skullguise

Few more thoughts after some listening tonight. I put the Asgard in my secondary system, which is Sony NS-900V player driving Parasound 1600HD DAC. Feeds Stax SRM-T1W/Lambda Sig's via balanced, and now the Asgard via RCA. Used the Shure 840's; Haj, the volume control never got past 11:00, and it was plenty loud. Didn't seem to have balance issues at lower levels, nor any noise at all. Should drive IEM's pretty well, I'd bet. The clarity and dynamics I mentioned earlier were still evident, but I'm hearing the dynamics being more midrange driven. Even after some slight warm-up, there was a slight peakiness in the mids; noticable on female vox and piano. I had some Alison Kraus, Loreena McKennitt, and Cara Dillon CD's playing, and they showed some mid glare through the Shures. By contrast, the Stax system had more neutral mids; I could still hear the nasal sound of Alison Kraus' vocals, but it wasn't as glaring. If anything, it may have been a little recessed (for my taste; I can't say what was most realistic for the recording, but both systems sounded good. The Asgard/Shuire was more in your face with some glare, the Stax more distant). Alison's fiddle also had a slight more resonant tone with the Stax, but had some good clarity and richness through the Asgard/Shure as well. Bass was also not super deep, but seemed pretty tight for what it had. I think it may also need more warmup (was on for about 45 minutes to an hour befiore I started doing my real listening). Some tracks on Loreena's CD have some deep acoustic and synthesized bass. Came out with the Asgard/Shure combo, but was noticably stronger with the Stax. This may also be symptomatic of the Shures; never remember getting deep deep bass from them.... Highs are detailed yet pretty warm. The Stax system can be etchy in the wrong system; they mate very well with the slight warmth of the Parasound. The Asgard/Shure combo never seemed at a loss for detail, but did seem softer at the higher highs. Soundstage was limtied with the Asgard/Shure system, another attribute more driven by the Shures I'd say. Stax was very good, as I expected. Not much more to say right now. So far, though, I'd rate the Asgard VERY highly for such a cheap price. Even with the cheap but fun Shures, it's making some nice music, and aside from the slight glare when the volume was higher, kept me hooked. I estimate that after 457.3 more hours of burn-in, should be the new FOTM EDIT: Haj, you're welcome to borrow, we can arrange at my work sometime soon since you're right there. And Gene, given this experience, I think you'll like the tubes a lot....

Got mine, haven't had a big chance to listen, hope to tonight. Build quality looks mighty nice. Does get very warm, but as the manual says, it's expected (BTW, manual continues the great humor of the web site). Clarity and Dynamics definitely there, they stood out pretty quickly; need to do more listening for tone and overall joy factor. Don't have a wide choice of dynamics, down to just a Shure 840 and Thunderpants (I should add a pic to the new thread tonight ) for full-size, and UE Triple-Fi and Shure E210 for IEM's. Oh, and a Senn 414.....haven't tried that though.

I bit, ordered one Friday, they already sent it on its way....should get it maybe Tuesday. Looking forward to trying with the Thunderpants.

I'd throw in Tift Merrit. Pop/Country (not Bluegrass), with a nice touch of 60's Soul thrown in at times. "Good Hearted Man" was dancing in my head for months after hearing it.....

The Halak move was possible risk aversion by the Habs IMO. RFA, due a BIG raise, even rumors he'd possibly go to Russia for a big payday. Perhaps a BIGGER risk with Price, but he has talent, and may shake off his underwhelming season. Lars Eller seems like a pretty promising prospect, good size and skill guy. Could eventually be a nice top 6 forward for MTL and give them more toughness all at once. The draft and off-season is always a fun thing to watch. Looking forward to seeing what the Bruins will do after the #2 pick. Some talk about them trying to move up from #15 as well.

Catching up on this: - Congrats, Stretch! Just gotta work on your wickid pissah accent now - Patty Duke, huh? My wife sings that sometimes, the only thing she remembers is something about a hot dog "driving her wild" - We're still in Aruba, went to a great restaurant called El-Guacho's tonight. Red and the other white meat aplenty, and also red wine Sangria (not so much, but major yummage)....I got verklempt, it was like buttah I tell you......

Congrats to the Hawks, and big respect for Philly......though grudgingly Didn't see the last couple games, just highlights, but they looked great!

Just catching up on this thread, but wanted to thank Steve and Shelly for what they've posted. And to all the others here for the input. I've only met a few, and been to one meet, but it reinforces the great community this is..... Certainly hope to get out and meet more of you! Todd - skullguise (in Aruba....reason I couldn't go to CanJam)

I'd say Philly carried a fair bit of the play in game 2, but couldn't get past the goalie. Philly's breakout reminds me a bit of Carolina's a couple years ago: fast on the turnaround, always skating, and some crisp passing. Hats off to the Chicago D, they really limited the rebounds by covering the in-close players. Actually, Hossa's goal was Chicago doing exactly what i expetced Philly to do: crowd the net looking for the rebounds. Looking forward to game 3.....fun watching both teams play. Can't stand Carcillo either, but have to give props to Hartnell (someone I usually don't like for his borderline plays) for playing hard every night. Still rooting for Chicago, but still can enjoy the play on both teams.

