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RudeWolf

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Posts posted by RudeWolf

  1. What a day. Got the country's largest cell network provider and commute train company on my ass for publishing an article. Good thing the newspaper stood by my side.

     

     

    If you try to implement free wifi on passenger trains (space age tech, right?) and it shits the fucking bed the first day with me on board, then don't expect I sugar coat it. The feeling was surreal, riding the train with some of the biggest industry names and no one bats an eyelash to the fact that nothing works!

     

    When I was a project manager/sysadmin back at the old place I'd get skinned for an hour in digital darkness. Here everything went fine. The reps told me that I should try connecting to the access point in the other train cart.

     

    I'd connect my boot to his ass if I'd been running this show...

     

    551633_598159146903557_299672439_n.jpg

    • Like 1
  2. Indeed! At least for now, the plan is to do a small run of Black Diamonds. I am just investigating some machining issues right now, so hopefully they'll be ready this fall. Work has also started on a DSHA-2, but I haven't even prototyped it yet, so it is probably a winter or spring thing, if it works at all.

     

    I'd be down to get a Black Diamond PCB, if that's an option. Not that I need any more amps, but I might build one when fancy strikes me. 

  3. This is a tad offtopic, but what isn't these days...

     

    Anyways - I've been tinkering inside a 1600 and I've come to a conclusion that ultimately it is a strange design. I got it after the Pico DAC and was pleasantly surprised with the sound as I felt that Pico sounded too lean on my system (Dynalo->HD650). After a while I realized that due to the MOSFET output buffer the sound is actually heavily colored with second order harmonics. The IV stage implementation itself is taken from the PCM63 datasheet and is pretty good. What really bothers me is the space heater after the IV stage. In my humble opinion the buffer shoots the DAC in the leg.

     

    For a while I listened with the buffer bypassed and after that I dremeled out the mosfet circuit. I made a different buffer based on the OPA134/BUF634 composite circuit with the 634 being in the feedback loop of the 134. I believe what I had achieved was a night/day difference. At last until for some reason the whole circuit decided to oscillate itself to death.

     

    So yeah... If anyone needs 4 PCM63K's and a PMD100, shoot me a message. Sorry for wrecking your DAC, Currawong. The experience was worth it, tho.

  4. Yeah, high current needs meatier devices to blow off the heat. The Dynalo, however...

     

    I'm just really surprised how easy it is to solder 0805 parts. I might say that it can be faster than through-hole. The electrolyte caps are a bit of a bitch to solder, but those are better in tth anyways.

  5. I once got bitten by a bat when I was little. Don't think that I bacame rabbid or batman. Then again many things bit me when I was little - starting from a hornet to my granma who had the nasty habbit of tickling me to death and biting me in the ass. Maybe I'm bathornetgrannyman. The old gramps was an ambulance driver and she's documented as the holder of the land speed record for one of them old soviet "Latvija" ambulances. If im not mistaken she pushed 147km/h with one of these rockets-

     

    raf_22031_latviya_medpomoshch_1.jpg

     

    It had a 2.13 liter inline 4 cilinder engine with 95hp and whopping 19Nm of torque at around 2000rpm. The oficial declared top speed was 120km/h, but alas - the guy who was making the engine at the factory probably was in a good mood that day. Funnily enough her husband worked in such a factory.

  6. I liked the original GRID but grew tired of it pretty fast. The driving model was a nice balance between arcade and simulation (and could be tweaked to either side), however I found the game to be very unfriendly to keyboard controls. Especially when you switch off throttle assists, thus when you accelerate it always registers either 0 or floor.

     

    I actually very much preferred Dirt 3 as it featured more interesting tracks that combine multi terrain racing. Also the gravel made me "taste" the driving model a bit more.

  7. Ok, this isn't as bad as the majority of other first posters so I'll bite. For what my opinion is worth in any case...

     

    First of all - take your time and look around the other threads around here about the HD600/650, there's plenty of sound info there. After all if you can't be bothered, why should we?

     

    Secondly - don't make the mistake of judging the HD600/650 insufficiently amped. These headphones, especially the HD650 will have a very sleepy treble response if poorly driven. Poor treble means bad soundstaging and that's a big disadvantage for classical music.

     

    Third - take a look at your source equipment, the amp won't do any magic if it isn't coming from the signal source.

     

    I can recommend Headamp and Schiit as decent manufacturers. Keep an eye out in the classifieds for Gilmore Lite amps, these are pretty great for HD600. As for Schiit both Asgard and Valhalla may fit the bill. If you can find a built Bottlehead Crack at your pricepoint then be sure to consider it.

     

    So that's that. The HD600 can be a great headphone if you are willing to do some work. Do some researching on your own, after all - that's where half of the fun lies in this hobby.

    • Like 2
  8. Basically they were looking for a guy who'd be able to write about tech stuff- computers, tablets, cellphones - also some industry insights. My previous position was an IT project manager in a construction material retail site. I'm pretty sure the experience will come handy, however the new employers told me that my knowledge was what pulled me ahead of the other applicants. I don't know about that really- before the audio madness I was quite a computer buff but now I have forgotten most of it. I do love learning new things tho and hope that it will get me through.

     

    As for getting hired- in my neck of the woods it's really important to have the right connections. As a society we are still pretty traditional, hence nepotism is prevalent. Sure, they won't hire any klutz son-in-law but being friends with people can get you an opportunity to show your muscles in an interview. And that's what I did - went to a bar a few times with one of the chief editors, showed that I can handle my liquor which allowed my application to reach the right people. I really felt that I shined in the interview which lead me to the third stage- writing actual articles. Did my best there and got that special phone call from their HR folks. Almost peed my pants.

     

    I wish your wife best of luck, Edipis - scoring this job was the best feeling I've had since graduating. Just don't loose hope and never stop improving your skills!

  9. Thanks, everyone! I had to plow through three selection stages. Come to think of it- usually one would need to work their asses off in some lowly gazette for a few years and you'd still have to pretty lucky to get picked. The agency I got into basically sells their articles to all the major newspapers around here. Most of the stuff I'll be writing will be available to subscribers only.

     

    Quite the leap from the construction site three years ago where I worked as a labourer. 'Bout damn time for the philosophy degree to start paying itself off.

  10. Well, I wasn't around to see the Mikhail meltdown but if there's one thing I know- money never makes anyone a better person. You just constantly accelerate and in the end it's like an amp driving a dead short. If you can get up one time more than you've fallen then it makes for one helluva life experience. Minus the other folks that only got burned, that is.

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