Woland
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Woland

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MQA thread is sooo Head-Fi. High on emotional venting and conventional wisdom. Soooo low on content and insight. Apr 8, 2023

    1. Woland
      Woland
      I'm tying myself in knots over whether to keep or cancel the HD8xx preorder.
      1. View previous comments...
      2. yotacowboy
        yotacowboy
        I'm with @Merrick. I've felt a hole in my existence ever since I sold my HD800SDRs. only halfway joking. Been itching to have 800s to pair with the Elekit - I feel like the pairing will be sublime given performance with HD600s.
        Aug 13, 2021
        Merrick likes this.
      3. Woland
        Woland
        Return is not so easy from overseas. Drop are not accepting non-US orders anymore, so maybe there will be demand to flip.
        Aug 13, 2021
      4. loadexfa
        loadexfa
        Yeah, unless many people hate them, you should be able to flip at a small loss. Considering the impressions so far I doubt that will be the case.
        Aug 13, 2021
    2. Woland
      Woland
      1. Biodegraded likes this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. Woland
        Woland
        Deleted.
        Aug 5, 2021
      4. Thad E Ginathom
        Thad E Ginathom
        If we are talking about the same thread, looks like my post was quietly deleted. Good.

        No: it was in another thread. Have edited.
        Aug 5, 2021
      5. Woland
        Woland
        I'm still dwelling on this experience. It's been a life lesson.
        Aug 7, 2021
        Pancakes likes this.
    3. Woland
      Woland
      "I didn't change my number" had me scrambling for my phone and confused why no call was showing.
      1. Gazny likes this.
      2. Woland
        Woland
        Damn you HQPlayer for your uncanny enhanced audio realism. Accidents will happen!
        Aug 2, 2021
    4. Woland
      Woland
      A classical musician visited this evening and blind tested some music configurations.. findings follow:
      1. Jinxy245 and Lyander like this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. Thad E Ginathom
        Thad E Ginathom
        @Cellist88, I was telling myself off for the generalisation, which I readily accept. Of course, there are two circles: of musicians and audiophiles, which I have squished together, when they are overlapping. Of course there are those that belong in both
        Jul 30, 2021
        Jinxy245 and Cryptowolf like this.
      4. Thad E Ginathom
        Thad E Ginathom
        What I won't do is assume that because someone is an musician they are a good reference for hifi listening. They need to be an audiophile (or maybe a sound pro) as well. And they may very well not be. No offence intended to musicians. Or audiophiles.
        Jul 30, 2021
        Cellist88 likes this.
      5. Claritas
        Claritas
        "The Grass is Always Greener in the Outtakes: An Experiment in Listening" in The Glenn Gould Reader, pp. 357–368 (originally published in High Fidelity, August 1975).
        Jul 31, 2021
        Woland likes this.
    5. Woland
      Woland
      Shouldn't type before coffee.
      1. Cryptowolf
        Cryptowolf
        Given that coffee makes me cranky, I shouldn’t type after either. I’ll raise my tea cup to you though. Cheers.
        Jul 29, 2021
        Deep Funk and Woland like this.
    6. Woland
      Woland
      If Tidal fails, what happens to Roon? It'll become almost useless for me unless they can find a replacement service.
      1. Cryptowolf likes this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. loadexfa
        loadexfa
        @Woland For my home setup I gave up and just installed Ropiee. I still plan to use Volumio at an office if that ever happens again. In that case I will avoid UPnP and use Volumio to play Qobuz. The UI for that is wonky but still better than UPnP regularly f'ing up.
        Jul 28, 2021
      4. loadexfa
        loadexfa
        I think the answer to your question is "yes", I was trying to clarify that I didn't use the Volumio plug-in and went with a different distribution.
