[FLTWS]

I was 10 to 11 when Elvis hit the airways in the mid 50's. I was never particularly into his music. I remember the Beatles hit the airways in fall of 1963. I remember my buddy and I hearing one of their songs on the radio and went down to the record shop in our smallish town of Hatboro to see if they had any "Beetles" albums, (we were unsure of the spelling). When we told him they were from England he seemed fairly confident they never make landfall in any serious way here.
Current Etsy listing

They were good but but I still wasn't all that fired up about the pop music scene which was pretty much dominated by Motown it seemed at the time.

Then, with the Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Doors I had finally found my niche. Followed by Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, and Rod Stewart.

Those were the days, and life was good!

 

[Balthazar B]

Careful, or your Schiit's f#@ked up. You don't want to be in the house when the house burned down, and always be hoping for a fistful of rain. Regardless, eventually, life'll kill ya.

Yes, it's my favorite album of his, though most of them will always have a special place in my heart. Zevon might just be the single-most underrated rock artist of the past 50 years.
Without Californication, I probably still wouldn't be aware of his work, which is an utter shame.
He's better than the Beatles and Elvis combined.
There. I said it, I meant it, and I'm here to represent it.

When you mentioned Californication, I thought you were going to include a reference to your Porcelain Monkey.

 

[Balthazar B]

Now I want to listen to Warren Zevon in my shop, I loved that reference.

Great recording. Not only the songs he wrote, but with his performance of Back in the High Life Again, he made the song his own. Just as Ray Price did with Kris Kristofferson's For the Good Times.

 

[Paladin79]

Great recording. Not only the songs he wrote, but with his performance of Back in the High Life Again, he made the song his own. Just as Ray Price did with Kris Kristofferson's For the Good Times.

I was listening to that today, a very good analogy. Another great example IMHO is Bruce Springsteen singing the Tom Waits song Jersey Girl, it is like he truly owns that song.

 

[corndog71]

You might like this too

Thanks for sharing! I’m really digging that album!

 

[valiant66]

As I surmised might happen, Steve Guttenberg's Kara review is on YouTube. Interesting about his protection mode incident while spinning down the volume quickly. Something to watch out for with relay stepped attenuators?

Lol after a while I found myself counting how many times he mentioned the price...
.

 

[US Blues]

I'm amused by ASR when it ranks 'measurably transparent' gear (according to the site) which sound identical according to the studies. One has to wonder why a dac that sounds exactly the same as another dac would rank higher ... are humans going to evolve better hearing to take advantage of this because today no human can hear a difference -- at least according to ASR.

For my part, my ears must be dead, I was unable to hear -65 db SNR tape hiss when the levels were greater than ~50 db above the hiss level. I assume any differences I hear between dacs are my imagination.

I don't know that I'd hear a difference between Kara and my current Freya+ without better speakers, and possibly amplification. One day I hope to satisfy my curiosity.

Our ears may not be evolving, yet we can train our hearing to allow ourselves to hear the distinctions in sound reproduction between various devices.

Case in point: when I worked in Audio retail back in the 80's we received a new power amp in our store. It got hooked up in a good system to drive a set of big Maggies (I don't recall the specific model), and we fired it up and began to listen.

I turned to my store manager and proclaimed that the new amp was better than the one we had just taken out of the system. He looked at me and said: "No, this amp sounds different. Describe to me the differences that you are hearing." This was a big revelation to me and the true beginning my ear training. My initial impression was an emotional response, and while perhaps not wrong, was short on assessment of various parameters that can be used to differentiate the capacity of different components.

Of course since my ears got trained I am picky about gear, speakers, recordings, and so forth. A double-edged sword.

 

[US Blues]

Careful, or your Schiit's f#@ked up. You don't want to be in the house when the house burned down, and always be hoping for a fistful of rain. Regardless, eventually, life'll kill ya.

Yes, it's my favorite album of his, though most of them will always have a special place in my heart. Zevon might just be the single-most underrated rock artist of the past 50 years.
Without Californication, I probably still wouldn't be aware of his work, which is an utter shame.
He's better than the Beatles and Elvis combined.
There. I said it, I meant it, and I'm here to represent it.

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hands, walking through the streets of SoHo on the rain,
He was looking for a place called "Lee Ho Fooks,' gonna get a big dish of Beef Chow Mein...

 

[adias]

As I surmised might happen, Steve Guttenberg's Kara review is on YouTube. Interesting about his protection mode incident while spinning down the volume quickly. Something to watch out for with relay stepped attenuators?

@Jason Stoddard: Is this protection mode trigger an issue with Kara's volume control?

 

[Ripper2860]

Our ears may not be evolving, yet we can train our hearing to allow ourselves to hear the distinctions in sound reproduction between various devices.

