Currawong

FWIW (nothing) I found commercial interconnects <$100, or maybe even below $200 to benefit the sound so little as not to be worth bothering with. YMMV up to $1000, where you can get most models for half their retail value on the 'gon (ie: close to the wholesale price), and where you can get more clarity in the signal, and some slight tonal changes, sometimes beneficial, sometimes not, but probably carefactor close to zero unless you have a good system in the first place. Between the cost added to the price to pay for the marketing, and the 100% or so markup from the retailer, I totally understand the criticism of them.

Don't you know if you talk about something enough, it becomes true?

Mate of mine who is a long-time hi-fi nut and lives in Berkeley has one, never failing to tell me how good it is.

Out of interest, what was the purpose in posting the comments about USB spec in his thread? Also, does it matter particularly if it meets spec or not? And yes, I think that if you can afford such a USB cable, you can afford a DAC where it wouldn't make any difference. Just wondering where useful posts ends and posting for sport begins.

Might also be worth checking the thermal paste on the CPU. Apple have been known to use crap paste, and Arctic Silver is cheap.

I don't blame them for drinking in the Polar Special. Part of their training was to be thrown into water while up there, and I've read reports of them getting frostbite and other fun. Going by the description of that Ferrari FXX though, reading between the lines, it was obviously Shuey's personal one, so obviously nobody but him was going to take it around the track. The only bad thing about the 1:10 time though is, nobody and nothing will ever beat it, and Shuey was an utterley boring guest. As for the race, just knowing that some people were crazy enough to spend 19 years building a full-spec steam train from scratch that can do 100mph (I read up on it) made it worth it.

The built-in mic is nice. I wonder how good it is.

I've seen them go for a couple of hundred less than that, and a pair of LNS in good nick for $200 or so, making it a $1k rig (excluding shipping). I've booked a listening session with a Luxman P-200 for next week with the HD-800s. I'm contemplating taking the Ref 1 with me, as they have an Esoteric D-05 I can compare it with. I was reluctant before because I didn't realise that I could park directly under the shop. The staff are keen to try the HD-800s. If DHL don't fuck up this time and the Phoenix arrives in time, I'll go for the triple bogey and compare the lot, at least as much as I can in an hour or two.

Nice score on the M^3. Now I have HD-800s, I'm unsatisfied by the C2C as well. The debug button allows you to change the volume control settings, according to the web site. Since I'm happy with the Ref 1 DAC, I'm confident I know what I'll be getting.

Edwood: The shovel action has come and gone. I've noticed people talk a lot of shit over there when waiting for gear to arrive. I'm getting one, then deciding whether I'll stick to Stax or HD-800's, as my Stax amps are borrowed at the moment and eventually they will be wanted back. It's going to have to be seriously good to make HD-800's (balanced) displace the Stax. It's a pity the DNA special for $1k happened when it did, as I'm starting to pick up a desire for a tube amp, not helped by listening with a HF-1 + Yamamoto yesterday. insyte: The Stax rig I'm using is about $1000-worth, so it's certainly better value IMO than a serious balanced rig. I had previously written off the idea of a balanced rig when I found out that I'd need $2k or thereabouts to have a balanced Beta 22 built.

Usually with Macs, it's better value to buy the full iMac anyway, not just the Mini. If you already have a monitor, they will do dual-monitor. Since they dual-boot, you can do your Autocad in Windows, and all the rest of your crap on the Mac side, if you've already bought the Windows version of Autocad. Sure they aren't the most bang-for-the-buck if power is your only consideration, but if you want to avoid the screwing around with hardware, they are a good choice.

The release date wasn't announced a year ago, but only a few days ago.

I think making people think is a worth ideal. Most would would rather die than think, as Mark Twain put it. Most thinking is just people repeating other people's ideas they've taken on as their own. I might also add, I don't value society's opinions about what is well-used time or a waste of time. I would consider I wasted a lot of time avoiding dealing with my wife, which is a waste, but some of it was spent learning (about myself!) and meeting people who became real-life friends down the track.

I remember a guy, who, back in 1995, spent 95 hours online non-stop, in chat (this was before forums, though not BBS's) and slept in the computer lab. I went through my addiction...15 years ago. I'm at the stage of getting tired of getting tired of getting tired of forums and chat. My situation is a little different -- I don't drink and my interests outside of computers and hi-fi are too obscure for forums, so beyond my family and work (which I enjoy) I don't go out much at all. I should get out in the sun more though I think, at least on my bicycle. I've given up caring about the number of years I've spent online (it's up to that amount now I'm sure). I've been pondering the interesting nature of HF/HC and how similar it is to what I experienced 15 years ago in chat with groups of people. There were the chat "super users" and the "rebels" who went off and started their own chat (which frighteningly still is running today, only the same people as back then chatting now). The only thing these forums lack is more women and members hooking up and getting married. Interesting topic.

I used to have a mouse, about 10 years ago, which had a built-in numeric keypad. The downside was it was a bit bulky. It was one of the weird things I bought the first time I came to Japan.

I might have to try un-installing it in the beta, as the one annoying program I have to use in Windows uses IE to load ads, which I get around by using Privoxy or else just setting a non-existent proxy for IE/Internet options. I think though un-installing it won't remove the ads, going by that Lifehacker article. I wonder if the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard was deliberately timed to steal the thunder of Win 7 by having a September release date.

Good value IMO would be getting the VDH cable off the roll oneself and doing one's own termination. The only stupid thing about VDH is that finished cables cost a lot more than off-the-roll does, especially since they use regular Neutrik connectors for balanced. Most of their cables are 75 Ohm, so can be used for digital or analogue. This might only be practical if you live in Europe though, as the Euro is high atm.

I'm good at stripping wire with scissors. When I was a kid, that's all I had to use.

Are they worth re-cabling balanced? Are they going to be a huge PITA to re-cable into a 4-pin XLR? I gained a new hate for Zu after doing my HD-600s.

Very cool. I had a half-persian that was like that. You could brush him for hours and he would still be shedding. I miss having a cat sometimes.

morphsci: Thanks for that summary, it helps. So the Metronome ASRC isn't needed? I'm guessing not if it isn't in that build. Some of you will be amused to know I'm contemplating gutting my Compass to use the case as a box for one, if I go ahead with a build, after I've recovered from the double-punch of HD-800s and HF-2s.

I went to the dentist today for the 4th, and final time in as many weeks. That'll teach me to have check-ups more than once every 3 years.

It would have been worth attending Canjam just to hear some of the interesting discussion I gather was had about this forum and HF. The dynamics of both forums are fascinating to observe.

Naa, you, nor the average person shouldn't be. I was just having a friendly go at grawk in relation to a convo some time back. It's supposed to be for the entry-level coming-from-just-a-soundcard-or-iPod crowd, and it has now killed the Zero thread (exept when fucking Andrea signs up and posts shit about opamps all over the forums).

I think I've got my head around it now, using the internal pic of naamanf's. I don't know what the modules are on the far left for power, nor the black box, but I got a total of $1061 for built boards, including the re-clocking board, and assuming I only need 3 power boards and three transformers, two included with the Buffalo board in dual-mono config, and one for the rest of the boards. Then I'd need help figuring out wiring for the power input to the transformers. Does this sound about right?