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Schiit just announced a DAC: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=7 Can anyone speak for their choice of parts? Input Receiver, USB: C-Media CM6631 D/A Conversion IC: AKM4399 Kinda tempted even though I don't need a DAC right now....

two 32GB Class 10 SDHC cards extra Nikon EN-EL15 battery for D7K Lowepro Apex 60 AW camera case (for Panasonic LX5) 4 books on coding & Internet security, 4 books on photography, 2 books on Lightroom 3, & 1 book on PS Elements 9 B+W 67mm UV MRC #010 filter AmazonBasics Wireless Remote Control for Nikon DSLRs (ML-L3 replacement) Giottos AA1900 rocket air blaster Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition Blu-Ray set (ordered today, $70 @ Amazon this week) ...and most recently arrived, New Laptop Smell. AVADirect W150HNQ - Core i7-2720QM 2.2GHz, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT540M 1GB, 750GB 7200rpm HDD, Blu-Ray/DVD±RW, Win7 x64. Plus MS Office 2010 Home & Student and Adobe PS Elements 9 to go with the new laptop, which replaces my 6-year-old Pentium-M 1.86GHz that was on its last legs due to a dead Ethernet jack, spontaneously flickering screen, broken screen hinge, and 1 missing rubber foot. So glad to have a new laptop PC.

Got my copy of Devin Townsend's Deconstruction [special Edition] today and saw that Ghost is included with it....so I now have 2 copies of Ghost. If anyone here wants the extra copy of Ghost, let me know, can send it gratis. (7/2 edit: copy of Ghost taken.) Was poking around Amazon and saw several more metal releases all slated for the week of 7/12, some of them interesting: - Megadeth - Peace Sells [25th Anniversary Edition] (new remaster) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WPT3ZM/ - Megadeth - Peace Sells [Deluxe 5 Disc + 3 LP Box Set] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WN96ME/ - Samael - Lux Mundi http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029RW4ME/ - Sepultura - Kairos http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WOJ99I/

Nice, I see you got an aperture-grille - for photography work, I'm guessing. I had an AG CRT too some years ago but it literally went up in smoke one day, kinda miss it. Any reason you went with an AG CRT over an IPS LCD?

Hi Todd, welcome to Head-Case! The amp looks pretty cool, hope a lot of people buy one.

Ghost and Deconstruction look to be coming out on 6/21. I also just saw In Flames' Sounds of a Playground Fading, also slated for 6/21. Dang, the week of 6/21 looks like a great week for metalheads. Will probably be picking up the In Flames and Symphony X myself. And other upcoming metal releases: - Saxon - Call to Arms (6/14) - The Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual (6/21) - Queensryche - Dedicated To Chaos (6/28) - Unearth - Darkness in the Light (7/5)

Julia Fischer - Poème. Really good performances, and I like her playing style.

Thanks for the response Jon L, just looking for as many opinions of the show as possible, to decide if I'm going to attend next year. And excellent report there Tyll, really enjoyed reading that. It answers a lot of questions I had and really makes me want to make it out for next year's.

Been going through my pics from NYC and wanted to post this one from the set. Lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building, hand-held @ 1 sec. Ok so I had stability help thanks to some railing, but even with that it was still tough to get acceptable sharpness - this is one of the sharpest shots that I ended up getting, and one of the longest shots too. This shot was longer at 3 secs:

Thanks for the pics & impressions of the THE show, what about more overall show impressions? Was it well-organized? Any aspects they could've done better (or conversely did really well), trends observed, etc? What was the venue like? Too small, too large, etc? Any comparisons to other audio shows if anyone has attended others? Anyone ask any vendors what they thought of the show? Was it worth the time & money? All that kind of stuff. Not sure if I'm going to bother attending the CA Audio Show next month now (would rather spend my time exploring SF) but if a good number of HC folks are going to be there I'll stop by.

I skimmed that 6moons review and caught an error on the last page, about halfway down. Doesn't Srajan proof-read his reviews before publishing them? Make that 2 errors in the same paragraph for not capitalizing an acronym. And this is too good to not copy. What does any of that fluff even mean?

Hey Whitney, what took so long for you to come over to HC? Good to have you here.

If folks are really going to come out for GABF, tickets for that go on sale 6/30. Lots of nearby hotels that are offering up to quad rates too: http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/travel/hotels/ Will help out however as needed too, for airport rides to/from or whatever else. (No free shuttles between the airport and downtown Denver exist.)

I walked by the venue Affinia hotel several times during my stay in NYC this past weekend. Really conveniently located, almost literally across from Penn Station (so people commuting in from Brooklyn or Queens, or beyond, might want to take the LIRR) and really close to 4 different subway lines (blue, red, orange, & yellow). The PATH station is really close too for folks going from New Jersey. Just checked and the rooms at the hotel are pretty cheap too, for NYC at least - just under $200/night for a standard 2-bed. Here's the Google map highlighting the subway lines w/ nearby stops: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=371+7th+Avenue,+New+York,+NY&aq=1&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.956457,58.359375&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=371+7th+Ave,+New+York,+10001&ll=40.749273,-73.990602&spn=0.008876,0.014248&z=16&lci=transit_comp

Jude announced it over at HF: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/556674/start-making-your-plans-for-2011-canjam-rmaf-rocky-mountain-audio-fest So anyone going to make it? Headphones + speakers + free beer!!! What else do you need?

