[ArmchairPhilosopher]

 

[OldRoadToad]

Yeah, I've fallen asleep in my recliner with a mug of coffee in my hand. It's never bothered my sleep or any other thing.
As for caffeine I guess it depends on how strongly one brews it.
You could check the website
https://www.kickinghorsecoffee.com/

What a cool name for a brand of Coffee! Thank you!

ORT

 

[corndog71]

I know this isn't exactly a Schiit-related question, but given the sine wave topics; thought I'd give it a try. For decades, I've had a significant issue with tinnitus. Both ears, buzzing and ringing. Did traditional things like seeing an ENT doctor, having an MRI, trying aids and noise generators, etc. Nothing very satisfying or successful. Wondering if any of you suffer from this, and have any ideas to reduce / deal with it. Medical folks say not much can be done - but all knowledge doesn't necessarily rest with them.

I’ve had a very low grade bit of tinnitus from shooting too many guns and attending too many loud concerts. Most of the time it was so minor that I rarely noticed it. Occasionally I would get a flare up in one ear or the other. It was like the volume got turned up but then die down within 20 seconds. This became noticeable roughly 20 years ago. The flare ups happened maybe a handful of times a year.

Skip to 2021. Around 2 weeks after I got my 2nd shot I got the flare up but this time it just kept going. Mostly happens in my left ear but sometimes it’s both. It can last for several hours or several days. It’s mostly tolerable but there’s been a couple days when it drove me a little nuts. And then it goes away before I even realize it. I can go a week or two without a flare up. Sometimes it can make listening to music challenging.

I’ve done the plugging the ears and flicking my fingers at the back of my skull but it doesn’t really work. I just try to not think about it. Sadly, science hasn’t figured it out yet.

 

[artur9]

There's a new treatment for tinnitus coming out "soon" (whatever that means to medical research).
It basically plays "sound" or stimulates the brain in such a way that the brain learns to ignore the tinnitus.
This isn't the one I remember but turned up in a quick google: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220812114014.htm
Maybe one of the actual doctors here can turn up something better (@KoshNaranek , @Pietro Cozzi Tinin ?)

 

[Charente]

Last but not the least, amp/headphone pairing can be tricky, especially for low-impedance planars

I have been pleasantly surprised by my recent purchase of Meze Empyrean ... seem to work well with any half decent amp ... especially Class A, does a great job on the sound-stage.

EDIT: I do think the Empyreans need a better cable than stock ... looking at getting hybrid copper/silver to brighten/tighten things up a bit

 

[j0val]

I’ve had a very low grade bit of tinnitus from shooting too many guns and attending too many loud concerts. Most of the time it was so minor that I rarely noticed it. Occasionally I would get a flare up in one ear or the other. It was like the volume got turned up but then die down within 20 seconds. This became noticeable roughly 20 years ago. The flare ups happened maybe a handful of times a year.

Skip to 2021. Around 2 weeks after I got my 2nd shot I got the flare up but this time it just kept going. Mostly happens in my left ear but sometimes it’s both. It can last for several hours or several days. It’s mostly tolerable but there’s been a couple days when it drove me a little nuts. And then it goes away before I even realize it. I can go a week or two without a flare up. Sometimes it can make listening to music challenging.

I’ve done the plugging the ears and flicking my fingers at the back of my skull but it doesn’t really work. I just try to not think about it. Sadly, science hasn’t figured it out yet.

I noticed a low grade ringing in both ears during the summer of 2020, so before the vaccinations were going on. At the time, I was taking some medication for blood pressure. Saw one of the side effects was "temporary" ringing in the ears....never went away (for clarification, not saying it was the medication but rather what caused me to see a specialist). Ended up going to an audiologist for some tests and she mentioned that more and more people were experiencing ringing in their ears during that time.

 

[j0val]

I have been pleasantly surprised by my recent purchase of Meze Empyrean ... seem to work well with any half decent amp ... especially Class A, does a great job on the sound-stage.

I miss my Empyreans. Great sound. However, Schiit amps weren't the greatest match for it (at least not the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3). The best match to me was the Burson Soloist 3. I've since sold the Empyreans, and will stick with my Schiit for a long while.

 

[433521]

Vali 2++ on the left, with a NOS 396a Western Electronics tube.

Stock tube (6n3p, Soviet origin, appears similar to FONON plant tubes selling on ebay) in the 2+ on the right for comparison.

Stock tube can drive 6xx in lo gain, but needs hi gain imo for DCA planar and ZMF biocell.

I found 2x NIB NOS '58 Tung Sol 2c51, 2x '60s WE 396a, and 3x NIB NOS Sylvania 5670 triple mica (why this matters I have no idea) and Soviet Reflector 6n3p incoming.

btw: thanks to Schiit team for super duper fast shipping, got here on Thursday night!

