Justin S
Last Activity:
Mar 26, 2024 at 8:24 PM
Joined:
Mar 14, 2018
Messages:
210
Trophy Points:
93
Positive ratings received:
1,565
Neutral ratings received:
0
Negative ratings received:
0

Post Ratings

Received: Given:
Like 1,506 1,255
Dislike 0 3
Respectfully Disagree 0 0
heart 10 41
Miss Information 0 0
Epic 36 74
Agreed, ditto, +1 13 21
Gender:
Male
Location:
Toronto
Occupation:
Filmmaker

Share This Page

Justin S

Friend, Male, from Toronto

Pyrate Contributor

ZMF Classics are bananas. w Lry+ and a Ken Rad, cable and mesh tweaks, early Massive Attack is glorious... It's all there. Mar 22, 2024 at 10:35 PM

Justin S was last seen:
Mar 26, 2024 at 8:24 PM
    1. Justin S
      Justin S
      I know I am late to the party. The 600s are rock and roll presence machines. My 800Ss are great, but the mids on the 600s are incomparable.
      1. View previous comments...
      2. Justin S
        Justin S
        I don't really get along with the 650s so well - my ears find them a bit too woolly. I did the KISS mod and it helped..but I still prefer the 600/800Ss
        Aug 20, 2023
      3. Qildail
        Qildail
        Every time I get twitchy about owning my own pair of 800S, I go back to the 600. Then cycle back around on the twitchy part again…
        Aug 20, 2023
        Justin S likes this.
      4. Justin S
        Justin S
        The 800Ss are a thing for sure. I've been through the Focal Clears, LCD-Xs, Elexes, Grados and the 800Ss have really stuck with me. I am definitely a plastic dynamic guy. I would say, though, I am ZMF-curious.
        Aug 20, 2023
        Qildail likes this.
    2. Justin S
      Justin S
      Listening to the Lyr+ tonight with a nice Ken Rad tube thinking "Noice". Then I realized that that tube was turned off. *ON* NoiceX10.
      1. Cryptowolf, Qildail, joch and 2 others like this.
      2. ColdsnapBry
        ColdsnapBry
        Noice
        Aug 19, 2023
        Justin S and Slade01 like this.
      3. Slade01
        Slade01
        I love the Ken Rad tube on the Lyr+.
        Aug 19, 2023
        RestoredSparda and Justin S like this.
    3. Justin S
      Justin S
      @wbass 's avatar always reminds me of Joan As Police Woman's "Covers Two" cover. Great record. Hilarious cover.
      1. Cryptowolf and wbass like this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. wbass
        wbass
        I've always heard about Joan as Police Woman and really need to check her out.
        Aug 18, 2023
        Justin S likes this.
      4. Justin S
        Justin S
        Oh, she is the queen. Smart, charming, full of heart. Everything she does is interesting.
        Aug 19, 2023
        wbass likes this.
      5. Justin S
        Justin S
        Ps. The avatar similarity is glancing...the red pants :-)
        Aug 19, 2023
        wbass likes this.
    4. Justin S
      Justin S
      A couple months in on a MOTU Ultralite MK5 for multichannel in my work suite. Hot damn it is no slouch. Clear, balanced, exciting.
    5. Justin S
      Justin S
      How is Tidal's redbook FLAC? Is it derived from MQA sources or is it actually uncompressed?
      1. rlow
        rlow
        My understanding is that everything was derived from the MQA source previously. However with their impending launch of lossless high-res FLAC (sans MQA) and potential death of MQA, not sure if that’s going to change…
        Aug 11, 2023
        Justin S and Vansen like this.
      2. bixby
        bixby
        Everything? What about the large percentage of albums that are/were not offered in master, why would they be derived from an MQA source?
        Aug 11, 2023
    6. Justin S
      Justin S
      New garage system: HiFiBerry DAC2 Pro, Fosi V3, Mission LX2s I had kicking around. Will not win awards but sweet garage system.
      1. Cryptowolf, Merrick, Gazny and 4 others like this.
      2. Justin S
        Justin S
        From Tivoli to this - transforms garage time into something better. The danger is that I pick away at this more to make it better when really it's a garage system.
        Aug 6, 2023
      3. Merrick
        Merrick
        Swap AD827 opamps into that Fosi v3, it’s worth it!
        Aug 7, 2023
        Justin S likes this.
      4. Justin S
        Justin S
        I have some OPA1656s on order. It *IS* a bit bright right now with the stock op amps - which is saying a lot with the missions which are dark and smooth. I'll look into the AD827s.
        Aug 9, 2023
        Merrick likes this.
    7. Justin S
      Justin S
      The Bear is a study on how to make TV.
      1. Walderstorn, caute, Jinxy245 and 3 others like this.
    8. Justin S
      Justin S
      Just put absorption panels on my front wall. The difference is profound. Clarity, focus, stage depth. Making me sweaty it's so good.
      1. Cryptowolf, Azimuth, zottel and 9 others like this.
      2. yotacowboy
        yotacowboy
        I usually get the meat sweats, but can aspire to music sweats.
        Jul 16, 2023
        RestoredSparda likes this.
      3. Justin S
        Justin S
        @yotacowboy , I know you're a mini monitor guy, too. I'm listening to the Harbeth P3ESR XDs. With a Yggdrasil LIM and the Heed Obelisk SI3. The panels bring out the greasy yummyness.
        Jul 16, 2023
        yotacowboy likes this.
    9. Justin S
      Justin S
