[xenithon]

I ran an experiment today I probably shouldn’t have. I tried the Solitaire P off my R8 / C9 stack.

It was simply marvelous. Couldn’t stop listening for over two hours. And the ability to do this and walk between rooms was such a pleasure.

Listened to a wide array of music, including one of my favorite vocal electronic acts, Zero 7. Their albums are brilliantly recorded and an aural treat. I was listening to The Garden in particular.

 

[cn11]

Thunder time after a busy day settling in to our new mobile home. My daughter has to go to a birthday party back in Dublin tonight - we were all due to leave but my wife has kindly volunteered so I'm staying with my son till tomorrow... both very pleased and he has requested one of my specialities for dinner... omelette

Nice color for the Thunder!

 

[14christ]

Nice color for the Thunder!

Is that the stock cable?

 

[gLer]

I’ve been to only a handful in my lifetime. My wife and I are foodies and are guilty of traveling for food.

One particularly memorable experience has to do with a three Michelin star restaurant in Modena. We had read a lot about Osteria Francescana, which at the time was the top rated restaurant in the world (per the San Pelligrino Top 50) for three consecutive years and had been in the top 5 for almost a decade.

We’d never been to Italy. And never thought we’d get in. Bookings open on a specific day once a month, for a reservation several months in advance. We managed to get a lunch booking. I remember we looked at each other and laughed, “now we need to plan a trip to Italy!”

It was an incredible experience. The chef, Massimo Bottura, is both humble and charismatic. He is also an audiophile, and has a beautiful system including a Clearaudio turntable, McIntosh amplification, and over 12k vinyls.

One of the joys of his food is the celebration of great ingredients, treating them with respect and creativity. He’s probably most famed for his “five ages of Parmesan” dish which has just one ingredient - using Parmesan of 5 different ages in 5 very different forms.

That's the 'Orpheus with Shielding' of Michelin Star restaurants, where you bring the cable and they give you a brief listen to DSD1024 samples with a select variety of @Damz87's IEMs. (Damien, there's a cool business idea in there somewhere...)

 

[Scubadevils]

Nice color for the Thunder!

I was torn between the two options so decided not to request and just see what arrived! What cable are you using? Good to see more Thunder here

 

[Badlands]

I’ve been to only a handful in my lifetime. My wife and I are foodies and are guilty of traveling for food.

One particularly memorable experience has to do with a three Michelin star restaurant in Modena. We had read a lot about Osteria Francescana, which at the time was the top rated restaurant in the world (per the San Pelligrino Top 50) for three consecutive years and had been in the top 5 for almost a decade.

We’d never been to Italy. And never thought we’d get in. Bookings open on a specific day once a month, for a reservation several months in advance. We managed to get a lunch booking. I remember we looked at each other and laughed, “now we need to plan a trip to Italy!”

It was an incredible experience. The chef, Massimo Bottura, is both humble and charismatic. He is also an audiophile, and has a beautiful system including a Clearaudio turntable, McIntosh amplification, and over 12k vinyls.

One of the joys of his food is the celebration of great ingredients, treating them with respect and creativity. He’s probably most famed for his “five ages of Parmesan” dish which has just one ingredient - using Parmesan of 5 different ages in 5 very different forms.

Watched the Chef’s Table episode about him on Netflix and wanted to go to Osteria Francescana since then. BTW, Chef’s Table is an incredible documentary series. I remember reading that they shoot everything with over $140K in prime lenses on RED EPIC cameras. Every shot is beautifully lit and composited. I’ve actually gotten emotional as they slowly zoom into plates of food! Of course, there’s a perfectly matched music bed which enhances that emotive effect.

 

[firesign]

I was torn between the two options so decided not to request and just see what arrived! What cable are you using? Good to see more Thunder here

Would you say the Thunder is your best IEM? If you could only keep one, which one would it be?

I think I would choose the Isabellae.

 

[xenithon]

Watched the Chef’s Table episode about him on Netflix and wanted to go to Osteria Francescana since then. BTW, Chef’s Table is an incredible documentary series. I remember reading that they shoot everything with over $140K in prime lenses on RED EPIC cameras. Every shot is beautifully lit and composited. I’ve actually gotten emotional as they slowly zoom into plates of food! Of course, there’s a perfectly matched music bed which enhances that emotive effect.

