cutestory

Awesome, Doug!

I got a Synology 1815+. It'll supposedly do decent transcoding but since I'll mostly be using it as a fileserver/Crashplan box, I should be fine. I wrote zeros to the drives over the weekend before formatting and am rsyncing files over to it now. Will report back later.

They are! You should think about checking them out at JH Audio! They have a new version 2 now that are supposed to be even more betterer! In other news, the Sony NW-ZX100 has now dropped to $435! Holy Jebus!

PWD Thread: RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE! With all the Directstream talk around I've been looking at this. Has anyone heard this thing? Can it possibly live up to all the hype?

Looks like my JH13s are a better match for the Pioneer than the JH16s, which sound a bit bloated. I have to say with the JH13s it sounds pretty good. And being able to download Tidal albums to the micro SD card (slot #1 only, btw) doesn't suck. Also: looks like the Sony NW-ZX100 has come down from $600 last week to $522 today on Amazon...

Happy Birthday!

It's never too late to say Happy Birthday.

Except for the immediate gratification part, yes.

The Onkyo is out of stock everywhere, is more expensive, and would require me to get a balanced cable for my jh16s, so that's even more money.

After looking around some more I finally settled on the Pioneer XDP-100R. Physical volume knob, more recent version of Android (than Sony, who are still running a 4.X version as opposed to the 5.X version running on the Pioneer, and yes I know it isn't the latest), two MicroSD slots, upcoming MQA support, cheaper than the Sony ZX2 (even a used one). Everything else out there seemed to have *some* kind of compromise, whether it be cost, lack of a feature I wanted, an older software version (once I decided I wanted to run Android), or some such. I ruled out the ZX100 because I want to be able to run Tidal on the device, and that one doesn't do Android (but I suppose that has its advantages as well). We'll see how it sounds! Thanks for the tips!

Happiest of Happy Birthdays!

I enjoy my iPhone 6s+/Oppo HA-2 combo, but now I'm looking for an all-in-one solution. My Freq-Phased JH-16s are what I use on the road, and I've been looking around at various DAPs to find one to pair with the JH-16s. I don't want to get too spendy, and I've arrived at something around the price of the the AK100ii as the sweet spot. Does anyone have experience with this combo, or could recommend something decent around the same price range ($800)? I can't believe I'm contemplating spending even that much just to have a somewhat slimmed down solution, but This Is Head Case and all that. Any advices?

Now I'm thinking Synology 1515+. Discuss.

My Mac mini (2011) died. No warranty. I was using it with attached USB drives and a Drobo I replaced it temporarily with a laptop I had lying around and re-attached my existing drives to it to serve files. This is a temporary solution. Before I had the mini I had a Netgear ReadyNAS with two drives in it. I need to serve out video, back up photos and other important files from across my local network, and run Crashplan and such. Maybe Plex? I was thinking of building a FreeNAS box myself, because it's the kind of thing I like to do. Then I stumbled across the FreeNAS Mini. Overkill? Probably. But that's when my middle name again reared its head: "Pay For Convenience." Also: This. Is. Head. Case. But then I started thinking about Synology and QNAP boxen as well. Different flavors of overkill. I want about 10TB of usable space, two parity disks to survive more than a single drive failure, expandable RAID would be nice, and I want something I don't have to fiddle with too much. I'm willing to make the investment in learning something new (although I'm guessing the Synology learning curve is a lot less steep than the FreeNAS curve). Do people have direct experience with these technologies (especially with more than one flavor of solution)? The problem with asking in XYZ forum is that those who have invested their time and money into a particular branch of tech are overly invested in telling those who ask that The Solution They Decided On is the best. Can someone tell me what to do? I mean about this particular quandary, not other stuff.

Lasagna Bolognese

Alas, I just gave the whole thing* away to a friend of mine who just had a baby a month ago; I've been taking over home-cooked meals to them every week. *I did double the bolognese recipe and froze half the sauce so that I could easily make up a lasagne on demand whenever I want. Love it! I also love that I can read this sentence on my Retina iMac without changing the font size.

Mischief managed: Lasagne Bolognese Imageflood

I'm back with a vengeance! Bolognese incoming...

Home made chili dog (notice the butterflying technique on the dog:

HAP P BIRF DAY

What's the story on servicing watches? I have a Breitling (coincidentally, the one Naaman just procured from Jeff) and I had it serviced once a couple of years ago after it started losing time. Now it can't keep time at all and even though I'm wearing it, it just stops after a while. The original servicing was done by a reputable Breitling dealer (and authorized service center Feldmar, in Los Angeles, the same place I bought it). The watch repair guarantee has long gone, and I find myself not wanting to take it back to the same place, both because they have a terrible multiweek turnaround time, and the fact that I didn't like their service in the first place. There are many other options for repairs, and I wanted to reach out here and ask if I *have* to take it to an authorized service center, or if I can go to a reputable, local, "unauthorized" repair shop. Thoughts?

This looks interesting: MIITO – the sustainable alternative to the electric kettle

Went and tried a Casper today in their ridiculous LA showroom. It was pretty nice, but Jackie was not impressed. We went to a Sit and Sleep, and I walked in there pretty hostile, based on what I know about mattress salespeeps. Tried an Aireloom and was intrigued, then got on a Tempur-pedic Contour Rhapsody Breeze... Probably pulling the trigger on the Tempur-pedic tomorrow. Jackie thinks it's a little "goopy," but I love the support. And the cooling layer is cooling.

Beer should not be optional.

Tiny speaker, microphone needs to be held close to my face...not practical on the bike, really.