[Post the last thing you bought!]

picking up my second Sony TT tomorrow from fedex tomorrow a ps-x7. Hopefully they did not play kick the can with it I'll know more tomorrow.

[I'm just a H-F peeon]

Terry welcome to headcase!! I'd love to hear the maggies some day and let me know when you want to go to an A's game I'm always in for that if I am in town.

[Recommendation for high sensitivity speakers]

I heard the Zu's at HES in NYC and they were good until we asked them to rock they failed miserably with led zep

[100 Essential Jazz Albums]

I dunno no list of 100 titles for such a varied genre would ever be complete. I tend to view these lists as a great way for the average fan to fill in the collection and get turned on to different styles or overlooked artists.

[Recommendation for high sensitivity speakers]

my near term dream rig is a pair of total victory speakers with either wavelength or Frankenstein 300bs

[Recommendation for high sensitivity speakers]

I would strongly recommend the super hemps or the abbeys with a sub. I have wanted to hear the coicident line for some time but do not have a dealer local.

[Sony PS-X800 (vinyl cheap and easy)]

great cart,

i like their yatra cart bit better but the bloom easily outclasses the competition in its price class like the dyna 20x r even the shelter 501. I have owned both and consider the bloom an upgrade.

[Kora Hermes DAC love at first listen]

no it sold out from under me on agon and so far I have not seen another, someday all gear comes around if you just give it time.

[Greetings Head-casers...]

Dom good to see you here, there are alot of good folks here. The board is more rough and tumble than HF and people are more apt to say what they think and feel. It's good stuff and lots of knowledge here!!

[Kora Hermes DAC love at first listen]

Adam your dac in action , the jitterbug makes a big difference with the usb feed.

[Sony PS-X800 (vinyl cheap and easy)]

ghetto version of the 800 the ps-x500, nice table no motor noise but the arm can exhibit some noise particularly at the begining and end of lps. Overall a great table and easily as good as most regas and music hall or project tables.

[Post the last thing you bought!]

just got it delivered today a 16 slot bookcase for my LPs each slot is 13 inches

[Kora Hermes DAC love at first listen]

Wow, CS4328 18 bit DAC chips. That brings back memories; there have been some very engaging 18 bit DACs made. The circuit seems very simple and easy to mod. The first thing I would do is take out those 4.7uF Solen output caps or bypass them with teflon or polystyrenes.

Funny you mention 18 bit dacs I also have a sonic frontiers transdac (Filburt modded) that has 1702ks in it and sounds fantastic.

I really would like to see what a full bore mod (upgrade to this circuit could yield. Jon are you not a fan of solens, is there a brand of cap you would recommend in its place (please do not say v-cap).

[Kora Hermes DAC love at first listen]

You know, there's something to be said for beautiful gear. And that is: are you sure you weren't just mesmerized into thinking it sounded better?

Dusty there is no doubt the mind is the most power DSP computer but I find it wears thin after a while and fails during long sessions with fatigue setting in, so far no such signs are present.

[What does Team Minimal mean?]

I'm selling my imod. You can buy it. Red and blue is very nice. Have you checked out the gallery page yet?

http://www.ultimateears.com/_ultimateears/community/earartgallery/index.php

I just say no to the imod portable amp lod bag of tricks

[What does Team Minimal mean?]

C'mon, baby. It's so pretty on this ledge. You know you want them, and UE11s don't need no damn amp. What color are you getting? I'm letting Edwood decide for me, but I'm thinking something along the lines of translucent baby blue or aqua. What art are you choosing? I'm going fem floral. 20% off, 20% off, 20% off

wait a minute TRose said you need an imod, LOD and amp to enjoy these so... and I was going to go with one red and one blue, still don't know if I can justify it for strictly Iphone use on planes and days in Golden Gate park.

[What does Team Minimal mean?]

Well, I suppose that's the more realistic route. I was just feeling so light and free after selling that stuff. It made sense at the time. Joining Team Out of Control and Sonic Bliss. Next year it's Team New Car!

If I keep my pace up it will be team food stamps and govt cheese that I'll be joining. Although the sound of the iphone with the shure 420s could satisfy me. Anyone know if the iphone will properly power the UE11s WHile I keep trying to talk myself off the ledge Vickie keeps enticing me back on the ledge and urges me to jump

[What does Team Minimal mean?]

