catscratch

Seriously dude? You're giving Schumacher advice for how to drive around Monza, and you're wondering why we're laughing it off? Tyll is probably the most knowledgeable person in the hobby. Who are you? I also don't buy the whole "it's all a matter of opinion" line. No it's not, and yes, there are standards. Audio relativism - or whatever you want to call it - is outright dangerous since it creates an environment where misinformation spreads and substandard gear thrives. Reminds you of another forum, maybe? Now, I'm not picking on you specifically, no matter what the above post sounds like. But, you walked into the lion's den here. Don't act surprised that you got mauled.

Gorguts - Obscura Man, what the hell is going on... This has got to be one of the most relentlessly strange albums I've ever heard. It's simply suffering put to music. Tortured riffs from the slimy pits of the ninth layer of hell claw their way out through the ground and emerge to shriek their deranged cacophony into the air. Bizzare, meandering basslines not so much spill but vomit forth from a wall of twisted distortion. Drums that play out the internal malevolent rhythms of a buried and forgotten alien machine. It's discordant, thoroughly deconstructed, malevolent and cacophonous, it's the sonic equivalent of being dissolved, it's the sort of music you find you've recorded when you come down off a 3 day 3,000 mic trip where it all went very very wrong... and yet it all makes sense somehow. It's coherent and some insect way logical, and it very much has its own sound. Fucking brilliant if you ask me. Recommended if you ever listened to Nile and thought "man... this music makes too much sense!"

Skyrim. That's definitely #1. Also Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition; I'm hoping that it will come to consoles. Right now Marvel is all the new hype but I never liked those games, so in the meanwhile SSF4 is dead and I'm hoping AE DLC will revive it somewhat. Even if my main (Honda) got nerfed into oblivion. But at least I can (hopefully) use Gen again. Mortal Kombat 9 looks fierce. I don't know how well it will play, and there are some worrying signs that it may not be all that, but still I'll check it out. King of Fighters 13 is also on the menu, assuming that it sees a console release in the first place. I never tried KOF but the fundamentals look close enough to SF that I should be able to enjoy it. At some point I should start playing QuakeLive again (last time was 5 years ago in Q3), but I know if I do all the free time that I don't even have will disappear entirely. Last but not least, Heroes of Might and Magic 6. I really didn't like 5, but this is a new studio, and hopefully there will be a change in direction.

If this is your attempt to fit in, you're not doing a very good job. And no, it's not another tech forum. Read your welcome PM again, it should tell you what you need to know. And I suggest you stop and lurk for a while before you bury yourself even more. KBI was a lot more incoherent IIRC.

Westone 4. Still too bright. They fixed the bass bloat with the dual bass drivers but now they need to fix the highs. This is the "hey look at me!" sound, bright and flashy and in the long run, annoying. Why are there no good universal-fit IEMs? In the immortal words of Jeremy Clarkson, "How hard can it be?" Very, I'm guessing.

House heater died last night, and now I'm using tube amps to heat my bedroom. Never will I complain about how much heat the BH puts out. The rest of the house is cold as a meat locker (our insulation _really_ sucks) but my bedroom is a toasty 75 degrees. And all with the added benefit of listening to several really kick-ass systems!

First day of downhill skiing yesterday. Did pretty well, got off the bunny hill fairly quickly, but then I sorta went through a tree. Let me tell you, breaking a tree in half with your face really puts a damper on your day. Next weekend will be day 2. Let's see what sort of heroic falls and obstacle destruction I can come up with. Also, any tips for keeping fog off glasses and goggles? I did most of the bunny hill half blind with fog but it didn't matter. On actual slopes, though...

Founders Breakfast Stout. Every time I drink this it reminds me why it's one of my favorite stouts. I don't know why I don't drink this a lot more often... especially for breakfast.

Typical Monster behavior, trying to crush competition before it starts. Smart, too, if you take ethics out of it, but given how they spend their time bullying small business while Noel Lee drives around in a Bentley from West Coast Customs, that's easier said than done. I was reading through the Blue Jeans Cables' brilliant response to Monster's accusations and one thing caught my eye: Is this true? Are there any advocacy groups that can actually make this happen? I would love to see Monster piss off the wrong people, if only it gets them to change their MO, but I don't know if that's likely or realistic.

Nice impressions. But that bit about the 007A sounding warmer worries me. I always thought the mids on the O2 Mk2 were cold and honky sounding, definitely a bit like the SR-404. Its tone was way off on a lot of instruments. I'm hoping the c32 won't have the same coloration. Is the 007A warmer because of more bass emphasis or is it warmer because of instrument tone? Either way, I'll get them and find out.

Ditto. There's been enough suggested already. We're not going to hold anybody's hands or write dissertations on subtle differences in sound when it's all been done before and is a search or two away. Personally I'd go custom. I never liked the Etys, or the SE530, or just about any universal for that matter. The UM3x isn't bad, but that's about it... not bad. Not good either. If you have the money to go custom, there is no need to do otherwise.

