Hey Sam. Enjoy Mardi Gras. I've got to get to NOLA some day for it.

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones played at Campbell Hall at UCSB last night. The feeling was very intimate as Campbell Hall only holds 860 people. The performance was spectacular. I forgot just how great of musicians they are. They played in two sets. The first set was quiet and low key music. The...

I hope that all of our coastal Texas and Louisiana head-fiers got through hurricane Humberto without any serious damage. Steve (swt61), you were right in its path, weren't you. No problems or damage I hope.

Michael Jackson has died. See details here. I'll have to raise a glass to him tonight.

I really love Rockabilly but have only limited knowledge of artists and recordings. What I know is Junior Brown (Down Home Chrome and The Austin Experience), Roy Orbison and Elvis. Please suggest some other artists and recordings that I should listen to. Thanks!

My name is Ken and I am a tubeaholic. Ever since I bought my first tube head amp last October, I've lusted after getting new tubes, owning tubes, listening to tubes and watching tubes glow. I've wormed one of a lister's favorite tube dealer out of him and have made multiple buys. I comb the...

I have a friend who travels a lot. She is looking for a pair of headphones to use on the plane to keep the noise out. She hates IEMs (what I would advise) so they're out. Please recommend a light, comfortable, sturdy headphone with decent sound quality and very good noise attenuation in an...

For those of you that are looking for something to do, you might want to try Radio Shack's Project of the Month. In some email they positioned this to be a Father's Day "Gift". I guess that they figure that Dad is getting so old so he won't be able to hear the difference.

I just saw this on the CNN web site: Cayman Islands Diving. I was thinking that you'll be hit by a new horde of divers. However, divers have known about the Cayman Islands for years so it probably won't make a difference. Then I hit on a new idea. I'll call CNN and tell them about your...

I was hoping to audition a pair of Darth Beyers on my system at the International. So far, nobody signed up for a table has Darth Beyers. Is anybody planning on coming with theirs? If so, could you please look me up? I'll be there both days. Thanks, -ken

I'd like to hear your opinion on Junkers watches in general and this watch in particular. Besides the change in dial from a Junkers 6256-2, they will also have a sapphire crystal rather than a mineral crystal. Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.

This is my first poll. So if I screw it up, you'll know why. I've decided to upgrade my PPX3 Slam to an Extreme Platinum. I listen to Headphile modded K340's 95% of the time. Which output tubes should I get, 5998's or 6080's. More importantly, why? Thanks for your input into my buying...

I've been on a jury since the first week of November. That means that I haven't been in the office very much since then. That's bad because I keep my good headphone set up in the office. The trial is almost over, but the good news is that there is no jury work this week. So I came into work...

George (gtp) discovered that both of us worked in Goleta. So today he met me at my office for a quick mini-meet. He brought his DT770s and some music. Mostly he had the chance to get his first listen to tubes with my SLAMM PPX3 and to listen to my K340s. He seemed to like them though I'll let...

Jon Stewart just finished interviewing Borat. It was pretty funny.

I recently bought a used CD-E5. It came with a very small 5 page manual. This manual does not explain how to program the player. While I'm not sure if I ever will want to program it, I'll definitely never do it without a manual. Does anybody know of a source for more comprehensive...

Just got back from hearing Paul Simon in the Santa Barbara Bowl. He put on a nice concert including some old Simon & Garfunkel song. The encores never seemed to end. Every time I attend a live concert I'm reminded how far away modern hifi equipment is from duplicating a live performance. The...

Hi, I have a 5G 30G Video Ipod. I keep all music files on it in Apple Lossless format. I can only listen to about 3 hours of music until the battery is discharged. That's going from fully charged. I only push buttons (thus causing the LED to light up) enough to play two playlists. Is this...

Hi All, I had a friend ask me this in an email: I really don't know the various earbuds at all. Would you please suggest some that match his requirements? Thanks! Edit: I told him about IEMs. He'd be interested in them two. Please suggest IEMs in that price range too.

Hi, I just ordered a modded Lite Dac AH from Pacific Valves. This is my first dac ever. I've always used CDPs in the past, so I have a couple of questions about digital cables: 1. Which is better to use (if either), a coax cable or an optical cable assuming the cables are of equal quality...

Hi All, I just received a pair of AKG K340s that I bought from a fellow Headfier. For the moment, I'm enjoying listening to them driven by a Headfive amp. I suspect that this will not be a long term solution, so I need to consider other amps for them. Tomorrow, I'm taking them to the SoCal...

Hi, My 87 year old father could use a pair of wireless headphones. They don't have to be great sounding but, due to issues with his hearing, must have separate volume control for each ear. Does anybody know of such a beast? I guess that it's time to start googling. Thanks in advance for...

Hi, Can anybody recommend small CD players with line out. I'm currently listening through an amp using the headphone jack on a laptop. While it isn't bad, I would think that it would be better from a lineout on a CD player. This is for my office so space is at a premium. I'm looking to spend...

Hi, I'm getting a HeadFive soon. I'm all set up to use it with my ipod but need something else to use with my laptop. One of the more interesting suggestions came from c0mfortably_numb, who suggested that I ask somebody to build a dac for me based on the current group buy: dac group buy...

Hi, I just heard that my HeadFive is being shipped today. This will be for work. Normally, I just plug in my headphones into the headphone out jack. Is there a way to bypass the laptop's amplifier and get a line out? For reference, my laptop is an IBM T42. Does laptop brand make a...