[MuppetFace]

I for one am glad the UHA-6S is "underpowered." Any more gain, and you wouldn't have enough room to properly attenuate sensitive portables and IEMs. Already as it is there's barely enough room, and at lower volumes there's a slight channel imbalance. There are too many portable amps on the market right now that just have way too much hiss and too little attenuation room with portables and IEMs, amps that are basically just small desktop solutions. Honestly if that's what you're after, then get a Vali. It sounds great.

 

[vwinter]

Morning petite baguette clubs, w/ turkey, honey ham, swiss, and bacon.

I'm already hungry and oh man that sounds good.

Food again huh?

Lol

Has anyone heard of the new Leckerton amp/dac?
I loved the UHA-6SMKII but they were a bit underpowered... even in high gain with some cans. Is the new one more powerful?

You you feel it would have hit the spot with some scotch bonnet sauce? Or maybe even some simple spicy brown mustard?...

 

[Mimouille]

I love me a pulled pork sammich! I prefer sweet and spicy sauce.

You should try a Shanghainese pork belly sandwich. Or a Vietnamese pork sandwich. Both include pork fat and French baguette (as both Shanghai and Vietnam have strong historical presence from us frog eaters).

 

[vwinter]

You should try a Shanghainese pork belly sandwich. Or a Vietnamese pork sandwich. Both include pork fat and French baguette (as both Shanghai and Vietnam have strong historical presence from us frog eaters).

I support this message.


[rule]

I've come across some budget sets lately that seriously push the envelope of performance for the dollar. And not just at the low end. It makes me feel crazy for being in the process of getting a UERM (which I looooved).

So much can be done with so little that it's almost painful. But that's not really where this "note" is coming from. There's this budget set, using a customized EQ by a company that deals in DSP.

It has it's pluses and minuses, but there's something there, something special. I can't really express it.

So what I'm asking I guess is, have you guys come across anything that shouldn't be good, or even isn't that good, but there's something almost inexplicably there?

 

[a_recording]

Re: Vegemite, it has an extremely salty, yeasty burnt taste. I don't really like it ordinarily, but on a toasted cheese sandwich it's quite nice. A few years back they tried that 'let's give it a new name' thing here to drum up some appreciation for the existing brand (the replacement name was 'iSnack 2.0 I believe). I regard the Tim Tam as a better culinary cultural export than Vegemite.

RANDOM GAMING TALK:

I hope everyone is having fun with their Thanksgiving holiday. The one thing that I bought as part of this sales period (even in Australia we have sales right about now and retailers are trying to create a kind of 'Black Friday' type scenario in these fair lands) is a bunch of games on Steam and an XBox 360 controller for my Surface Pro 2.

It's actually remarkable how versatile a little gaming machine the SP2 is with a gamepad. I was playing Skyrim for a while, but I don't know how long I can keep playing it. One thing I really hate about Bethesda / Elder Scrolls games is how the entire color palette of all the games seems to come from a Pantone swatch named "mud and eh", all the character animations are incredibly poor, are and how the NPC faces seem like they've been randomly generated and then kerb stomped. Skyrim seems to continue this wonderful tradition. I know this seems superficial and for some people they'd rather have a super open world to explore, but I personally would prefer the developer to spend time crafting a visually rich environment, even if the overall game ends up being smaller. But I'll keep playing and see how it goes.

I actually forgot to say, but I finished The Last of Us a week ago and I really enjoyed the game very much. It took me a bit of time to get into it but once I realised that it was actually part of the gameplay of the game that almost every combat encounter in the game can easily go horribly wrong (and it wasn't JUST because I am terrible at stealth games) that I got invested into it. Regarding the ending:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I actually liked the ending and didn't find it all that depressing or Joel's actions all that selfish, considering that a) there's gotta be another way to study Ellie without slicing her brain up into bits and b) it's not as if humanity at this point is doomed to extinction, and it isn't as if I am particularly enthused about the continuing survival of the species as depicted in the game considering that 99% of the people remaining in the world are murderers / psychopaths /fundamentalists. There aint no cure for that.

I spent some time playing the Stanley Parable last night. I played the original mod of the game, and the 2013 shiny version is even better. I love it to bits. I heartily recommend it to everyone. http://www.stanleyparable.com/

It's hard to describe, but it's a very funny game and unlike art games like Dear Esther and The Path it actually takes advantage of the interactive medium to good effect. (Rather than just making a kind of semi-interactive virtual installation experience which personally I find a pretty mediocre experience).

 

[tds101]

Now I wanna try Vegemite,...I'm kinda apprehensive about Marmite. But NZ Marmite seems to be the healthiest of the bunch. I may need to give it a go.

 

[Argyris]

  Now I wanna try Vegemite,...I'm kinda apprehensive about Marmite. But NZ Marmite seems to be the healthiest of the bunch. I may need to give it a go.

 
Marmite (UK Marmite, at least) basically tastes like somebody took the yeasty, bitter taste from a strong brew and made a concentrated, dark brown paste out of it. It's the sort of thing that I think tastes good mixed into other stuff as an accent, but I don't like it by itself or in any position of prominence. As I understand it, Vegemite is similar but different enough that it's possible to like one while not liking the other.
 