 

[Charente]

I miss my Empyreans. Great sound. However, Schiit amps weren't the greatest match for it (at least not the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3). The best match to me was the Burson Soloist 3. I've since sold the Empyreans, and will stick with my Schiit for a long while.

I find my MJOLNIR 2 a good pairing for a relaxed listen ... SS amplification, like the Gilmore Mk2 Class A (+ GR Power Supply), is better for more critical listening. Reportedly also SPL Phonitor, and as you say, Burson.

 

[Charente]

I would be interested to hear how the new Lyr+ sounds with the Empyreans ... in either mode

 

[A Jedi]

I know this isn't exactly a Schiit-related question, but given the sine wave topics; thought I'd give it a try. For decades, I've had a significant issue with tinnitus. Both ears, buzzing and ringing. Did traditional things like seeing an ENT doctor, having an MRI, trying aids and noise generators, etc. Nothing very satisfying or successful. Wondering if any of you suffer from this, and have any ideas to reduce / deal with it. Medical folks say not much can be done - but all knowledge doesn't necessarily rest with them.

I used to have awful tinnitus. Stick screwdrivers in my ears level awful. I also had issues with my neck muscles (overworked, bad posture in front laptops for too many years). Started doing exercises for said muscles, fixed my posture, now tinnitus is barely noticeable. Most days I forget it was ever an issue. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are masters at fixing obvious things (broken leg) but the moment you introduce a smidge of mystery, they're clueless and useless (but still expensive).

 

[KoshNaranek]

There's a new treatment for tinnitus coming out "soon" (whatever that means to medical research).
It basically plays "sound" or stimulates the brain in such a way that the brain learns to ignore the tinnitus.
This isn't the one I remember but turned up in a quick google: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220812114014.htm
Maybe one of the actual doctors here can turn up something better (@KoshNaranek , @Pietro Cozzi Tinin ?)

I am afraid that this is a bit out of my wheelhouse. My experience with tinnitus is to induce it by giving neurotoxic, lifesaving drugs.

Sorry. If someone wants a specific recommendation for someone to see in their area, they can PM me.

 

[FLTWS]

Somehow I learned to listen through my tinnitus when actively engaged listening to any audio source. Just when all was quiet I would notice it. But over the years with advancing age and the need for various prescription meds, vaccinations, and the like, I found it more noticeable yet was was always able to ignore it when I focused on the sound, TV included. It was quiet periods with little or no background noise that I would notice it.

While we're on the subject of hearing related issues,

At some point in the late first quarter of this year I started to note a curious effect when listening to, primarily, classical music which is probably 95% of my listening time. Lower mid-bass and bass notes started sounding off tonally on music I an intimately familiar with. I also noticed mid-range frequencies associated with horns, woodwinds, massed strings, and voices, when holding sustained notes, producing a background buzz, like a shadow behind the sound, but not like an echo. Like the sound of someone blowing across the top of a beer bottle. It was so subtle at first I thought it was my imagination and as time went on, my equipment. But over the passing months these aberrations became more apparent to my ears on the dozens of high-end pieces of equipment I own, and even on my Bose table radios in the basement and master bath, and even on my crappy, stock, car radio and TV / video sound. While it is at a very low level and not so noticeable with Rock and Jazz it makes my music listening experience unsatisfying being conditioned as I am to listening for the “truth” of the recorded sound for 52 years starting when I was 23.

A few weeks back I went for my annual hearing checkup and explained the situation to my otolaryngologist. He examined the physical aspects of my ear and ran the usual hearing tests. One is for frequency response, the other is to determine the transmission capability of the sound vibrations from the inner ear bones / cochlea sections via nerves to the area of the brain that interprets those vibrations as sound. It turns out that my frequency response of both ears hasn’t changed since 2013. However, the auditory nerve transmission test indicated it was going downhill, not unusual in people my age, sometimes its hereditary, or could be due to a litany of other reasons. And this is assuredly the cause of these listening anomalies I now experience. Not everyone will experience this to the degree I have. The technical term is “Sensorineural Hearing Loss” and it’s in both ears. There is no fix surgically, no medication fix , no cure. There is no turning back the clock, the body ages ungracefully.

I surmise it may not be as noticeable to typical non-audiophiles of advanced age (and some never experience it) who don’t listen intently to the minutiae of details in the music audiophiles in general do. Most of my non-audiophile friends often listen to music more as background and that music is invariably more of the popular genres type. My definition of "focused listening" is listening to the exclusion of all other activities including reading, watching TV, working, etc.

My condition does not affect spoken words in person or dialog in movies as spoken words are generally not held long enough (think a soprano holding a high C note) to create the issue I experience in the mids. And the human voice doesn’t go low enough to exhibit the pitch anomalies I’m experiencing in the low frequencies.

