[Letmebefrank]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. And isn't that gooey stuff for cleaning the stylus the greatest thing since sliced bread? I love mine. I usually leave the system on at a reasonable volume as feed back for how much force I'm using mushing the diamond into the goo.

Using it is super simple. The person who sold me this table must have cleaned the stylus before they sent it or barely used it because it was spotless. I bought the zerodust mainly to protect the Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, which costs around $265, or about as much as I paid for the whole table, and I don't want to have to replace it for a long time!

 

[mithrandir38]

Using it is super simple. The person who sold me this table must have cleaned the stylus before they sent it or barely used it because it was spotless. I bought the zerodust mainly to protect the Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, which costs around $265, or about as much as I paid for the whole table, and I don't want to have to replace it for a long time!

My 2m blue lasted for years. I only had to replace it when I stupidly brushed beneath it and broke the cantilever. A great sounding budget choice.

 

[Letmebefrank]

My 2m blue lasted for years. I only had to replace it when I stupidly brushed beneath it and broke the cantilever. A great sounding budget choice.

I thought I messed up real bad when trying to take the cover off. I slipped the whole stylus shell off the front. Thinking I broke it, I was pretty devastated, but when I looked at it closer and realized I could just slip it back on I was super relieved. These are the kind of things I'll learn as I go lol

 

[rkw]

Performers who wear IEMs suffer hearing losses more rapidly than those that don't.

Do you have a reference? It seems like it should be the opposite. Musicians use IEM's to block sound, so they can hear themselves and their colleagues onstage at a safe level. Go to any IEM manufacturer in the professional market (Etymotic, Shure, Westone, etc) and they all claim that their products are for hearing protection. Are you suggesting that musicians would be better off not using IEMs onstage?

I don't doubt that sealing the ear canal can be harmful. Musicians need to balance that against exposure to loud sound. This needs to be put in perspective as well. How many hours and days per week is a typical musician actually performing? People in the general public are wearing IEMs for recreation way more hours than that.

 

[AudioBear]

Do you have a reference? It seems like it should be the opposite. Musicians use IEM's to block sound, so they can hear themselves and their colleagues onstage at a safe level. Go to any IEM manufacturer in the professional market (Etymotic, Shure, Westone, etc) and they all claim that their products are for hearing protection. Are you suggesting that musicians would be better off not using IEMs onstage?

I don't doubt that sealing the ear canal can be harmful. Musicians need to balance that against exposure to loud sound. This needs to be put in perspective as well. How many hours and days per week is a typical musician actually performing? People in the general public are wearing IEMs for recreation way more hours than that.

Check this out. https://asiustechnologies.com/blogs/now-hear-this/more-evidence-that-common-earbuds-make-you-deaf.

 

[rkw]

Check this out. https://asiustechnologies.com/blogs/now-hear-this/more-evidence-that-common-earbuds-make-you-deaf.

They are presenting evidence that sealing the ear canal (such as with IEMs) is damaging to hearing. I have no reason to doubt their conclusions.

However, the current discussion is whether performers who wear IEMs suffer hearing losses more rapidly than those that don't, and I would have to disagree. It would be like saying that in a loud environment, wearing earplugs causes more damage to the ear than not wearing them. Wearing earplugs (or IEMs) seals the ear canal and poses some risks, but it also gives the far greater benefit of blocking damaging levels of sound for a musician/performer.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Well I guess I'm in trouble... been using IEMs since the early days of Etymotic so almost 20 years and continue to do so, onto bluetooth IEMs now. I do listen at lower volumes than I would otherwise thanks to the sound isolation.

I think you prove that it can be done right.

 

[scottbrown5271]

This specific subject has popped up a few times in regards to discussions about small desktop amps: As to demand for such things, I got email yesterday morning from diyAudio that their Amp Camp Kits were back in stock. By the end of the day they were sold out. I reached out to them to find out how many kits they sold and if there were any large quantity buyers. I will update with hard numbers if they decide to respond. I'm just a dumb old land surveyor, but that seems a lot like pent-up demand to me...

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Constanza let's me examine her ears.

 

[ACDOAN]

Sometimes you've to cut the grass to see what exactl yis growing. No need to wait until it sells poorly.

 

[AudioBear]

They are presenting evidence that sealing the ear canal (such as with IEMs) is damaging to hearing. I have no reason to doubt their conclusions.

However, the current discussion is whether performers who wear IEMs suffer hearing losses more rapidly than those that don't, and I would have to disagree. It would be like saying that in a loud environment, wearing earplugs causes more damage to the ear than not wearing them. Wearing earplugs (or IEMs) seals the ear canal and poses some risks, but it also gives the far greater benefit of blocking damaging levels of sound for a musician/performer.

