HiWire

Mark Ronson & the Business Intl – Record Collection Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!

Thanks for the recommendation – I'll see if I can try it out at my local dealer. I'd like to combine it with the JitterBug out of my laptop.

Has anybody tried the new AudioQuest DragonFly Red DAC? It has been getting good reviews and it seems to be the perfect form factor and price for me. I bet AudioQuest has been making a lot of money from this gadget in the last couple of years.

Germania by Simon Winder – hilariously entertaining informal history of Germany

That 60TB Seagate drive is a great marketing driver... I guess we'll see more of these mega-capacity SSDs from their competitors in the next few months (possibly before Seagate can actually launch theirs). No doubt they'll announce an NVMe version later on.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks, guys! It's been a great one so far. I picked up all the Roxy Music live albums: Viva!, Heart Still Beating, and Live (from their 2001 reunion tour). Also, I got American Gothic (the 1995 TV series) on DVD. It's a lot less eerie and a lot more unintentionally hilarious watching it in 2016 as an adult, but great entertainment nonetheless. Enjoy the summer!

Beat Market – Sun Machine

Yes, but they've always been at the high end of the price range:http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Blu-ray-Disc/Elite-Blu-ray-Disc-Players/BDP-88FD As Oppo prices have been increasing (along with their quality and feature set), they've encroached on the territory of high-end Japanese manufacturers like Pioneer, Marantz, Luxman, Esoteric, and Accuphase. Compared to the Oppo, their boxes look overbuilt and over-expensive, but they have SACD/DSD playback, while manufacturers like Wadia and Meridian have retreated from hi-res products (most likely due to lack of demand and a diminishing number of parts suppliers). The latest Rossini player from dCS, an SACD stalwart, is Redbook-only. Sony abandoned that arena a few years ago – the UHP-H1 looks like their first new attempt at a disc-based audiophile source, at a reasonable price. The Panasonic player mentioned in TechRadar's review is another competitor, but it lacks SACD playback and they think the Sony sounds better: http://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/televisions-home-entertainment/blu-ray-disc-players/dmp-ub900.html I'm curious about the rumored new Oppo 4K player, but I'm not sure if they're focused on improving audio quality as much as video quality this time. Some of the reviews I've read on the BDP-105D haven't been positive in comparison with high-end players – $1,299 would be a lot of money to spend on an underwhelming audio source, especially if its comparable to a $349 competitor. The Audiocom Signature (modified Oppo BDP-105D) got a great review in Hi-Fi+ magazine, but it is expensive and unavailable for audition here: http://www.audiocomav.co.uk/home-cinema/180-oppo-bdp-105d-audiocom-signature.html

Another good review for the UHP-H1: http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/audio-visual/blu-ray-players/sony-uhp-h1-1324022/review I'm pretty sure Sony had Oppo and Pioneer in their sights when they designed this thing. Still, I wish it had HDCD decoding. I think the Oppos are the only new HDCD players left – I've got enough HDCDs and SACDs to care.

Roxy Music – Viva!

New York Voices – Sing! Sing! Sing!

Absolutely, guys. I'm talking about future medical technology, not current surgical practices. Otherwise, this thing would be similar to a glorified hearing aid for music playback.

Apologies for the promo-sounding thread title. The product description sounds a bit like a custom EQ to me: http://www.macworld.com/article/3090489/hardware/even-earphones-tune-into-your-ears-to-deliver-the-perfect-sound.html I get the reasoning behind the technology – ultimately, I'd rather have my ears fixed than get earphones tuned to my hearing deficiencies. If you combined this technology with a custom ear mold, you might get the ultimate IEM. They could go beyond frequency correction if they had a large enough database and good enough drivers.

I'd get the burner just because, but it's almost certainly not worth it. The high cost of media (especially the large capacity types) and I don't know too many people with Blu-ray drives... looked into playback software for the Mac a while back but the options look pretty dodgy. I play Blu-ray with my PS3 and Windows PC, so I've never had to take the plunge in Macland.

Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird

The Cars – Panorama

Eurythmics – Greatest Hits

Yes, I love Anniemal too. I keep hoping Annie will be able to do it again (but different).

It's excellent. I also have her Light Years, Fever, and Greatest Hits: 87–97 albums. I started with Fever at the height of its popularity after some friends recommended it to me years ago, then slowly picked up the other ones. Body Language has the same level of polish as Fever, but a broader and deeper musical and emotional range (for Kylie, anyway). I find it less claustrophic-sounding as well. Fever is still a favorite of mine for its intensity and catchiness, but I've over-listened to it and I find I have to be in the right mood to immerse myself in Kylie's virtual disco club, whereas Body Language is more generally enjoyable.

Kylie Minogue – Body Language

I'm looking forward to reading about this stuff when it's ready.

The first review for the Sony box thing is out: http://www.whathifi.com/sony/uhp-h1/review $349 USD seems like a reasonable price if it competes with the Oppo BDP players. I'd love to see a head-to-head comparison of their video and audio performance.

Shivaree – Breach