My family had a 2006 G35x for about 3 years, and I drove it for a few weeks while my car was in the shop. I don't think it's a particularly refined car at least compared to what else is in the segment. Harsh ride, unrefined engine, and interior trim is pretty woeful, or at least it was on ours. The G37 is better inside and the new M is better still but the old Gs felt like Altimas, cheap ugly plastics everywhere. Towards the end of its stay there were trim pieces literally falling off. The 5 speed box needs another gear or a taller 5th, there was a lot of engine drone at highway speeds and mileage wasn't great. Engine only really pulls above 4k and mileage could be better for the power. Still, I liked it, despite the shortcomings. As you say it handles well and really comes alive once you push it. It will oversteer but it's pretty stable and predictable at the limits. Weight distribution is good and it's quite agile for a big car. The chassis communicates well though the steering definitely could use more feel. As for power... well I'm not a fan of the VQ35DE engine that Nissan put into everything around the time, but keep the engine above 4k and it's not bad, and it's certainly robust enough to withstand abuse. At high revs it sounds pretty good in the G as well, though in other cars (350z) it can be droning. Dynamically, I prefer the 328/335 in every way - especially considering the excellent ride/handling balance which the G35 absolutely does not have - but considering reliability the G35 may be a better buy. The N54 engine in the 335i that every car mag loves is riddled with problems, ours is on its 2d set of turbos and 3rd high pressure fuel pump, and BMW had no idea how to fix it until recently. The G35 was problem-free, and we thrashed it a lot more than the BMW. I think you'll like it. It has character, though only when you push it. I miss ours quite a bit.

I should have gone to Canjam. So much BS going on right now that it would have been hard to make it, but still... I should have worked something out. I perpetually feel out of place here not knowing anybody in person. Well, it's not the last time. Have fun folks.

Psychill is probably the better part of what I listen to that's electronic, starting with Shpongle and lots of other stuff like this : Takes its sweet time getting going but a pretty hypnotic track once it does. This album - Sadhana - in general reminds me a bit of Simon Posford's various non-Shpongle downtempo projects but it's a lot more focused on melody.

I love that Gas album so very very much, and that track especially, probably the best of the em:t label. Also digging Ulrich Schnauss and Gridlock, so keep it coming. I don't really listen to any IDM (that might change though). Probably the closest I've come to the genre is Bluetech, and that's more of a psy-dub-IDM-ambient-nobody-knows-what-the-hell-kind-of-genre-it-belongs-to kind of thing. Embed! Embed! No, not working. You'll have to clicky the linky... This is off the "Sines and Singularities" album, so far my favorite from Bluetech.

That's coming. I think I'll be in the market for a BH/BHSE quite soon. I've long since realized that for me everything else just won't cut it.

Does Stax have a history of AKG-like behavior, i.e. making changes to headphones halfway through the production run and not announcing it? Or is it shoddy QC? Right now I'm listening to yet another modded SR-001 and man, could this thing be any more similar to the O2 please? Same tonality, very similar focused soundstage and fluid sound, not as good obviously but really a baby version of the O2 even more so than the stock 001 is. Really cool. Though now I'll need a portable source that doesn't suck.

*long rant warning, with lots of technical street fighter gobblygook inside* Been playing Super SF4 for a few days now. First impressions very positive on the whole, but with a few obvious and quite lamented facepalms which the community saw a long time ago, and which Capcom failed to fix despite everyone telling them to. But more on that later. Game feels faster, more responsive, and more balanced, at least at first glance. New stages look better, new characters are interesting and returning 3s/alpha characters are... well I didn't play 3s or alpha so I wouldn't know, but they look cool at any rate. Damage output for most characters has gone down, but 3s characters do damage that's more in line with vanilla SF4, and may be overpowered. But of course time will tell. Individual character notes/impressions: Sagat: got nerfed hard, but is still good. Ultra setups mostly intact but do very little damage. Tiger uppercut does very little damage too but he has a new move that doubles next TU damage, and apparently can be used in combos though the timing is tricky. Sagat still looks strong but he can't casually take half your bar now off an anti-air trade. He has to work for his wins. Ryu: retarded super traps are gone, and dp into ultra does a lot less damage. His ability to do huge damage off a single hit or trade is diminished. He also has less anti-air priority. I'm guessing he still has few bad matchups to worry about and should be good overall. G Toyota a.k.a. the Tyrannical Teabagger a.k.a. Mr. Ed Honda: New ultra is seriously useless. Only good in mindgames but you generally need to spend meter to land it (off FADC hands and the like), and it doesn't do enough damage to offset how hard whiffing it will get you punished, or how bad its range is, or how stupidly hard it is to land in general. Ultra 1, however, is tweaked to be more effective against fireballs, and he can headbutt over Sagat's low tiger shots now, which really changes the matchup. His damage output is mostly intact, which means that in relation to everybody else, he does even more damage now. He's dangerous. And fat. Blanka: is subtly tweaked in a lot of good ways. His forawd hop is faster and much more useful. His normals have better range, and some of his links seem to be easier now, especially c.mk into ultra 1. Ultra 2 is useful as anti-air or anti-fireball, makes him even better vs fireball characters but he didn't really need that. Balls are more punishable on block, however. It seems that Capcom wants him to be more offensive and less turtly, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Chun: is not as overpowered as I feared. She has better anti-air priority (df+lk is a good anti-air now, finally) but she's still not vanilla Ryu in terms of zoning ability. Ultra 2 combos anywhere on the screen off EX legs but its damage output is low. It's useful, but hardly game-breaking. Overall she feels more well-rounded and her bad matchups should be a bit easier, but her good matchups probably won't get any more abusive. Guile: is the most improved character in the game, hands down. He's really good now. His charge time got decreased so he can actually keep up with others in the fireball war. His links got easier, his footsies are better, and he has actual ultra setups now for ultra 2. He's more versatile, more powerful, and generally feels a lot more like real Guile, which is great. I don't know if he'll be top tier but he's good. Gen: is sort of the other way around. We've been telling Capcom "this new Gen sucks, all we see is nerfs, what are you doing?" to which their only response was "wait for the finished version before you judge." Well, now we have the finished version, and Gen sucks. There are some buffs but mostly it's huge and unnecessary nerfs. His jump arcs are much worse, he lost all of his good BnB combos, his wall dive setups are gone and have less priority, his meter gain is about 1/3 of what it used to be - what's going on? His normals are faster and can be linked much better, but what good is it if they don't do any damage or gain any meter? He still has a ton of Ultra setups and can take off half your life in a blink, but his sustained damage ability is really nerfed, as is his ability to get around zoning. He's low tier - or at least right now he looks to be low tier. Maybe with time people will discover new things for him, but right now he looks like a massive facepalm on Capcom's part. Needless to say, a lot of good Gen players are furious. That's it so far for characters that I know at least somewhat well. Gen fiasco aside, the game is much better.

