skullguise

OK, been a while coming, and I only listened to about 1 1/2 CD's carefully..... But the Neko D-100 Mk II --> Black Diamond --> Senn 800 is nearly brilliant! Jack, your description of dark and effortless for the Neko is pretty spot on IMO. Combining it with the BD yields more of that same impact. I DO think there may be a very slight midrange presence/push, but it makes listening to vocals quite nice IMO. I listened to some cuts from the following CD's: Livingston Taylor - Ink - excellent recording by the Chesky folks, Liv's voice front and center and super-clear. Plucked guitar strings, percussion, all pretty transparent and spacious, with the vox still a bit forward. But it's a close-mic'd recording on the vox so I expect that. Effortless is a great word to use here, the music just blossoms out of space Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse - more loveliness in voice, not quite as forward as LT but MAYBE a bit more forward than I'm used to. Some good tight bass, an wonderful varied assortment of instruments (including a nice hurdy-gurdy), and a fairly spacious recording. My Auralic goes even deeper for presence and space, but the Neko at almost 1/3 the price is just great Shpongle - Nothing Lasts....But Nothing is Lost - great dynamics, high end clean and extended but not too harsh; maybe some tiny roll-off in very highest frequencies (could also be my hearing, last i was measured about 1.5 years ago I heard OK up to only ~17kHz, maybe 4+ years before that i was at almost 20kHz!). Recording doesn't do a ton for acoustic space, but little sounds placed all over the limited headstage were reproduced quite clearly All in all a great combination I'd say. I was wondering if this would be too much of a good thing, that maybe something (like the grain-free you mention, Jack) might be too much if both units had it. But I think the BD keeps all the strengths of the design, but doesn't exacerbate anything that could make it a bad combo. Now that I've moved the BD amp to the system with the Neko, I may keep it there and listen more this weekend.....but wanted to get the very good first thoughts out.

What is this with all these girls growing up here?! Me: temple today, Jewish High Holiday of Yom Kippur. Saw our old "Cantorial Soloist" who was pushed out of our temple - we no longer belong there, and saw her at another temple in Haj's neck of the woods. Such a beautiful person, full of passion and with a lovely voice. Going to break the fast at a friend's house in town, they throw a nice party every year.

^^^ Yup, same thought. My work is having them next week.....

Ugh, glad it was caught now, at least you can try and treat the symptoms....hope it gets better soon

Happy Birthday Steve. I think you've already had a great present with the Jazz Festival, but here's to some icing on the cake!

Happy Birthday!

^^^ No sorry needed, Dusty, LOVE early Jane, stagnant video or not.....

The whole album is kind of fun, but this is a little hipster-ish...... [EDIT: something a bit clicky on the audio, not great quality]

Nice....I love when somewhat ignorant people feel they need to open their mouths and comment on things. I imagine you have a set of retorts saved in memory for people like that.....

Happy Birthday!

^^^ Maybe not by coincidence, I just had a Seagate fail on me this past Sunday.....a lot on it, nothing critical, but not all of it was backed up....

Welcome home, Wayne. Looking forward to some stories....you ALWAYS have good stories!

Very cool.....I love Save The Country as well, one of the best on the album. Some nice interpretations here for sure.....

Billy Childs - Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro

Missy Higgins - Oz. Nice Aussie Folk-Pop. Does a nice cover of a song called "No Secrets" by The Angels (aka Angel City in the US release) that I remembered from the 80's....

RIP Polly, remember her from "To Tell The Truth" more than anything else (original Cape Fear, too).

I could potentially try that out, Jack, I have both. Unfortunately, probably can't get to it for several days.....a bunch of evening plans, plus it means reconfiguring two systems. I have tried the BD with Doug's prototype USB DAC and with the Auralic Vega (using it now with the latter, Auralic balanced out to KGSS, S/E out to BD).

I can attest to the great pairing of the Black Diamond (I have a green acrylic-case model from the NY 2014 Spring meet) and HD-800's.....I still listen to Stax the most, but that's my go-to setup at home for dynamics.

Yay! Space for more kids..... Big congrats to you all.

In as well. Good luck and thanks to Karen!

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood - Juice. Always like these guys for a fun listen, don't do it enough.

Esben and the Witch - A New Nature. Interesting so far. Bit gloomy and edgy.

Very Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Deepak!