Sherwood

Helpful information, gentlemen, thanks. I’ve not found any lono transformers with the right windings yet, but I did find a 500W Plitron step down converter that handles 220v-110v here: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32979526968.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.58bb3e80yKcyh9 I’m always leery of Aliexpress, but does that look genuine to you?

The 220v - 110v step down transformers your tax dollars bought me have an audible 50Hz hum coming from the transformer and it’s driving me crazy. I’d like to source an alternative low-wattage (under 200) unit that will be dead silent for my listening room, but I’d like to know for sure it’s silent before I ship it all the way to Moldova and plug it in. Any d-_-b recommendations?

I just preordered Cyberpunk from GOG for like $30. It’s some kind of Polish patriotic deal, and we win big time. If you haven’t bought it yet I’d suggest taking a look.

I’m interested in your opinions. It appears to tick a lot of boxes for audio geeks, but the long build time and relative obscurity put me off.

Bryan, I know you specified vintage but there are some good modern R2R dacs. Take a look at the Denafrips Ares II, for example https://www.vinshineaudio.com/product-page/denafrips-ares-r2r-dac

I'm a sucker for Stephenson stuff, even his more navel-gazey work really does it for me. Fall is perhaps not the place to start if you're not already a fan, but I just find his thought process and world-building compelling. I did not enjoy it as much as Seveneves, and Diamond Age remains my favorite of all his books. I did prefer it to Reamde. The reviews are a little harsher but similar in tone to those of Seveneves. Normies don't like 600+ pages of exposition from a layman on fringe tech with their speculative fiction, maybe? I just discard out of hand any review which mentions Snow Crash.

This is an exciting development.

I liked sonarworks when I used JRiver, but since switching to Roon I haven't figured out how. Is anyone here more knowledgeable in this regard?

Agreed, I'm a big fan. Honestly, I didn't even need the creatures and mansion, though I am sure they'll add intrigue. The sense of total foreboding, of setting out into a hostile and uncharted world was palpable, all the more so because it's actually a world I am comfortable in but the characters were not. It's done more to take me out of myself than most horror/fantasy I've seen recently, and I'm a genre devotee. Full marks. That they should so handily embrace the mythos and confront the bigot who wrote it is an added narrative benefit. There could not have been a better moment for this show, and it wears its timeliness with confidence. Also, and please don't let this distract from the above, Jurnee Smollett is hot.

^^ Worth it.

I have spent all the money necessary to play MSFS, and the parts are all winging their way to me now. I'm hopeful I'll have everything sorted by next weekend.

I switched from Logic to Ableton five years ago and I feel pretty comfortable in it. I watch plenty of tutorials and still think "ho-lee-shit. That's how they do that." all the time, but that's part of the fun. I use it on Windows, which is total blasphemy and I understand if none of you want to talk to me ever again.

Here’s an excerpt: ”Being as frank as I was first review around I was very sceptical about these types of audio tweaks being pretty sceptical until I tried the previous tweak from Coconut Audio, the Vibradome Blue Star, the placing of which on several audio components made an easily audible difference.” Maybe he’s just not a native thought-haver?

In that case, I'd budget for curtains.

Not a one smoothie has come even close to killing me, and I still never make them. Your stubborn devotion to blending overripe bananas with potentially-lethal mystery powders is noble and insane, knucks.

Why go to the trouble to put such a nice system in your kill room?

I love Fang. Did I ever tell you guys about the time he rear-ended me in Tianjin and then had his wife's dad fix my car while I took painting lessons at his expense?

It’s fantastic, Greg, thank you. I got a case of Moldova-specific varietals like Rara Neagra delivered last night and started loading up the cellar. I also grabbed the “delectable” app to start keeping track of what I’ve tried.

^^ This is fantastic advice, as per usual.

I will of course visit, but I doubt many of those bottles are any good.

It's Ableton live or nothing. I find the best online instruction for Ableton, lately.

Friends and Mentors, I recently moved overseas to Moldova, a country where 70% of the population is economically dependent in some way on the wine industry. The wines themselves are not very well known internationally, but their primacy in their own country means that wine is consumed at virtually every meal and imported wine is essentially nonexistent. Domestic wine is both a huge business and a central part of culture here. One perk of my housing here is a 1000-bottle subterranean wine cellar, which currently sits empty. I am not well-versed in wine, but considering all the above and an average price of $6 a bottle on the local economy now seems like the perfect time to learn. I've known you all to be fine ladies and gentlemen, and I'm in need of some advice. Do any of you have suggestions on apps I should be using, things I should be trying, or traditions I should be observing while I attempt to educate myself and fill this thing up?

On the go it's airpods pro. They're wildly convenient, though hardly great-sounding. At home it's HD800s, vintage Grado RS-1s, or JH13s if I need privacy. Looks like the Raals are the new hotness, so I will probably grab those.