THE WATERCOOLER HEADPHONE EDITION – Headphones, Amps, DACs, and desktop/home audio related – a freewheeling discussion of gear, impressions, music, and musings.

[Johnsmith55]

I just published my review on Cayin HA-2A. I really enjoy the rich tube sound HA-2A makes, it pairs extremely well with both of my faovorite headphones Dahlia and Verite. A bonus for me is that it even work well many IEMs or earbuds, its just an premium and versatile tube amp that doesn't break the bank.

Feel free to read, cheers

REVIEW HERE

What copper cable is that?

 

[fiascogarcia]

Danny McKinney (@SageM) turned me on to Matteo Mancuso, a fantastic young guitarist! Right in my wheelhouse.

 

[BassicScience]

Danny McKinney (@SageM) turned me on to Matteo Mancuso, a fantastic young guitarist! Right in my wheelhouse.

Heh, turns out there's also an artist named Mateo (one 't') Mancuso, which is where I initially ended up on Tidal. For the love of God, I caution others to avoid making the same mistake!

 

[Blindranger]

Boom, my Roon queue is now over 12hrs deep. Let's keep these recommendations coming!

 

[Leonarfd]

What copper cable is that?

That is an cable made from a friend of mine, Clan Audio. Type 6 Litz Copper 8 wire with AECO XLR and Furutech Mini XLR

 

[Kiats]

Been enjoying some time with the tube goodness of the Luxury & Precision EA4 10th Anniversary, using the LP5 10th Anniversary as source, with the Immanis.

 

[genefruit]

I meant to do this last week, but got distracted with some work. but we're only a week into the new year, so I think we can still take one final moment for year-end reflections and summaries. So, a final one..

In our last poll, we got everyone's recommendations for your best new music released in 2024. But, now, I wanted to now ask you...

What is the best music you have disocvered in 2024 (whether a new or old the recording, as long as it was new to you)?​

Great topic. Every time the talk goes to music, I find something to add to my library. My favorite new discoveries follow:

 

[Leonarfd]

I shared this list in some other threads (don't think I ever shared it here), this is my favorite albums of 2024. The list is not ranked on any way, but my top 3 is most likely Anthesis, Absolute Elsewhere and Endlessness.

Metal Rock Prog

https://tidal.com/browse/album/373991284?u
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

This is an epic cosmic death metal album with elements of prog rock, an absolute journey and treat for metal enthusiasts. It's an album that's best going in blind to get the full experience, it's so much going on and gets better every time.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/389622358?u
Opeth - The Last Will And Testament

Swedish Opeth pre-released two singles with track 1 in September and track 3 in October, already knowing then it would deliver the sound I love from Opeth. This is progressive metal and a return to the more hard style many of us loved from their earlier works, back is the gritty growling while we still get the more normal melodic parts.
There is so much going on, and they show they are masters of making diverse tracks blending many styles.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/333294424?u
Suldusk - Anthesis

Dark black metal, very melodic and has a dark folk vibe to it. While it has some very melodic parts it's also going quite hard at times, not for everyone. Heard 3 tracks from this album and instantly bought the record. If you enjoy this and want more, the first album is much more relaxed if you want the style here without the black metal.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/375722248?u
Swallow The Sun - Shining

I had lots of anticipation for this release, I love Swallow The Sun and their doom metal. This release has lots of different opinions from the crowd, some love it while others think it's one of their worst. I find it great and as good as their previous Moonflowers, this album accompanied me on repeat during the Dublin Watercooler meet and might have colored feelings for it.

We get gritty growling and distorted guitars, but also more melodic parts that are beautiful and sad. I guess this is to soft for many who love Swallow The Sun, it's more welcoming to folks who are not as accustomed to intense and dark metal.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/327515895?u
The Pineapple Thief - It Leads To This

Latest album from The Pineapple Thief, I love the prog rock they make. This is also another good release, while maybe it's not their best work it's still a good one. This is also a record that is not too intense, so even folks that are usually not rock enthusiasts can enjoy it.

Clean vocals and instruments, and even the more intense parts are still not too busy.

Electronica



https://tidal.com/browse/album/376453451?u
Polygonia - Dermatology

I recently discovered German Polygonia, she captures an organic and clean style of electronica that is just magical . She has made an deep hypnotic style of techno, the record is perhaps here best so far.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/385530580?u
Djrum - Meaning’s Edge

An electronica EP that's a mix of many styles, we get deep vibrant dubstep and more into IDM and techno. I found this album as I discovered the relaxing IDM release Dreams & Whispers that is also on the list here, very different style but shows that the UK artist is able to deliver great music within many electronic genres.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/346810979?u
BOLIS PUPUL - Letter To Yu

Ambient deep house electronica, a record that touches upon some of life's themes with loss, family and making peace with it all. Inspired by his Asian and European roots, he has a wide range of tracks that is very special to listen to and keeps itself interesting every time I put it on play.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/357926576?u
The Black Dog - Other, Like Me

Dark ambient electronica, one of the masterpieces within electronica this year if you ask me. Deep and intimate with strong basslines, there are a lot of thoughts behind this album that explores the artist psyche.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/361808453?u
Bartosz Kruczynski- Dreams & Whispers

Another electronic ambient album, but this time more on a relaxing side.

