[bcowen]

I always assumed you were married to one...........

Humor and pity aren't the same thing.

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

I was going to say, "Outside in the rain. Alone." But I was beaten to the punch(line).

My sister-in-law lovers her Volvo hybrid. So there's that.


Oh goodness, are we going to get into shaving kit now?


Just for fun, I looked on eBay: $3500-neighborhood, or $7000+ neighborhood. A few "for parts only" in the $1500 neighborhood. Yikes, wasn't it $2000 new? Weird there are two different groups with such different prices. Some of the high-dollar offerings have been serviced, but some haven't, so I have no idea why they're being offered at a premium price (other than hoping either the market or PT Barnum will be right).

Kinda why I regret selling mine because I know I'll never own another one. But, tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

 

[ghfiii]

I've stopped reading every post. I don't know if this has been posted before, but in case it hasn't, here it is again.. .





To be perfectly honest I like it so much, I might post it again

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Figured I'd finish my initial impressions/review of the Syn. Last week, I was able to get the channels balanced to my liking and everything fell into place. Music sounded terrific, and I got much more clarity in the location of sounds while gaming. This weekend, I threw as much home theater content at it as I could, and I couldn't be more impressed.

The short, TLDR version: the other members of your household would never even consider asking if the sound was a discrete 5.1/7.1 mix or not. The surround sound you get from the Syn is fully immersive, engaging, and leaves nothing to be desired.

The first scene i sat down with this weekend is my favorite home theater test... the scene in War of the Worlds when the first machine emerges from the ground. The Syn handles it great. You might not be getting the precise location from some of the cracks in the ground as you do in the discrete mix, but it still very directional. Sounds are coming at you from all around. And that bass still rumbles just as hard as the .1 mix. Most impressive is there is a shot of Tom Cruise's face and you can tell by the sound that the mayhem is happening behind him. Its simply as immersive as can be.

Probably the most impressive scene was the final epic battle in Avengers: Endgame. Its pure chaos the entire time, and the Syn processes it all easily. Same for a couple scenes I tried from Game of Thrones. There is so much happening on screen, but the Syn is able to take that stereo signal and create extremely convincing surround channels with distinct direction and clarity. And this is the case with everything I tried. With music, it was only about a 90% success rate. With the movie scenes I tried, it was 100%.

After some of these epic scenes, I wanted to try some car chase scenes. I went with the frist race scene in Ready Player One, the freeway scene in The Matrix Reloaded, and the mini cooper scene from The Bourne Identity. In all 3 cases, I was so impressed with not only the sound from left and right, but also front and back. As cars zoom by, they track from front to back or back to front. Its pretty crazy how the math must work on the matrix logic for that to happen. Most memorably, in the Matrix Reloaded, there is a point where Morpheus gets flipped over backwards while fighting an agent on top of a semi. Its a slow motion shot, and the Syn had the flipping whoosh start in the front channels and clearly finish in the rear channels. I guess my main point is that its not just extra ambience you get with these scenes. You get actual sound effects from the surround channels.

I also wanted to try some "regular" tv, and I was equally impressed. I put on an episode of Succession, and thought you could argue the Syn processed surround was better than a 5.1 mix. There was some ambient sound that im sure wouldn't even have been mixed into the surround channels. And also, when they do the previous episode recap, its pretty cool how the background theme music comes through in the surround channels. You definitely don't get that with the regular mix.

I did give the headphone output a go this weekend as well. But to be honest, I'm simply not much of a headphone guy, and I don't feel comfortable going to much in depth here. I can say my gaming headphones sounded great. Just as good as they did using my Emotiva A100 headphone output. And my other headphones are HIFIMAN HE400i. I didn't particularly care for how they sounded in the A100, and still didn't care for them with the Syn headphone output. That's not the Syn's fault. The width control had a real affect. Increasing the width pushed the sound out and back, and decreasing the width pushed the sound forward and in. But again, I'm not comfortable trying to talk through the utility of being able to do so. Im guessing different headphones have different soundstages, and this helps dial in the soundstage to where you want it. I was unable to test that.