With over 5 decades as a focused audiophile, with over 250 live classical concerts attended, and a violin and piano player in my earlier years I know what acoustic instruments should sound like. And, I no longer have confidence that I can convey an assessment of the acoustic properties of the equipment we use going forward. And worse, in fact, I find it difficult to enjoy listening to music at all, I know what it should sound like but my ear/brain connection says otherwise. So, you will hear less and less from me thru the rest of this year.

I’ve made peace with this situation and will find other ways to fill my time.

Starting in January my time will be dominated by the things I need to do as I prepare to move to a retirement community locally. No more steps to deal with multiple times a day. I just had a total left knee replacement and need to get the right done when I'm fully recovered, and knowing what I now know, that won't be until I'm in a 1 floor living situation. My 3 floor condo no longer fits the bill for me.

I will be selling “almost” all my equipment including cables and tubes and other accessories. And most likely, off-loading /donating most of my CD collection. Perhaps I’ll donate a good portion of the CD’s to the Salvation Army as I know they will take the hundreds of books I have on music, and other interests of mine, for auction sales to raise money for the organization.

I will be listing the equipment here on Head-Fi, and later, on eBay.

I suspect some of you know I have sold some pieces to @Paladin79 already and that will happen the second week of Sept. After that I will focus on determining what stays and what goes.

Peace.

 

[Charente]

Somehow I learned to listen through my tinnitus when actively engaged listening to any audio source. Just when all was quiet I would notice it. But over the years with advancing age and the need for various prescription meds, vaccinations, and the like, I found it more noticeable yet was was always able to ignore it when I focused on the sound, TV included. It was quiet periods with little or no background noise that I would notice it.

While we're on the subject of hearing related issues,

At some point in the late first quarter of this year I started to note a curious effect when listening to, primarily, classical music which is probably 95% of my listening time. Lower mid-bass notes started sounding off tonally on music I an intimately familiar with. I also noticed mid-range frequencies associated with horns, woodwinds, massed strings, and voices, when holding sustained notes, producing a background buzz, like a shadow behind the sound, but not like an echo. It was so subtle at first I thought it was my imagination and as time went on, my equipment. But over the passing months these aberrations became more apparent to my ears on the dozens of high-end pieces of equipment I own, and even on my Bose table radios in the basement and master bath, and even on my crappy, stock, car radio and TV / video sound. While it is at a very low level and not so noticeable with Rock and Jazz it makes my music listening experience unsatisfying being conditioned as I am to listening for the “truth” of the recorded sound for 52 years starting when I was 23.

A few weeks back I went for my annual hearing checkup and explained the situation to my otolaryngologist. He examined the physical aspects of my ear and ran the usual hearing tests. One is for frequency response, the other is to determine the transmission capability of the sound vibrations from the inner ear bones / cochlea sections via nerves to the area of the brain that interprets those vibrations as sound. It turns out that my frequency response of both ears hasn’t changed since 2013. However, the auditory nerve transmission test indicated it was going downhill, not unusual in people my age, sometimes its hereditary, or could be due to a litany of other reasons. And this is assuredly the cause of these listening anomalies I now experience. Not everyone will experience this to the degree I have. The technical term is “Sensorineural Hearing Loss” and it’s in both ears. There is no fix surgically, no medication fix , no cure. There is no turning back the clock, the body ages ungracefully.

I surmise it may not be as noticeable to typical non-audiophiles of advanced age (and some never experience it) who don’t listen intently to the minutiae of details in the music audiophiles in general do. Most of my non-audiophile friends often listen to music more as background and that music is invariably more of the popular genres type. My definition of "focused listening" is listening to the exclusion of all other activities including reading, watching TV, working, etc.

My condition does not affect spoken words in person or dialog in movies as spoken words are generally not held long enough (think a soprano holding a high C note) to create the issue I experience in the mids. And the human voice doesn’t go low enough to exhibit the pitch anomalies I’m experiencing in the low frequencies.

With over 5 decades as a focused audiophile, with over 250 live classical concerts attended, and a violin and piano player in my earlier years I know what acoustic instruments should sound like. And, I no longer have confidence that I can convey an assessment of the acoustic properties of the equipment we use going forward. And worse, in fact, I find it difficult to enjoy listening to music at all, I know what it should sound like but my ear/brain connection says otherwise. So, you will hear less and less from me thru the rest of this year.

I’ve made peace with this situation and will find other ways to fill my time.

Starting in January my time will be dominated by the things I need to do as I prepare to move to a retirement community locally. No more steps to deal with multiple times a day. I just had a total left knee replacement and need to get the right done when I'm fully recovered, and knowing what I now know, that won't be until I'm in a 1 floor living situation. My 3 floor condo no longer fits the bill for me.