      Learning new gear is like trying to settle into a random dot stereogram. You know it is there somewhere...hopefully.
      1. zottel and Claritas like this.
      2. Claritas
        Claritas
        When I really enjoy something, I don't bother trying to understand why. I only want to enjoy it. For learning purposes, I use test tracks. Normally, it takes the whole weekend: 4 sessions of 3 hours. I won't even post a mini-review (as opposed to impressions) if I haven't done that. If I dislike what I'm hearing, but I want to understand why, I've crammed 8 tracks into 3.5 hours.
        Jul 9, 2023
        Justin S and zottel like this.
    10. Justin S
      Justin S
      Digging the Tivoli in the garage. Super enjoyable mono experience. I like the lack of fuss, but there's nothing like the dumb main system.
    11. Justin S
      Justin S
      HQPlayer 5 is a level up. sinc-MGa + ASDM7ECv3 on an AKM DSD-D DAC (Geshelli J2) feels perfect w H800Ss and Lyr+. Putting my 4090 to work.
      1. Cryptowolf, zottel and RestoredSparda like this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. Justin S
        Justin S
        Jussi has added new modulators and new filters. They're more efficient and sound even better. I was hoping to skip this one, but I got sucked in by the combination in the OP. It's pretty great. The demo will run for a half an hour at a time so you can give it a whirl.
        Jul 2, 2023
        Cryptowolf and ilikebananafudge_ like this.
      4. Justin S
        Justin S
        The UI has changed and actually gotten worse. He has attempted to make it more "contemporary", but now you have to click through tabs for all the settings rather than seeing them all on one page.
        Jul 2, 2023
        Cryptowolf likes this.
      5. zottel
        zottel
        I use the embedded version. It’s on a Linux computer, anyway, and I use Roon to play the music. It’s easier to use the web interface from my tablet to control the settings than to walk up to the attic or use VNC to change the settings in software with a GUI. :)
        Jul 2, 2023
        Justin S and Cryptowolf like this.
    12. Justin S
      Justin S
      After years of building and fixing, I have the garage tidy. My beat-up Tivoli has been a constant. It's not hifi but all about songs.
      1. Qildail, Gazny, Northwest and 4 others like this.
    13. Justin S
      Justin S
      Getting reacquainted with DSD Direct with the AKM Geshelli socketed J2. I also popped a Sparkos SS2590 stack on the SE out. Tweaky fun.
      1. Cryptowolf, joch, rlow and 1 other person like this.
    14. Justin S
      Justin S
      The GE Tall Bottle is from England and is glorious in the Lyr+. Have not tried the others yet.
      1. Phantaminum
        Phantaminum
        There are still some really nicely priced Russian 6SN7 equivalent tubes. If you can find some early 50s/60s Foton tubes they sound great.
        May 29, 2023
    15. Justin S
      Justin S
      Ordered 4 6SN7s from Antique audio. You can't pick the brand, so it's always mixed. 2 GE side getters, a CBS Hytron and a GE Tall Bottle.
      1. Cryptowolf likes this.
      2. Justin S
        Justin S
        They CBS/Hytron is sick good. I feel like ordering from them is a bit of a lottery, but for the price of one decent tube, I got two fabulous nighttime listening tubes and two good tubes that I can us as daily drivers. Win Win.
        Jun 4, 2023
    16. Justin S
      Justin S
      First time focused speaker listen in a while. Sound in your room is next level convincing. Harbeths rock.
      1. Justin S
        Justin S
        Every time I walk by the stereo, I think about listening to the stereo.
        May 6, 2023
    17. Justin S
      Justin S
      Foxygen Mona is a perfect critical quote of "80s revival".
    18. Justin S
      Justin S
      Back to the office this week. The Beyerdynamic DT770s with the Custom Cans mass loading kit and ZMF Ori pads are quite nice from a FullaE.
      1. Cryptowolf, Jinxy245 and HotRatSalad like this.
    19. Justin S
      Justin S
      Did a full irrigation ear cleaning for IEMs and now it seems I am re-calibrating everything else. So much top end :-)
      1. Justin S
        Justin S
        It's like burn-in. It took a bunch of hours and now everything sounds great again. Grrr brain/love amazing brain.
        Apr 21, 2023
        zottel, Philimon and RestoredSparda like this.
    20. Justin S
      Justin S
      Qobuz finally in Canada! Quite sure it sounds better than Tidal through Roon. Easier sound, more micro detail. MQA-is-poo confirmation bias?
      1. View previous comments...
      2. RestoredSparda
        RestoredSparda
        Yep. I can't tell the difference between Qobuz and local files through Roon. I just stream everything now.
        Apr 20, 2023
      3. Justin S
        Justin S
        My understanding is that Tidal's Redbook has also gone through MQA conversion. I had only been listening to their "hifi" tier not their "masters" tier.
        Apr 21, 2023
        rhythmdevils likes this.
      4. Justin S
        Justin S
        Listening to some older Brian Blade (Friends Call Her Dot) and the differences are quite pronounced. All the brush work is more pronounced as is the purr of the reeds. After 7+ years of Tidal, call me impressed.
        Apr 21, 2023
  • Loading...
  • Loading...
  • About

