The date is set, the Illinois meet will occur on March 14th in Champaign/Urbana. The exact meet venue is not set so I will update this post with the details when they are finalized. Please post here if you plan to attend and if you know what gear your bringing then also list that. P.S...

This is an interest check for an Illinois area meet to be held in late February or March. I would prefer this turned out to be an "Illinois Area" meet rather than a central Illinois meet. The tentative location will be in Champaign-Urbana, with the exact venue dependent upon interest. I have...

Can the toslink and coaxial input on the desktop portable accept a 24/192 signal?

by all of the posts lately that criticize products based upon what they look like or from product specifications. I am annoyed not by the postings necessarily but more by the nasty tone of the posts as the thread progresses as well as the implication that the sound cannot be good because of...

That's what I get for trying to post after drinking a vodka martini

Does anybody know of any other portable Amp/DAC combo units with a coaxial SPDIF input other than the iBasso D1?

Am I the only one a little PO'ed that digital inputs aren't more common on mid-to-high level one-box CDP's. It seems like a real waste to not be able to use the very nice DAC's in these players for outboard sources. I am thinking about players like the Esoteric SA-60 and EMM Labs CDSA se. I...

Well currently this is a placeholder for my impressions/review of the Headamp GS-X. For a previous excellent review of this amp please see Asr's Head-Fi Review. This is the exact same amp I will be reviewing here so I will try to make my review complementary to Asr's masterpiece. The system...

Does anyone know of any non-apple laptops or tablets that have an SPDIF (coaxial or TOSLINK, it doesn't matter) output? Please do not suggest an Apple as there are numerous software issues which preclude that possibility. Thanks.

Well I have the K340 squared away (as long as I can wait 7 weeks ) and the Senn 650 so it's time to start thinking about having the K701 recabled and balanced. My options are ALO Audio, aPureSound or Moon Audio. What I am looking for are impressions that people have for K701's recabled by any...

O.K. I will be going balanced for my dynamic cans so in your opinion, which of the cans listed in the poll should be the second pair to be recabled (The first will be the Senn 650's duh). Oh, and the poll is public, though it should not really matter as I am just looking for opinions.

So I will be replacing my Stello HP-100 in my home rig with a slightly more upscale balanced amp (GS-X). As such, the HP-100 will be free to move to my work rig. However, I now have a Stello DP-200 as the core of my work rig and its headphone amplifier is pretty good. Now before anyone tells...

I am having a problem setting the bias on my ES-1. I can set the right bias very close to 0 volts as told by Mikhail. However the left bias only goes between about 109 - 113 V DC. I cannot get ahold of Mikhail right now because of HeadFest 2007. Any ideas appreciated, I may have some free time...

Just thought I'd start a thread to give props to amp manufacturers that go above and beyond the call of duty. I'll start.. ... Ray Samuels. Received the following email from Ray yesterday. "Hi Jim... It was fully updated, both the power supply & the amp section, cleaned & (my edit)...

Here's a couple of teaser pics that Mikhail sent me of my about to be shipped ES-1. Front image. The tube adapters are not in their final form. PSU with the mighty Plitron. I will take a boatload of photos when it arrives, so stay tuned.

A general tube question. Do you guys test your own tubes for matching or simply buy them matched and trust your sources? If you test your own tubes, what tube teter(s) do you use?

Has anybody heard THIS player? It is the audio-only version of the DV-60.

If anybody is bidding on this auction on ebay SRM 1/Mk-2 you may be interested in the reply I received to an email inquiring if they could guarantee the unit does indeed work. Quote: The unit powers up and receives electricity. We cannot verify that it works because we do not have the...

I have a Musical Fidelity A3Cr dual mono amplifier that I acquired a while back. It was to be a temporary amp for my Energy Veritas 2.3i's when I first bought them. Well the synergy between them has kept me froim looking for another amp. I will be changing my system slightly and will be going...

Has anyone seen the recent review by Dick Olsher of the ASL MG-Head OTL 32-DT and the RSA Stealth in Enjoythe music.com Review Magazine? Mr Olsher does not like the sound of the Stealth with Grado's, Specifically with the Grado SR-80, he says, "The Grado was completely unrecognizable, as if...

Just in case anyone is interested, there is a neat article in the current Stereophile (Jan. 06) about the effects of anti-aliasing filters in smearing sound in digital playback of 16/44.1 or 48 media. You may quibble with the exact design and sample size but nevertheless a good start. P.S. It...

Anyone had a chance to hear this puppy as either a preamp or the headphone amp? Any impressions would be helpful. Thanks.

Anyone have any good Christmas music recommendations? Put them here! I'll start it off with two very different recommendations. 1. The Lost Christmas Eve by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Simply great music by very talented musicians, just happens to have a Christmas theme. 2. Merry...

Anyone have any experience with the Anti-cable Speaker Cables ? I was very unsatisfied with the Audioquest type 6. My home made Canare LS-11 speaker cables trumped them soundly in clarity and imaging. I like the idea behind the anti-cables so I decided to give them a try. Hopefully this will...

That's right the Baby O's are in the house. I've only had a few hours of listening time so far but they are very sweet and I am pleasantly surprised with the sound using the HEV-70. It seems much better than many previous reviews indicated (No not any of the Fuzzy impressions ) Anyway I'll...