BB has a stiff learning curve, especially if you didn't play Guilty Gear. Check out the Dustloop forums and watch as many vids as you can, and of course spend a lot of time in the lab practicing. Get a good stick too. I dropped BB since I really hated the visual style, and in general don't like really long Guilty Gear-style combos. It did have a fair amount of gameplay innovation though, at least compared to SF4. But SF4 is way more polished.

I don't listen to excessively high levels either. Well, not all the time . The 717 begins to compress dynamically at high levels anyway, and you get better performance if you back off the volume knob some ways. The grain could be attributed to a lot of things, but in my rig it's there with the 717 and not there with the SRD-7 Pro/Dared VP-20. Now if the Dared is acting as a grain filter and it's my source all along, that's possible too. In any case, it's not severe or anything, but even slight grain bothers me enough to want to switch. But I also hear slight grain in most if not all dynamics, which makes me unable to fully enjoy them - so it could be my ears being strange. Wouldn't be the first time for that either.

That lack of musicality is the 717, or more precisely the combination of 717 + source. I don't think the 717 is voiced in the ideal way for the O2, it's too dry, too laid-back, and too grainy. It is, however, the only thing short of DIY that can control the O2's bass and generally wake it up on a budget, so your voicing options are limited. You could try the SRD-7 Pro/Mk2, you'll miss out on some bass control but the upside is that you can put any speaker amp you want in front of it, and voice your rig in any way you want. The O2 is truly transparent, and sounds very different in different rigs. It's not enough to just throw it into any old rig, you have to tune it by ear, identify problems in your signal path, and swap components around. So if you think you're done - you're not, you're only just starting.

Raising some Sazerac 18 in your honor, wishing you years of happiness and freedom from sobriety.

Mk2 never fit me properly, the headband tension was far too high and it would pull the headphones out of optimal position a few minutes after I got them into proper position. I did bend the headband and increase clamping force, but still it was far from ideal. Maybe it's my huge head, but the Mk1 does fit much better with its looser headband. Mk2 does look awesome but so does the Mk1, it just depends on how well it goes with the rest of your gear. The Dared is a sculpture in bronze, aluminum, wood, and glowing tubes, and the Mk1 does go much better with that. Still, the Mk2 is moar black, and that matters too. I'm getting the Mk2 pads more just to mess around and see what it does to the sound. I did like the feel of Mk2 pads a lot, just not the headband.

I'm down for a set of Mk2 pads too. Or would that be up for a set of Mk2 pads? Considering that I haven't slept in well over 48 hours I may very well be sideways for a set of Mk2 pads. And always twirling, twirling, twirling on our way to FREEDOM. Anyway, one set for me please.

Not too long until Super SF4 now. I can't wat to see how they fuck up character balance this time. A lot of reported changes I like, but some make me and more than a few are flat-out . Removing Gen's MK Hands combos? 2d ultra for Chun that can combo off EX legs for full damage anywhere on the screen? Guess Capcom really can't put up with Gen being anything other than bottom tier and if Chun isn't 3S Chun overpowered, she really needs a boost? Sometimes I do wonder just what the hell Capcom is thinking, but then I remember that they're Capcom. Two steps back for every step sideways is the name of the game. On the whole though, it does look like it's going to be a better game this time around.