wbass

I was trying to get away from tubes, also, and into class A. But, on the other hand, I tend to like a certain fatness or wetness or dimensionality that tubes bring to the table, and there's an argument for pairing a tube pre with a solid-state power amp, so maybe that's what I'll look into.

The LS 36.5 only uses three tubes, so it's not a huge investment in glass either. I was initially looking for an amp I could leave on all day, but maybe that's not really class A either. It's not like Class A isn't a bit of a lifestyle choice also.

Well i think the sound quality is worth any “inconvenience “. I switched away from tubes as well but luckily i’m still very happy with the preamp i have(phonitor x). Though a modwright… well well well.

I was on the Bakoon loaner and I wouldn't buy the Enleum based on my experience, but the most important thing in this hobby is enjoyment, so it doesn't matter what others think as long as you're enjoying your setup.

I hear a lot of stuff differently than SBAF does, and I’m totally fine with that.

There are some trusted ears that like the 23-R
I’m glad you are enjoying it!

Ask for pic with today's newspaper

The 2nd guy seems to have bought it from the 1st guy. You can tell as they left each other feedback on that item.

I passed in the end. I already have an HM-7 based SUT. I would've liked to have tried the HM-3, but, oh, well. The guy was legit, and no hard feelings, it seems.

I highly recommend DSHA-3F

I remember trying out the VC on my Bifost 2 OG / Midgard stack that I brought on Rosson's former place back in Jan 2024 meet and thought it was pretty good for a SS amp. The VC warmth really pairs well with the neutrality of Midgard

I like my Phonitor X combined with any ZMF, but only after disabling the crossfeed and using HQPlayer embedded.

Stuff for most of my other hobbies usually only goes on sale 1-2x a year with one being BF. Got a decent but not huge amount of miscellaneous things I had been holding off on for a while.

i bought 3 bags of salad. none were on sale.

Picked up a couple bottles of bourbon. Would have picked them up at full price but I didn’t know they even had them until I saw the ad.

I really should experiment more with the Neo Stream and HQPlayer. I'm just not in a place right now where I have the computer set-up to be able to run any of the better settings. Hopefully some time within the next few months. But I'm just finding the Neo DAC un-engaging right now. It's annoying that iFi doesn't tell you which DAC it uses.

RME arrived the other day. It's actually the older AK4490 chip, but I guess most reports say there's not terribly much daylight between it and the 4493. It's kind of hard to know what you're getting buying secondhand, as the serials are confusing. Top plate is a bit scratched, and the dude sent it the most ludicrously unpadded box.

But I got an okay price, and I'm not really in the mood to try a return, etc. And, well, having gotten it set up, it's immediately way better than the Neo Stream internal DAC. Now I have to work my way through the million options in the RME. Even volume settings aren't immediately obvious. Ha.

Totally agree. Listen to Warriors Dance by Prodigy. The LCD-4 takes you there like almost no other headphone!

Listened to mine the other night from the Mjolnir 3 and it was pure pleasure. I'm getting mine RD modded but there are moments like the other night when I remember that I like the stock one a great deal too.

I'd own one if each cup wasn't carrying 80 lbs of magnets. They aught to include vouchers for a chiropractor

And the Super 7 is... around the quality of a DNA Starlett? Below? Just different?

Different. S7 is better than Starlett if you have the right OPT (there were two versions) and mods.

Cool. Thanks for that. How do you tell which version has which transformers? And which are considered preferable?

I tried going back through the threads, but sort of lost track in all the talk of various mods.

Hmm, this appears to have worked! As the rep suggested, it made a god-almighty crackle in the left driver, but it does seem to have unstuck, and sounds like it's back in action. No clue whether this would've degraded the driver. Hopefully, the LCD-4 drivers can take a bit of abuse.

Back to running them with the Phonitor SE, a surprisingly good match, and the internal DAC in my iFi Neo Stream, which I don't care for, as I feel it sounds insipid. But I might try upsampling through HQP and see if that helps anything.