Vickie I just do not see how a 10k dynamic rig exemplar>extreme plat>R10 and exemplar>Blue Hawaii SE> Omegas and a portable creme de la creme rig of a pico>UE11s qualifies. I fell off the rails early and often in my quest to not purchase gear in 2008 and shamefully so. So while my failure in that area is humorous I in no way think that I have lived up to that pledge.

To me team minimal is a middle of the road set of headphones and amp like a pair of 225s or stock senn 650s with a decent but not esoteric amp. I mean your amp has 2 power cords for christ sake . I am none too sure that one could be considered a card carrying member for team min if all your rigs are equal to or greater than the cost of a new entry level car. So does Gary qualify for team min with the HE90 rig?

Embrace team Out of Control and team Sonic Bliss.

[Kora Hermes DAC love at first listen]

About a month back I picked up the Kora Hermes DAC after reading about it on Agon and AA. It was a reference for a bit for a few reviewers so O thought I'd give it a go. I am using it slightly unconventionally in a computer as source rig with a hagusb/aes converter to take the usb signal out of my apple mac mini to the aes input of the Kora dac. I have been on a search for the holy grail for a while now looking for a dac that would plit the difference between the thicker analog sounding wadia/opus21 sound and the faster but brittle sound of some of the newer top gun dacs. Having gone through the wavelength cosecant, transporter, transporter APL modded and apogee mini dac owned or listened to ayre , esoteric, exemplar and the sony flagship scd1. The Kora for now hits the spot and strikes a solid middle ground between the thicker sound of the wadia and the faster sound of the best of the newer players. It sounds particularly good through the HD2 a a headphone source but also is very nice through my current cobbled together speaker rig of alonl's powered by the ASL Typhoon with a passive volume pot. Great sense of soundstage with speakers and great air around each of the instruments with a solid bass response and gorgeous mids. The highs are not as present as some of the newer players but cymbals are full with hits well resolved.

Here are some pics for those that need to see the insides it reminds me a bit of my micromega cdp that I loved for about a decade.

[Big Speakers]

The folks from NOLA used to make ALON speakers and Carl was the designer for the Dalquist line as well. I have a pair of Alon 1s and 15 years later I can not beat them for under 4k. They regularly show up on Agon for $600-800 and the lVs show up for about a grand these are the best buys IMHO in the speaker world today. Voltron and I took a road trip to hear the Nola 1 and 2s in a shop in Santa Rosa and they in no way outclassed their older sibling the Alon 1s I brought. It was a shocker for me as I wanted to upgrade after 15 years and after ABing for an afternoon even the sales guy said he's keep the pair I have over the upgrade.

[So, when talking "high-end" DACs....]

Surprisingly it sounds very detailed and musical at the same time. I'll be happy to have the NorCal crew put it through its paces at the next meet. I could be wrong but I think my version (first version) uses 6922s but I have not opened it up since purchase. It has some high end seimans in there now but if I ever find my amperex white label pqs I'll give them a shot as well.

[So, when talking "high-end" DACs....]

my current favorite dac is the Kora Hermes dac. It is a french design, dual transformers one for the digital end and one for the output stage, tube output and has optical, rca and aes digital inputs. I think that it out classes the wavelength cosecant and has a sound I love. It is much more musical sounding and does not have the high end glare that many of todays dacs seem to have that upsample the signal. I put this up against the APL modded transporter and it was miles above that unit. While I like Alex's work I disagree with him on his old dac chips are inferior to modern ones. If you look on audiogon you can find great buys in the 1k range for Theta and Electrocompaniet. I tend to like detailed and fast sounding gear over lush or warm but I really have issues with the high end glare that many newer dacs have to my ears.

I would eliminate the lavry, meier, grace, and transporter from the list. The meir is midfi to me and the others suffer from top end harshness.

I'll get pics of it up here tonight probably in a separate thread

[Ipod Touch / Iphone]

what software are you guys using to compress/decode dvds to the iphone/touch pm me please. I am on the road in a few days and could use the movie content on cross county flights

[HF-1 w/ Flats]

Brown leather RS-1s with flats = bad? WTF, dude, you are so wrong. I will try them with bowls tonight but you are so wrong...

early RS1s are flats all they way, that is the way they were designed. Having owned brown leathers and black no serial # they are much better with flats. The bowls sit in the drawer waiting for the day I get ps1s again.

[Mini meet at Eddie Current 4/13/08]

check ebay for pairs of 45s looks like a $100 or less a pair tube web sites are closer to $200 a pair. To me that is not that bad certainly cheaper than most 300b pairs.