wbass

Is it all down to quality of patches and sources? Recording interface? Scrupulous attention paid to mixing and mastering?

I always find Junior Boys albums great sounding. And Daft Punk. But, presumably, almost anyone should be able to achieve great sound if it's all "in the box"?

Btw, Junior Boys, Begone Dull Care is a great album for layering.

I've wondered similarly; if most of the music I listen to is never actually live, i.e., an actual musical event, does that mean it's a better or worse "fabricated" event when I listen to it on my speakers or headphones? Does my favorite DJ mix on crappy headphones?

ECM goes so deep, I'm not even sure what's deep or shallow!

A few off the top of my head, but maybe these are known....

Anouar Brahem: Le Pas du Chat Noir

Bengt Berger Bitter Funeral Beer Band

Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang: Dream Logic

Jakob Bro: Returnings

Jon Hassell: Last Night the Moon...

Generally, if there's no soprano sax on an ECM record, I'll at the very least be curious about it. Jan Garabek ruins so many otherwise great records with his shitty, smoothed over tone.

Love this label also. Check out the Prism series of albums by Danish String Quartet if you like that sort of thing. Hafla by Siwan is also great. Many others…

@Armaegis Thinking of a new amp?

LCD-4/Ferrum and Susvara/Enleum a nice study in contrast. First is close/tightly staged, very immediate, with strong slam and heft. Second is slightly pushed back, a touch mellower, low fatigue, but very detailed and still with solid bass.

I'm always intrigued by "unique tech" as it were. The Bakoon/Enleum stuff interests me, and I've read good things. I do also have an OG HE-6 (4 screw) and have always wondered if I could find something satisfying that wasn't a full blown speaker amp.

For the last few weeks, I've been listening via HD58X, but I just got my Susvara set back up, and it's a totally different listen. The Sus presents a lot more detail, but it's the wider stage and better layering that also helps all of the subtle atmospheric stuff come out and also the surprising melodic coherence of such an ambient album.

Totally. It is a reframing of the material. I feel like the whole chain can change how you meet the music.

There were three camps, and then there were people who went their own way (LFF, Hands), and some people (like me) who were still finding their way. The largest camp, by far, was Yggdrasil A1, EC/DNA, modded HD-800. There was speaker amp, HE-6. The smallest group was HeadAmp, Stax. People used to debate the sonic pros and cons of different headphone technologies. There was a thread about it.

That's a good summary @Claritas thanks. Hmm, so it seems like the big changes in HP-land are 1) Raal (seems to have somewhat faded in popularity) 2) higher-end planars (not hugely popular on here) 3) Utopia (still pretty popular but with some dissenters).

I know only about SBAF. I agree with you about Utopia (and other Focals). SBAF has had a big emphasis on modded HD-6x0's. First, the KISS HD-650. Lately, the JAR HD-600. ZMF and, more recently, ETA have also been deservedly popular. But the other big change is a much greater interest in IEMs, which started with the OG Andro. Great UIEMs have been a blessing. CFA has done very impressive work.

HD58X happens to be the other HP I have on hand. Since I'm stuck in temporary lodging waiting for my flat purchase to complete, and there was a lovely mold mite outbreak the other day, my Sus, VC, and LCD-4 are safely (I hope) away in their cases.

I wasn't expecting magic from the HD58X/Enleum combo, but am finding it very listenable and perhaps even considerably more involving than what I recall from, say, Piety or maybe BHA-1. Just more micro-detail and a more composed stage. Unsurprising, given the cost difference, but just stream-of-conscious thoughts here really....

As for the Forte's: Still in storage. Hopefully coming to me in... a month or so?

The Day of the Aphids

"The Day of the Aphids"

*R*O*F*L*

(five-star rofl)

"There's also the dog hair and the hoarding of every knick knack under the sun."

I should meet your aunt. Sounds like we would get on. I could bring copious cat hair into her life :)

Ha, cheers. If I can get one laugh out of this, it won't have been a total hygiene nightmare. For some reason, in addition to tulip bulbs, the aphids like my headphones (head) and glasses (also head). So excuse me while I go dip my dome in DEET.

And/or search "Taylor Haskins--Alberto Balsam" on streaming service of your choice.

Hey- I like GoGoPenguin and this is is more downtempo but really nice. And yeah- a great track to test the Yggdrasil A2 boards that just came in. :)

GoGoPenguin also great. Beat-driven UK jazz definitely still continuing its moment.

On the Haskins track, the drummer is doing all sorts of fun subtle stuff. Really quiet chatter on the snare drum and so forth.

For Aphex Twin jazz covers, I also love The Bad Plus' version of "Film."

Listening with the Susvara now and enjoying it a lot. Not wanting for dynamism or liveliness at the moment. Based on audio memory, Sus does seem a touch brighter out of the Enleum than the Ferrum, but it's also a slightly easier and, again, cleaner sound.

