episiarch

Ordered an English linear PSU to replace the American one I smoked by absentmindedly plugging it into 220 without a transformer.

I like Gaggia machines pretty well, and they can be found really cheaply. My first one, a used Carezza, cost about $88 IIRC. The basic models from the discontnued Carezza (replaced by the current Evolution) up to the Classic and (I think) several models beyond all have basically the same innards - a small, fast-heating boiler, an all-brass grouphead, a powerful pump, a 58mm portafilter. Good, solid stuff capable of very good results. Like you I like to start my day with an espresso or two and my Gaggia Classic does a great job with this (and I think my standards are high - I drink at places like Intelligensia, Barefoot in Silicon Valley, and Monmouth in London. I can't get to those levels at home (that's like O2 taste on an HD580 budget), but I know what I'm shooting for and I do remarkably well, considering.). Gaggias are easy to find on Craigslist and eBay, and you can sometimes find good prices on refurbs at Whole Latte Love. The slightly higher-end Classic has a 'three-way solenoid' AKA purge valve to dump excess pressure as soon as you halt the pump. A nice feature but you can do without it. Gaggias are great for espresso but less good if your focus is milk drinks. First, the boiler is small and there's only so much steam to be had from the thing. It's entirely sufficient for making a 16oz cappuccino or latte for my wife when she wants one, or two more modest sized milk drinks, but at that point you're completely out of steam and you'll need a couple minutes to heat up a fresh boilerful of water before you can make any more. This is no problem at all in my use case, but it's a built-in limitation of the lower-end Gaggias and you need to be aware of it. The second problem is the included steam wand which IMO is pretty terrible. It's one of those froth-aid types that can make big clouds of circus bubbles but can't make gourmet-style microfoam at all (at least not in my hands, and I've worked at it). That's readily fixable by replacing the stock wand with a Rancilio Silvia wand, which is an easy mod on at least certain Gaggia models (easy on my Classic and I'm not normally any sort of DIY-er); if this matters to you, Google silivia wand + name of whatever Gaggia you're considering before buying.

As an ER-4 lover who's in the queue, I'll let you know what I think when I have mine. May be a few weeks, as I'm in the UK and might not get a chance to ship my impressions over until next week.

ATH ES7 $46 + $7 shipping - dealmac

I need more time with it but I think I'm liking Pure Music. Haven't tried Amarra. In the course of playing around with settings I've also discovered I don't like the Mac's native upsampling from 44.1 to 96 kHz (this is with Lavry DA10). I'll be interested to hear if the forthcoming upsampling build of Pure Music is good enough to let me leave the output on 96 all the time instead of switching up only for HD tracks and back to 44.1 the rest of the time. Does anybody know what Pure Music is doing, anyway? Is it just adding some dither, or is there more to it than that? My laptop has enough other stuff running that I don't really think I'm getting a lot of benefit from the memory-play feature. Withholding description of what the Pure Music playback sounds like to me until I've listened more.

With a 15-day demo, I'm going to have to try this. Thanks for the link, Ric.

I'm enjoying Hipstamatic, a very fun camera app for those of us old enough to be nostalgic for bad lenses and worse film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IacLpVeOs9c&NR=1 (Disappointed that all the simulated flashes are electronic, though. Looking at the pictures I could almost smell the sizzle of a just-fired Magicube.)

I believe it means that the iBooks app itself will not be built into the iPad (in the sense of being already on the iPad when you take it out of the box, excuse me, ultra green packaging) but will be purchased through the app store - and will be both free, and available on the day the iPad is released. The books themelves will cost, though it wouldn't surprise me if the iBooks app came bundled with a book or two to tease/tempt you in.

In a similar let-me-ask-here-instead-of-over-there vein, would I be right in assuming the Pico Slim has a sound closer to the sound of a Pico than to something like, say, a Mini3? I haven't had a chance to hear a Pico Slim - and I really have no idea when or if I will - but I've found that from a pure amp perspective I lean more towards the Mini3 sound than the Pico sound (though as a DAC/amp I still think the Pico is a fantastic package). From a form factor and volume control perspective the Slim is super tempting, but there's no point in kidding myself if the sound signature isn't the kind I really go for.