        Jul 28, 2021
        Woland likes this.
      5. Woland
        Woland
        Thanks @loadexfa . I tried Ropieee recently because it works as an endpoint (NAA) for HQPlayer. I was very impressed.
        Jul 28, 2021
        loadexfa likes this.
    7. Woland
      Woland
      Sweeping the peak.
      1. jnak00 and Biodegraded like this.
      2. Thad E Ginathom
        Thad E Ginathom
        headphonanism?
        Jul 20, 2021
        Biodegraded likes this.
    8. Woland
      Woland
      1. Serious likes this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. Thad E Ginathom
        Thad E Ginathom
        Oh guys... can you remember the awful noise that some PC power supplies used to make, thirty years ago?
        Jul 17, 2021
      4. Senorx12562
        Senorx12562
        I have developed immunity to tones above 13khz.
        Jul 17, 2021
      5. bixby
        bixby
        Jul 17, 2021
        Woland likes this.
    9. Woland
      Woland
      14 days hotel quarantine. LISST, Magnius and a bunch of tubes and software to explore.
      1. JustAnotherRando
        JustAnotherRando
        Just imagine if this was in the pre-Internet/dialup days :)
        Jul 13, 2021
      2. Biodegraded
        Biodegraded
        14 days? Are you in NZ?
        Jul 13, 2021
      3. Merrick
        Merrick
        I hate to tell you, Magnius doesn’t take tubes. :(
        Jul 13, 2021
    10. Woland
      Woland
      Love these Soviet treasure troves. I bought a box of 17 1960s 6n3p-e's for less than the cost of one US 1960s NOS.
      1. Cryptowolf and Gazny like this.
      2. MisterRogers
        MisterRogers
        If you love the sound of these in your amp(s), that's a good deal indeed.
        Jul 9, 2021
      3. Woland
        Woland
        I love the 6n3p-e's I've tried, which were all from the 1980s. I'm curious if there's an audible difference between the earliest and the newest.
        Jul 9, 2021
    11. Woland
      Woland
      DACs are massively under-rated compared to Amps, imho. Topping D50S is so vastly better than D30.. not Gungnir Multibit but most of the way.
      1. k4rstar
        k4rstar
        DACs are massively over-rated compared to Amps, imho. Topping D50S is a piece of shit just like D30.. not Gungnir Multibit but most of the way.
        Jul 8, 2021
        nishan99 likes this.
      2. Woland
        Woland
        Yeah @k4rsta, I think your view is a prevailing one on SBAF and you won't get any pushback here for it. However, it just doesn't fit with my experience. And I prefer to foster the diversity of views on SBAF so we don't go too far into ASR-like groupthink.
        Jul 8, 2021
        nishan99 likes this.
      3. purr1n
        purr1n
        You are both right. Depends where you are at in time.
        Jul 8, 2021
        sheldaze and penguins like this.
    12. Woland
      Woland
      Found some tubes I really like - the box says Japan NOS 6DJ8. No other markings on boxes or tubes though.
      1. View previous comments...
      2. Ti_Leo
        Ti_Leo
        @ogodei does the "-EB" suffix means military grade? Or just longer life time? I saw some 6n23p-EB tubes, but I don't whether they sound better.
        Jul 1, 2021
      3. ogodei
        ogodei
        -EB (or -EV or -I) on Russian tubes indicates extended service life, low noise & microphonics. Usually there are structural differences from the base tube (e.g., 'military grade' build) but sometimes they just stamp the tubes that measured the best.
        Jul 1, 2021
        Ti_Leo and yotacowboy like this.
      4. Woland
        Woland
        DR are the most extreme. Rated for 10,000+hours, rugged and nuclear radiation shielded.
        Jul 1, 2021
    13. Woland
      Woland
      Procrastinating. Rolling tubes.
      1. yotacowboy likes this.
      2. Woland
        Woland
        Jun 23, 2021
        yotacowboy likes this.
    14. nishan99
      nishan99
      I just realized your profile picture is a cat picture. I always thought it was a potato for some reason…
      1. Jinxy245, Woland and Lyander like this.
      2. View previous comments...
      3. dasman66
        dasman66
