[Erratic Gravy]

The sand is to kill the arc when it blows.

Thar she blows !!! - sorry i couldnt help myself !!

 

[adydula]

B-day came early.....got a new set of HIFI Man HE1000 Se's...like I need more cans here!!

I never was a super fan of the early HI0FI Man cans, due to lots of issues.

But had to try these versions after tons of research and have just a few hours on them.

The nut of this is they sound the BEST here with the Schiit Midgard and the Modius E dac..YMMV.
After going thru all my other dacs, Multibit, R2R, NOS etc...I keep coming back to this combination.

Much so that I sold some mega buck amps.

With the combo of these cans and this amp/dac. the veil is gone compared to many other cans and combinations.

$ 219 for a stellar head amp....just simply amazing to me...

Thanks to Jason for this amp AND dac...

A steal of a bargain...
Alex

 

[Plautus001]

I remember beating the Pepsi Challenge to the chagrin of the folks running stands back in the day.

Coke forever

That was very easy to do at will... As kids we would train other kids how to tell the difference... Not really a taste test after that.. more a sport.

 

[RCBinTN]

What I often wonder is which bourbon that sells for $40 today will jump to $120 soon. Bourbon collecting is big and many of the prices have shot up so much in the last few years. Great advertising? Word of mouth? Supply and demand? Personally I really like the Oregon Spirits BIB and the price is still quite reasonable so I buy it when I can.

Annette bought me a bottle of EH Taylor for my birthday. I think it was $65 or so. It's okay, but I still prefer my go-to Rowan's Creek which is around $43. I'm just fully conditioned ...

 

[566854]

Missile popularity? Follow the real money.

Plankton systems require a rigid sampling regime and laboratory services to be dialed in properly.

I remember when I was younger and single Kenny G was a legitimate romantic ambience tool option in the tool box, for a time. Years later I was bank fishing across from a marina where one New Years Day a boathouse had him playing on a loop. I was forever burned out on his music after that.

 

[RCBinTN]

No. The only time (I think) that I heard him live was outdoors at a winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He had a great band, especially Antonio Sanchez on drums. Memorable.

Another fine jazz suggestion from the master -- thank you. Just check out the drummer Antonio Sanchez, folks ...

 

[sixergixer]

What I often wonder is which bourbon that sells for $40 today will jump to $120 soon. Bourbon collecting is big and many of the prices have shot up so much in the last few years. Great advertising? Word of mouth? Supply and demand? Personally I really like the Oregon Spirits BIB and the price is still quite reasonable so I buy it when I can.

Whiskey pricing is a dark art, and by dark I mean I assume much nefarity* from the marketing gurus. Obviously, a distillery needs to at least break even on a barrel of whiskey that has sat for years, and if they can make a profit even better...

[Which reminds me of that lovely Julian P. "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. quote that, "We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon."]

...but ultimately it seems that distilleries, especially the big boys, decide where they want a particular product to exist in the market -- higher up for a prestige luxury release like Kentucky Owl at $400, or a mid-shelf bottle at $75, or an entry level bottle at $35, for example -- and that does not always equate to the actual quality of the juice inside. To my mind, Kentucky Owl being a blend of 4-year and 7 to 14-year bourbons simply cannot justify commanding four hundred dollars when Utah's High West does similarly aged blends for $hundreds less, which is why I've never bought a bottle of the Owl; they just never made any damned sense to me as a brand. But then, Jack Daniel's sells an uncommonly good Single Barrel Select Tenn. Whiskey for under $50. It's usually just marketing decisions and they rarely make sense to enthusiasts. One of my recent favorites, Russels's Reserve 13-Year Bourbon, doubled in price in its second year, and doubled again from that in its third year. It is no longer a favorite of mine.

*I had to look up my use of nefarity because my phone flagged it as incorrect. Oh, the English language is a quirky one. Nefariousness is stupid.

 

[Paladin79]

Annette bought me a bottle of EH Taylor for my birthday. I think it was $65 or so. It's okay, but I still prefer my go-to Rowan's Creek which is around $43. I'm just fully conditioned ...

Each to their own, I am drinking a bit more Blanton’s to put myself in the proper mood for building a Blanton’s inspired bourbon rack.

I am not familiar with Rowan’s Creek but I really should build you a small flight board sometime, you have always been cordial and I respect that in people.

 

[RCBinTN]

Thanks, Tom, but I wouldn't use it. I certainly do admire your woodworking skills.

The last time I had Blanton's, I was disappointed. It had always been so, you know, high end, but it just didn't impress me. Perhaps I need to try again.

 

[Paladin79]

Thanks, Tom, but I wouldn't use it. I certainly do admire your woodworking skills.

