[CarlosUnchained]

  The type of music I listen to, for the most part, sounds bad in concert. Metallica back in 2004, at The Palace of Auburn Hills, is the only concert I've been to that actually sounded good. Metal shows are way too loud and earplugs help but they make everything sound muffled. I stopped regularly going to concerts back in 2008, when i saw Ozzy and Rob Zombie. My ears were ringing for 2 days, so I decided to save my hearing and only go to really special concerts.

 
I've been in a Gojira and Iron Maiden festival this summer. It sounded amazingly well, more knowing how dirty is the Gojira signature. Give them a try!

 

[HumanFly]

 
I just have a different perspective. Audio brands have been all important for decades in audio:  Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, VPI turntables, Basis turntables, Mark Levinson, Atma-Sphere, Wilson Audio, Soundlab, Vandersteen, Theil, Goldmund, MIT cables, Linn, Martin-Logan, Infinity etc. All well documented in old issues of The Absolute Sound and Sterophile magazines.
 
Weren't any Audis or M-B around back in the late 50s/early 60s when I was in high school. Just Cadillacs, Vets and 56 Impalas )))   My hand-me-down 1953 Mercury couldn't compete!!!!

56 Impala is still legendary
And yes it is ofcourse all about perspective. My nineties perspective is one without cash and a little hazy.

 

[QueYo]

I don't want a Schiit Streamer®, but I wouldn't mind a machined aluminum case with a decent power supply, and a base and cutouts for a Raspberry Pi Zero I could top with a nice streaming hat.  And a WiFi antenna.  I like WiFi.

 

[Odin412]

 
On streamers: "So you want us to become an actual computer company, producing custom hardware ans software, with the tens of thousands of hours associated with it, to release a product that will require the largest amount of customer service ever seen in the history of the company, to replicate something any $300 computer already does?"

 
Good observation! Streamers is a product category that I really don't understand. It's basically a computer but more expensive and without the flexibility. I don't see how a streamer can do anything my cheap laptop can't do with the right software.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Relax guys.
The streamer is not going to happen.

 

[Pyrolistical]

Bill Gates was a stubborn engineer. He was known to ask you about your project, ask a few probing question and would make other realize they are heading in the wrong direction.
 
It may seem obvious to consumers Apple will go the way of USB-C, but I don't think they will. The simple fact that USB-C is bigger and they can't control the ecosystem would make Apple stick with their own proprietary lightning connector.

 

[LarryMagoo]

I've started down yet another rabbit hole with kecesaudiousa.com.   They have a custom Software program developed with linux that can be installed on a Windows or MAC machine.  It turns your 'puter into a dedicated Music server....
 
I am sending in a new 1TB SSD into Arthur as he will load the program on there and I will reinstall it in my Mac mini.  This is a brand new development for Keces Audio and they will ultimately be building their own Music servers with this software.....just what I know so far.  
 
http://euphony-audio.com......to find out more...

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Seems to me that the only thing Jason would approve of in the new MacBook pros is apple removing the HDMI port (proprietary) and replacing it with USB-C (unnecessary but at least open).

 

[mitch_o]

Would there be any issue plugging a Ragnarok into a smart outlet so I can turn it on/off via an Amazon Echo? There's no reason that should cause it any harm, right?
 
thanks in advance!

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

  Would there be any issue plugging a Ragnarok into a smart outlet so I can turn it on/off via an Amazon Echo? There's no reason that should cause it any harm, right?
 
thanks in advance!

No there's not.
I do the same with a PS Audio Power Plant Premier.

 

[HumanFly]

  Would there be any issue plugging a Ragnarok into a smart outlet so I can turn it on/off via an Amazon Echo? There's no reason that should cause it any harm, right?
 
thanks in advance!

No idea about ragnarok but Saga does this funny thing.
If you use an extension powerblock that has a master and some slaveports and you use Saga as the master.
(So when you turn on/of Saga you also turn of/on all the stuff in the slaveports.) When you switch between inputsources on the Saga it wil turn everything in the slaveports on and of real quickly.
Maybe my extensionblock is just to sensitive but I now use the Jot in the masterport and all is fine.

 

[HumanFly]

  I've started down yet another rabbit hole with kecesaudiousa.com.   They have a custom Software program developed with linux that can be installed on a Windows or MAC machine.  It turns your 'puter into a dedicated Music server....
 
I am sending in a new 1TB SSD into Arthur as he will load the program on there and I will reinstall it in my Mac mini.  This is a brand new development for Keces Audio and they will ultimately be building their own Music servers with this software.....just what I know so far.  
 
http://euphony-audio.com......to find out more...

Sure looks nice!
But the music goes to a MPD first I guess and only then to the DAC. So why is the (time perfect)delivery important? Most MPD will buffer anyway.
Or is het also better when you buffer time-perfectly?
 
Edit:
I think I just awnsered my own question. I checked and I can turn the buffering off. Would not be a great idea in my setup but I could. The delivery would have to be perfect but you than have one less step fiddling with your audio. So i think I get it.

 

[jbm]

  The type of music I listen to, for the most part, sounds bad in concert. Metallica back in 2004, at The Palace of Auburn Hills, is the only concert I've been to that actually sounded good. Metal shows are way too loud and earplugs help but they make everything sound muffled. I stopped regularly going to concerts back in 2008, when i saw Ozzy and Rob Zombie. My ears were ringing for 2 days, so I decided to save my hearing and only go to really special concerts.

 
If a show gets past a certain loudness, it'll sound terrible - I think our ears actually go into overload distortion.
 
These work well for me:
 
    https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/er20.html
 
Loud shows actually sound better to me with the above plugs than they do without, because the distortion induced in my ears goes away and the Etymotic earplugs don't make things sound muffled like regular foam earplugs.
 
YMMV, of course - for one thing, the shows you're talking about may well be way louder than anything I've attended.

 

[liamo]

Dumb question alert. I received my Freya and await a Vidar to go with it. In the meantime is it possible to run the Freya into a Cambridge CXA80 integrated amp? Essentially, a preamp into a preamp. Could I run the tube stage if I kept the volume down low on the Freya? If I can, does SE or balanced matter or is that dependant on which input I would rather fry on the Cambridge?

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

   
If a show gets past a certain loudness, it'll sound terrible - I think our ears actually go into overload distortion.
 
These work well for me:
 
    https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/er20.html
 
Loud shows actually sound better to me with the above plugs than they do without, because the distortion induced in my ears goes away and the Etymotic earplugs don't make things sound muffled like regular foam earplugs.
 
YMMV, of course - for one thing, the shows you're talking about may well be way louder than anything I've attended.

Even at the San Francisco Symphony, sitting behind the brass can get legitimately painful.