HeadphoneAddict

I don't know what all the features of Simplify Media was/are, but it sounds like a few of you liked it. I've been using DOTTUNES and I can listen to my entire iTunes library from anywhere with a 3G or Wifi connection with my iPhone or Macbook. You should check it out. The only problem is that it doesn't let you share videos or photos, just your music playlists. You can give people a user name and PW, or set up a guest account, and you can set which playlists certain people have access to. It uses your home internet bandwidth to serve the music, and people can access it by trying to visit your external IP address from the web. If you don't want to have to worry about remembering and logging into your external IP address and want an easy to remember domain name, then you can get someone like no-ip.com to issue you a domain name that links to your home IP address. You also can run an app that no-ip.com supplies on the home computer that updates your external IP with no-ip.com if it changes, so you can still get into your home computer.

I enjoyed the SR-404LE more than my other Lambdas, and found them to be less etched and a little darker sounding like my O2. They reminded me a little of an electrostatic HD600. But in comparison to my O2 Mk1 the 404LE just didn't sound as good. So with as much as I listen to the O2 and HE60, I sold the 404LE in the first month I had them to help pay for my WES amp upgrade. I don't regret selling it to help buy the WES, but I still do miss the 404LE.

I didn't order the Apple case, thinking it would be nice if another one was out sooner.

That was actually a pretty decent review.

Well, Boo hasn't come back yet. For my son's sake we decided to adopt a little female 6 mo old kitten at the Humane Society this weekend, and if Boo comes back then we'll be happy with 2 cats. My son is in a sleeping bag in my bathroom right now with the cat. Socks is a little scared of the new place, so she's staying in the master bathroom and getting a feel for the new home while we try to "kitten-proof" the house. Boo was a naughty kitten when we first got him, and he chewed on things like headphone cables, but after a while we were used him being a mature cat and didn't have to hide stuff anymore (4.5 year old).

It really sounds great. [snip] Beats my DLIII and Apogee mini-DAC. I typed several paragraphs about my thoughts, but I decided not to post them because it's just not fun anymore having my impressions of gear dissected and beaten down. Besides, I started to drift off topic about how I don't want to spend more on analog if I can be happy with just a better transport for the PWD... That's what Craig said - to look at the PWD, WES or my power center as the source of the issue (APC UPS, or Monster noise filter power strip). The reason we're thinking PWD is that the DLIII and Apogee mini-DAC didn't have hum with both amps connected, with all else being the same.

Okay, half of what Craig said to me today was over my head, since I'm a doctor and not an EE. Craig said the ZDT PSU is grounded via the wall plug's 3rd ground pin, and then the ZDT chassis is grounded to the ZDT PSU's 3rd pin ground via "high frequency ground", where there is a resistor and capacitor between the wire and where it is connected to the case. He says this will appear at first to be floating when I was testing it for continuity, but it isn't. He said that if I want him to install a switch where I can bypass the resistor/capactor he can do that, or I can by pass it myself if I think this is causing an issue, or I can run a wire from the ZDT PSU to the Amp, or from the AMP to WES. Or he said I can try to figure out why the PS Audio PWD is causing the WES and ZDT to not be on the same level when connected at the same time (although it could also be the WES, or my power filter). So, basically he thinks there is some kind of differential between the WES and ZDT that may be coming from the PS Audio or something else like my power distribution device, and that is why tying the two amps together helps. He suggests that I try a power distribution device without noise filters or noise cancelation stuff (fancy term for simple power strip). And also said I could contact PS Audio if I think their DAC is doing this. I have spoken with Alex a couple of times at PS Audio, and if changing how everything is plugged into the wall doesn't help I will pass this by him to see if they have heard of anything similar with hum/noise with two amps connected. I have to check back with him anyway because they put the warranty down as expiring 3/2/12 instead of 8/29/12, and I need them to update it for the extra 6 months I am missing. So, this weekend I will try a few more things and report back. Sorry I am so ignorant about this stuff, but not everyone who uses the gear knows how it works in order to enjoy it. I still can't understand how a computer knows what a 1 or a 0 is, and makes a "decision" to do anything. It all seems magical to me. (Techy peep says, "Well, see if it sees a one, it opens a gate"... "Interrupting here, but how does it see anything? Does it walk over and say, let me get that door for you?", "No, it sees a signal"... "Stop, how does anything know to send a signal?" "If you'll let me explain, there are 0's and 1's..." "Um, How does it know the difference between a 0 and 1?" - it's a chicken and egg thing to my mind, so don't worry, you don't have to explain it to me here, I'm too stupid to get it. )