You should try a Shanghainese pork belly sandwich. Or a Vietnamese pork sandwich. Both include pork fat and French baguette (as both Shanghai and Vietnam have strong historical presence from us frog eaters).

 

Those sound quite tasty indeed. Seriously, I've got to go make dinner. All this food sounds divine.

 

[eke2k6]

  Honestly if that's what you're after, then get a Vali. It sounds great.

 
 
"Soft!..no haste" (Merchant of Venice)
 
Don't think you can slip that little bit in there and vanish off into the dark  
 
How do you think the Vali stacks up to other somewhat budget amps you've heard? I was a little disappointed by the Magni, so I'm interested in what the Vali has to offer. I may pair it with the Geek that's on order.

 

[jgray91]

Oh. It's Maria Watches Over Us. It's not my kind of thing, but I do remember that it aired on Animax (in the anime time slot on AXN) back a few years. While I honestly would like to ignorantly declare it's crap (DON'T KILL ME!), it doesn't push my rage buttons as other shoujo anime.

(don't kill me)

 

Yeah, that translation is kind of silly. Maria-sama would simply translate into "Holy Mother Mary" or "The Virgin Mary" or just "Mary" in English. By keeping "Maria" but dropping the honorific, it becomes Latin which kind of sticks out in an otherwise English title.

How much of it did you actually watch? Because the characterization and writing in general is way beyond any other shoujo-ai I've ever seen. It's kind of like an anime Jane Austin novel.

I get a little annoyed because folks try to argue that the whole "S" thing is just play-acting (or "ventriloquating" --- something people still try to use WRT Sappho --- ie. they're just stand ins for heteronormative relationships). Or that any kind of subtext isn't official canon or whatever. But these kind of arguments are, in the first case, incredibly chauvinistic and, in the second case, ignorant of the use of subtext in writing and the actual social implications surrounding its use. Not to mention the history of its tropes and set pieces in fiction.

Tbh not enough. Have to reeatch because of my maturity (relative to 5 years ago).

 

[warrenpchi]

  Honestly if that's what you're after, then get a Vali. It sounds great.

 
I second this as I do like the Vali.  Auditioning through the supplied LCD-2, I found the Vali to be very nicely-weighted, with surprisingly good bass control typically found in tube amps far in excess of the Vali's asking price. As such, I also found the lower mids to be exceptionally clean and tight, and free of any loose or syrupy bass bleed. The rest of the mids were smooth and lush especially with female vocals, which I had expected. However, the Vali did not seem to veil or smear any midrange detail - which I did not expect. The highs, far from being offensively rolled-off, had a easy-going sparkle about them. Overall, the Vali gels extremely well across the entire frequency range, with excellent staging that was never once stifling. Obviously, Schiit has yet another winner on their hands with the Vali. And I say this based purely upon its performance - and not its absurdly low price point (though that doesn't hurt). Unless you hate tube amps, the Vali is a clear case of "shut up and take my money!"
 

  Don't think you can slip that little bit in there and vanish off into the dark  

 
And yet, that's exactly what happened.  Deal with it. 

 

 
How do you think the Vali stacks up to other somewhat budget amps you've heard? I was a little disappointed by the Magni, so I'm interested in what the Vali has to offer. I may pair it with the Geek that's on order.

 
Compared to the Vali, I find the Magni to be dry.  Arid.  New Mexico even.

 

[Silent One]

   
Compared to the Vali, I find the Magni to be dry.  Arid.  New Mexico even.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Warren - what's the gain on the Vali feel like? About the same as the Magni, or more?

I've really never understood the attraction of the yeasty spreads. Tastes d@mn nasty if you ask me. You want to put something good on your toast? Try strawberry jam and a slab of sharp cheddar cheese. Sweet & tangy with the luscious mouth feel of the fatty cheese. Yummy.

 

[DigitalFreak]

I just came from watching the movie Catching Fire. The new game master in the second film looks like Tyll

It was a huge What moment for me

 

[Mimouille]

I've really never understood the attraction of the yeasty spreads. Tastes d@mn nasty if you ask me. You want to put something good on your toast? Try strawberry jam and a slab of sharp cheddar cheese. Sweet & tangy with the luscious mouth feel of the fatty cheese. Yummy.

Try some French camembert or goat cheese with orange or apricot marmelade and you're good to go.

 

[Argyris]

I like brie with lingonberry preserves. This discovery was a happy accident. The lingonberries were actually supposed to be a Christmas gift, but I could never get a hold of the intended recipient that year, so I was stuck with them. They're tasty enough on their own, but I couldn't imagine finishing the jar just by spooning them out plain. So, in an effort to get rid of them, I tried them with brie and Vinta crackers, which I had picked up when the local market was displaying samples of these two things paired with an orange apricot preserve. I liked the lingonberry version a lot better, and ever since it's become a sort of off the wall holiday tradition for me.