MacHeist nanoBundle 2 for $20 These MacHeist bundles are sets of (actually desirable) third-party Mac software at crazy-low prices for a limited time. Basically it's a way for indie software developers to get wider exposure for their stuff without eroding their paying customer base too much. I haven't tried any of the packages in the current bundle before but I bought the bundle. RipIt, the DVD-ripping product, has been on my "yeah, I'll probably buy that one day" list for a while, and the MacHeist bundle costs what RipIt alone would have.

Good insulation for bare metal cocktail shakers too.

Looks like a very sweet rig and listening spot. I use TuneConnect to remote-control iTunes on my Mac Mini from my Mac, and the Remote app to control it from my iPhone/Touch. Currently I'm using screen sharing for everything else.

I second Torpedo's recommendation of ipodjuice.com. I haven't ever mailed them anything, but I bought their DIY battery replacement kit for my 4G iMod, and the kit was great, the instructions were great, and the battery is great.

Soulless - Gail Carriger "The Parasol Protectorate Series books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are either Jane Austen doing urban fantasy, or PG Wodehouse doing steampunk." Tremendous fun if you like that sort of thing.

Second season of Life. Missed it while it was being broadcast, really enjoying catching up on it now.

I've seen this problem go away after the Touch or iPhone is completely powered down (hold top button until "Slide to power off" appears and then slide) and then rebooted. Have you tried that already?

Anybody know anything about these Aktimates? Supposedly amp by Creek, speakers by Epos, have an iPod dock on top and an aux input as well. They seem most available in the UK and Oz, looks like they might be harder to find Stateside. AktiMate 2010

Just to be clear, this is a headphone system? Headphones + amp + cable + dock <= $500? Or is there a requirement for speakers of some kind too? Does she have any headphone preference/requirements like closed vs. open or stylish-looking vs. don't care? Edit: oh, duh. I just noticed this was in the speakers forum. Nevvermind.

Curious about the Blu-ray Firefly. Is it significantly better looking or sounding than the regular DVD?

Finished up the tax prep (US side at least) and celebrated by going to the theatre. He provoked intense loyalty, controversy, jealousy and hatred. A genius of the 17th century: Architect, Engineer, Chemist, Horologist, Physicist, Astronomer, Painter, even Musician. His recently unearthed manuscript sold for millions. But was 'London's Leonardo' buried by another Da Vinci plot? In hot-blooded times, passions explode.History is on trial. Robert Hooke - your time has come. Can't be with you guys at the SFBay meet, but I figured an evening with a cranky underappreciated opium-taking scientific and mechanical genius with unkempt hair would provide at least part of the experience. I kid, I kid.

Be sure you get the right material - when I did DIY impressions a few years back the material was a medium-density foam, and I recall JHA's site saying they want silicone. If you do try DIY I'll bet they could tell from photos of the impressions whether they're good enough.

Just saw this - Nikon lens rebate deals expected in just a couple of days. [url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/25/nikons-lens-rebate-program-starting-on-the-28th/]Nikon

Ric, thanks for the A5 notes (prev page). Very helpful. Yep, I'm one of those who tried to fix the A2 with stands, wedges, positioning and EQ, so knowing A5 folks find all that pretty skippable is a very helpful takeaway.

I agree, get yourself looked at. I messed up a knee at the beginning of the month when I unexpectedly had to charge across town and back, on foot, in boots, first thing in the morning with no warm-up (long story), and spent most of the rest of February dealing with the painful aftereffects as other joints and muscles seized up one after another as they tried to take the load off the injury. Don't let this happen to you. And get some ice on it and some anti-inflammatories into your system if you haven't done that already.

I need to ask, though, is the A5 really different, and not just a better rendition of the same sonic choices that make the A2 what it is? Because when the manufacturer says "[url=http://www.audioengineusa.com/a2_home.php]we feel we