Aura

Happy birfday Wayne .

I didn't notice the serial markings on the unit myself (though I got a very good look at the entire chassis), Jim just said it was #3. Regardless if there's an error or not, I don't see either of you moving your BA's anytime soon, so no worries .

I heard Jim's BA (serial no. 3) yesterday, using my HF2 from the 1/4th output on the front. Source was Mike's RA Opus 21 transport + DAC, music was a redbook copy of Tool's AEnima. Verdict - best I've heard the HF2 sound. I listed to the tracks "Stinkfist" and "AEnima", and the latter was easily the best I have ever heard it (in accordance with my preferences). Entire freq. range was spot-on, good headstage (even depth, on a Grado *gasp*). The mids did not match quite as well for me as the Moth amps (EC2A3/Si2A3), but that is nothing surprising and just a difference in tubes (2A3 v. 307A). Lovely amp, congrats Jim and the other lucky 9.

Happy birthday Jim .

In general, the 4870 beats the 260 for value. It competes with the GTX275 somewhat as well. I would say that the 260 probably has the most value in Nvidia's lineup at the moment.

Vicki approves. I must buy.

You think I have that look? I'll consider it further through my 10AM class, then order afterwards . Thx for the comments fellas.

The drivers seem very love/hate, never in between. And remember, the performance we are seeing right now is with exceptionally early (even beta) drivers, and it is suggested that the card will push further as the it matures. ATi was dead probably from 2900XT through 3870/3870X2. The 4 series has been a success mostly because ATi is just willing to price their cards far better than Nvidia. The exemplar of this is the 4890.

ChronoShark | The Watch Deal a Day Site Any opinions on the brand? The price is right and I find the aesthetics very appealing.

Radeon HD 5870 review Newegg's Stock (or lack thereof) I don't know how closely anyone else here follows the desktop GPU market, but for anyone else as intrigued as I am, this card is a BEAST. I am shocked to see it beat the GTX295 in a few game benches, and it runs pretty damn close behind in 3DMark Vantage (about as authoritative a benchmark as you can find). Not since Nvidia's 8 series have I been charged for a new release. I'm also glad to see that ATI is the one to enter the DX11 fray first; Nvidia has clearly been lagging in the aftermath of the 8 series success and it's time they feel the pressure from competition to put out something that is not only capable, but priced considerably better. The GTX series is decent, don't get me wrong, but the GTX285 is priced on par (or slightly below) with the 5870 and will get its ass handed to it in every possible way. Anyone going to adopt early? I plan on waiting for a while, I'd like to see it get closer to $300 but that is probably 6 months away. Maybe 5850?

Happy bday Slacky .

+ 1,000,000 awesome points.

Adcom GDA600 and fare for a bus ride home.

Great list, thanks sir .

Happy birfday stretch .

Anyone else have further input? In particular, the Odyssey, Aragons, and Nak are really interesting me. That Musical Fidelity looks pretty solid as well. This Stratos is pretty close to home and I could drive to pick it up.

Happy birfday Pak .

I look like crap with the exception of the last picture. And I need a haircut.

Ended up going the no-hassle approach and did a partial trade with Sherwood for his PSB M2's. Amplification is with a Nakamichi AV7 integrated atm, and I love the sound already. So much so that I'm very prepared to spend another $6-700 for a solid state power amp. Currently looking at: - Nakamichi PA-7 - Odyssey Stratos - Emotiva UPA-2 - Emotiva XPA-2 - Aragon (not sure which, I've seen a couple different *used* models priced in my budget) - DIY Pass F3 (might have a lead on a builder) D-Sonic would be nice, but too expensive. Anyone have any experience with these amps or any recommendations for the M2's?

Just a taste while Tyler gets some rest.

What should I expect from DanJam impressions, pictures of Brent's ass?

