[TwinQY]

This is getting less and less arousing by the minute.

 

[billybob_jcv]

This is getting less and less arousing by the minute.

That's what she said.

 

[Argyris]

Did something happen? 

 
Oh, yeah....

 

[TwinQY]

I'm going to talk about IEMs. I think we can go a bit off-topic. Heck I think we deserve it. Always pushing the cheese but never the gear. This is a safe place where we avoid the awful banter and arguing, so I swear I'll keep it lighthearted.
 
I met this person on the subway a while ago, spotted him with some Phiatons and struck up a convo. Turns out he's not a H-Fer but is aware of the site. In fact I might have even had an encounter with him on erji once. Has some real top notch oldies. The RedGiants, the Brookstones, and the Rooth universals as his TOTL (the 6-driver). Also a pair of the FAD Heavens, but he hasn't really taken to that one - good thing is I was looking for one myself
 
He's been out of the loop for a a year or two, which is cool. Those kinds of enthusiasts are the types that I really love to encounter. They've reached that level of contentment where they're able to avoid the rat race altogether. Which makes it easier to talk about more relevant things, like music. Turns out he's a black metal-head as well. I keep encountering the likes of those in this town - this marks the 4th black-metal head-fier I've encountered in total.
 
He was impressed with these cheapo Lethals so I gifted him my set. I'm nice like that. 
 
But yeah those FADs look gorgeous. Even the cheapos.


 
I wasn't even aware about the NE-AUDIO thing until Rin's analysis mentioned it, wish someone could have told me when the Radius was in hand. Well Amazon has the Brookstones for $60 still, so...
 

 
ROOOOOTTTHHH

 

[lee730]

  We don't even have space for carts...
 
I'm strangely constipated.
 
So...you ended up not sending the pineapples but the Dell instead? Why would you rip the guy off?

---

Alright, enough with the social commentary. Let's just all mutually agree that both Costco and Bach are the bane of western civilization.
 
So apart from waiting for my stuff to ship in this weekend, I've been planning to try my hand at re-creating some of my favourite dishes. Saturday would be Shaxian snacks (沙县小吃). Lived on this stuff in middle school. Always got the vendor to put a nice well-done fried egg on top of the noodles. Anyways the staples would be mixed flat noodles in peanut sauce (板面). And some wontons (肉燕), with a lean meat processed skin (燕皮) , in soup. Plus some chinese romain on the side. Mmmh...could live on a bowl a day. Make that three bowls. Actually make that four.
 
 
The noodles.
 

The wontons.
 
Sunday would entail some nice Lanzhou lamian (兰州拉面 - pulled noodles - like how you see it in the movies.) Lanzhou is pretty Muslim-centric, so the genuine bowls are all halal. Nice, tongue-numbing broth, very heavy on the salt and flavourful, moreso than its Beijing relative. Broth is like heavy on rye. Noodles are beautifully chewy. Has to be done right though. I've come across only 4-5 places in all of Fuzhou which had some genuine stuff. One of which was right downstairs from the apartment (but it closed down shortly - people just don't get good food).

 
I can't wait.

 
Mmm that looks really good. At least you can chatter about food here and not be beheaded for it .

 

[TwinQY]

It is a wonderous feeling. Half the month there really isn't much to talk about.
 
Speaking of which, I'm hankering for this as a midnight snack - a Fuzhou hallmark. 
 
 
Fuzhou-style fishballs. The outside is made from fish, the inside is a delicious minced meat filling. When the broth has the perfect amount of chives sprinkled over...hmm, the aroma is heavenly (otherwise it's just hot water with fish balls inside). Usually the inside is quite juicy and squirts in your mouth. As you can see each one is quite large so I'd advise against eating them whole.
 
Street vendor food, so fairly cheap (usually). Some posh places have them for like 70RMB a bowl. Lolnope. 5RMB (which is like 70 cents or so) for a quick filling snack? Yay.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Sweaty fishballs? Not an appetizing thought....

 

[miceblue]

  It is a wonderous feeling. Half the month there really isn't much to talk about.
 
Speaking of which, I'm hankering for this as a midnight snack - a Fuzhou hallmark. 
 
 
Fuzhou-style fishballs. The outside is made from fish, the inside is a delicious minced meat filling. When the broth has the perfect amount of chives sprinkled over...hmm, the aroma is heavenly (otherwise it's just hot water with fish balls inside). Usually the inside is quite juicy and squirts in your mouth. As you can see each one is quite large so I'd advise against eating them whole.
 
Street vendor food, so fairly cheap (usually). Some posh places have them for like 70RMB a bowl. Lolnope. 5RMB (which is like 70 cents or so) for a quick filling snack? Yay.

Is it real fish? Pretty much any time I hear "fishball," I imagine the generic cheap-pollock with filler flour. :|
 
Sounds tasty though. The juicy squirting reminds me of (siu lung bao) 小籠包，which I tried to make with a few friends a couple weeks ago. They didn't turn out too bad, but I burned my tongue with the hot soup in the bun. -.-

 

[TwinQY]

If your perspiration gets to be that hot, I'd see a doctor.
 
  Quote:

Is it real fish? Pretty much any time I hear "fishball," I imagine the generic cheap-pollock with filler flour. :|  
Sounds tasty though. The juicy squirting reminds me of 小籠包，which I tried to make with a few friends a few weeks ago.

Depends on the quality. The really cheap imported stuff is usually always pollock, yes. We typically use real fish for our home recipe though. It's less of a problem with the Fuzhou-styled ones. Not for any reason in particular though. I guess we're just more mindful.
 
With the buns, the juice is almost separate from the meat filling, which is a fun sensation. With the fishballs, it's completely integrated into the meat. 

 

[Argyris]

Speaking of hot water, I just washed my DT880 pads again. It's a yearly ritual, though I'm a bit early this time. Got to get all the dirt and hair and oil and stuff out of them. I'm currently waiting for them to dry (which happens surprisingly quickly). This is actually slightly relevant, since the last time I did this was last fall and was the same morning I decided to return from my long hiatus from Head-Fi. I didn't have my DT880 to listen to and my SRH440 was in another room, so, figuring I'd have a laugh, I dug my old V700 out from under the coffee table and put it on. I decided I'd check to see if anybody still listened to them so I did a search, and of course a Head-Fi thread was the first thing that came up.
 
Needless to say, I got sucked back in, and the rest is history. 

 

[TwinQY]

I've never cleaned my HE-400 velours, nor the LCD-2 pads. I probably should. I usually don't clean anything, which typically isn't a problem considering the average lifespan for a HP in this household before I sell or give them away is ~3 months. But I should've learned when the HD580s pads melted away as the years passed.
 
The only time I've cleaned a headphone was when I dipped a pair of FA-003 in mud. Long story. I dropped my bag which had the Fischers inside in a puddle. Long story over.

---

Everyone's crazy about this adjustable bass thing. I find it strange. People are too fickle. Make up their mind as to what they want out of their stuff, geez. The COP, the ADs. Even for CIEMs - the TOTL Canalworks, and the KumitateK KL-003-X. Why? Unless it's really well-implemented, I don't see how the cons outweigh the cons from EQing. THD is still compromised. 

 

[Argyris]

I think it depends on whether or not you can hear distortion in a particular range. Human hearing is quite anemic when it comes to the bass frequencies. We start to lose the ability to localize sound below around 150 Hz or so. Of course we lose a lot of sensitivity the lower we go. It therefore seems reasonable to expect that our ability to detect distortion would also diminish in the low end. Plus, THD artifacts here tend to be things like a harmonic one octave higher than the fundamental, which might even be euphonic. The DT880 has a bit of this, which probably accounts for the faint boxiness and upper bass lift I sometimes perceive if I put them on right after listening to the SRH440.
 
I think as long as the overall distortion plot isn't affected by the boost (in other words all you have is a rise in THD corresponding to where the bass shelf occurs), if what you really care about is adding ridiculous subwoofer bass to certain stuff but not compromising your other genres, it might be worth the tradeoff of adding some THD. I would personally be more worried about how useful the implementation is than necessarily what sort of artifacts it introduces. It's a niche product and a somewhat new idea (though I seem to recall seeing in the vintage headphone thread an implementation of variable bass in a Koss headphone from the 70s or 80s), so the kinks are going to have to get worked out.

 

[MrEleventy]

It's finally happened! All three Puffs have posted in a row! I've screen capped it for posterity:

Great job!

 

[Argyris]

  I've never cleaned my HE-400 velours, nor the LCD-2 pads. I probably should. I usually don't clean anything, which typically isn't a problem considering the average lifespan for a HP in this household before I sell or give them away is ~3 months. But I should've learned when the HD580s pads melted away as the years passed.
 

 
Yeah, I've done the Beyer pads three times now. So far I've only done it once a year, since I'm not entirely sure how well they would stand up to repeated washing. After a cleaning they're soft and no longer have the dark, matted, greasy look and vague yellowish patches they accumulate over time. I imagine all velour or fabric pads will do the same thing with use. Maybe your HE-400 pads are overdue for a good scrubbing.
 
I actually have no idea how long the DT880/DT990 pads are supposed to last, though. After almost three years mine are a bit squashed and aren't velvety anymore, but apart from that they seem perfectly fine. I don't intend on replacing them until there's some obvious reason to. I wish they sold the foam inserts separately, though. Mine have impressions from my pinnae and are sprinkled with this yellowish dust that resists the lint roller when I use it to lift stray hairs from the foam surface. I'd like to replace just them, but I've only ever seen them offered along with new pads.

 

[billybob_jcv]

7.5 hours and no posts?? WTH?? You people have lives outside head-fi or something?? You better shape up!