My guess would be that best protection is case by case. In a loud place IEMs may be protective just as loudly played IEMs can do damage. The difference is that pressure in a sealed ear canal is more damaging than an equivalent sound pr level in a room, plus any physical damage to the canal or tympanic membrane that might occur. Maybe I should have shared this link: https://asiustechnologies.com/pages/legacy. Founder of Asius, Steve Ambrose honestly fears that IEMs that he helped invent have contributed greatly to hearing loss.

I was of the impression that the main reason a musician wears IEMs is to be able to hear a specific monitor feed, mike feed, or their own instrument over the background. I know when I play I really need to hear my own instrument. In then past a lot of performers were unfortunately unaware or oblivious to how damaging sound can be to hearing. Hopefully that is changing.

At the end of the day, as with everything else, it's how they are used that matters most. Like @rkw I listen at modest sound levels. I own 64Ears A12 cIEMs which I like a lot and I am hoping the ADEL technology built into them does release pressure as claimed. I sometimes use them and place my Sony WH 1000XM2 noise canceling headphones on over them which makes for really excellent suppression of exterior noise and a very black background. It's quiet! This combination would certainly be protective in a dangerously loud environment. I'm 75 and am suffering from age-related hearing roll-off at HF. I am trying to keep what's left as best I can. Of late, I have used IEMs less and less often. I will let @Pietro Cozzi Tinin add a physician's perspective if he chooses.

 

[Tom Ato]

This specific subject has popped up a few times in regards to discussions about small desktop amps: As to demand for such things, I got email yesterday morning from diyAudio that their Amp Camp Kits were back in stock. By the end of the day they were sold out. I reached out to them to find out how many kits they sold and if there were any large quantity buyers. I will update with hard numbers if they decide to respond. I'm just a dumb old land surveyor, but that seems a lot like pent-up demand to me...

I got the email as well, and was going to wait a day or so convince myself it wasn't an impulse buy (well, now I'll be waiting longer...). According to the email, they only had 90 kits... that doesn't seem like a very large or cost effective production run.

I think this demand means we need a $150-250 entry level 2 channel amplifier from @Jason Stoddard

 

[TTGuy]

It appears that Jason and team are acknowledging just how bright those LEDs really are:

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

I will let @Pietro Cozzi Tinin add a physician's perspective if he chooses.

Thank you for the floor.....

I do think most musicians wear their IEM's as monitors on stage. It's daft not to do so.
I also think IEM's can be used in various safe ways.
In my view everyone here knows (or should know) the limitations of their hearing and how/why be careful with it.
I think most of us here do and that's why this discussion gets somewhat confused.
IEM's as monitors on stage are a blessing until you keep keep pushing that volume up and srcew your hearing.
I think Steve Ambrosius mainly points at this wrong use of IEM's and their dangers.
If one uses a sanding machine to brush ones teeth there will at some point be some inconveniences.

My warning about the dangers of IEM's lays in the invisible horrors of putting strange objects into places of the human body where said body can and will be harmed if not properly handled.
Every human ear will treat an IEM with the immediate flagging of abuse and as inflammation.
It would go too far to review all the nasties here but one can imagine the body (ear) will fight back.
It can't always do so and both roads lead to disaster.
The biggest problem we see in medical practice are those of inflammation, deformation, ingestion (yes by bacteria, fungi etc) of the outer ear canal and sometimes the inner ear.
Most IEM's have more bacteria (cultures) on them than a moderate toilet seat.
Most users do not clean them near enough and some do so in manners that too assault the ear.
The list is endless and terrifying.
My advice will always be (if possible) go for head phones and keep those clean too.
IEM's (as monitors) should (in my opinion) only be used by stage professionals or artist for pure cosmetic reasons.
Ask the wife if she ever forgot a tampon in the grotto's of darkness a few days too long.
Lot's of women die every year from those pesky things.

If you want to use IEM's please do so but at your own peril.
I only have an amateur view on the SQ but think head phones are far superior.

 

[433521]

You could build the Asgard 3. Then, rebrand it. Make it five different components with the modular components, just keep that part of it secret. Use a new, pompous name. Lots of bling, and LEDS. And sell the new line of dac/phono/headphone/speaker amplifiers based on the technology for five figures. With no decimal points. Call it an experiment. If you sell a bunch and you feel bad about it, refund the money to the people who "overpaid" and totally blow the minds of high end audio.