[golfbravobravo]

I have dabbled with 6502 assembly (on Commodore 64) and 68000 assembly (on Commodore Amiga), both as a hobby. I briefly looked at x86 assembly too, but never found it appealing due to its backwardness as compared to the 68000.

The 6502 is still being manufactured as the 65C02 or WDC6502, and I believe the 68000 is also still available but under a more different name which I think is “ColdFire” or something alike.

Here ya go: https://www.evilmadscientist.com/2016/6502/

 

[FLTWS]

On the subject of EQ'ing, by whatever means you choose to do it by, decades ago it became clear to me that when an audiophile said they want a perfectly flat frequency response at the output of the transducer and accomplished it, they invariably are not happy with the results.

We like our audio coloration's of choice as we like our beverages of choice; beers for some, whiskeys for others, wines, etc. And then we want specific beers, specific whiskeys, specific wines, etc. It's generally not easy for an individual to specify what they like best in a sound pallette up and down the frequency range, and it can differ from individual to individual. But they know it when they hear it.

 

[KoshNaranek]

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

I regret that I have but one like to give

 

[stochasticJim]

On the subject of EQ'ing, by whatever means you choose to do it by, decades ago it became clear to me that when an audiophile said they want a perfectly flat frequency response at the output of the transducer and accomplished it, they invariably are not happy with the results.

We like our audio coloration's of choice as we like our beverages of choice; beers for some, whiskeys for others, wines, etc. And then we want specific beers, specific whiskeys, specific wines, etc. It's generally not easy for an individual to specify what they like best in a sound pallette up and down the frequency range, and it can differ from individual to individual. But they know it when they hear it.

A few years back, a co-worker lent me an iPhone dongle he bought from a Kickstarter campaign. The dongle software allowed you to calibrate the EQ in the dongle to your ears by playing a series of tones across the frequency band. You adjusted the level of each tone so that all of the tones across the frequency band "sounded the same level". Since I was the audio quality guy at work, he wanted my opinion of his new toy.

I hated it.

After I completed the calibration, I played "Tower Music" by the Chicago Trombone Consort -- my go-to music for first impressions. If the instruments don't sound like trombones, I'm not interested. It didn't sound like real trombones.

My ears aren't perfect. My impressions of the real world are what I hear every day. If a dongle makes my ears' frequency response flat, the music doesn't sound like the real world to me.

Even further, I think that we like our music EQed not only according to what we hear, but according to the memory of what we've heard. When we hear live music, there is a lot of emotion stored with our aural memory. In reproduction, we have the transcendental experience we're seeking when our sound systems evoke the strong emotional memories of past aural experiences.

One EQ for everyone, or even most? Not in my experience.

 

[SuperRoo]

I use Peace EQ on a daily basis. I have a Stream Deck programed with a page of presets for my speakers and one for headphones. Most are subtle staring at .5dB changes, the max is 5dB which I seldom use. It is fun to be able at a push of a button and tweak the sound on a song by song basis.

 

[JamminVMI]

He caters to his base.

I submit that “panders” fits more betterer…

 

[Rensek]

Texas Roadhouse is both fine dining and an anti depressant where I live. Peanuts you can throw on the floor? Yes Please! Buns with Cinnamon Honey Butter? Double Yes! Large portions? Yeppers! Better then Applebee's and fastfood food? Heck Yeah!

The only thing I dislike is the 45 plus minute wait for a table at all times..... As a result I eat there about once a biennium.

 

[macdonjh]

Just to be clear: I didn't mean to say that Texas food would be bad in general. Quite the opposite; from what limited experience with real Texas cuisine that I have, it's among the best in the nation.

No, my point was that whatever it is that Texas Roadhouse is selling here as "Texas cuisine" is so horrendously bad that it might just put off those who don't know any better. Which, in California, would just about be the majority.

