Mithrandir41

I think I read this once. Depressing. Joseph Conrad meets fantasy.

(typical conrad theme: Some guy is having a terrible life doing stupid things. The book follows his many failures at changing that. (But the sailing bits are good))

@Thad E Ginathom I think the original trilogy is depressing and inspiring in equal measure. But there is definitely some Heart of Darkness in play.

For reference, I used to have an Oppo HA-1 dac/amp, and the 9018 implementation in that was so bad it was just ruinous for the sound. The Stereotype of everything wrong with that chip. The Modi e is a real eye-opener on what can be done with careful design and actual listening.

Is 15 years old even archaic for a DAC? I think a lot of commonly-used chips people get good results with are not much newer, or maybe even older...

@Wilewarer Thus the quotation marks on "archaic". That being said, the first truly good ESS dacs I ever heard were using 9038s. The bluesound is a great streamer with a great app, but not a great dac on the whole.

The problem is that I believe you, because the 2 was something really special, and Schiit knew it too. I wouldn't expect them to just stop when the grease is already bubblin. They really made their own of producing affordable small-FF components with bespoke designs that undercut everything under $$$$.

The V2 still sounds really good, but I always thought it was a little limp on the low end, lacking real dynamic impact. And that was remedied with the v3.

I definitely remember it being on the leaner side too. The thing that always captured me about it was its fineness, the kind of smooth oatmeal graininess, but the lack of bass made it paradoxically sleepy.

That reminded me, I'm sick of waiting months for a couple albums and I cancelled them today (from merchbar). They got back and put in the refund today. Odd that they would respond to me faster but I agree it's annoying to require customer service to handle the refund.

I submitted for my refund last night. Pretty much everything on merch bar you can get on Amazon for around the same price, and you will actually receive it

Yup, Amazon is where I ended up to get the albums I wanted.

What model tele? I'm curious for my 2+.

I love my Vali 2+ and I still in denial that it can be even better. I'm using a cheap RCA 6BQ7 tube, the only comparison I have is the OG tube, and the RCA 6BQ7 sounds better as it has some lower-mid boost or so, it sounds full and warm, and I love it

@Ti_Leo RCA tubes are well known for their warm character. A great alternative to the ultra expensive telefunkens are Phillips PCC 88: nice mid-range presentation without softening the treblele too much

@HotRatSalad the rest of the LPs are low noise/high quality vinyl. Apparently the above mentioned album has a production defect that renders it virtually unlistenable

Yes but now you probably have to return the whole box and the replacement might have an issue elsewhere. This is what I alluding to.

@HotRatSalad I get what you meant. I did a little research, and apparently this album is flawed from the manufacturer, so it should be the same across all boxed sets. I'll just be spending my time listening to the other records

This is a great story. To find a fellow audiophile is a blast. But to be at their conception... Ha!

@imackler When he told me he was running his headphones off the tower's head out, I was like "dude, I'll lend you something, tell me if you notice a difference". Done son. It is pretty satisfying.

BTW, he was looking at going the Topping route, but being the spiteful person I am, I convinced him otherwise.

Microsoft Fans: Amir is the Zune of the audio world.

OG pressings from the 80's sound so great compared to most 180-200g modern vinyl.

Oh nice. Are you a machinist?

Congrats!

@Cspirou, a general flight mechanic at lockheed's Skunkworks. Building stuff

I feel like TtH was a bit more coherent than the last three books. It seemed like a lot of the things coming together made more sense even though it's still wild and a little obtuse. I like the anything goes the feeling and the weirdness that never goes away in the malazam books

I read the whole series some ten years ago. Worth it.

@zottel you should pick up the God is not Willing, it's heavy on the Karsa Orlong influence.

@Armaegis better imaging ofcourse! Soundstage is best with an ultra wide ime

@Armaegis, nevermind. It was a "system sound" issue in my audio settings and I'm a dummy.

Monitors have DACs?

Now play real music and not audiophile tracks.

@YMO you won't find Diana krall in my library, though I might have to cop to the Eagles.

@YMO when I got a ZDT Jr. in on extended loan the first thing I played on it was music from Haruhi Suzumiya.

I'm not an expert on the matter, I just know that the groove contours are a little different on a 45 than a 33. Regardless, it sounds damn good

Faster groove speed means a given frequency will have a longer wavelength. Might enable the stylus to better track the highs.

I suspect that it is like tape: faster=better.

Is it, literally, faster=less-data-compression?

@Biodegraded , yeah, I still have all my essential vinyl. Sitting in a box. I bought my wife a rega p1 with built-in phono stage, but I'm looking for a higher end kit for myself

I'd vote for a Technics 1500C for a TT. Save some money off the 1200 line by losing DJ features. For carts: 2M Bronze, DL103(R), or AT-ART9. I initially went for an equivalent Pro-Ject, but it didn't work out, and I returned for a 1200GR, which I was much more impressed by.

That said, I think the Technics weak point is its tonearm. You could mod down the line with various drop-in arms, but you'd get quite a distance with the 1500C as is.

Very heavy though (45g).

I prefer the higher weight of the zirc to the almost cheap feeling all titanium pins being so light. And it's virtually unscratchable

And that's not too disparage TI, but I definitely don't mind the extra grams.