        I second the pikaku idea... I always thought the profile pic was some sort of anime/gaming artwork.
        Jun 11, 2021
        Jinxy245 and Lyander like this.
      4. Lyander
        Lyander
        Pikachu between a pair of headphones? What sort of inane idea for a photo is that.
        Jun 11, 2021
      5. Woland
        Woland
        Potato! I squinted to get that and saw a map of Taiwan.
        Jun 11, 2021
        Lyander and nishan99 like this.
    15. Woland
      Woland
      I'm trying to make the Gungnir VCO (BBG) light activate. An Airport Express & optical is too little. What else to raise the jitter?
      1. zonto
        zonto
        Apple TV 4K into HDMI input of Oppo BDP-103D does the trick (sometimes). HDMI anything maybe. ;)
        Jun 11, 2021
    16. Woland
      Woland
      FIIO, HiFiMan & Holo Audio are Chi-Fi. Audioquest and Bose are not. Why the Chi-Fi hate?
      1. Deep Funk
        Deep Funk
        Simple. People want good quality products for little money. Little money sometimes buys you good quality products, most of the time expect garbage. China is a country with the lowest costs of production per unit (economies of scale) and most people (post-1980) are spoilt with Chinese units. Start thinking. For good quality products, get the exact right specifications and pay a bit more for quality control. Rant over.
        Jun 3, 2021
        Cryptowolf likes this.
      2. Azimuth
        Azimuth
        I think it is just perception. Audioquest and Bose are US brands, even if their products are made in China. Vs. companies like Fiio, HFM, and Holo, who originated out of China. A-GD in that camp as well. Although I would never call any of those companies Chi-Fi. I would refer lower quality and no-name or forgettable brands Chi-Fi.
        Jun 3, 2021
    17. Woland
      Woland
      Demoed Arya, Susvara and Empyrean yesterday.. Disliked the Empyrean as it sounded OTT. Glad I didn't bid on the recent WTS here.
      1. Cryptowolf and Koth Ganesh like this.
      2. Koth Ganesh
        Koth Ganesh
        I demoed the Empyrean and it did not last even a minute. One note bass and out. The guy that had it liked my Focal Elex better
        Jun 2, 2021
        Cryptowolf likes this.
      3. Ksaurav402
        Ksaurav402
        I found it warm and bright. Glad I sold it off when it was a hot property on Head-fi.
        Jun 2, 2021
    18. Woland
      Woland
      So much of this MQA nonsense is about reproducing the 20kHz-40kHz 'dog whistle' octave. Meanwhile..
      1. View previous comments...
      2. Woland
        Woland
        Ergo: Get a pair of DT-1350s if you want what MQA teases.
        May 30, 2021
      3. Hrodulf
        Hrodulf
        B-but my overtones! And the overtones of the overtones!
        May 31, 2021
      4. Woland
        Woland
        @Hrodulf You can always add overtones with tubes or DSP. Who is to say if the inaudible ones from those beat the inaudible ones from MQA.
        Jun 1, 2021
    19. Woland
      Woland
      1. Josh83 and fraggler like this.
      2. Merrick
    20. Woland
      Woland
      My gear is excellent. I should stop checking sbaf/head-fi for a decade or so, and shift focus to better content and listening.
      1. Gazny
        Gazny
        More music!
        May 17, 2021
        Jinxy245 likes this.
      2. Deep Funk
        Deep Funk
        Keep a Koss PortaPro on your desk. I have two.
        May 17, 2021
        Jinxy245 and Azimuth like this.
      3. loadexfa
        loadexfa
        Strongly agree. If you enjoy your gear then tell the FOMO part of your brain to f off! I think I'm approaching that point, fingers crossed.
        May 18, 2021
        Woland likes this.
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  • About

    Location:
    a friendly land
    Occupation:
    overthinker
    Gear List:
    [ Roon -> Pi4 w. HQPlayer | Spotify -> CCA ] -> Gungnir Multibit A1 -> Mjolnir 2 w. LISST / 6n23p / 6n3p-e -> BWC Speakers / Focal Clear / LTS v1

    Audirvana w. Waves NX -> Dragonfly Red -> Vali 2 w. Gold Lion -> HE6se v2

    NW-ZX2 -> DT-1350 / LTS v1

    Echo Show
    I like round numbers.

    [​IMG]