DonkeyBalls

My guess is that the baseline for headphones has changed with the Flow / Utopia / Elear. What was great last year might no longer quite cut it, and the gap between stats and dynamic / planar cans has shrunk. So the level of focus and critique gets sharper. The Audeze range has great bass and mids, but the treble is kinda broken. In the past that was overlooked, but not anymore because the yardstick has changed with the new cans. So Audeze drops off the WOF and gets a "nice, but not good enough anymore" from Tyll. You might agree or not agree with this approach, but at least it is a hell of a lot more up front than the usual "everything is wonderful, go buy it now" bollix that is spouted almost everywhere else.

Never met the man, but I do respect his integrity. I sometimes disagree with his judgement - but that's cool. If he was a corporate whore - as per the multitude of other "review" websites out there - he would hardly have dumped on the LCD-4. This after having the Wall of Fame plastered with Audeze products in the past. That took real balls and might very well cost him in the future, but he did it anyway. Every other "review" I have seen of the LCD-4 is a flood of ejaculatory hype leading to a jizz tsunami.

I am a cable burn in skeptic, but I do very much experience tube burn in and burn in on most of my DACs and amps. The tube coatings undergo chemical changes in the first 50 to 300 hours (depending on the tube) - these change impact the emissions and that impacts the sound (at least that is my understanding). Something like a WE300B or TA300B takes about 300 hours (or more) to fully stabilise. I have gone through the burn in process with TA300Bs twice. These tubes are highly variable in the first 100 hours, then settle down and slowly open up all the way to 300+. Most other tubes (like 6SN7s) settle in the first 50 hours or so. The SQ swings can be quite dramatic early on.

"ultra-soft lambskin leather from New Zealand" - am I the only one that finds that statement mildly arousing?

God and my brother (who might, or might not, be a single entity as it cannot be entirely disproved that they are not one and the same)?

Trump is God and banged all my brothers? My brother is God and banged Trump? Trump is my brother and banged God?

Folks contemplating using PriceJapan.com might be interested to know that my PayPal dispute was resolved in my favour after no response was received by PayPal from the vendor (surprise, surprise). Assuming there are sufficient fund in the vendor's account, I will be getting my $1,660 USD back for the TA300Bs ordered in April. While I might come out even financially, I can't help but wonder about the folks that don't launch a dispute fast enough and either 1) miss the 6 month cut off for launching a dispute (from date of ordering), or 2) don't get a refund because the vendor account has been drained. Tough shit for them, basically, as best I can figure. Use PriceJapan.com at your peril, folks. Unless/until Kaneda gets back into the business of responding to customers and shipping product you are throwing your cash away. Those last 3 all make much more sense to me than cable burn in. Apologies for unleashing yet another chapter in the cable mythology saga. I posted in reference to get spanked on HF - not my intention to spark controversy here. I will cease and desist.

The lack of objective evidence means that it doesn't exist - not a lack of comprehension. +1 on the amp / DAC burn in. Have experienced that on several pieces of gear. But cable burn in is taking the piss IMO.

I think I am about to be banned form the Utopia thread after posting this: From gullible HeadFi fuckhead regarding cable burn in (a bullshit concept in a world full of audio bullshit): ...I am told it needs at least 100 hours of burn-in. My Reply: For the love of Christ, why? What can possibly change in the properties of the cable from 100 hours of use, or 100,000 hours of use? Has anyone, anywhere, ever, been able to blind A/B test and separate a burned in cable from a fresh cable? Sorry to get mildly belligerent, but the cable silliness needs to be challenged at some point. So, will this get banned form the thread, or from all of HeadFi? I wonder. I will wear a total HF ban as a badge of honor. Kind of like growing up and moving from small boy pants to adult trousers like a grown up. I call fucking BOLLIX on cable sonic differences in general and cable burn in specifically.

Quick update for those interested in PriceJapan.com - site is no longer displaying any content. This at least means that no more folks can be purchasing goods that never materialize, so perhaps that is a good thing. EDIT - just launched a dispute with PayPal - then noticed the 6 month time limit. I placed my order on 24th April, and had until 24th October to launch a dispute. Good thing I didn't wait any longer. For anyone else left hanging by PriceJapan.com, I suggest raising a dispute with PayPal or your whatever facility you used for payment asap. Doesn't look like these guys are coming back anytime soon.

It is a little masochistic. Sometimes I get the feeling that persisting with the HF forums is like stuffing your scrotal sac into a bacon slicer, but maybe I am a slow learner. If two donkey balls rub together in the forest...