I got called about another "found" long hair black cat today. But it was really just hanging out in their area and not in their possession, so it took my son and I an hour just to find it. It looks like the smaller brother of our cat, about the size and hair length of the other female cat from the 9th. This one has balls and claws while ours doesn't, plus ours was about 3lb heavier; so we knew as soon as we saw it that it wasn't ours. The people who called about it said it was a new stray in the area since March 1st and they've been feeding it, but our cat didn't disappear till the 2nd; so that was the first clue it might not have been ours in the first place. We wanted to believe they just had their days mixed up. They were too busy moving and couldn't take it to the Humane Society to see if the owner could be found, so they put an ad in the paper. The Humane Society saw the ad and called us. We took said cat to the Humane Society for the finders, where my kids promptly found three cats they want to adopt (one for each kid). It's been 10 days since we've seen Boo, and we suspect the coyotes got him the 1st day (they were in the yard 20 minutes before he snuck out). My wife and I discussed getting ONE female kitten tomorrow, and if Boo comes back we'll just live with 2 cats (and a dog). My 14 year old picked out a 3 year old cat (de-clawed and spayed), and we don't know how it will like the dog but it's very friendly and likes attention, unlike the missing cat who is a recluse at times (all cats have aspergers). My son likes a 6 month old grey tabby, and my eldest daughter likes a black and white 6 month old kitten (all female). I just can't abide by having 3 cats to replace one, and in case Boo comes back he wont be happy. Not being a black cat is a bonus in case it gets lost too, because I have gone to look at 10-12 black cats in the past 7 days that aren't ours. Who knew there were so many of them that get lost within 2 miles of our house.

Isn't there another set of monoblocks already there? Seems like putting those things in front of the speakers isn't the best place for them, being subjected to vibrations and such, unless they are there as room treatments and it helps the sound.

Well, the chassis appears to be floating and there is no continuity between the ZDT PSU and Amp. With the wire I installed between the ZDT and WES still in place there is continuity between those two amps, as well as between my phono preamp, PWD DAC and the Travagans Red amp that is connected to the WES loop-out. But the ZDT PSU seems to be totally isolated from everything else. I suppose I'll have to phone Craig and see if this is intentional and/or a problem.

I will check that later tonight or tomorrow. Didn't Craig just create a new amp that has a floating chassis and someone said that was a feature, and then others chimed in saying it was not such a great idea? Anyway, this is straying off topic except that the issue was discovered by connecting two amps to the PWD. If I find the chassis might be floating I'll contact Craig about it, and post a brief note about what he says we should do. Nikongod, thanks for the explanation.

Hearing how good your B22 + K1000 sounded right next to your BH/O2 Mk1 at our mini-meet, I figured you'd sell the BH eventually. I still have your O2 Mk1, and I like them better on the WES. Sorry. I figure it's when you sell the K1000/B22 that we'll have to get your head examined. So, what did you do with your other stats (Jade)?

I just meant in terms of not the wiring not looking like a street map like the Woo amps. I agree it's not really like Mikhail's work, and all the solder points looked nice. But I just thought it would look a little neater. Yes, the ZDT has an external PSU. I found that without the wire between the two amps, that if I touch one of the screws on the cable plug between the PSU and the ZDT that the hum/noise gets much quieter.

Right, I suspect the problem is the ZDT, because if I connect my Travagans Red to the PWD with the WES the noise isn't there. I have crappy iPhone photos of the inside of the ZDT that I took a while ago, after I lost a screw at RMAF. I didn't post these before out of courtesy to Craig, and because sadly I thought they looked closer to Mikhail's work than Woo's. If anyone can see an immediate problem let me know. Dan, I am in your debt for helping me.

Well, the wire fixed it for sure. The PWD is now silent with black background, even at max volume on the ZDT/HD800 with the music paused. Thanks guys!

It might be better than banking online with First Bank (bunnies).

Thanks guys, I'm gonna head down to the basement tonight to try the wire between amps, after I comfort my son to sleep without his cat. He's one of those "can't sleep without the cat" kids, and we've been drugging him with Benadryl at night while hoping that the cat comes back soon. It's only been a week but my wife mentioned possible "kitty heaven" to him tonight and sent him off the deep end. If the wire doesn't work I'll contact PS Audio about a possible XLR ground lift adapter and whether that should be next.

