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Yesterday to London to see Oedipus. Astonishing, modern version of the Sophocles Greek classic with Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. Two hours without a break. If and when it gets to Broadway, go and see it. Write up is here https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/16/oedipus-review-lesley-manville-and-mark-strong-electrify-ancient-saga-turned-political-thriller

Friday's Oktoberfest beer dinner. I'm still a bit full.

"Nice" Fish Taco's, Pork Belly, and Shrimp Taco(s).

Last Night's Dessert (Toasted pound cake, chocolate chip ice cream, strawberries)

Scriabin: Le Poème de l'extase, Piano Concerto, Prometheus by Vladimir Ashkenazy / Maazel (1971) https://album.link/i/1452378193 Example: I really pulled this for the Ashkenazy Concerto work. But was captivated by the Maazel, Le Poème de l'extase piece. I thought that this was a Decca release, and then discovered it was. But also London. There is a whole history there that I will let you research.

Here's a bit of history, the original HeadRoom Max Balanced Headphone Amplifier prototype: It sold for $850 apparently, which seems like a bargain to me.

He even recorded a Vol IV Hank Wilson tribute. Vol II is in YouTube Music. Hank Wilson's Back would be Vol. 1

Your lisp does not keep that comment from qualifying as sexist. Oh wait, now I see it. Nevermind.

One of my favorite albums...

Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso: Tiny Desk Concert

I spent a fair bit of time with the Utopia at the audio show yesterday, definitely the most fun I've had since listening to your PS-1 setup back in the day. Punchy as hell and it just doesn't compress or soften even if I played very dynamic music way louder than I'd usually listen. Pretty much everything I've heard other than my LCD-XC and the RS-1/PS-1 will soften & compress to some extent, my Senn 580 and AKG K340 do it, and so did the Focal Clear I tried out yesterday. My first impression of the Utopia was that Focal took an RS-1, fixed up the treble tizz and bass, and then just cranked everything to 11. I can also see where @EdipisReks1 is coming from regarding the soundstage & placement, it's definitely more of a Grado soundstage than my LCD-XC or K340. Audezes are the best I've heard so far at creating a believable sound field, that is, not only placing voices & instruments in the correct place, but also getting them to project properly. For instance, a timpani will make a sphere of sound whereas a trumpet will make a cone of sound, most headphones I've heard will make both of them into a ball-ish shape. The Utopia has a sizably smaller soundstage than my LCD-XC and at times it did feel a bit cramped like there wasn't quite enough space for all the instruments & voices to breathe & project properly. I get why an audio engineer wouldn't want to use these for mixing. Overall, I think it's the best dynamic headphone I've heard so far. If I hadn't heard Audezes I don't think I'd have any real complaints on the Utopia. This is definitely another headphone which I need to hear in a quiet room to hear what it can really do.

Continuing the theme of "fix shit yourself" I completed the two week journey that was bringing a Ryobi One+ battery back to life. It had sat (incorrectly) on a charger for too long and discharged itself to the point where it could no longer be charged. I suspected the batter was fine. Problem one - it has one effing torx safety screw so a quick shopping trip to Amazon for IFIXIT's smallest kit with the right bit and the chassis was opened. From there I could check the cells, see that none were shorted they just all had very low voltage. Problem two - how do you trick the charger into thinking the battery is ok? A few YouTube videos and some hacking of wire later and I was able to float the battery up to ~13V which was enough to get the charger to recognize it and fully recharge the battery. Sure, I spent $15 on the torx bit but I didn't put an otherwise functional battery in a land fill. I call that a win.

Finally got to hear the CRBN at the Toronto Audio Fest. I camped out all morning at the Audeze booth and listened to the LCD-2, LCD-5, and CRBN since I wanted to know how they compare to my LCD-XC. I have very little experience with 'stats since I don't know anyone in my area who has one, only ones I've heard was some entry level Stax (crap) at a meet like 20 years ago and a SR-404/SRM-717 combo a fellow head-fi member had. 404 was nice on some music, but dynamics, impact, and bass were lacking, it couldn't rock or boogie. Show conditions so can't really tell much about low level detail or resolution, once I got to around the LCD-XC level it's all fairly similar, I'm not going to pretend I heard a bunch of details or room echoes in the LCD-5 or CRBN that I didn't on the LCD-XC. But the good news is the CRBN can rock out to Black Sabbath and Motorhead, and it can groove to Bob Marley though I do wish it had a bit more bass & impact like the LCD-2 or XC. Soundstage is nice, perspective seems to be a bit further back which I prefer, the LCD-XC sometimes puts me right in the conductor's position in an orchestra which can sound a bit wonky depending on the music. Overall, it sounds like an Audeze which is a good thing. I think the LCD-5, XC, and CRBN are more alike than different, being a closed headphone the XC has a sizable advantage in show conditions so I'd definitely want to spend more time with the flagships in a nice quiet room to hear how well they can resolve low level details, room boundaries, and all that other stuff that's hard to hear in a noisy room.

First shipments expected in late November, upgrades start in December. @spritzer I'll message you. Debates about the price aside, let me know any questions you all have, and I'll do my best to address them. The sound quality improvement from the original is not subtle. And yes it does sound fantastic from the Mjolnir and HeadAmp gear we have at Audeze.

Here's one of Dukei's he sent me. Primo work as usual: