Leaderboard

The Hitachi DA-1000 (and associated clones) is one of the earliest and most prized CD players. It's method of loading the CD can't accurately be described as unusual (at the time there was no defined normal) but it's certainly a striking one. Working examples change hands for a tidy sum. Even nonfunctional units are near to look at. European market clone of the Hitatchi. The fragile but very interesting looking CD loading mechanism. When was the last time you saw a CDP with an output meter?

Modern tech with vintage looks, Ruark R710 all in one system, basically, hook up a pair of speakers and you have everything. Heard it at an audio show a couple weeks ago and was surprised that an under $10k setup was one of the top 5 rooms at the show, it embarrassed the shit out of many mega-buck systems. Yes, it also plays CDs. If I had room for speakers, I'd be totally happy with this setup.

Not to many of these being built anymore, I built this from Mjorin kit, parts are getting difficult to find. Works and sounds great . Bill

Saw Suzanne Vega Saturday night. Can't believe it took me this long to see her (I, like many, became a fan with the Solitude Standing album which contains Luka, Tom's Diner, etc.). Great voice, and she was a great chatter and storyteller as well! Loved her intro to Flying With Angels, and then her explanation of what it means to her hit a big chord. I had more than one of those "angel" moments taking care of Karen. Links to videos https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pbVJOr7oRrMu3qFmzp_BR2ClAard30ou/view?usp=sharing - Luka https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yoDLhsgfoNn9umTOkQ3h7JGVvBIizeM9/view?usp=sharing - Flying With Angels

Grahame outdid himself making all of these delicious curries and two more salads/sides from scratch, although he only sliced the banana. As you can see, defending the universe requires a lot of sustenance. Thanks again Grahame and Joanne for hosting us at your wonderful new home!

There may have been Curries and fixin's to help defend the universe and sustain excessive woodworking. There may also have been exquisitely crafted Apple Tart And fixin's But I couldn't possibly comment.

Everything But The Girl - Young and Dumb (single from their new album coming in February)

Shouldn't this be in the baking thread? Well technically both. I tried an experiment. A pretty standard sourdough mix at 78% hydration. Formed yesterday, sat overnight in fridge. Baked this morning on pellet grill. I use a cast iron dutch oven/combo cooker. I heated the grill to 500 with the cast iron. loaded and scored the bread lowering the temp to 450. I took it out of the cooker and baked in the grill at 350 for an additional 30 minutes. The oven spring wasn't great but good enough, And I probably could have baked it a little longer. But there is a decidedly Smoky flavor to the entire crust. I'm not sure if I would want it all the time but it's pretty darn yummy.

Go sports ball.

😔

If you guys remember the Back to Mine series (artists compile the music they listen to at home after a night out), Everything But The Girl’s one now…

RIP Mr. Stewart, you seemed entirely like a decent human.

Well now he's seen everything the GuardianPatrick Stewart, Star Trek actor and acclaimed thespian,...Star Trek: the Next Generation and X-Men actor died at his home after ‘a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia’

North Node by Natalie & Brittany Haas (2026) https://open.qobuz.com/album/q8qgcdcx9xl6c Example: The Haas sisters back at it again. I thought Brittany was too busy with the Punch Brothers that I missed this one coming out. Just what you would expect from a Cello and Fiddle album. And that is what I wanted with a touch of mandolin thrown in here and there.

There's always the new iPad mini. Lifestyle Benefits Narrative Or Minimalist Product Showcase What's not to like? Several things, actually. OLED, yes, nice, but only 60 Hz, not 120 Hz ( sorry, Pro Motion) Display?

R'uh roh. m2-vp9-res_624p.mp4 8y9xmvhcyfxh1.mp4

Or rather used our local official ballot drop box avoiding potential USPS shenanigans. "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest"

I enjoyed this set.

What a cutie

New Order's turn.

Going out to Mr. and Mrs. Bedecarre. Some AI BS but that's just where we are?

There are long standing threads for speaker and amplifier porn on HC. Thus far, sources have been neglected. It's true, speakers and amps are in general better looking units than most sources but there are certainly some good looking ones out there. Let's start with a mid 80s Revox CDP that is a bit of a legend amongst collectors: The Revox B225. It's overbuilt like a MFer, which is good as it's also prone to failure and in need of extensive servicing. I just watched a really good YouTube video on repairing one while I was editing a whole stack of photos. TL;DW: A whole pile of Swiss engineering, dirty electrical contacts and a new motor. There were some variants with balanced out and at least one meant for professional use: Love those green lights.

Aged 86 with Alzheimers and Lewy body dementia. RIP Patrick Stewart. What a rotten way to go. Was lucky to see him several times on stage, three times in Chichester. Malvolio in Twelfth Night, MacBeth in the landmark production as Macbeth in the tiny Minerva (so close I could have touched him), and as the aged Shakespeare, and his death in Bingo. That particular production of MacBeth transferred to the West End, and then two theatres on Broadway, and was made into a movie. And on the London stage with McKellen in Waiting for Godot and both of them in No Man's Land, a rather bleak play by Harold Pinter. A really superb actor of stage and screen. I'm really gutted he's gone.

