Dusty Chalk

My personal favourite is that if a particular piece of gear is not good for a certain type of music (techno, rock), then it can still be good for another (chamber music, vocals). If a headphone (or amp or source or speakers) are only good for a certain type of music, then they are not good. I also agree with a lot of those previously mentioned. Tube amps rock!

My condolences.

The micro-Stax setup that Dave had, what was it, the SR-001 Mk II? 98% of the magic of electrostatic earspeakers for a fraction of the price. That K1000 sale that Headroom had, when they were blowing them out. US$379, was it? I don't usually get bargains. The Quad 22L seems like a steal -- US$1600 (and that's the MSRP) for a beautifully finished (7 layers of lacquer?), wonderfully sounding fullrange floorstander.

Unholy crap!

I've also heard good things about Bryston (and in my boss's system) -- seems like the 4B and the 6B meet your criteria. link

Did some research on the Rotel: 700 Watts into 4 ohms?!? Unholy carp!!! I bet that would sound pretty nice with my Dynaudios, may have to consider that, myself. Current generation MF would be the A5 (unless you could settle for an integrated): 416 WPC/4 ohms, US$3.5K MSRP.

Any updates on this?

Musical Fidelity A300^CR is something like 450 into 4 ohms. The gain is ridiculously high, though, you need a quality preamp that handles the low end of its volume range well. And I can tell you from personal experience its a sweet amp. I will eventually get another one. It's from their first generation A3 series -- for some reason, they didn't make one in the A3.2 series. Should sell on the used market for under US$1500. They show up on Audiogon pretty regularly, although not constantly.

Shouldn't have to ask. "Oh, and when you fix my broken axle, can you give me my old axle back so that I know you fixed it?"

Welcome to the neighborhood. (I live in Rockville.)

Last Show: Black Heart Procession/Devics/Castanets -- Devics stole the night, and this was the first time I had heard the Castanets and they were great. BHP was good, but I really liked the Devics. Next show: Katatonia, maybe (hope so). I may have missed it, but I don't think it's until the end of the month. Wolf Trap? You're in or near VA?

Ken Kessler. Not just because he's a professional audio reviewer (there are many of them whose opinions I do not hold dear), but because I've read enough of his reviews to know that he hears things similarly to the way I hear things. It is never appropriate to say that someone is full of shit. It's at that point that you're changing the argument from one of fact to one of ego. Keep the argument about fact, and even when you're wrong, you'll be able to save face. Look at it this way -- is there anyone out there that says "you're full of shit" a lot, whose opinion you think highly of? No, of course not -- they're just cranky people. You might feel comfortable socializing with them, but when it comes to opinions of audio gear, you'll only find those types of statements in the letters to the editors columns. The people whose opinions you do think highly of keep the argument about the facts, and state things clearly when it gets into opinion territory (such as listening impressions). And then they'll give you enough background about their listening impressions in similar situations that you'll be able to judge for yourself whether or not you hear things the same way they do.

Don't stretch -- that's just wrong. What's the point of watching hi-def if you're going to watch a fucked up picture? Would you want to see a short squat Wonder Woman? Would you want to see a short squat Buffy? Would you want to see short squat Charlie's Angels? I rest my case.

I disagree. To me, the Shures (e2's) are painfully rolled off (not Sennheiser rolled off -- much worse; veiled, even), and the Ety's are detailed and clear. No, they've not the best bass, but they have pretty damn good bass -- kind of sealed enclosure bass, like Spendor S3/5's, except starting lower. It's taught, but extended, and does not roll off sharply, like a bass reflex speaker. I liked the bass, in a not-for-home-theatre-or-games kind of way.

Well, that's odd -- that's not buyer's remorse, that's more like owner's remorse...or maybe owner-and-not-user's remorse. So yeah, sell off your stuff (but maybe not the K340) and upgrade your portable system and use your portable system as your home system also. Oh, and I second all the Etymotic recommendations. And the B&H Photo recommendations. I bought my 6i's from buy.com. One of these days I'll grow up to a 4 or something.

[snarky]Friday the 13th?[/snarky]

Dude. Do it. This is by far his silliest effort yet. I've laughed more times than I can count. Great way to end the day. I think the cheapest way to get them (besides borrowing them from the library) is the trade paperback -- the small paperbacks are coming out in 8 volumes (vice three). I got the hardbacks.

Is part of the problem that you're not happy with your home rig? Also: I don't know about selling it all, but there is definitely room for improvement. Also, yes, the e2c is definitely a weak link -- go Etymotic. Even their low end er6i is better (to my ears).

Neal Stephenson, The System of the World -- Volume Three of the Baroque Cycle

I'll sell you my Teac A1D -- hardly used. If you don't like that idea, I highly recommend going vintage. Behringer is probably fine -- but they're famous for stealing designs, and then implementing them without the R&D budget, so I stay away from them. At US$200, I highly recommend going used.

You mean, besides the obvious?

You can do anything you want, but you should know that I was joking with that response. I'm sure he has his hands full with paying clients. Why would he waste time giving away advice for free?

Why don't you ask Jude?

So the solder joint protected the fuse? That's not how it's supposed to work...

This may be a stupid question (and feel free to say so if it is), but does the Headroom Micro DAC have the diamond buffer in it? Does it make sense for it to? From a brief perusal of a thread or two on Head-Fi, it seems not, but I just wanted to make sure.