Sherwood

I've sold a lot of 13" MBPs to rodeo cowboys lately. Who knows why.

I'm insulted. I told him out of the gate that I would take his challenge, and I even live in Denver (where the supposed showdown was to take place). Sometimes it doesn't pay not to be king.

Reviving the ancient and much-beloved practice of the "afternoon hookah" today. So very nice.

It is more of a closed social club than an open audio forum, without a doubt. New people join all the time, though, and everyone who found their place here started as an impudent yearling with grand ideas everyone else was already tired of. Most of them don't find themselves the subject of roiling debate after less than two months of posting, however. So maybe you're right -- maybe you're better off elsewhere. That said, don't go telling yourself you've not fit in yet because we don't like hard measurements or because your approach is just too highbrow/reasonable/contemplative/subtle for us -- it's because you're choosing not to hear reasonable criticism, you're choosing to get bent out of shape about less-than-reasonable criticism, and you're choosing to leave rather than stick it out. Again, if this is where you want to plant your flag in the ground, go ahead and do it. We specifically forbid posting random stuff you find on the internet here, but Knuckledragger does it all the time and we love him. You imply that we don't care about measurements, but Dreadhead and Tyll have measured more headphones and amps more stringently than anyone else I can think of, and we love them both. We give Crappyjones no end of grief, but again we love him as well. Anyone who "fits in" here has learned to take some flack and persist in doing what they care about, often to the benefit of those who deride them at first. If that's not you -- if you're not willing to stick that out -- then you don't fit in.

^^ Good catch. This is the point at which my mathematical interest runs dry.

Tall glass of Simply Lemonade before some post cinco blackberry margaritas. Yeehaw.

I'll take that test, of course. I'm way past buying stuff to see if I can tell a difference. Presuming I can tell a difference, of course, what would I have proven? Excellent expensive gear is better at what it does than presumably excellent inexpensive gear? I, for one, admire what you are doing. I also need to point out the fact (as Manaox already has) that the phrase "shames more expensive gear" is terribly trite. Plenty of expensive gear shames itself, and we routinely help it along. The measure of an actual giant killer, as Dan pointed out right from the beginning, is something that is better than something we already know and love. The number of good DAC/AMP combos under $200 in almost nonexistant, and there's little point throwing money at "the best" of a series of bad products. Perhaps you've discovered a true diamond in the rough, here. Fantastic! Just keep in mind, to do this thing right you measure diamonds against diamonds -- not against the rough.

Reason for the dual Thunderbolt ports on the 27" iMac is apparently for triple monitors. A single thunderbolt port can only run one additional monitor, though it can also run other devices. Also, I ran some numbers on a 27" "retina display", for the edification of all. The theory goes that our eyes are physically capable of discerning a finite amount of detail, and that number lies somewhere around 300 pixels per inch (PPI). The iPhone has a 314 PPI display, which is deemed a "retina display" due to its having a greater pixel density than is theoretically discernible by the human eye. I'm sure there's an astute parallel to be drawn to the Nyquist frequency here, but I'll leave that to someone fussier than I. The current 27" iMac monitor, sporting a (beautiful) 2560x1440 resolution, boasts approximately 108 PPI. To contrast that, I'll point out that my office has a Mac Pro running 4 27" cinema displays in a grid, for an effective resolution of 5120x2880 (albeit on what is effectively a 54"screen). If, by some feat of engineering, all that graphical power were poured into ONE 27" monitor, rather than FOUR, it would still only have a PPI of around 220. So, Mr. Reks, your point is well taken. While I'm sure that it's theoretically possible, I doubt Apple intends to get into the $25,000 desktop market just yet.

New iMacs are very nice. Two (count 'em two) thunderbolt ports, which seems downright silly, and all sorts of quad cores. Plus, 27" screens are a thing to behold. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't do something along the lines of a large "retina display", however.

I heard bikes are hard to train.

Also, I think it's a little pessimistic to view "most airports per capita" as a negative (Alaska).

Colorado: Most Avalanche deaths and lowest obesity rate. How about no fucking mercy.

Would that be the same Can-Am that makes this nightmare?

I drank a lot of beer I made, went out for lunch and dinner, hung out with a lot of old friends, and all in all had a great birthday. After Midnight (so not technically my birthday) I got some news that a good friend of mine, a 26 year old girl going through an ugly and unexpected divorce, was diagnosed with what appears to be serious ovarian cancer. Thankfully, this cancer puts a known (if hideous) face on some medical problems she's been going through. Unthankfully it also proves that life is a fickle bitch, and not to be trusted. Every indication is that she's going to come out the other side of this thing healthier and happier, but it's a lot to swallow for a young girl working part time for a chiropractor and living in her parents basement while waiting for a job that will provide her insurance and a stable income to help her pay off a house she can't visit or live in. Yuck.

Hi, I'm Sherwood, and I endorse the drinking of "Rocky Mountain" anything.

You guys are just so much the best that it's hard to believe. Çok teşekkür ederim, ve kolay gelsin hep beraber. Sağol, sağol, çok sağol! (roughly "thank you, thank you, thank you, don't work too hard") It has been a great day indeed, friends, in no small part due to this sort of awesomeness

I loled.

--redacted--

I doubt Wisconsin as a whole has much of a Turkish expat population, but the University of Madison Wisconsin has an Arabic, Persian and Turkish summer program that brings in faculty from around the country. I always heard good things about Madison when I lived in Boulder, CO, so I decided to give it a shot. Thanks, Sir. It should be both interesting and reclusive, though I imagine I'll get to know a small handful of people very, very well. Hopefully afterward I won't have to look up words like "saçmalık" I thought it had something to do with hair. Best of luck for your beau, Shelly. Keep in mind that silver cutlery can serve as an ample substitute for staves and stakes in a pinch.

Aw hellz yes. That is a HAT. That is about the only picture I've ever seen of a man who looks good in a hat.

Today: 1) Inked paperwork on a job at Apple. It feels like getting a job waiting tables while auditioning for my "big break", but it should be fun enough. 2) Inked the paperwork on a 2 month Turkish immersion program this summer in Wisconsin. You speak, read and listen to nothing but Turkish for 8 weeks, save Friday nights. That should be tons of fun, even though I'll not be able to participate here at all for two months.

Please for help algorithm. I made with advice of STAXLTD and SENHISER -- do you want more music bass?

That's more like it, Dan. That 7% of Fuck Off you can be proud of.

Same:

0% Fuck Off is an achievement. I just wish it didn't auto censor it to "f--- off". May I keep the bottle of La Folie?