Yes that’s where we first saw the restaurant and chef. Wonderful series.

And totally agree on the soundtrack. The song from the opening sequence is one of my all time favorites and a key test track, Max Richter’s Winter 1 from “Recomposed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons”

 

[endless402]

Has anyone here been to a Michelin restaurant? And if so are they everything they're cracked up to be or are they the culinary equivalent of a really technical IEM that looks great on paper but isn't as properly enjoyable as something more conventional?

Been to a few one and two star restaurants and so far I agree with the standard that is set by Michelin. One thing I would not do is go to a Michelin starred restaurant for the sake of the Michelin star. It has to be a crusine you enjoy so that you have a benchmark that you can compare against.

that being said, there are Michelin starred restaruants which are quite inexpensive to try. Not all are fine dining experiences.

 

[Badlands]

Yes that’s where we first saw the restaurant and chef. Wonderful series.

And totally agree on the soundtrack. The song from the opening sequence is one of my all time favorites and a key test track, Max Richter’s Winter 1 from “Recomposed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons”

OMG! Yes, that is the opening score. I’m not nearly as well versed in classical as I should be. Need to explore that more often. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Frankie D]

This is a massive TIL for me. I understand why and believe it but of all the things one thinks of when NYC comes to mind TOTL tap water isn’t near the top of the list for me. I always thought we had the best water over here on the west. I have been humbled.

Ha! Well, I said in the US. I do not remember what the water tasted like in Canada and your area might be totally different. I also have never been to the many areas of Alaska.

It kind of is a little known thing. I remember I had friends that moved out of the city and when I saw them again they would say they loved where they now lived, but would comment on the taste of the water. Remember, we are only talking about NYC water, not New York State water. It is the citiy’s water that tastes so good. Even where I live ( and the reservoirs for the city are here) I use well water. Every area is different.

 

[Rockwell75]

I do not remember what the water tasted like in Canada and your area might be totally different. I also have never been to the many areas of Alaska.

The water where I live (Wester BC) would be qualitatively the same as the water in Seattle, where @blotmouse lives, as we're both part of the same geographic region.

 

[JSBachFan]

Thunder time after a busy day settling in to our new mobile home. My daughter has to go to a birthday party back in Dublin tonight - we were all due to leave but my wife has kindly volunteered so I'm staying with my son till tomorrow... both very pleased and he has requested one of my specialities for dinner... omelette

Nice DAP!
After a three people circle swap of 2k headphones, I ended up with an Indigo. Nicest sounding voices I ever heard. The first impression about how the indigo presents voices stayed in my head from a comparing session several months ago. So I am very happy, I finally managed to get them.
What I would like to report here is, that the cables and tips are so important. I took my new Indigo as a trigger to do some severe comparision of cables and tips. Unluckily, together with two different DAPs and different kind of music, you end up in an almost endless number of possible combinations. Sometimes I read "if you believe in cables ...". How can you not? Tips and cables really change a lot on the TOTL devices.
Today Ella decided without any doubt (from the limited equipment that I own):
- EXT is to be played with Eletech Plato and AZLA Sedna (the later to my big surprise). Guess Spinfit SP 145 reduced the quite big output hole too much. Funny I didn't realise before. Tried to put the Indigo tips on but the where too small. Any other suggestion?
- Indigo is to be played with the stock cable and the stock tips (the ones with blue inside, whoever produced them originally). Every other combination destroyed the magic, that the Indigo did to vocal music. I will stay with this. MEST found the optimum already as it seems.

 

[pkcpga]

Lol another parallel with audio. I'm curious-- what are we talking about in terms of cost for a meal at one of these restaurants?



Exciting. Lately I find it hard to get excited about any IEM that doesn't have a DD doing at least part of the midrange. Looking forward to your thoughts.



Lol that's quite the image.



That's hilarious.





Beautiful shots!

It really depends on the restaurant and the number of courses served. I’ve been to some $75-400 a person for food only. If you add the recommended wine pairings you can easily double the price. Seems to be the new trend a small glass of pairing wine with each course.

 

[Rockwell75]

It really depends on the restaurant and the number of courses served. I’ve been to some $75-400 a person for food only. If you add the recommended wine pairings you can easily double the price. Seems to be the new trend a small glass of pairing wine with each course.

Lol so is wine the "upgrade cable" of the fine dining world?