Its two parts of the album, one being the Dream and the other Whispers. From the artist itself: The A-side, “Dreams,” is charged with subtle movement, rhythms spreading out like rings around skipped stones, while the B-side, “Whispers,” plunges into a zone of shadows and hush. The two complementary moods flow into one another like the faces of a Moebius strip, yielding an album that’s intuitively shaped and rich in emotion.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/395625968?u
Alva Noto - Xerox, Vol.5

Last instalment of the Xerox project, it started in 2007 and has been a long road for electronic artist Alva Noto.

Quote from artist:
Xerrox Vol. 5 has a lot to do with farewell. Not only the farewell to the series itself, which I’ve nurtured as a ‘child’ for almost two decades, but also there were many farewells to people who were very close to me. I believe these people are recognizable in this music, and the pieces also serve the function of preserving these individuals in some way. It would be completely wrong to say that this isn’t a personal album—on the contrary, it’s a very emotional, personal album—of course.

— Carsten Nicolai

The rest

https://tidal.com/browse/album/370239857?u
Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

She has made one of my absolute favorite Jazz releases this year, a threat to just relax with both delicacy and experimental parts. The elements of acoustic instruments and digital are blended together beautifully, I really look forward to the future of this bright artist.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/332383561?u
Oliver Patrice Weder - The Shoe Factory

Contemporary music with elements of ambient electronica and neo classical, I just find this very beautiful and the music captures a cinematic feel. It's minimalistic and beautiful, perfect for relaxing down. In fact it's a record I have used some times when stressed this year, putting in pair of favorite IEMs and closing my eyes while lying down.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/351809184?u
GoGo Penguin - From the North Live in Manchester

UK trio GoGo Penguin, could call this more traditional modern jazz. The trio has piano, double bass and drums, the style is more minimalistic but always very enjoyable. I was starving for a new release from them, and while not as good as some of their studio albums this is also great.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/399657888?u
Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes

This is a more mellow record than his previous ones with also less psychedelic style, would say this is funk and soul. I think the critics are quite mixed on this release but for me it's his best. It is more suited to background music than going deep into it, still the mastering and music is beautifully done. He has a very soothing voice that puts you at ease, One and Only track being my favorite.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/369951487?u
Kalandra - A Frame of Mind

Norwegian/Swedish group that mixes pop and Nordic folk music with even some prog rock, the vocalist has a beautiful and dreamy voice. The weakest track is maybe the first while the rest I really enjoy, as the headphone listening thread probably noticed I have shared this many times since the release in September.​

 

[nfandi]

Danny McKinney (@SageM) turned me on to Matteo Mancuso, a fantastic young guitarist! Right in my wheelhouse.

It’s worth searching for him on YouTube and watching him play. He’s a real jazz/classical/rock fusion with an amazing right hand technique. Plays like a bass player much of the time with the first 2 fingers. Truly an individual way to play guitar.

 

[LXMc]

Regarding favourite music discoveries in 2024, there have been many but one that comes to mind most directly because I listened to it a lot over the holiday break, was the 2022 edm album Warehouse Summer by i_o and lights. It's rare I will listen to full albums all the way through, even rarer I'll listen to full edm albums.

This one really struck a chord with me, partially because of the context I learned about it. It was written collaboratively by i_o and lights early during the pandemic and to me feels like it captures a very specific feeling of isolation from that time. It was released posthumously as i_o passed in November 2020 and learning this made the last track 'Anything but wet' particularly emotional. A few of my other favourite tracks from it: Supermelt, Warmth, and Better Days.

https://tidal.com/browse/album/259444007?u

 

[Echo42987]

Been enjoying some time with the tube goodness of the Luxury & Precision EA4 10th Anniversary, using the LP5 10th Anniversary as source, with the Immanis.

Quick review of the Immanis? Are you loving it? Thanks.

 

[Thomasr]

What is the best music you have disocvered in 2024 (whether a new or old the recording, as long as it was new to you)?

Oh man ... soooo many choices.

But if I have to pick one, I'd say Kruder and Dorfmeister: the K&D Sessions

 

[Blindranger]

Oh man ... soooo many choices.

But if I have to pick one, I'd say Kruder and Dorfmeister: the K&D Sessions

If there was an album that defined my college years, it would be K&D Sessions. The late 90s/early 00s in Eugene, Oregon, were f*cking glorious!

 

[LXMc]

Excllent point @DenverW, and @LXMc I couldn't agree more - I completely neglected that and glad Denver followed up - with preamp to headphone amp, it's so important to play around with both volume controls. First, because with any specific two devices, the quality of volume control implementation will vary (and that has probably one of the biggest impact on sound quality). Second, different amps work better at different voltage levels they are being fed and are impacted by their own gain limitations.

As in all things in our hobby, theory is theory, but empirical evidence trumps eveything in your own chain and with your own ears. I'd play with having one volume maxed out and controlled with the other, vice versa, and any various partial combos (and, to boot, you can further play with the ZMF OTL gain knobx near the itnerconnects).

Greeat comment Denver!

Sorry to jump back in the conversation @goldwerger & @DenverW but just wanted to do a quick follow-up to this brief preamp discussion around the OTL.

I had experimented with the gain & volume combinations without much success, however I've just swapped out the rectifier (now using a Brimar 5r4gy) and the difference when preamping is now noticeable on the V550. A bit more euphonic, warm and the presentation is pushed wider. Even dead centered vocal tracks now stretch out to the sides a bit. Need to do some more listening to see if anything else but pretty interesting changes and excited to see how various tubes will affect that pairing.

 

[Whazzzup]

I’ll post my find also like k&d sessions of 1998 this 1999 offering that I completely missed till now. Peace orchestra