Bah, even us young guys need to sleep once in a while. I hand all picture responsibility to Tyler. His camera kicks ass, mine sucks it. I only took like 9-10 pics anyway. The rundown: 4:30-4:45 PM yesterday afternoon, I finished cleaning up and making everything look all nice and sparkly for the micro gathering. The Cicadas naturally looked really good compared to how they usually do; I sensed them trying to give me some last-minute regret over the imminent sale (more on this later). I missed Falkon's call/text right before 5PM and noticed like five minutes later that he had arrived outside the apartment. I help him unload his car; the gear list includes his HF2 #1xx, Omega subwoofer (unsure which model), Buffalo DAC (was already sold lol), Trafomatic Head One amp, and a shitload of cables/power stuff. We decided to dig right in to the speaker rig and found an interesting way of getting the Omega paired with the Cicadas. The path was: Marantz CD5001 transport + Parasound DAC 1100 + Trafomatic Head One running sub out to the Omega and pre/loop-out to the Moth EC2A3 (must have been pre), which was powering the Cicadas. As it turns out, the Trafomatic is the fucking swiss army knife of headphone amps. Without it we would have not really had a way to run the sub, and for that I am very glad it made the trip. All the inputs/outputs we had running to and from it confused me quite a bit, but Falkon had it under control . Cicadas sound good with a sub, no doubt. I had wanted to try this ever since I first bought them, and it was nice to finally see that realized. I have no reference for anything at the Omega's level, so I have no comparisons to make. What it did in the rig last night was add a ton of flexibility to the sound; Falkon tuned it to kick in @ 80HZ was just about the sweet spot and it helped every song we listened to (was a little variance amongst them for settings). As for the Cicadas' performance, they tried to make me feel guilty. I mean, REALLY guilty. Right before Tyler showed up we put in Kind Of Blue followed by Ella and Louis Sing Gershwin, and between these two albums it was the best I had heard the Cicadas in months. The midrange was absolutely nuts. We also did some HF2 listening, comparing both of ours to one another and the two head amps. The Trafomatic is good. I'm not sure I'd pay ~ $900, but for the sound it has (it's a SET, so make of it what you will) and the flexibility of the outputs/inputs it definitely is worthy. The Moth EC2A3 won outright for me mainly because of impact (Falkon agreed and noted speed as well). My reference "bronze" ears for headphone listening are shot so getting solid impressions was difficult, but the Moth was definitely performing very well with HF2. We did notice (and Tyler later agreed) that the Trafo has some odd sort of advantage with low-bass detail in a few of the songs we heard. Bizarre imo, but there you have it. At about 8, Falkon and I went over to a nice restaurant on the edge of Bradley's campus, One World. I had not been there yet this semester, so I figured it was perfect timing to show Falkon one of my favorite places to eat in Peoria. He got a pork sandwhich, I got quesadillas, both rocked the shit, 'nuff said. We got back to the apartment and very briefly tried Buffalo v. Parasound, but the Marantz would not agree with the Buffalo and was making it clip for some reason. Hope you got it diagnosed Falkon. Tyler showed up just after 10PM iirc. The man drove 14+ hours for this, so I was a little nervous about his initial impressions of the gear he was about to own. We helped him bring stuff up and right away threw Kind Of Blue back in and had him sit in the sweet spot. It must have went well, because he drove away with the gear this morning . Tyler brought 2x AKG K1000 (one stock cable, one Enigma Oracle cable), vintage RS-1's (which I'm dumb and forgot to listen to), Peachtree Audio Nova, my soon-to-own PSB Platinum M2 monitors, and some cable stuff. After I confirmed that Tyler was happy with the Moth gear, we ran through a bit of headphone comparison. We did K1K v. K1K, one on the Trafo, one on the Moth. The stock cable K1K was on the Trafo and beat the other one rather easily. I don't know what it was (certainly not the amp), but the stock K1K sounded far better in lows/low mids. The other one sounded very tinny to me and I knew which one I preferred within seconds. Both Tyler and Falkon concurred. Tyler did more listening with the HF2, which he has heard before and enjoyed once again. Falkon went HF2 v. vintage RS1. I'm not sure which he preferred, but he did not that the RS1 had more impact overall. Oh yeah, we did do some alcohol. Tyler had about 4 Jack Daniels & Squirt's (a family tradition I'm told), Falkon bought a 6 pack of Dogfish (thanks for the leftovers ), and I had my usual Gin & Tonic. I only have one more meet left before I'm legal to drink this goddamn stuff . Falkon had to take off at about 1AM to get some sleep before work in the morning. Tyler and I disconnected the Cicadas, powered down the Moth, and hooked up the Peachtree + PSB M2's. It was time to hear my new lovelies . And yes, I like them a lot. Last night they sounded pretty good, but today they sound excellent. I don't believe either of us downgraded in this trade/sale, we just sidestepped to an entirely different sort of sound. I'm running on new speaker-high, but I am quite sure I prefer the M2's. They fit my genres much better than the Cicadas did. But, Cicadas still rape for specific genres, so no worries for Tyler. I recall that we put in Killswitch Engage followed by All That Remains right around 3 AM. By "put in" I mean we blasted the shit. It was pretty sweet. I hooked up my Nak integrated to get a feeling for what sort of sound I'd have for a while. So far, so good. The night finished off with the M2's rocking some Hootie and the Blowfish followed by Josh Groban. Good shit. ~~~ The best part of last night was a break of non-listening for a solid half hour/45 minutes when all three of us just talked about a variety of things, , and not all of it audio. This is what the hobby is about; ultimately I don't care all that much about gear at times like these. It is just awesome to be able to hang out with fellas that you otherwise would never have known, talked to, nor met. I am grateful for audio in this respect. Tyler and Falkon, thanks. Hope you enjoyed yourselves. There will be an AuraJam II.

Someone tell Brent he's a noobasaurasrex for me. Thx .

It was fun. Too tired to comment on gear right now.

Some moar pics (as if they're needed).