Well the time has come, one of my old college era kitchen knives snapped apart in my hand today. It was a cheapy, so no big loss... but looking at the others, my guess is that none of my kitchen knives are long for this world. So it's time to buy something better... but I have no idea what! I...

Hey all, I was thumbing through the latest music direct catalog when I saw these: http://www.musicdirect.com/products/....asp?sku=AELEV . Basically they are "cable elevators" which raise your speaker cables off the ground to reduce capacitance (supposedly) and microphonics (maybe). These...

Got a question for all the photo-fiers out there. Have you taken a monopod through airport security lately? I seem to recall that people had some troubles with this in the past... But I haven't heard any stories from the last 2 years or so. I have a mid-sized carbon fiber one that I was...

Sorry for the newbie question... but how do I read/interpret the figure at the bottom of this page: http://www.mogamicable.com/Bulk/micr.../quad_micr.htm In particular, what does K2 refer to? How do you compare these figures to more traditional measures of capacitance? Thanks.

Hi all, I've been thinking that I really need to lay waste to several sectors of a universe, enslaving millions as I go. In other words, I'm in the market for a game in the vein of Masters of Orion 2. The MOO3 was decent, but somewhat disappointing. I've also played the demo of GalCiv2...

Anyone ever use these: http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=301 . They look like quite attractive RCAs for the price... but of course none of that matters if the quality isn't there. Any comments? I wonder if they are superior to the Neutrik NYS 352?

So I was thinking about building a USB DAC (either an Alien or something similar) and I got to wondering... What is the success rate of using DIY USB DACs with linux? A quick search didn't reveal a definitive answer beyond that many people say it should work and a few others complain that it...

http://www.depechemode.com/news/index.html#032906_anton I don't have any other confirmation on this but it looks like DM and the Cure may be locked in a legal battle soon... Leaving me to wonder, if you're a fan boy of both... which do you side with? As for the substance of the claim, I'm...

I have a confession to make... I've joined the realm of the uber-geek... I've started riding a stationary bicycle while surfing on the net! I'm even playing video games from the saddle! Anyone else?

If anyone's interested the third video off of Playing the Angel has been released: http://archives.depechemode.com/vide...videos/48.html I'll write more on it later but my intially impression is that it isn't quite as good as precious but better than a pain that I'm used to.

Sorry for what is probably a stupid question, but what factors go into determining the size of an input or output capacitor? As far as I can tell it is a combination of the expected DC offset and the impedence of the next piece of equipment (headphone etc.) up the chain... But if someone...

How many systems do you have set up? By a system I mean a source, amplification (if nescessary) and either speakers or a headphones that you actually use from time to time. I have 4. One for my living room, one for my office, one for traveling on the train and one for working-out.

Hey does anyone happen to have the pin-out for a Nokia HDB-4 handset? I have one from an old phone that I was thinking about adapting for another use but for the life of me I can't find a pin-out for it. And while I'm at it does anyone happen to know what connector I need to interface it...

What do you guys think about this album? I was trying to decide if I should pick it up. Is there a better Tricky album (beyond Maxinquay and Pre-Millennium, both of which I have) that I should get instead?

'llo all, I'm planning on building some room treatments over the next few months for my speaker room and I thought I'd share the process with everyone here... Just in case it might be of interest to anyone. (And if I need some help along the way ) Chapter 1: Planning First things first...

Well these things are becoming passe but I can't help myself. It's my 1500th post, baby! As one of the old timers of head-fi (as a relative measure) I'm continually amazed by how much this hobby has expanded over the last four years. From the development of new DIY designs to exciting new...

... At A Price That's Hip" I just saw a banner add for Yourmusic.com with this slogan. Yourmusic.com is a Sony/BMG posession, right? Sony/BMG which seem to invest a lot of time and effort in making CD's unrippable. The irony is killing me inside.

http://www.nme.com/news/massive-attack/21875 Waiting is always the hardest part isn't it mates! Apparently there will be a non-album single and a greatest hits compilation as well. More data here: http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/E...rts_48134.html

Not how many drives you have but how many drive letters does your system regularly use. Mine uses 13 (C-O)! How many people out there will beat that?

Just saw this on slashdot. Dell has released a system with 4 Nvidia GPU's: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=195 Is this a sign of the apocalypse? Discuss.

I've got a bit of a problem... For a little added piece of mind I've always put motion sensors inside the doors of my appartments... The problem is that the DiMango ones that worked great in Oregon seem to be totally destroyed by the cold of Chicago. Anyone else have this problem? I've been...

Saw it yesterday... It was ok and full of interesting visual ideas... even had a plot-line that kept me guessing for part of the movie. But in general I just thought it was kind of blah. Like it verged on being pretty decent but never quite crossed that threshold. Of course since the other...

Well I guess I can finally claim to be a real DIYer, I'm finally doing a project that requires that I wind my own small toroids (~10uH). Any advice for doing this by hand?

My secondary CDP is an original Ah! Tjoeb 99. Considering I bought it for $50 I'm quite impressed with the sound. The problem is that I can't use it with my head amp because I use a non-capacitor buffered head amp (my speaker amps all have caps so they are okay) and the Tjoeb outputs a truly...

'llo all, Are there any decent, cheap soundcards out there that can have one of their outputs set up to only send signals beneath a certain frequency? Or is there software out there that would do the same thing? Thanks