    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Toronto
    Occupation:
    Filmmaker
    Gear List:
    Home system: PI2AES with SBAF ABNN>AES> Yggdrasil LIM>SE>Heed Obelisk SI III>Harbeth P3ESR XDs + REL t7i.

    Work: USB | S/PDIF (PI2AES Lite) ->MOTU Ultralite MK5/Geshelli J2S -> Monitors: Genelec 8020s + 7040a

    Headphones: USB | S/PDIF (PI2AES Lite) -> MOTU/J2 (SBAF ABNN after SMPS)- > Lyr+. ZMF AUTEUR CLASSIC, HD 6xxM (sbaf kissmod), HD600, Modded DT770s.

    Previous equipment. Harbeth P3ESR Standards, Harbeth C7ES3s, Neumann KH120As, Dynaudio M20s. Project Debut III/Graham Slee pre, Soekris 2541 (2x), RME ADI-2 DACfs, Bifrost 2, Holo Spring1 LV2, Schiit Fulla, BF2 (2x), BF 2/64, Gungnir Multibit Multibit A2, Heed Dactillus, Denafrips Ares, Auralic Aries, AudioLab M-DAC, Rega R-DAC, OG Schiit Freya, Schiit Magni 3, OG Burson Soloist, MassDrop LCX, Burson Fun, ZDT Jr., BHA-1, Lynx Hilo

    Previous Headphones: ZMF Aeolus, HD800S, LCD-X 2021, Focal Clear, Focal Elex, OG Sennheiser 650, Sennheiser 58x Jubilee, OG AKG Sextetts, Nhoord Red custom build, Symphones Magnum V8 custom build, Elleven Acoustica G1 custom build, Elleven Acoustica R1 custom build, Hifiman He400i, AKG K702.
    I am a filmmaker. I have also owned and operated a couple different animation/video-post studios and have been buying and trading gear since the 90s. I am relatively new to hifi.

    Signature

    ----------------