joke. But seriously... Is it worth what might be a lot of effort to tune that corner, rather than move your reading chair? Given that you have good sound in other places, and the effort/side-effect is unknown quantity, I'd take the easy obvious answer here.

Don't put the baby in that corner or you'll be responsible for raising yet another basshead :)

Very nice looking room. I would not waste time on a trap if you listen on the couch. I would be more inclined to place that plant behind the couch over by the windows to diffuse that first reflection. Or you could put an absorbing panel there, but it would mess up the look.