Yes, missed call on the puck-in-the-bench, with winning goal later that play. I think both teams will trty and tighten up defensively. My gut feel is that Philly will do better at that; they get a bunch of goals by getting in on the net, and they're doing that in general better than Chicago. But I hope to see Chicago win again tonight as well.

A shared MP3 recording of Frank Tovey/Fad Gadget's last concert, before he died....

I usually hate to use equipment as tone controls, but synergy can mean doing just that. My T1W/Lambda Pro combo is normally pretty detailed, erring towards brightness at times. When I used my Buffalo32 DAC, it accentuated that aspect of the sound, making some recordings virtually unlistenable. But when I paired my Parasound 1600 with it, things snapped into a very nice place tonally. If you think the darkness of your O2 system is more in the mids and lower treble, I'd second the Parasound recommendation. But if you think it's too soft in the highs/upper highs, you may want to go for something more on the analytical side like the Buffalo32 DAC.

I guess no one else that MATTERS Seriously, sounds like HPA has given it a longer term listening. I certainly haven't, despite owning the dang thing, so am not best qualified to comment..... CJ'10 should result in some good words one way or another.

I have downloaded full albums, ZIP files > 3-400Megs each......

Took my family out after work for dinner at one of my favorite seafood places (place called Joe Fish, and had Bayou Catfish, real good!). Reason was a bonus I got at work for a project I and 2 others - the core of a larger team - have implemented. Made a real nice difference to internal and even some external customers. Nice to be recognized, but the BS all around REALLY has to stop, people are pretty miserable.....

I have subscribed (it's like $10US/yr) to his "service" and have downloaded several of the jazz and vocal pieces. Though I haven't been on in a few months..... Really nice sound, a bit distant and mic'd well a la Chesky. But there's sometimes more "life" to his recordings I think. Reminds me a bit at times of Mapleshade in quality, though usually more of a distant perspective as mentioned. Still, pretty well recommended....not in LOVE with all the music, but it's not drivel.

Actually, that picture is really a man's dream. Never again does he have to answer the question, "do these pants make my ass look fat?!"

Man, can't believe the tear Philly went on. If it wasn't for Carcillo and Hartnell, I would consider rooting for them. But solely because of them, I'll root for Chicago. Chicago IS an exciting team to watch, I saw the last game against SJ and they "have it" for sure. Never minded Hossa, and definitely do liek the heart and talent guys like Byfuglien (sp?) and Versteeg (he'd look good in a Bruins uniform....oh....did that already) I wouldn't be "not worried" though, Billy; the Flyers have woken up, they have a good amount of talent and get enough guys in front of the net to get the cheap goals. I would also say Chicago in 6, but would not count Philly on making it easy at all, the way they've been playing.

That was me, Al. I like the unit a good amount for what it is, but haven't heard enough other options to weigh in properly on comparisons. It is pretty resolving, but erred to slight brightness with my Senn 800's; the phones may also be the culprit, but they didn't have that with the DNA Sonett I had. This slight brightness may go away with time, too; I actually haven't been using mine as much since I'm not yet loaded with computer music of quality. But I tried it with some 24/96 files from HDTracks and NiN and the results were really good. It also gets quite warm; it seems to have some power to drive phones well; drove my Senn 800 with no problems, plenty loud at lower settings on volume. I owned the Pico DAC/Amp combo a while back. No direct compaisons, but based on memory (enough said) I recall being impressed with both. I think the DACport may be even more resolving, but I think I remembered liking the amp section of the Pico better overall. Again, different times, so apples and oranges. I do remember being pretty impressed with both of these even out of the box, though. I got a deal on being an early adopter, would not have recommended it at the initial price unless computer music and headphones were your only way of listening. But worth looking into at the new price, IMO.

Glad things are OK, Haj..... As for me.....I avoided some monotonous work by perusing H-C

Nothing comes between you and your Calvin's? x5 on Levi's, especially when on sale. And for my purchase today (amongst other things):

I heard the 840c for an extended listening session in a store in NH. Liked it, but it had a midrange glare that bothered me. A Primare CD player I auditioned the same day in the same system fared better, definitely as resolving but more musical. Not that I've looked hard to see if anyone reliable has done it, but I imagine the 840c might respond well to mods......

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets

Looks very nice, but still not sure I'd get it. One of the main reasons for me to go for the Oppo would be the Anchor Bay video tech for best upsampling of SD DVD....sounds like the cheaper Denon may not have it.....

Metal legend Ronnie James Dio dead at 67 | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Not a real big metal fan, but liked what he did with Rainbow and his couple Black Sabbath stints.....