Case in point: when I worked in Audio retail back in the 80's we received a new power amp in our store. It got hooked up in a good system to drive a set of big Maggies (I don't recall the specific model), and we fired it up and began to listen.

I turned to my store manager and proclaimed that the new amp was better than the one we had just taken out of the system. He looked at me and said: "No, this amp sounds different. Describe to me the differences that you are hearing." This was a big revelation to me and the true beginning my ear training. My initial impression was an emotional response, and while perhaps not wrong, was short on assessment of various parameters that can be used to differentiate the capacity of different components.

Of course since my ears got trained I am picky about gear, speakers, recordings, and so forth. A double-edged sword.

I hear ya. I understand and agree, but I personally find training my hearing extremely fatiguing.

 

[Paladin79]

Our ears may not be evolving, yet we can train our hearing to allow ourselves to hear the distinctions in sound reproduction between various devices.

Case in point: when I worked in Audio retail back in the 80's we received a new power amp in our store. It got hooked up in a good system to drive a set of big Maggies (I don't recall the specific model), and we fired it up and began to listen.

I turned to my store manager and proclaimed that the new amp was better than the one we had just taken out of the system. He looked at me and said: "No, this amp sounds different. Describe to me the differences that you are hearing." This was a big revelation to me and the true beginning my ear training. My initial impression was an emotional response, and while perhaps not wrong, was short on assessment of various parameters that can be used to differentiate the capacity of different components.

Of course since my ears got trained I am picky about gear, speakers, recordings, and so forth. A double-edged sword.

Friends and I have worked for years on how to teach people to differentiate. It finally came down to music that would show off particular traits, that made our lives so much easier. We had music specifically recorded that would allow most anyone to join in. Quality of recording matters.

 

[JamminVMI]

I am using and liking the PSvane 6SN7s. Just over $100 on Amazon....

Which ones? There are so many…

 

[Luckyleo]

Careful, or your Schiit's f#@ked up. You don't want to be in the house when the house burned down, and always be hoping for a fistful of rain. Regardless, eventually, life'll kill ya.

Yes, it's my favorite album of his, though most of them will always have a special place in my heart. Zevon might just be the single-most underrated rock artist of the past 50 years.
Without Californication, I probably still wouldn't be aware of his work, which is an utter shame.
He's better than the Beatles and Elvis combined.
There. I said it, I meant it, and I'm here to represent it.

I saw him a number of times. I was lucky enough to see him a couple times in small clubs on the Sunset Strip. Incredible writer/performer. I'll always remember those shows! However, the first time I saw him he was still a drunk, and things didn't go too well. He opened for the Grateful Dead @ UC Santa Barbara, at the out door stadium. He came out so drunk that he kept messing up. He was obviously too far gone to play, and never before or since have I seen any Grateful Dead audience boo anyone. Well we did, and he started cursing at us for a few minutes, after which he left the stage never to return.

Those were the days!!

Leo

 

[FLTWS]

Our ears may not be evolving, yet we can train our hearing to allow ourselves to hear the distinctions in sound reproduction between various devices.

Case in point: when I worked in Audio retail back in the 80's we received a new power amp in our store. It got hooked up in a good system to drive a set of big Maggies (I don't recall the specific model), and we fired it up and began to listen.

I turned to my store manager and proclaimed that the new amp was better than the one we had just taken out of the system. He looked at me and said: "No, this amp sounds different. Describe to me the differences that you are hearing." This was a big revelation to me and the true beginning my ear training. My initial impression was an emotional response, and while perhaps not wrong, was short on assessment of various parameters that can be used to differentiate the capacity of different components.

Of course since my ears got trained I am picky about gear, speakers, recordings, and so forth. A double-edged sword.

Ear training comes easy with time and little focus, it just happens. Attending live classical performances made me want to understand what I was hearing and not let it go in one ear and out the other. Then I started comparing orchestra performances, conductor interpretations and techniques among orchestras and soloists, live and in recordings. Once those sounds were embedded in the little gray cells it was like riding a bike, I always could determine real live from Memorex. That same learning I applied to evaluating equipment reproduction of sound(s). That's the reason why now, with my hearing issue, it's very difficult for me to listen much any more.

But that embedding process doesn't mean everybody will hear it the same way. It can be a unique experience for each individual.

 

[roadcykler]

I have been a fan since his debut album. Some became aware of his work when Werewolves of London appeared in the movie The Color of Money. I liked his wit and humor as well as song composition. I have no problem spending hours on projects like this as I listen. Just a knife handle.

Excitable Boy is my favorite Zevon album, and I often use Nighttime at the Switching Yard for test listens.

He must have been "excitable" if he smeared pot roast on his chest.