Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[docBliny]

** or

I prefer:

 

[AstronomerXI]

I too would do that to a cassette full of 90's tunes.

Ugh.

Like any era, there were amazing artists and albums, and others, not so much. Pop-charts trends, as a general rule, suck for any era you can name.

 

[Adam Balm]

By limited production I meant if say 500 are made like the Folkvangr. I believe I heard some talk of this early on but I may well be wrong. Not if it does not sell well like the Kraken.

Either way I hope to speed up the process of hearing one so I can make the decision. I could not do a large group comparison till mid March at the earliest thus I am speeding that up.

I thought initial runs of new product were 250 units, in black.

 

[Paladin79]

I thought initial runs of new product were 250 units, in black.

You are probably right, I tend
to concentrate on some info more than others.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Question for the hivemind here, esp those optically-versed like @AstronomerXI and @Bowmoreman .

Taking a cruise on the Nile (woohoo!) and would like 2-3 sets of spotting scopes or binoculars to see the ruins from the ship. Ship-to-shore so to speak.
Since it's for travel small is a requirement, and since 2-3 sets, not crazy expensive. Suggestions?

To also keep on "music" and Egypt, the king of shaabi folk music passed recently, https://worldmusicianobituaries.org/musicians/ahmed-adaweyah/

Frankly, for that use case, I would find bringing two separate spotting scopes (and their necessary tripods) to be far too much hassle. And, a decent spotting scope is going to set you back $500 or more.

Given you are on a moving ship, I would suggest a nice pair of Image Stabilizing Binoculars… anything with enough magnification for what you are going to want to be doing, will be extremely difficult to stabilize…

All the above being said, and not knowing your budget…

Binos: I can personally recommend from first hand experience the Canon 15x50IS or 18x50IS. I’ve had mine 18x50’s for over 10 years now, and they’ve travelled the world with me; that will run you around starting at $1200…

Spotting Scopes: I can highly recommend the Pentax PF-65ED spotting scope. You will also need an ocular (eyepiece) for it, for that best is an 8x24mm variable - together that’ll run you around $750 or so (not counting you’d need a tripod). The scope itself is $550 new.

Spotting scope notes: You *really* want one that offers angled viewing if you value your neck. There are dozens of CHEAP spotting scopes out there with angled viewing and built in ocular for $150 and up, but they are optically garbage. You’re flying halfway around the world for a once in a lifetime experience. Don’t go there. Get a Nikon, or Pentax; Bushnell, Barska, Vortex, Celestron, and the like are hideous… Nikon’s cheapest (at BandH Photo) seems to be the Nikon ProStaff 5 - for $454. Everything I see there that’s cheaper is - in my experience with a handful over the years - just terrible.

Another thought: do NOT fear used; I can recommend www.astromart.com as a great site for buying and selling used optical gear; done so there for decades now with zero bad experiences. People who buy and sell quality optics take good care of their kit. You could also check out the classifieds section of www.cloudynights.com (which is kinda the HeadFi of Astro-optics/hobby).

HTH

Edit on final thought: if you go with dual cheap-o “ChiFi” spotting scopes you will regret it. Far better ONE decent one (IS Bino or spotting scope) with quality that you will use forever (and/or which holds good value should you want to sell it later). I know this sounds harsh, but like tools (and audio), the cheap gear always “costs” more.

I use my spotting scope for those (increasingly rare) times I get to the gun range, for astronomy, and for birding - all of which reward quality optics. Cheap optics always suck. I know it sounds harsh…. But if your total budget is, say, $600, I’d buy ONE scope/ocular/tripod versus two sets of something 1/2 the price or less.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Question for the hivemind here, esp those optically-versed like @AstronomerXI and @Bowmoreman .

Taking a cruise on the Nile (woohoo!) and would like 2-3 sets of spotting scopes or binoculars to see the ruins from the ship. Ship-to-shore so to speak.
Since it's for travel small is a requirement, and since 2-3 sets, not crazy expensive. Suggestions?

To also keep on "music" and Egypt, the king of shaabi folk music passed recently, https://worldmusicianobituaries.org/musicians/ahmed-adaweyah/

Well, this is one of my binoculars. Not exactly travel-friendly...

Seriously, for light and inexpensive binos I'd look at a pair of birding 10x42's. Sure you can crazy expensive with Leica or Swarovski, etc, but for $50-$150 there are plenty of options. I apid a bit more for a Fujinon set but they'll last me a lifetime. Celestron has some light and inexpensive 10x70's, but the collimation is usually off in them and you'd need to learn how to re-collimate them. Big PITA (I have a set). Just googling "sotting scopes" there are a lot of options in the ~$100 range. They're likely all mostly made by the same factory (like most giant binoculars of any brand), and the quality is good enough. I have an inexpensive Costco special branded Meade that's surprisingly very good. You'll want a monopod or a light tripod for the spotting scopes.

Keep in mind if there's rocking or forward motion in the ship, that will be magnified in your optics, so lower-power is the way to go, like the 10x42's.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Frankly, for that use case, I would find bringing two separate spotting scopes (and their necessary tripods) to be far too much hassle. And, a decent spotting scope is going to set you back $500 or more.