They sell a ton of these to pilots. You put them on a knee board and it's perfect for displaying charts/approaches etc. and with a pencil you can jot down complicated ATC clearances. The biggest ask for a couple of years has been a brighter screen, so we'll see if the OLED is a step forward. Some folks will even mount them on the control yoke as an additional flight control display, although the FAA officially frowns on this.

And Now there's the iMac's and MacBooks with M6 Power! Spec Bump? Price Bump! $4K, Nice? They may announce a Touch Screen Tomorrow.

Mi Historia Americana: Sur by Daniil Trifonov (2026) https://open.qobuz.com/album/z5ctty71t1zjt Example: A lot of new works for me. I should have looked at the runtime (knowing Daniil's work in the past). I was not ready for 2.25 hours of music right now. I am a little over half way. I really enjoy it, there are some challenging works mixed in with lovely powerful pieces. Edit: I forgot to mention a feature in Qobuz that I recently found. I don't know how long it has been there. But for some classical recordings they include the digital booklet. So that you can have liner notes and track lists. I do hope that they keep expanding it, because having the back album covers for old jazz releases would be great. Ex. (18 page booklet)

IOT all the way, it is a much better OS

A Song for You by Søren Bebe Trio (2012) https://open.qobuz.com/album/5707471025819 Example: An older set from Søren, clean

Meanwhile, making compact casssettes in Japan:

MacBook Pro, with a touch screen thats not just an OLED, its a PROLED XDR! You might need a Pro Wallet XL, though or be part of the Anthropic IPO

RIP, Donnie Iris

Lampazitor is such utter crap, almost as bad as Chord. Fucking hate that garbage.

I’m team performance then recording first. Without those the rest is irrelevant.

The following is less porn in the "hubba hubba" meaning and more in the "fake, unsatisfying and containing gratuitous bulbous objects" sense. LampizatOr is a Polish based manufacturer of, ahem, "ultra high end" DACs, music servers and totally-not-snake-oil cables. They share a 90s l33t sp34k brand name similar to Switzerland's darTZeel (whom I have mocked mercilessly over the years.) Recently LampizatOr came out with a new DAC. It's called the Aphrodite, it has a bunch of tubes sticking out the top and can be yours for the low, low price is $105,000. Tariffs not included. The Aphrodite has tubes in places in the signal chain where tubes don't normally go. This "revolutionary" and "iconoclastic" design philosophy is enough to make one wonder where Mikhail Rotenberg scampered off to, but I digress... Anyway, on to the toobs like fake boobs: Pardon me for a second. All that and USB A?!? In twenty twenty fucking SIX? Get with the USB-C times, old man. The following photos were online in such absurdly large size that I had to scale them down, and I'm someone who shoots with a 45MP camera body. I have legit never heard of "XDMI" before. As someone with freakishly large hands and increasingly bad eyesight, this remote looks like pure pain to use. Thank you for watching TubeDAC ...Tube. Maybe next time I'll post some Polish gear I actually like.

Don't forget the pencil.

You pointed out the real issue with all tablets and probably fold phones. Navigating/typing on it is awkward, and if you get a keyboard case, you basically have a watered down laptop.

AI has gone too far this time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QKeYse5GF8

Yes. Because that's all there is. A 6.7" phone is only half an inch larger than average. Also, if tech reviewers busted out accurate terminology for the phablets they are reviewing, people would realize they want a 4.9" phone so they can touch the whole screen with one hand and fit it in a pocket without thinking about it.

LOL, Starlink being advertised by NBC article outing Starlink's involvement in Ukraine betrayal.

Horowitz playing Mozart is a good thing. CD CD

Watch a snake 'nope out' (not actual headline)

That's why the annual predictability of same form factor, slightly faster processor, slightly nicer display, slightly better camera is so comforting to us. Bless.

Since you are looking to create custom, dramatic titles in the style of SS ranks, you can combine the prefix Ober- (Senior/Chief) and the suffix -führer (Leader/Director) with actual German words for your concepts. Here are the most linguistically accurate and natural-sounding German versions for your ideas: 1. The "Chief Betrayer" (Ober-betrayal-führer) Oberverräterführer (Oh-ber-fehr-ray-ter-fuehrer) Literal breakdown: Ober (Senior) + Verräter (Betrayer/Traitor) + Führer (Leader). Vibe: Sounds like the absolute head of a spy ring or a treasonous coup. 2. The "Master Puppeteer" (Ober-puppet-führer) Obermarionettenführer (Oh-ber-mah-ree-oh-net-en-fuehrer) Literal breakdown: Ober (Senior) + Marionette (String Puppet) + Führer (Leader). Vibe: Perfect for a shadow-government villain who controls everything from behind the scenes. 3. The "Leader of Nothingness" (Ober-nihilism-führer) Obernihilistenführer (Oh-ber-nee-hee-lis-ten-fuehrer) Literal breakdown: Ober (Senior) + Nihilist (Nihilist) + Führer (Leader). Vibe: Sounds like the grim commander of a faction dedicated to pure destruction or chaos. 💡 Tips for Making Your Own If you want to invent more, the formula generally follows: Ober + [German noun in plural or combining form] + führer. Are these words for a fictional story, a game, or a character biography? If you tell me a bit more about the villain's personality or role, I can help you brainstorm an even more specific or sinister title!

🐓🍛 4 BDF