Hey Head-Fi, loooooooong time no see :-)   I was very active on here back in the day. In fact when Googling around on "Grado HF-1" my old review showed up on the first page, ha!   http://www.head-fi.org/t/137969/my-grado-hf-1-review   Anyway, hard to believe I've had these for 11 years...

iTunes just feels like such a sledgehammer. Plus whenever I try to play off my shared drive on my network, it copies over a cache of everything locally...why? Foobar was great, it'd monitor a directory, local or remote, and you can go from there. Anything like that for Mac? --Illah

Just got a new MB Pro, Snow Leopard, and when plugging in my Pico it still plays through the normal Mac speakers. I'm a Mac newbie BTW so maybe I'm missing something, but with my PC before it was plug and play. Thoughts? --Illah

Just wanted to poll here to get an idea of savings strategies. I know to some degree this is income dependent - I'm sure the wealthier ones among us can max out their 401k's and Roths each year along with a number of other investments But still, from a percentage level I'm interested to see how...

I already have Senn HD650s and Grado HF-1s, just wondering what others would make a great pairing. FYI, both are already stunning with the Pico...especially the HD650. Damn near flawless --Illah

I've been using a custom cable I built for some time, it sounds really good and in that regard I've been very happy with it... Custom Sennheiser HD580, HD600, HD650 Headphone Cable ...but it's not very flexible. All the techflex keeps it somewhat rigid, as does the relatively high gauge...

My main listening goes like this: Hip Hop (mostly tracks) Various electronica (mostly mixes) In reality I listen to those two about 50/50, but Last.fm doesn't see it that way. For example, I can listen to two or three mixes for 3+ hours, and Last.fm scrobbles two or three tracks. Then I...

I'm very strongly considering downsizing (see sig) and just getting a Pico. I know there's a million threads on this amp already, so I know it's a good piece of gear, however I've seen flavors of the month pop up on these boards in the past So, does it live up to the hype? --Illah

Just looking for a decent book that's sort of a 'finance 101' type of thing. There's a ton of these types of books out there, just wondering what's a good one. I'm in my 20's and have some of the basics covered (IRA, 401k, high-interest checking/savings) and am now starting to get more serious...

My headphone gear is barely being used anymore. A lot of the things that got me into headphones no longer apply. I'm not in a small apartment anymore, and my new job includes more responsibilities so I don't have the luxury of zoning out with music and working on linear tasks anymore. But at...

So I got to thinking...if using HDMI and Optical / Coax audio, you're essentially using the source as nothing more than a transport. I know some will claim they need a $3000 transport to reduce jitter and whatnot, but I've never really thought much of that - basically it's the A/D conversion...

...but I trust you guys on this forum and AVS is an overcrowded mess Anyway, title says it all. Of course I don't mean using cheap garbage vs. fancy-pants stuff, but I'm talking the difference between a decent well built $15-20 cable and the higher end stuff in a 6-10' run. Since HDMI is...

Suggestions? Touchpad or rollerball / trackball mouse is ideal, I'm not a big fan of joystick-style mice. Since this is for my living room design is a consideration, but not so much so that I'm going to get those $170 Logitech DiNovo keyboards Just none of those rackmount / datacenter ones...

My sweet spot is a 46" TV, not overly huge but it still feels big. From a visit to Best Buy 42" is decent as well, but I wouldn't go smaller than that, but I'd much rather skew toward the 46" range rather than 42". My budget is, "The cheapest possible set that's still pretty decent." I don't...

1GB - $40 2GB - $60 http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/devlin/16865 Basically an iPod shuffle competitor, except you don't have to shuffle and can actually pick what you want to hear. I hardly ever want/need a portable but at $60 this could fill those random moments when I do. --Illah

A while back I asked about rolling over my old 401k to either my new job's 401k or an IRA. I'm starting to lean toward the IRA option but I'm not sure what's a good one or how to go about opening one. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks! --Illah

Due to my new job it's looking like my DAC->Amp->HF-1 setup might not be practical anymore... Because of that I've thought about the possibility of getting a portable player for work. I want it to be as lightweight and mobile as possible, i.e. just player and small headphones, nothing else. The...

Nevermind... --Illah

So I found a new gig and have to figure out what to do with my 401K. My current job is where I started my 401K contributions so I'm not sure what's the best option from here (never dealt with it before). From reading around: 1. Transfer to new employer's plan. 2. Transfer to IRA. 3. Do...

Thought I'd share - these maps by time zone make it really easy to understand what-happens-when: http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/08...ch-in-us/5891/ --Illah

This is practically exactly what I've been saying for years, and slowly but surely it's been popping up in the mainstream media. I thought it would happen much more quickly, but I guess the market moves far slower than taste. I really got into hip hop in the 90's and it's been pretty much...

If so how do you like it? How does it compare to MS Office? I'm especially interested in your answers if you work professionally with the suite and your clients/colleagues are using MS Office - how seamless is it passing docs back and forth? Thanks! --Illah

And you thought Head-Fi was niche.... http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2271 Honestly this is one of the funniest things I've came across in a LONG time --Illah

Fax machines are archaic but once in a while some businesses are still set on using them. The only online fax service I'm familiar with is eFax, but it's roughly $17 / month and not worth the trouble for the odd monthly fax I'll need to send or receive. Any suggestions for cheaper alternatives...

From the WSJ: Quote: Emotion plays a much larger role in consumer-spending behavior than awareness of credit-card debt, according to a new study paid for by the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Ford Foundation. For many shoppers, the study asserts, knowledge of interest rates and...