Given you are on a moving ship, I would suggest a nice pair of Image Stabilizing Binoculars… anything with enough magnification for what you are going to want to be doing, will be extremely difficult to stabilize…

All the above being said, and not knowing your budget…

Binos: I can personally recommend from first hand experience the Canon 15x50IS or 18x50IS. I’ve had mine 18x50’s for over 10 years now, and they’ve travelled the world with me; that will run you around starting at $1200…

Spotting Scopes: I can highly recommend the Pentax PF-65ED spotting scope. You will also need an ocular (eyepiece) for it, for that best is an 8x24mm variable - together that’ll run you around $750 or so (not counting you’d need a tripod). The scope itself is $550 new.

Spotting scope notes: You *really* want one that offers angled viewing if you value your neck. There are dozens of CHEAP spotting scopes out there with angled viewing and built in ocular for $150 and up, but they are optically garbage. You’re flying halfway around the world for a once in a lifetime experience. Don’t go there. Get a Nikon, or Pentax; Bushnell, Barska, Vortex, Celestron, and the like are hideous… Nikon’s cheapest (at BandH Photo) seems to be the Nikon ProStaff 5 - for $454. Everything I see there that’s cheaper is - in my experience with a handful over the years - just terrible.

Another thought: do NOT fear used; I can recommend www.astromart.com as a great site for buying and selling used optical gear; done so there for decades now with zero bad experiences. People who buy and sell quality optics take good care of their kit. You could also check out the classifieds section of www.cloudynights.com (which is kinda the HeadFi of Astro-optics/hobby).

HTH

Edit on final thought: if you go with dual cheap-o “ChiFi” spotting scopes you will regret it. Far better ONE decent one (IS Bino or spotting scope) with quality that you will use forever (and/or which holds good value should you want to sell it later). I know this sounds harsh, but like tools (and audio), the cheap gear always “costs” more.

I use my spotting scope for those (increasingly rare) times I get to the gun range, for astronomy, and for birding - all of which reward quality optics. Cheap optics always suck. I know it sounds harsh…. But if your total budget is, say, $600, I’d buy ONE scope/ocular/tripod versus two sets of something 1/2 the price or less.

I went the inexpensive route in my reply because that was the ask and this seemed like a narrow use-case and solely for the trip. Your advice is very sound, though. With a couple of exceptions that I noted, all of my glass is premium and holds its value (and has increased in some cases).

 

[Moondog55]

Today it is WWOZ FM 90.7 for some New Orleans jazz. Fun music. Thanks to whoever mentioned that station.

After 7pm most week nights they play r&b from the 50's, 60's and include a healthy dose of New Orleans musicians. Jazzfest is the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May. WWOZ broadcasts selected shows live if you can't make it to the Fairgrounds. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

 

[Joppmann]

Re-badged Dual ??

Not sure! Could be Dual, CEC, Hitachi… Not much info available on it.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I'm currently listening to this on CD. It's a nice change of pace on a cold winter day.

JC

 

[fidgeraldo]

Me: They ae not called "vinyls." They are LP records.

Oh, thank you for that...we (in Croatia) call them the same "LP ploče", which is similar to "LP records" and not vinyl.
But I did use the word vinyl here because I thought it's probably the right way, too, if many folks here on the thread use the same term.

Cheers!

 

[Adam Balm]

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

 

[Adam Balm]

Oh, thank you for that...we (in Croatia) call them the same "LP ploče", which is similar to "LP records" and not vinyl.
But I did use the word vinyl here because I thought it's probably the right way, too, if many folks here on the thread use the same term.

Cheers!

I call 'em rekkidz.

 

[TheoFire]

Haha…

I remember those times oh so well (well, technically, probably 5 years earlier than you describe, but close enough). (I also remember a car salesman saying to me: “Hey, can I give you $30 for that tape you played in this car during your test drive? It really shows off our sound system)… tape? (I’d made a recording of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here on a TDK Metal tape - and yes, I took the $30! - I still had the source). TBH, don’t remember which deck; this was *just* before my Nakamichi deck days…

The key to why cassette was so awesome was that you could *record* whatever the F you wanted. No DRM. Just total freedom to make/share/trade mix tapes. FM was our streaming/learning (for those of us fortunate enough to live where there were kick-AZZ FM stations in the 70’s).

Yeah does (today’s) CD (and streaming, etc.) sound better? Yeah. But those first CD’s sucked BALLZ. (You just couldn’t tell in a freaking noise-infused car environment). Tee hee: ask Mike!

I don’t miss them (per-se), but, that said, I’ve a hankering to restore my Nakamichi BX300… just for yuks (I’ve still got around 100 tapes, including some killer FM interviews with PF, The Dead, Kottke, and a bunch more… Is that “history”?).

What you said about cassettes is right on. Like many on this forum I bought and recorded bunches. I so miss the FM radio from those days. I listened to WLAV in Grand Rapids while in school and WRIF (best call letters ever for a rock station) with Arthur Penhallow in Detroit, Fun creative radio where the DJ got to show their creativity and personality. Shame it no longer exists.

 

[Adam Balm]

What you said about cassettes is right on. Like many on this forum I bought and recorded bunches. I so miss the FM radio from those days. I listened to WLAV in Grand Rapids while in school and WRIF (best call letters ever for a rock station) with Arthur Penhallow in Detroit, Fun creative radio where the DJ got to show their creativity and personality. Shame it no longer exists.

There are quite a few indie bands that have decided to release new music on cassette.