Had to investigate a cat sighting today, and this cat could have been Boo's sister, but she wasn't him. My son is laying in my bed right now crying over and over, "I want my kitty, I want my kitty". It's heartbreaking.

That should be easy, as these amps are covered in screws. I'll report back after I pick up kids from school. Thanks!

Thanks. If we put food out we'll get mice, foxes, coyotes, mountain lions and bears (in that order). The cat's being going outside for 4 years and likes to chase the foxes and eat the mice, but we've never seen the coyotes in the area until last week. I hope one didn't get him. The mountain lions were caught 4 houses down last summer.

I'm hoping somebody can help with with a problem doing this with my PWD. I am getting hum and noise (not a clean hum) when both my Woo WES is connected via XLR and my EC ZDT is connected via RCA at the same time. It's only when listening to the PWD when both amps are connected, and if I unplug the WES XLR interconnect the ZDT becomes silent, and if I unplug the ZDT RCA interconnect the WES becomes silent. If I switch the ZDT to input #2 with my phono preamplifier it becomes silent, but I haven't tried the phono preamp on the WES because the WES is the balanced only demo unit. It doesn't make it go away if I unplug an amp's power cable, only if I unplug the interconnect. It seems to be a combination of ground loop and RFI, because it changes as I move the headphones around farther and closer to the amps. It actually improved a little when I unplugged my Synergistic Research active shielded coax cable from the wall. But the noise is still there even with no digital cables plugged into the DAC (only power and interconnects). It doesn't matter if the PWD is set for COAX, TOSlink or USB input, the noise is there. I've even removed the Coax and USB and optical cables from the rig and put them far away, so they don't act like antennas. But, if I switch the PWD inputs to I2S then the noise goes away (I have no I2S cable or source connected, but I just got an HDMI cable to plug into it and see if that makes it noisy). My Digital Link III and Apogee mini-DAC have never had this problem with hum/noise when both amps are connected to the same DAC, using these same power cables and interconnects. I was up until 4AM last night trying to find a way to eliminate it, and the best thing I can do is to unplug the interconnects from one of the two amps. Sometimes I can touch an amp with my hand and quiet the hum/noise but not completely, and sometimes touching one it makes it louder. It's not always the same amp that I have to touch to lower the hum/noise, because that changes depending on how I swap or route my cables differently. It's definitely worsened or improved if I move my ZDT PSU around, and it also changes in volume if I move my headphones closer or farther from my rig (HD800). Right now, by moving the ZDT PSU to the granite shelf behind the rig I have the hum/noise reduced to about 70-80 dB below the music levels (a guess), if I sit in the right spot and not too close to the rig. But it still bugs the hell out of me that I can't get silence without unplugging the WES when listening to the ZDT, or unplugging the ZDT when listening to the WES. My interconnects are anti-cables IC's, and I plan to see if my ALO SXC IC's in the bedroom rig have better shielding. In the photo attached, the DLIII is completely unplugged and disconnected, not doing anything, but the ZDT PSU hasn't been moved yet. My power cables are a Shunyata Viper on the ZDT and a Tributaries cable from a local hi-fi shop on the WES. I've tried swapping the power cables, and plugging them into an APC battery backup or just a simple power strip with no change. I'm thinking of trying my Belkin home theater noise filter power strip that I use in the bedroom rig, but I'm not convinced those things really work all that much, nor that it would help in this case. Because everything becomes silent when only one amp is plugged, in I don't think the APC is giving me noisy AC power. Any suggestions? Ranging from simple to hard, I'm game?

Our "Boo Kitty" went missing on 3/2 and we're really upset about this. The cat went outside about 6AM and about an hour later two coyotes were wandering through the backyard. My son went out to get the cat after the coyotes moved on to the neighbors yard, and then my wife let the dog out to scare off the coyotes which also scared off the cat. She didn't know my son almost had the cat in his hands, and that was the last time we saw him. We've discovered how many black cats live in the area, and after posting signs all over we've had about 15 calls in a week. But none were our cat, or we couldn't find the cat after were told where he wandering in people's yards. He has a collar with our address and phone, and he's been chipped by the Humane Society who haven't had him come through, but they called today about a "found cat ad" in the paper which could be ours. But the cat is not with the people who posted the ad, it's been getting fed by the neighbors who are planning to move soon and take the cat with them. So now I have to try to speak with the "cat feeders" and see if they have our cat.

Pico Slim, no special knob color request...

Poor Stretch. Same thing happened to me at RMAF with GES vs WES driving the O2, and there was no going back.