jp11801

home roasting is a great way to go for coffee, I roast once a week and those that have tasted my coffee tend to think it is far superior to the coffee they buy. It is not that I am a talented roaster at all but the beans you can buy at sweetmarias.com are vastly better than most roasted beans on the market. Back to espresso, a quality grinder is the key to pulling a good shot and no machine can pull a good shot from an inferior grind. The baseline for a decent grinder is the rocky and they will set you back around $500 to $700. The silvia is on my short list of machines for espresso. Then there is a quality tamper and the learning curve to tamp a good shot as well. All of us are a little OCD so this should not present much of an issue.

Berning uses an OTL designs From the Berning homepage Established in 1974, The David Berning Company manufactures vacuum tube audio amplifiers based on an unique Impedance Converter that replaces the traditional audio power output transformer and greatly extends and improves amplifier performance. We call our technology "ZOTL" for Zero-Hysteresis Output Transformerless. Operating at a fixed high-frequency without traditional audio output transformers, the ZOTL Impedance Converter eliminates the frequency-dependent performance limitations inherent in all transformer coupled tube amps. Berning amplifiers using the ZOTL technology exceed the performance of traditional OTL tube amplifiers by properly matching the tube impedance to that of the speaker. Berning amplifiers depart from traditional OTL amplifiers in that they do not require a large number of hot power tubes to supply adequate current for driving speakers. That said for around $2k you could get close to a Zana or a used Cary 300 SEI

I tried the channel D software and while it is a step in the right direction I thought it was not as good as amarra and actually clunkier. Nice to see a cheaper solution out there that is good but still needs some work sonically and with the interface. It is warmer sounding than amarra and I think not as detailed but that could also be my bias creeping in? WHo would have thought an audio player would be so dang difficult to make user friendly, crap the wave editor player still is wonky as well.

Ok just got back to the house a bit ago. First off I'm kicking back with the Melos Sha Gold Ref that Ari, rehabbed for me. This amp matched with the AT AD2ks is absolutely fantastic, started with the 6dj8 orage globe then went to the while label 6922 PQs, wow, just wow. Ari I can't thank you enough for the assist with this amp. Al's J-Fetastic amp liked up to it's name. Really great with the JH13s with the balanced cable from Whiplash. I am really glad I was able to get in on one of these as they appeared to really lock in well with the JH13s. Bass to die for, crazy soundstage particularly for an IEM and decay that went on and on. The build was very cool as well with a mini xlr, that I hope gets adopted as the standard for balanced cables for iems or smaller headphones. The volume implementation was cool although it could use an LED but I think that is in the works. This is a must have for jh13 fans that use them as there main HPs around the house. Spent some time with the pico slim after the meet and I prefer the sound of the ALO RX amp overall but the pico slim wins in the build quality, volume implementation and ability to fend of RF interference. I also had the chance to compare the Beyer T1 to the HD800 out of Stretch's rig and oh man what a rig it is. The Ear amp is wonderful sounding and paired with the Ayre QB-9 source you could easily just stop there and not want for anything more, strange words coming from me I know. I really liked what I heard out of the T1 and do think it is high end but the HD800 outclassed it in just about every way. Better separation, detail, wider stage but the T1 did have a tonal warmth that was appealing. Overall I would like to hear these two again on different amps. SR-007 mkl DAMN YOU!!!!! Well I brought my eXStata to the meet that Pabbi had sold me a few weeks back and after fighting with a set up issue I got the amp and the Sonic 302 rocking. Thanks goes to Salt Peanuts for the generous loan of his macbook for the day, thanks!! I got the chance to demo the 007s on the eXStata fully expecting them to suck balls as I thought the amp would not have enough to get them going. They sounded awesome and significantly better than the 404les. I hate you all now I am on the hunt for a pair of these. Don't know where the time went as I forgot to get a good listen to Nate's BH se build that looked great and everyone that heard it loved it sadly I stupidly missed plugging into this set up. Emooze the guy that set the meet up is a really good guy and did a good job as the room was dampened well and lent itself to socializing and listening. Always great to see old friends and meet new ones, the Auld Sod was frighteningly bad, I think the tap lines haven't been cleaned since they opened the beer was that nasty. After a trek though every side street in the greater Boston area we arrived at the Publik House. Solid beer selection and good food, I was bummed however that we lost SP on the way and half of the others while waiting for a table. Not sure but I think I took skullguise's 1/8 to 1/4 adapter, if this is yours or whoevers it is please pm me and I can get it in the mail to you. Great meet also the beer at Whole Foods was great the IPA from Berkshire Brewery was excellent.

Boston was great but today I wished I could have been in two places at once. Glad to see the pics of you guys having a great time.

What a great time, so glad I made the trek. Impressions to follow after my journey home.

Let the games begin! I'm here with the stacker ll, exstata and sonic 302 hopefully there is a fire wire mac ook I canborrow for the day to bring the gear to life. Headphones along for the ride are stax 404 le , AT ad2k and jh13s

Is there a plaid finish option

the 305 is the uln-8 with the sonic software at the same price

Just to bump this up a bit, has anyone that has amarra tried the playlist feature? It stops Itunes from playing the track along side amarra, I swear it sounds better but I could be delusional. The playlist also makes playing things like the abbey road medley listenable as there are no more gaps.

do tell

Various Peter Gabriel tracks sounds sweet via the 404le and exstata

thinking about getting the magnum mod done is it as good as people say??

pulling the trigger on a Sonic Studio 305 tomorrow should have it in about ten days!!!

where did you bring it

Nate, Happy Birthday, looks like I'll get to buy you a birthday beer this weekend!

weird I just listened to this and storyville last night while drowning my sorrows with George T Staggs and Stone black ipa. Great record

Rocking a 404le powered by Pabbi's original ExStata hybrid amp, for a roughly $1400 set up it sounds really stunning. Very clean and detailed, while there are build choices (not a huge fan of steppers, I much prefer shunted pots and a normal bias would be swell) I would have done different, solder hacks like myself can't be too choosey when buying a diy only amp. I consider myself fairly fortunate to get the amp from Pabbi as they are not falling off the trees in the FS forums over at the fi. Overall it is a really sweet looking build with a really nice wood chassis. At first I was unsure if I liked the combo but the sound is very different from the JH13 or Ad2k from the Stacker ll. I love the vocals on the Stat rig but crunchy guitar or juicy bass lines are done better by the JH13s. It took about three days to acclimate but I am really digging the sound. I can't wait to hear other stats on this amp and compare it to other Stat amps in the under $2000 range.

the hotel looks pretty cheap at $79/night

providing there is no snow I'll be there late friday night

I've been pretty amazed at the variance in sound between decks. The OL stuff was on my hot to trot list before I broke up with Audio Revelation / Jay. The drive units are really good any made a big difference on the LP12. On the groove glide maybe try and see what you think? My experience was after the first play I needed to clean the stylus as it picked up a lot of stuff after application of the groove/surface fluid that came with the George Merrril cleaner product. His product came with a cleaner and groove glide like product. When you have a $1000 cart it makes me nervous placing a fluid in the groove that is not removed. The stylus has an ungodly amount of pressure and heat when it passes through the groove. Vinyl is formulated to bounce back from this split second environment but add a fluid to the mix and it makes me uneasy. To me the benefit (if any) is not worth any risk.

Dan , Happy Birthday hope you have a great day