Pics from my Memorial Day extended-weekend trip to NYC (5 days). The weather was perfectly sunny & warm and fortunately it never rained. Man, wish I lived in NYC - every time I go back, I love it more! Truly the greatest city on the planet. Didn't hit everything I wanted to see but did get to most - night view from the Empire State Building [1], Museum of Natural History [2], almost a full tour of Central Park [3], Ground Zero [4], the Brooklyn Bridge [5-6], Times Square [7-8], Park Row/City Hall [9], the High Line [10], evening cruise on the Circle Line 42 [11-12], and The Met [13]. The guys in pic #7 asked me to take a pic of them, so I did. I took my D7000 w/ Nikon 16-85 and Tokina 11-16, the ultra wide-angle of the Tokina came in especially handy on a lot of shots. I took so many shots on this trip (over 800), I had to buy a new camera battery on the 4th day of the trip. Thank goodness for awesome stores in NYC like J&R. J&R was huge, wasn't expecting they'd take up an entire block! Was such an awesomely fun trip I'm thinking about going back again this summer and already started checking flights.... (Un-modified in-camera JPGs; shot in RAW+JPG. Will post some pics from the RAWs later on.)

For metalheads: Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions on 6/7 Symphony X - Iconoclast on 6/21 Looking forward to the new Symphony X. Oh and one of today's new releases, My Morning Jacket - Circuital.

B&H is selling Adobe Lightroom 3 for $100 off, so $200 total, including free shipping, until June 4: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/720705-REG/Adobe_65081059_Photoshop_Lightroom_3_Software.html

Ok so I randomly opened this thread and saw that 3 headphones were mentioned that I own, have owned, & heard. Never owned the K1000 primarily because of its earspeaker design and amping requirements (have never wanted to add an integrated to my headphone system in the past) but I've heard it at meets, most recently last year on swt's setup. I think it's a great headphone sonically, about on par with the Qualia which I previously owned, at least for my intents - clarity and treble. I agree that it makes sense to properly amp the K1000 before passing judgment. Oh and I'd advise against using Chinese amps in general to judge the K1000 - use American, European, or Japanese amps. One of the other great sessions I had with the K1000 at a meet was on a Zanden 300B amp. Huge fan of the Qualia. As much as I love the OII overall, the Qualia did a few things super awesomely. It was the clearest-sounding headphone I've ever heard in all of headphonedom (topping the OII) and had just the right amount of treble for me. I can't compare to the K1000 but it'd sure be interesting if one day such a comparison could be staged - my guess is that they might be relatively close in these 2 aspects (clarity & treble). That said, if you don't like treble you probably won't like the Qualia. The Qualia is also really fit-dependent and will probably need to be what I call "sponge-modded" on Medium or larger headbands (tie a sponge to the underside of the headband). If you have bliss with the OII, why bother getting anything else? Stop buying more gear and just buy music. Well I'd recommend an amp/source upgrade for the OII if you really like it and want to add just a little bit more magic to it.

As an owner of the D300s and D7000 right now (though I've been looking sell the D300s for a while now), I have to say the biggest difference between them is probably their size/weight more than the specs. The D300s' bigger size & heavier weight made it just a little too annoying for me to use as a transportable camera, prompting me to seek out something smaller & lighter - the D7000. There are some key spec differences too of course - the one most noticeable to me was 39 AF points on the D7000 vs 51 AF points on the D300s. Most of the other spec differences didn't really matter much to me. I'm not sure I'd advise getting a lens to cover everything between medium-range and telephoto - IMO it makes more sense to get separate medium-range and telephoto lenses to optimize the quality of both. Peter/Iron_Dreamer owns the D700 and I suspect he'll be along later. It's an FX full-frame DSLR though and you'll want to have full-frame lenses to take advantage. Not sure a full-frame DSLR is really necessary for someone new to DSLRs either considering how expensive they are right now - if you really want to get into full-frame, I'd probably suggest waiting until they get less expensive.

WBShop.com: 20% off select items and free shipping on orders over $60 through 5/30 http://l.email-warnerbros.com/u.d?S4GmDJ09omSr6KcObsV8C=521 SoundEarphones.com: 20% off Memorial Day sale plus free ground shipping with coupon code THANKS (excludes Earsonics, Shure, & Grado) valid 5/27-30 Acoustic Sounds sale: Elusive Disc sale: Music Direct sale:

Last set of unmodified JPGs from my Florida trip. Will definitely be modifying the related RAWs later, just wanted to post these before I go on my next trip to NYC next weekend. Didn't notice the vignetting in the first pic until I got it on my PC, next time I won't be stacking the UV filter and CPL...

The end of the world is tomorrow? Crap, why didn't anyone tell me? Ok I'm off to get as drunk as possible and have as much unprotected relations with as many willing partners as possible!

Denon AVR-891 AV receiver, $383 at 6ave.com with free shipping (MSRP is $799): http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/254937 Looks like a nice AVR. I have the AVR-888 predecessor (without Blu-Ray support) which has been working great for the past couple years.

Ok how about less posting and more reading with getting to know your audience here. I'm not interested in your so-called drama with other 3rd parties. If you're here to post measurements, then fine, do that. The defensive arguing is getting old.