The last time I had Blanton's, I was disappointed. It had always been so, you know, high end, but it just didn't impress me. Perhaps I need to try again.

I am that way with most everything solid state. There are bourbons I tend to buy just to have around for friends and some my wife and I like to share.

 

[Paladin79]

Whiskey pricing is a dark art, and by dark I mean I assume much nefarity* from the marketing gurus. Obviously, a distillery needs to at least break even on a barrel of whiskey that has sat for years, and if they can make a profit even better...

[Which reminds me of that lovely Julian P. "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. quote that, "We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon."]

...but ultimately it seems that distilleries, especially the big boys, decide where they want a particular product to exist in the market -- higher up for a prestige luxury release like Kentucky Owl at $400, or a mid-shelf bottle at $75, or an entry level bottle at $35, for example -- and that does not always equate to the actual quality of the juice inside. To my mind, Kentucky Owl being a blend of 4-year and 7 to 14-year bourbons simply cannot justify commanding four hundred dollars when Utah's High West does similarly aged blends for $hundreds less, which is why I've never bought a bottle of the Owl; they just never made any damned sense to me as a brand. But then, Jack Daniel's sells an uncommonly good Single Barrel Select Tenn. Whiskey for under $50. It's usually just marketing decisions and they rarely make sense to enthusiasts. One of my recent favorites, Russels's Reserve 13-Year Bourbon, doubled in price in its second year, and doubled again from that in its third year. It is no longer a favorite of mine.

*I had to look up my use of nefarity because my phone flagged it as incorrect. Oh, the English language is a quirky one. Nefariousness is stupid.

Honestly I think the online liquor stores are making some of the highest profits. Once I asked a major distributor why their prices were so high compared to Y and Z companies. They said those are not our competitors, we compete against A, B, and C and their prices are in line with ours. They flat did not care what others sold it for.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Someone with class, a sense of impeccable taste, and an eye for great deals.
(Not me, though.)

Kara is an excellent preamp. It gives me very much similar soundstaging as my Classe’ DR6 did for all those years… and far better than the Madrigal/Mark Levinson/proceed line preamp it has fully replaced (and that was a $5K product back when new - I got it used for $400 as a temporary line stage while waiting to have my DR6 fixed (still waiting on that). Then… Kara was announced and I decided to give it a go…

“Ahh, back to the realistic orchestral soundstages I KNOW my Duetta Signatures deliver” (and the Proceed AVP1 is now perma-banned from main rig and sitting idle).

Would love to extend an open invite to any relatively local (I’m in southern NH) skeptics about “soundstage”…come experience it sometime… If you care. If you dare.

 

[adias]

Kara is an excellent preamp. It gives me very much similar soundstaging as my Classe’ DR6 did for all those years… and far better than the Madrigal/Mark Levinson/proceed line preamp it has fully replaced (and that was a $5K product back when new - I got it used for $400 as a temporary line stage while waiting to have my DR6 fixed (still waiting on that). Then… Kara was announced and I decided to give it a go…

“Ahh, back to the realistic orchestral soundstages I KNOW my Duetta Signatures deliver” (and the Proceed AVP1 is now perma-banned from main rig and sitting idle).

Would love to extend an open invite to any relatively local (I’m in southern NH) skeptics about “soundstage”…come experience it sometime… If you care. If you dare.

Which gain stage do you prefer? x1 or x4?

 

[Bowmoreman]

You definitely need to hear something a bit more state-of-the-art than that CA Azure. It may not, to be clear, overturn your LP system, but it will open up more possibilities.

I'm firmly on the digital side of things. I've never heard my LP system sound "better" than my digital system - different, yes - better, no.

Yep, I know.

A relatively local public library is having a “media sale” this weekend, tens of 1000’s of CD’s, DVD’s and books. Nothing more than $2 each. I’m thinking of scoring a LOAD of good CD reissues of whatever I know is good on LP…

Then I can “justify” (ha!) splurging on something like a Bifrost/64 or Yggy. As of today, I only have about 200 CDs. Some of which “overlap” my LP’s.

Note for the record: I have not YET found digital that is better, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist TODAY. But it sure as hell didn’t exist in 1990, not even with the Theta gear (of that time). They were the best (which is why I *think* I’ll like Schiit True multi-bit), but they didn’t top my analog in any ways meaningful - to me/my ears.

I’m hopeful, frankly; I’d LOVE if that were now the case, because it’s pretty easy to score CD’s still.

(Of course, I’m one of those weird “soundstage with live unamplified music properly recorded” dudes… )

 

[OldRoadToad]

See even with a cable, the most you can hope for is whatever enters the wire will not be degraded before it leaves. Obviously you need relatively pure copper or silver and proper shielding but there is little magic that occurs.

The real magic starts once you have released the Smoke Genie!

ORT