I will be selling “almost” all my equipment including cables and tubes and other accessories. And most likely, off-loading /donating most of my CD collection. Perhaps I’ll donate a good portion of the CD’s to the Salvation Army as I know they will take the hundreds of books I have on music, and other interests of mine, for auction sales to raise money for the organization.

I will be listing the equipment here on Head-Fi, and later, on eBay.

I suspect some of you know I have sold some pieces to @Paladin79 already and that will happen the second week of Sept. After that I will focus on determining what stays and what goes.

Peace.

Interesting if gloomy tale ... one that could befall any one of us. My hearing has stayed reasonable for my age and I am grateful for that. Indeed, I seem to be able to hear things that my partner (9 years younger) cannot hear.

 

[OldRoadToad]

Somehow I learned to listen through my tinnitus when actively engaged listening to any audio source. Just when all was quiet I would notice it. But over the years with advancing age and the need for various prescription meds, vaccinations, and the like, I found it more noticeable yet was was always able to ignore it when I focused on the sound, TV included. It was quiet periods with little or no background noise that I would notice it.

While we're on the subject of hearing related issues,

At some point in the late first quarter of this year I started to note a curious effect when listening to, primarily, classical music which is probably 95% of my listening time. Lower mid-bass notes started sounding off tonally on music I an intimately familiar with. I also noticed mid-range frequencies associated with horns, woodwinds, massed strings, and voices, when holding sustained notes, producing a background buzz, like a shadow behind the sound, but not like an echo. It was so subtle at first I thought it was my imagination and as time went on, my equipment. But over the passing months these aberrations became more apparent to my ears on the dozens of high-end pieces of equipment I own, and even on my Bose table radios in the basement and master bath, and even on my crappy, stock, car radio and TV / video sound. While it is at a very low level and not so noticeable with Rock and Jazz it makes my music listening experience unsatisfying being conditioned as I am to listening for the “truth” of the recorded sound for 52 years starting when I was 23.

A few weeks back I went for my annual hearing checkup and explained the situation to my otolaryngologist. He examined the physical aspects of my ear and ran the usual hearing tests. One is for frequency response, the other is to determine the transmission capability of the sound vibrations from the inner ear bones / cochlea sections via nerves to the area of the brain that interprets those vibrations as sound. It turns out that my frequency response of both ears hasn’t changed since 2013. However, the auditory nerve transmission test indicated it was going downhill, not unusual in people my age, sometimes its hereditary, or could be due to a litany of other reasons. And this is assuredly the cause of these listening anomalies I now experience. Not everyone will experience this to the degree I have. The technical term is “Sensorineural Hearing Loss” and it’s in both ears. There is no fix surgically, no medication fix , no cure. There is no turning back the clock, the body ages ungracefully.

I surmise it may not be as noticeable to typical non-audiophiles of advanced age (and some never experience it) who don’t listen intently to the minutiae of details in the music audiophiles in general do. Most of my non-audiophile friends often listen to music more as background and that music is invariably more of the popular genres type. My definition of "focused listening" is listening to the exclusion of all other activities including reading, watching TV, working, etc.

My condition does not affect spoken words in person or dialog in movies as spoken words are generally not held long enough (think a soprano holding a high C note) to create the issue I experience in the mids. And the human voice doesn’t go low enough to exhibit the pitch anomalies I’m experiencing in the low frequencies.

With over 5 decades as a focused audiophile, with over 250 live classical concerts attended, and a violin and piano player in my earlier years I know what acoustic instruments should sound like. And, I no longer have confidence that I can convey an assessment of the acoustic properties of the equipment we use going forward. And worse, in fact, I find it difficult to enjoy listening to music at all, I know what it should sound like but my ear/brain connection says otherwise. So, you will hear less and less from me thru the rest of this year.

I’ve made peace with this situation and will find other ways to fill my time.

Starting in January my time will be dominated by the things I need to do as I prepare to move to a retirement community locally. No more steps to deal with multiple times a day. I just had a total left knee replacement and need to get the right done when I'm fully recovered, and knowing what I now know, that won't be until I'm in a 1 floor living situation. My 3 floor condo no longer fits the bill for me.

I will be selling “almost” all my equipment including cables and tubes and other accessories. And most likely, off-loading /donating most of my CD collection. Perhaps I’ll donate a good portion of the CD’s to the Salvation Army as I know they will take the hundreds of books I have on music, and other interests of mine, for auction sales to raise money for the organization.

I will be listing the equipment here on Head-Fi, and later, on eBay.

I suspect some of you know I have sold some pieces to @Paladin79 already and that will happen the second week of Sept. After that I will focus on determining what stays and what goes.

Peace.

It is a crime that we age...No one who has a lifetime of memories will ever be alone. The soundtrack to your life is within and can be played back over and over in the privacy that are your heart and soul.

In all ways and for always, be well my friend.

ORT