Either the rep is really good at it, or Audeze knows about this for a long time, of course I take the latter. So glad to see they are back alive!!

looks like a brick and mortar store: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qoM1Tb6HxzYCwAFFA

Even so, bank transfer would make me nervous

He's legit. Although he runs his business out of his home. But legit that Steve Guttenburg has been to this shop:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/listening-to-luxury-what-does-a-350000-stereo-sound-like/

Yeah, I don't love bank transfer, but he lists it in all his ads (and annoyingly in this case, I can't to PayPal) as a preferred payment method. 1802 A'gon transactions and 99.5% positive. I think it's a reasonable risk, but wanted to check. A lot of folks seem to be going over to PayPal F&F and bank transfer. No doubt for tax reasons. In this case, I think it's fine. But I don't love the trend.

Courtesy of Luxman's website.

Missed opportunity for a haiku

Although I haven't used an electrostatic amp, I bought a Dynalo from Birgir and had a very positive experience. We had a lengthy email exchange prior to purchase, and he took care of me a couple of years later when the volume pot started having issues. Birgir sells a bunch of used amps on his site, including Tyll's old amp, which @Rthomas mentioned. That might be a place to start without breaking the bank.

I visit Mjolnir's used amp page often and have been mighty tempted. Still a fair spend over there. I think I got starry-eyed visions of a cheap DIY Carbon and a used pair of 007 for under $3k, which has gotten me tempted again. In my big TOTL-ish audition last year, including a visit to HeadAmp in C-Ville, I ended up not being sure if stats are for me.

But I do see plenty of reports that 007 and 009(S) properly amped hang in there with or beat the Sus. And the X9000, in a brief audition, were just a detail monster. Basically, in casting around for something "different," I've got curious about stats again.

I wondered at using the word "players." We never did. But I did an Oh-wait: we did call them "record players."

yeah mscaler + Dave. HQP also offers a lot of tweaking potential to find the exact sound you want if you're into that

Yeah, just started experimenting with HQP. Solid results thus far. Dave + M Scaler prolly not in reach tho.

it might be interesting for me to compare just Dave vs the HQP'd May next time since the price there is more similar if you include the cost of the high end pc needed for the HQP

The PayPal tax is for your safety. Friends don’t ask friends to do friends.

Yes, and yes. They have your money tied up for a month.

I dealt with a dodgy dude on US Audio Mart not long ago and disputed the payment with PayPal after he ghosted me. I think I may have pdf'd email correspondence and included it in my dispute, not sure, but keep documentation, inc. the email bounce back.

I got my money back fine, but it took 10 days after they gave him time to ship/respond. Sorry this is happening to you

Thanks for sharing that experience. I feel this is definite confirmation to always use PayPal G&S, even with the people who seem to get all huffy when you even mention it. If this breaks my unbroken run of solid internet purchases, I'll be annoyed, but it's probably worth it for future gut checks.

It's just weird to me this this guy would bother to carry on a detailed, enthusiast-level conversation if he always attended to ghost me. Just odd.

Forest Gate has some lovely areas. Manor Park and Forest Gate overground are only about twenty minutes from Liverpool Street.

The lizzie line is, I think, after my time.

the North London Line, and it's eastern branch, used to be a little-used gem: it is now better known and offers all sorts of connectivity.

I haven't set foot on Britain since 2019. And it's some years since I had the London tube network embroidered in my head. Now I stand with the other tourists, looking, puzzled, at the map

Slanted walls should actually be great as the waves are reflected into different directions and cannot as easily build up resonances. I think. :) Anyway, my attic is the best room I have, acoustically, by far. Rather too dry than prone to resonance.

Lately, it's been Glad to Be Unhappy. That and Bossa Antigua seem really hard to find on LP and are also $$. And the old RCA discs can be noisy. So, I picked up a Mosaic LP boxset as a compromise. I have a contemporary reissue of First Place Again and a couple copies of Desmond Blue (also great). It's too bad not to get the original covers with the Mosaic set, but they're usually good pressings.

It's funny b/c, as a recovering drummer, I usually like to hear more active rhythm section interplay, and Connie Kay, especially, just holds it down and rarely anything more than that. But I like Desmond and his tone and his effortless lines so much, it scarcely seems to matter.

Desmond is my absolute favorite. I used to think I love Brubeck, but I love Desmond.