I really couldn't love this thing more. And just one more reason why I feel like the Syn was designed specifically for me.... my gaming headphones are Audio Technica AD-700x and I have a Mod Mic permanently attached to it. I have a braided cable sleeve containing both cables with heat shrink wrap and everything. But, the microphone cable is about 6 inches shorter than the headphone cable. This has annoyed me for the last 8 years, until now. The design decision to put the microphone input where it is in relation to the headphone input couldn't be more perfect for me. My cable now hangs straight down from the mircophone input, and my headphone jack perfectly stretches across the front of the syn into its home. Just an amazing coincidence.

"The short, TLDR version: the other members of your household would never even consider asking if the sound was a discrete 5.1/7.1 mix or not. The surround sound you get from the Syn is fully immersive, engaging, and leaves nothing to be desired."

Basically this is my exact experience. Thanks for confirming I'm not insane.

 

[bcowen]

I bought one of those in late 2004 after the hype died down. I could actually fit the kids in the back seat for short distances, and the smooth power of the engine at high rpm was a treat. Best part was the handling, I could easily turn the car with the throttle, just a touch of counter steer to keep it under control. But there were a few downsides:

• Ride was a bit too firm for highway use, like old 911 firm.
  
  
• if you start the car to back it out of the garage to wash it, there was no guarantee it would start again to get it back in. Once the car was running it needed to keep running until the engine warmed up.
  
  
• Motor had very little bottom end, you needed those 9000 rpm.

The ride (in the '05) is downright luxurious compared to the 350Z I wanted so bad. That thing rode like a forklift.

The rotary is most definitely a quirky engine. Not fuel efficient, not environmentally friendly, low torque, consumes crankcase oil by design, runs hot as hell, and as you noted is easily flooded if proper precautions aren't taken. Despite all that, it's a blast to drive. Mazda was the only manufacturer that ever mass produced the rotary for a passenger vehicle, so all the R&D over the last 60 years was on their shoulders. If all the brainpower and capital that has been put into piston engine development over that same time period had been put into the rotary, who knows where it might be today.

 

[Ripper2860]

Humor and pity aren't the same thing.

I pity anyone that finds you humorous.

 

[mystaiced]

I pity anyone that finds you humorous.

Guess ill need a pity party because I find @bcowen entertaining and humorous

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Basically this is my exact experience. Thanks for confirming I'm not insane.

…or for confirming that you're both equally insane…?

 

[bcowen]

Guess ill need a pity party because I find @bcowen entertaining and humorous

Very kind of you!

 

[corndog71]

The ride (in the '05) is downright luxurious compared to the 350Z I wanted so bad. That thing rode like a forklift.

The rotary is most definitely a quirky engine. Not fuel efficient, not environmentally friendly, low torque, consumes crankcase oil by design, runs hot as hell, and as you noted is easily flooded if proper precautions aren't taken. Despite all that, it's a blast to drive. Mazda was the only manufacturer that ever mass produced the rotary for a passenger vehicle, so all the R&D over the last 60 years was on their shoulders. If all the brainpower and capital that has been put into piston engine development over that same time period had been put into the rotary, who knows where it might be today.

A buddy of mine in the Marines had an ‘83 RX7. He let me borrow it one night and it was a blast to drive.
Good times.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

I just read the thread. It’s sad really to be so blind as to not see the fun in audio. It goes way beyond measurementophilia.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m impressed with how well Tyler handles the hostility.

Heck, even in this thread, which is frequented by some of the most faithful Schiitizens in existence, not a single product launch goes by without a debate about power switch locations or complaints about the current state/shade of silver.

Once you are in business — ANY business — you will inevitably be faced with a tiny yet very vocal subset of people who
- always know better how to run your business than you do yourself, who
- always know the market you are serving better than you do, who
- have access to a crystal ball that you, try as you might, just don't have access to, and who
- feel a strong obligation to let everyone and their grandma take part in their unerring wisdom — whether they want to or not.

But as noisy as this tiny subset can sometimes get, it's still just that: a tiny subset. What you almost never see or hear a thing about is the vast army of folks that are happy with your products. And the happier they are, the more invisible and the more quiet they get. For the simple reason that they don't have a motivation to speak up if and when there's nothing to complain about.

So, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to make everyone happy. Trying to do so anyway would be futile.
And besides — at the end of every quarter, all that really matters is the amount of gear that you sold. That's what keeps the lights on, that's what keeps the family and your employees happy, that's what makes you come back to the office in the morning, and that's what keeps you motivated to start working on the next new Schiit.

At the end of the day, that's really all that matters.

Not the noisy few.

They're just a bunch of keyboard warriors, typing themselves into a rage over something that never so much as hurt or even just remotely affected them. They don't buy what you are selling, no matter how hard you try to appease or please them. They are but your usual "noise floor" of doing business.
A bit of a nuisance? Yes. But nothing more.

It took me entirely too long to learn this particular lesson myself. But allow me to let you know: Once you've fully internalized this, once you've crossed that particular line, (business) life gets a whole lot easier and considerably more enjoyable.

And it looks to me like Tyler may have learned this lesson at some point, too.

This concludes today's chapter of:
Zen, and The Art of Selling Your Schiit.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Heck, even in this thread, which is frequented by some of the most faithful Schiitizens in existence, not a single product launch goes by without a debate about power switch locations or complaints about the current state/shade of silver.

Once you are in business — ANY business — you will inevitably be faced with a tiny yet very vocal subset of people who
- always know better how to run your business than you do yourself, who
- always know the market you are serving better than you do, who
- have access to a crystal ball that you, try as you might, just don't have access to, and who
- feel a strong obligation to let everyone and their grandma take part in their unerring wisdom — whether they want to or not.

But as noisy as this tiny subset can sometimes get, it's still just that: a tiny subset. What you almost never see or hear a thing about is the vast army of folks that are happy with your products. And the happier they are, the more invisible and the more quiet they get. For the simple reason that they don't have a motivation to speak up if and when there's nothing to complain about.

So, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to make everyone happy. Trying to do so anyway would be futile.
And besides — at the end of every quarter, all that really matters is the amount of gear that you sold. That's what keeps the lights on, that's what keeps the family and your employees happy, that's what makes you come back to the office in the morning, and that's what keeps you motivated to start working on the next new Schiit.

At the end of the day, that's really all that matters.

Not the noisy few.

They're just a bunch of keyboard warriors, typing themselves into a rage over something that never so much as hurt or even just remotely affected them. They don't buy what you are selling, no matter how hard you try to appease or please them. They are but your usual "noise floor" of doing business.
A bit of a nuisance? Yes. But nothing more.

It took me entirely too long to learn this particular lesson myself. But allow me to let you know: Once you've fully internalized this, once you've crossed that particular line, (business) life gets a whole lot easier and considerably more enjoyable.

And it looks to me like Tyler may have learned this lesson at some point, too.

This concludes today's chapter of:
Zen, and The Art of Selling Your Schiit.

I'll leave it at this: it's amazing how many people have opinions on something they've never heard.

 

[macdonjh]

Heck, even in this thread, which is frequented by some of the most faithful Schiitizens in existence, not a single product launch goes by without a debate about power switch locations or complaints about the current state/shade of silver.

Quibble: within the context of this specific thread, I don't read any griping about power switches or silver/ black with the thought they are serious complaints any more. Not that @ArmchairPhilosopher does, either. I'm sure a few of the early complaints or jibes were serious, but @Jason Stoddard has explained the engineering behind power switches on the back and the supply chain reasons for silver and black as well as the cost implications of "dying on that hill / tilting at that windmill". So I think now those comments are made tongue-in-cheek because beating those dead horses are now kind of inside jokes.

Not to say that kind of trolling isn't rampant elsewhere on the web. Schiitizens are better than average public forum folk.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Quibble: within the context of this specific thread, I don't read any griping about power switches or silver/ black as with the thought they are serious complaints any more.

I know. That’s why I picked these two points in particular.

 

[Plautus001]

I'll leave it at this: it's amazing how many people have opinions on something they've never heard.

Wait... are you saying that one should listen to something before judging it... that's some strange Schiit...

I thought we just bought stuff to measure it, put it in our signature, and look at it (sorry Ort not you... praise be VU meters)