I think I'm starting to hear that somewhat tube-like sound some folks have mentioned. It's a bit more liquid, less hashy than other solid-state I've heard. At the same time, I would't call it forward. It's not a "front row seat" kind of amp. Not thus far anyway.

"Vivid" and "more tonal colors" are also coming to mind. I hate audiophile-speak. Could also be new-toy syndrome. Who knows? Unscientific, stream-of-conscious impressions, for whatever they're worth.

Mostly jazz: Oliver Nelson/Dolphy, Kenny Wheeler, Willis Jackson (soul jazz guilty pleasure), Barry Altschul, Charles Earland, Randy Weston, Benny Carter, John McLaughlin (early rock-fusion), Tadd Dameron/Coltrane

Finally found a good copy of Little Feat, Sailin' Shoes, too.

A few others I maybe could/shoulda left behind, but that's digging.

I came up with two options, the basic and the semi-lux. Ordered both, and we'll see which does the trick.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C6XX6PM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.theselektor.com/us/products/selektor-messenger-bag-x-30-lp-12-burgundy-and-black/

"Is 19" x 19" big enough to fit LPs now adays?"

Aren't they the same size as they always were?

It's been a long time (like decades), but... 12"?

(I'd have to climb to a ladder-access cupboard to measure one)

I think of a jacket as 13" x 13", which leaves room for over-sized jackets. Those flight/helmet bags look really handy, but maybe a bit big. I also like the roll-top backpacks for LPs, but I need a shoulder bag in this case.

Not sure if there's a direct connection--oops, didn't mean to imply that--but they definitely cite Rachael's as an inspiration. And Mogwai and Tortoise. A lot of acts have been hip to those bands, but Balmorhea have been more interesting than most IMO.

If i were to recommend any one album of theirs as a jumping off point, it'd be Stranger. Then move through Clear Language and The Wind. Then move back through their earlier catalog. I'm still parsing out their newest, tho. There are portions that I'm still trying to understand how they fit with the overall sensibility of the album as a whole.

I very much appreciate how most of their work grows in intricacy through familiarity, where that's usually not the case with a lot of music. At first blush things sound rather simple, but generally there's more going on, and the nuance is in what we don't notice, almost as if an intention of the group.

Very curious to hear about the Enleum. A friend of mine had that as his last rig (only sold it all because he had another kid).

Yeah, very curious to hear the Enleum. Ferrum is excellent but not always toe-tapping. Susvara is great, but can sometimes be slightly reserved dynamically, so more power might be the ticket. I think the Enleum is meant to have a mild mid-bass hump, which I think will also compliment the Sus well.

@wbass Will wait for your impressions on the AMP-23R. My Susvara has been sitting here for weeks because of the lack of "toe-tappiness" as you've said. As much as I want it to be an all-rounder, it's been limited to select genres + non-music listening (YouTube, podcasts, etc). Hopefully more power really does the thing. Been triangulating findings with fellow local hobbyists, and they've also said the same thing.

Electronic music/production seems to favor hard-panned detail, texture, deep bass, lots of panning effects. In short, ear candy. Probably b/c most of its made and mixed on HPs. I prefer band stuff and acoustic instruments on 2ch. And 50s-70s recordings on vinyl.

P3ESR-XD (not the original P3ESRs), Heed Obelisk SI MKIII, a smallish REL turned way down for fill and staging. They'll fill a medium sized room at a distance or pull them in for pretty striking staging in nearfield. Very very natural sounding.

@wbass I somehow missed that you are also looking for something for the Susvara. While I have not heard that combo, folks rave about it. AMP-23r is too perfect of a fit for a small profile device for Forte+Susvara.

@Justin S Probably not moving away from the Klipsch Forte III. I'm not a huge mini-monitor fan, personally, and the Forte's do well at lower volumes, which I might be forced to embrace. But thanks for the suggestion.

Mostly just trying to figure out the amp/phono pre situation. Down the road I might check out Quad 57s though, as had a pretty amazing audition of those a few years ago.

I plan to keep bike commuting. In fact, I liked this flat, b/c it has a relatively calm route to work. And storage enough for 2-4 bikes. Been cycling quite a bit lately and want to do some touring and gravel soon. But I really don't like to cycle when it rains, and it does, of course, rain.

So, tube access will be nice. And, of course, there are cross-city trips best done via train. Also, 20 minutes to King's Cross and trains to Brussels, Paris, and beyond. And it's the same line out to Heathrow, too.

But I'll probably have to turn my subwoofers way, way down. Ha. Priorities.

SBAF will do that to you :-). When I joined I didn't even have a headphone rig never mind a DAP and multiple IEMs. They do all sound really good though...

Hey, thanks for buying the Noble X and FD-X1 that I worked on. Appreciate it. :) (Side note: I have been re-buying up used FD-X1 for my oldest/best friends...)

Ha ha, your technical and marketing prowess worked on me. I like the FD-X1 and find them a solid to strong listen, especially for the price. The Noble X I'm a bit divided on. Have had some good sessions, but they don't like to stay in my ears. Beautifully made though.