It ain't easy, but there are some decent folks worth the time still there. Problem is that they get swamped out by the fucktards baying like stuck donkeys. When I find someone worthwhile I tend to go to PM immediately.

I have asked for, and received, informed feedback on the modded HE6 vs Utopia comparison and on the Utopia vs Ether Flow. The feedback was from users with experience of both headphones - not some 6 Moons circle jerk or the usual "everything made me jizz until my scrotum imploded" HeadFi "review". If you ask the right question in the right thread and can muster the energy to filter out the dickheads you can get some value out of HF. It takes a bit of work and dealing with the fuckwits makes me tired, but it can be done. In some perverse way it is kinda satisfying to extract something useful out of HF despite it being overrun with assholes and administered by cunts.

Interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before. Makes me adjust my cunt-o-meter ratings of Jude and Amos downwards from solid 9s to weak 8s.

My order was for a pair of TA300Bs - around $1,700 USD with postage - much, much worse for the poor sods that ordered Accuphase amps or SR-009s etc. Those folks are out for several times as much. Instead of the 300B tubes, I think I am going to be on the receiving end of a family sized FUBAR cornholing with sand and broken glass lubrication. Pity, as the TA300Bs are just stunning.

I have periods when the fucktardary gets too much I go dark on the forums. PM is where HF still has some value for me. I have sold a shitload of gear and had a bunch of fun via PM. Not even the fascist fucks that run HF moderate the PMs (or at least not mine so far) so you can say whatever you need to say with your buddies and enjoy yourself. Getting a little bit back on topic (sort of) PriceJapan.com is still unresponsive. I placed my order in April, had a brief update email in June, and since then NADA. No comms whatsoever, apart from a site update stating that work will be resumed from August 8th. That didn't happen. Site is still up and taking orders and money, so I can only hope that Kaneda can return to running the business soon, otherwise my only recourse is to launch a PayPal dispute, which I don't want to do. For those looking to purchase some Stax gear, I can only suggest avoiding PriceJapan.com until service returns to normal.

Can I put a "mostly" somewhere in there? Most of the posters on HF are indeed fucktards, obsessing over which cable 'sounds' better or some other asinine horseshit, BUT some of them have been informed and helpful for me. There are nuggets of goodness hidden in the mass of dross and flotsam of HF. Worst part of HF for me is the heavy hand of the admins/moderators. Jude / Amos etc run the site as a cynical profit making venture. Heaven help you if you slag off a site sponsor in even a mild way. Deletions and bans will be coming your way before your fingers have left the keyboard.

Or a big bucket of this...

No surprises there. MSB are a DAC company - however great their DACs might be, they are very unlikely to nail an electrostatic amp on the first try, regardless of how a large a price tag they stick on it. Then again, I think it hardly matters. If you have the cash to throw at a Select II DAC, the headphone amp is pocket change. I bet MSB will sell enough to make them happy. The fact that it might suck compared to the BHSE or KGSSHV Carbon won't bother them one bit.

+1. My earlier dealings in 2015 went very well. Product shipped and all was good. However, that has not been the case this year for me and quite a few others. I do hope that Kaneda can get the business working again, but from about June onwards there has been few comms and no product.

A brief word of caution for anyone dealing with PriceJapan for Stax gear... etc. Last update posted on the site was that normal business would be resumed on August 8th. I have had no contact / response regarding an order placed in April, apart from a brief update in early June. I would urge caution from folks considering ordering from PriceJapan until they show more signs of life than a brief site update. The company has been in business in for 15 years, so it is perhaps unlikely to be a swindle, but if they are not responding to customers or shipping gear then there is no point placing an order with them. All might be well in the coming weeks, but that is quite a chance to take for anyone wanting to order SR-009 / SR-007.... etc. Personally, I would delay until PriceJapan are back in the game. They appear to be a one man operation, as the accident that hospitalised "Kaneda" stopped the business completely. No contact and no gear shipped for months. If anyone has had contact or gear shipped from PriceJapan in the last few weeks I would very much like to hear from them.

This was in the 80s - long before Al Gore invented the internet.

Lost my eyebrows and my dignity. Interesting fact - when you are on fire and running to the safety shower, people will get out your way.

I did manage to set myself on fire once using anhydrous alcohol and a Bunsen burner. I survived, my lab coat did not. That was a fun day.

Doing pretty well right there. Some of my favorite online moments have combined a keyboard and alcohol. What's the worst that can happen?