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Dinner: Chicken Shawarma on homemade garlic naan with garlic white sauce. Dessert: Atlantic Beach Pie (also homemade)

Chicken Shawarma.

Al was in the city today and texted me about my favorite breakfast place, not too far from his city house. I hadn't realized that it managed to stay open through the pandemic. He later texted pictures of their famous hashbrown sandwich. That was all the motivation I needed to head into the city. Even better than I remembered! After consuming that, I decided to visit my favorite SF bakery for their famous croissant pudding. Bread pudding made from their day old croissants. I'll save that for desert tonight.

Classic special effects movie, with an impossibly young looking Leslie Nielsen. Loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

first brisket smoke. 14 hours @ 225°, Got up to temp faster than I though. The end bit is a little dry. But a center cut is really tasty. Room for improvement.. She'll eat ..

Here I was thinking I was going to have a productive day... I didn't take any pics of the wooden boxes but they are very nice though my EX-1a box was branded as ES-2a... no matter. First off is the ES-2a and I went for the "Omega look" in terms of color. My ES-1a is all black so made sense to separate them in the collection. I like the color a lot, the finish isn't quite perfect but having been through the hell of trying to get perfect anodizing... yeah I understand that. I'm happy the outer screen has mesh in it now as that's a large part of why the Omegas sound the way they do, not that this is a copy of the Omega. I mean not really... The earpads are very nice and supple, concave similar to the newer Audeze LCD pads. A closer look at the driver face and those lover copper stators. The dust covers come with the set and I did install them as I like to keep dust out of all of my headphones. Might have some slight impact on the sound but who cares. I ordered the set with the regular cable but Benson upgraded me to the Stax Wide PC-OCC cable free of charge so thanks for that. The fit and finish of these is excellent, better than the ES-1a and that was no slouch. My main issue with them was the lack of strain relief on the headphones for the cable but that has been fixed here. EX-1a: I was pleasantly surprised when Benson told me that there would also be a cheaper version coming in the form of the EX-1a as ~1k$ headphones are sorely needed. Clearly been in the works long before Stax introduced the X1 but a take on the same Stax SR-1/2/3/3N/5/5N and X design but with much better build quality than the X1. The earcups are actually fixed to the headband and made of aluminum, not needing the new Stax mod of placing some tape over the X1 forks on new units as they won't stay in place. Very nice, all leather, earpads and it looks like leather on the headband as well. Very nice cable entry, made of soft "rubber like" material. Same plug on both sets (this has the basic 6core cable which seems to be perfectly serviceable but more on that when I get some time with them) and it is a mixture of the same rubber-like material and 3D printed end piece. Works perfectly. Now for some impressions. I've just about had an hour since I got them and spent it on the ES-2a and all I can say is... I've very, very impressed. Very neutral sound signature, a bit laid back (as if you are a couple of rows back from the performance) with a large and expansive soundstage. No lack of focus here though, they conjure a very solid stage but it's just a step back from say a 007. Very Omega like really... Treble is nice and extended, not the mess of the Stax 009 and X9000, just as detailed though . Midrange is excellent, voices have the right presence without being too forward. The bass is tight and deep, only small issue I've found would be a bit of a lack of extreme deep bass and some slight resonance in the bass on certain tracks. Nothing I worry about and I'd take these over the Stax 009's or X9000 any day of the week. I'll try the EX-1a when I can take these off my head dig my only working X1 out of storage to compare against it.

Locavore Chocolate Stout Cake, And Nice Cup of Tea.

Pre St. Patricks Day Brit / Irish Nibbles, in The City

The Onion has been going off these days...

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48, TH 48 - Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 - Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 by Charles Munch (1957) https://album.link/rkzptq2wkrt63 Example: Lovely LS recording of the Boston with Munch. Including the iconic Adagio.

Nice looking dinner and dessert. I'd never heard of Atlantic Beach Pie before. As it's lemon curd, I'm sure that I'd love it.

They’re honestly very good.

Just started. I think this is gonna be fun!

Talk Talk - It's My Life

Vintage Krell gear is highly regarded. Analogue equipment ages like a fine wine. A nice set of meters really accentuates a properly built stereo. In the words of the late, great Bill Hicks, does anyone not know where this is going? A panel of 4 will will run you about $2600.

I can see this happening all over again. LGBTQ are not the top priority of this administration at the moment. But Musk will lead the charge. They're going to come for us. Who's going to really stand with us is my only question. I know most of you will. ❤️

Drivin n cryin

Fall or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson Just started this (late as usual)... reminds me of the Amazon Prime show, Upload (also highly recommended):

^ ^ Just completed. Best television of 2025

Lunch yesterday, slow smoked brisket point, candied and smoked again.

Sophis' City Fare

nope but leftover tortilla is happy

I was out of bread, so i made a pile of fresh tortillas, {with bacon grease, of course}, fried up a couple of slabs of my last batch of smoked pork belly {don't call me bacon}, and a pile of eggs {that's right, I'm rich}

I think season 2 is better than 1...It could be the addition of a new writer...MY SISTER!...

Ribeye - reverse seer on pellet grill.. Set Chimp to 225 until internal temperature got to 115. Then took grill up to 500 and seared for 2 minutes each side. The temp is pretty spot on. And lovely smoke.

Brit Nibbles

Had some shopping to do before work, so I stopped at a favorite diner of mine.