While those who DO know better won't be fooled by a Texas Roadhouse and might still make the move to Texas. But those tend to appreciate Texas a lot more for what it is instead of wanting to transform it into a second California, so the damage they can do is relatively limited to begin with. Nothing a good Texan can't deal with, right?!

And who knows, some of those appreciative Californians might even create well-paying jobs in Texas and praise their local wines on YouTube streams.

No hard feelings, I just put you in the @bcowen group when it comes to judging bar-b-que, and perhaps food in general. Of course, that might be the definition of hard feelings.

Not to threadjack the Schiit audio thread with...

Is that even possible? In any context?

Cracker Barrell used to be pretty good. Over the past several years they have gone straight downhill, and fast. I ate at one in Atlanta a few weeks ago and it was absolutely disgusting. Basically a plate full of grease that had some lumps in it to give it a 3-D look. Authentic Southern? It wasn't even authentic food.

This makes me a little sad: Cracker Barrel used to provide good road trip food in my opinion. Perhaps not anymore. The most recent chain I ate in but won't anymore is Applebee's. "Eatin' good in the neighborhood"? Not.

re: food. Years ago when I first started visiting Austin (back when there was a big gap of farm land between Austin and Round Rock) the Saltgrass Steakhouse used to be pretty good. Last time I was there, however, the standards seem to have really dropped. On the second day we went downtown to Perry's Grille and that was much better. Here in Phoenix there is a fantastic steak house called the Stockyards that has become my new standard, and I believe it rivals anything I've had in Texas.

Saltgrass hasn't fallen quite as far as Outback. My guess is Saltgrass is trying hard to hold their prices. You can still get a steak for $25 there, as opposed to $50-$60 at Pappas Steak House or Morton's. I don't go out for steak that often so I now prefer to pay $50-$60.

It's been a few weeks: I've been busy. I have my Gungnir multi-bit -> Mjolnir I (with fake tubes )-> HE-6 all warmed up and a dram of scotch within arm's reach... Turns out I've been on a bit of spree, I have two hundred tracks in my library which haven't been rated. Time to get "busy".

 

[bcowen]

No hard feelings, I just put you in the @bcowen group when it comes to judging bar-b-que, and perhaps food in general. Of course, that might be the definition of hard feelings.

Actually, that's the definition of good taste. Hope this helps.

 

[bcowen]

This makes me a little sad: Cracker Barrel used to provide good road trip food in my opinion. Perhaps not anymore. The most recent chain I ate in but won't anymore is Applebee's. "Eatin' good in the neighborhood"? Not.

I ran a plant that made the kitchen ventilation systems for Applebees back when they were growing like a weed (early 2000's). But just because they contributed significantly to my salary wasn't a good enough reason to actually eat there.

Made a lot of hoods for Krispy Kreme too, but that's different. Call it an addiction. Pretty much on the same level as tube hoarding collecting. Just talking about it is giving me withdrawal symptoms...

 

[Roy G. Biv]

re: food. Years ago when I first started visiting Austin (back when there was a big gap of farm land between Austin and Round Rock) the Saltgrass Steakhouse used to be pretty good. Last time I was there, however, the standards seem to have really dropped. On the second day we went downtown to Perry's Grille and that was much better. Here in Phoenix there is a fantastic steak house called the Stockyards that has become my new standard, and I believe it rivals anything I've had in Texas.

FWIW I don't consider TX to be the standard bearer for steak houses. I have found great steak houses in every state that I've been in. I consider the 'hero' of any steak house to be the buyer and not the chef. A really good steak doesn't need much more than a few pinches of salt and a bit of smoke.

The most readily available cut of really good beef in my area comes from none other than Costco. They carry prime beef in a variety of cuts and they're great because Costco's buyers seem to know how to grade beef. For my money, a prime strip from Costco that I've hand trimmed and cooked using the reverse-sear method with a bit of hickory smoke is my favorite (notice I didn't say "best") steak. I normally don't use sauces but when I do it will be a homemade chimichurri.

I used to enjoy Saltgrass but I agree that they've gone downhill a bit. I've never understood them serving steak with a pat of butter on top, tho.

A freshly made Krispy Kreme doughnut is freaking amazing. Just walking into one of their stores when the fryer is going makes me salivate and I don't normally gravitate towards sweets.

 

[rkw]

No, my point was that whatever it is that Texas Roadhouse is selling here as "Texas cuisine" is so horrendously bad that it might just put off those who don't know any better.

Just looked it up. There are quite a few Texas Roadhouse restaurants... in Texas.

 

[US Blues]

re: Texans. We here in New Mexico legalized the cannabis plant earlier this year (side note: any government that makes a plant illegal is clinically insane), which has resulted in an even greater influx of Texans this summer than in the past. Cannabis sales were quite high last month. These folks sample their purchase then proceed to drive around Santa Fe looking for food or tourist attractions. 'Twas bad enough when they were just lost, or drunk, but now the situation has reached a new level of crazy.

 

[dieslemat]

As for the Harman curve…

Every single freaking time that I apply someone's carefully created parametric EQ to get a certain headphone as close as possible to said "esteemed" curve, I end up with something that sounds so horrid that it makes me want to toss even my otherwise most enjoyable and beloved headphones out the window.
Seriously.

My point? …is that Jason's got a point. Either…

• that Harman curve is merely a marketing schtick à la MQA, meaning a shockingly successful attempt at artificially creating a "unique sales proposal" for Harman that no one actually needs or asked for, but too many are still falling prey to,
• or the good folks at Harman need to have their ears checked,
• or my ears are too far off from what they want you to believe is the "average" that I'm screwed should that curve ever become some sort of real, actual benchmark for manufacturers.

Benchmarks can be very useful when they make sense. But audio is a field where they just don't. Hearing can't be averaged out and distilled to a common denominator. Everybody's hearing differs (not just in terms of differences in aural anatomy, but also ontologically, meaning how someone's brain ultimately evaluates and interprets the signals it receives from the ears). Everybody's taste differs. Everybody's room differs. Everybody's musical preferences differ. Attempting to find something that'll fit everything inevitably leads to something that will shine at nothing.

You can find an analogy to that in today's cars: Ever since everybody and their grandmas decided to use the Nordschleife as a benchmark, every last car on the market that prides itself to be even just a little bit "performance-y" drives and feels pretty much the same — with exceptions few and far between. And to make things worse, while those cars might indeed handle exceptionally well on the actual Nordschleife itself, they mostly suck at almost everything else. Naturally, since the Nordschleife, as fantastic of a race track as it of course very much is, doesn't actually benchmark anything but the Nordschleife itself.

Don't believe me? Then I invite you to name just one example where an industry, ANY industry (other than computing and health care), has discovered a supposedly reliable benchmark for their type of product, and it didn't lead to an utterly lifeless and boring result that the competition then started to gravitate towards, much to the detriment of exceptionality and consumers' choice.

It's somewhat understandable that audio companies and gear heads both keep trying to find that elusive and magical common denominator, or at the very least some form of unit that could quantify the subjective perception of audio somewhat objectively. Businesses feel a pressure to grow, and the easiest way to grow is to appeal to a wider, less niche-y and thus by definition more "average" audience. And gear heads crave for a practical and reliable way to equate and compare gear without having to spend a lifetime on trial and error. Trust me, I absolutely get that.

But at the same time, I very much have to stress: Be reeeeeally careful what you wish for. Personally, I do not need that kind of lowest common denominator blandness in my audio gear that such a benchmark will inevitably result in.

I am practicing my speed reading skills with your posts

 

[Jigetz]

Has anyone heard any updates on the Lyr+ release? It's a perfect amp for use in my office and eager to get my hands on it. It's been about 3 weeks since the Round Up. I wonder what they are tracking for release. The website still says 4-6 weeks.