Official Head-Case Audio Confessional (post your (audio)sins here)

[Knuckledragger]

i buried 17 people in my basement. wait, wrong thread.

That's damping to improve bass response, you're in the right thread, sir.

[postjack]

Father, please forgive me for I have committed one of the worst sins against this Holy House and this headphones hobby. I purchased a Rudistor RPX-100, and also a Ray Samuels SR-71. After a few months I'm still keeping them, and what is worse, I can enjoy their sound

Yea, I say unto you verily, that iniquities such as those which involve unapproved manufacturers are the greatest of all sins. For surely the mad high priest gilmore will be along shortly to post gigantic jpegs, and these will be shewn unto us with accompanying explanations that waver between the cryptic and sarcastic, and I prophesize that only 4% of the community will know what the hell he is talking about because it all has to do with some meet that happened four or five years ago, and even those 4% won't totally get it because the technical details are too confusing, so basically it will turn into another three way pissing match between earl, hirsch, and kg, because somehow singlepower will become involved, but yea, fear not of high priest gilmore, because he designed the BH on a cocktail napkin while intoxicated in a tropical paradise, and this was good.

Also Billy is into Ray's stuff and we all love Billy.

I own not one, but two Monster power conditioners. HTS 5100 Mk II.

Also, I own a pair of Sony MDR-V700DJs, which are the worst headphones in existence. I bought them in 1999 or 2000, when they were a then-new product, and every DJ had to have a pair. I have atoned for this sin fully by owning MDR-7506s for nearly as long, and upgrading them to Beyer pads. I also have some HD-280s. I was once tempted by a pair of Ultrasone DJ-Pro1s, but I resisted, and I'm glad I did.

In 2008, my only major audio sin as been severe disorganization. I bought an upsampling digital source that's single-ended only right before I finally committed to going balanced.

Yea, fear not, for Barry Diament also rocks Monster Power Conditioners, and when I first read that I was like "woah really", for bdiament is truly blessed amongst all men, but he also always defends things like magic marbles and the telekinesis phone call grain remover thing, not like he endorses it, but he's always over at sh.tv saying "wull guys u never know it could work", but he mastered the early Def Jam Slayer releases, which is awesome. For your penance, spend 30 minutes to rock their seminal thrash metal classic, "Reign In Blood". And rejoice at the clean power from your Monster gear!

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I have too much gears, and I don't sell shit, and I don't even listen to half the gears I have, and all I do is sit around and listen to music with some of my gears, and not even the best ones.

Yea, s'cool, I like the whole black thing you got going on.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Father I confess to sins going back many years:

Glutony- bought more amps than I need, and I have three sets of speakers in one room; I only have one set of ears you know,

Lust- I want, Al's, Mike's system's and Aardvark's vinyl collection, all at a discount,

Greed-I want more gear in 2009 so I will not take the " no_____ in 2009" pledge,

Sloth- I have posted questions on HeadCase without first using the search function,

Wrath- I over react to noob lameness even though I am a perpetual noob,

Envy- I want more and better music than anyone,

Pride- I am a Audio Aero Capitole and Trafomatic fanboy.

I seek your forgiveness Father PJ.

Gluttony - Yea, if one amp brings happiness, then surely multiple amps will multiply that happiness. Rejoice, for you have not sinned, and the community looks favorably upon thee.

Lust - Yea, but you neglected PJs pretty sweet vinyls, including a recently completed studio album original pressing Metallica LP collection and that gnarly NIN box set that came out last summer, and the Beatles BC-13 box and a handful of the Hoffman 45s, which is pretty cool, and shit who doesn't want moar vinyl? even grawk owns a turntable now.

Greed & Envy - Yea, the heart desires more gear, but the soul desires more vinyl. Strike the balance and your attachments will dissolve.

Sloth & Wrath twofer - Yea, just make sure you yell at newbs who post such easily searched for questions, even though you have done the same, by antagonizing others your sin becomes less, and your questions are more important then theirs, and who the fuck do they think they are anyway you been at head case they new damn

Pride - Yea, Quad.

Forgive me for I have also passed on the "crack vile" to others at the recent NY meet by introducing them to orthodynamics.

Yea, PJ has not heard an Ortho, and honestly for a while I thought orthodynamics were some kind of medical headphone. I don't know exactly what I meant by thinking that, like maybe ear pieces that were used in hospitals in the 70s and now steve puts them in wood or something. fuck i don't know.

I bought an XLR cable and I realized later that I have absolutely no need to go balanced and I should have not sold the Pico.

Yea, Picos are plentiful, and you can devour the XLR cable for nourishment.

Forgive me, for I own and still enjoy my Ultrasone Edition 9...knowing it is a sin against the community that lives here.

Forgive me, for I not only own one by two of the Lavry DA10s...knowing again the sin against this community which this seems to be.

But penitence was made by buying a Headamp KGSS amp and other Stax equipment.

Forgiveness may never be allowed for these sins I know, but I can only hope.

Yea, speak freely the name of your loves, for you have come unto HC free of asshattery, and lo, you have withstood the judgement of the community and lost 80 pounds in the process.

I like Westone 3 so far

Yea, your new order page looks nice.

Please forgive me for I have sinned. I've now sold off 95% of my wast Stax collection so unknowing, innocent souls, infecting them with the need, no craving, for electrostatic goodness that knows no bounds. This is the most heinous of acts as it may lead to financial ruin and countless hours spent checking Y!JP for rare models to pop up. :'(

Yea, but you offered rare staxen to the community and good prices, surely this is a good, regardless of the yahoo japan ending.

Forgive me... I bought a chuck for my lathe and 2 blocks of cocobolo to woody my D2000s and have yet to even unpack them.

Yea, to procrastinate is to err, and to unpack is a pain in the ass sometimes, just make sure your mom doesn't come over and accidentally throw away the box, and then you have to go in the garbage to retrieve the opamps marc sent you. Surely the penance here is obvious: get to turning, and post many pictures.

Forgive me, for I no longer have a single pair of full-sized headphones or dedicated headphone amp.

Yea, your penance is an HD650 and an amp of your choice, preferably a good value DIY affair. Even if you don't listen to them you kind of have to keep them around.

I spent 3,000 dollars on yet another DAC before the year ends... I promised myself I wouldn't buy this dac until the next year, but that is not to be

Now I will go TVless... or will I??

Yea, digital sucks.

[postjack]

well, PJ didn't quote me, so make that 18. see you soon, Jack, shovel in hand.

I started that reply an hour and twenty five minutes before I submitted it. :'(

[postjack]

and that's my fault because? you'd better say bye to your folks.

[Knuckledragger]

Yea, fear not, for Barry Diament also rocks Monster Power Conditioners, and when I first read that I was like "woah really", for bdiament is truly blessed amongst all men, but he also always defends things like magic marbles and the telekinesis phone call grain remover thing, not like he endorses it, but he's always over at sh.tv saying "wull guys u never know it could work", but he mastered the early Def Jam Slayer releases, which is awesome. For your penance, spend 30 minutes to rock their seminal thrash metal classic, "Reign In Blood". And rejoice at the clean power from your Monster gear!

Now that some penance I can get behind!

[Dusty Chalk]

Thread delivers. PJ delivers.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Depending on one's position, I suppose these all could be considered "audio sins," not that any of them bother me:

I never have, nor intend to own a turntable/vinyl

I never have, nor intend to own an Apple product (iPood or computer)

My system has always gone through either a computer or DAP

I play lossless files (as opposed to WAV files or CD's)

[wrecked_porsche]

Forgive me for I have been using my laptop's headphone jack as source for my Lambda Sig+T1 while my DAC is out for repairs. I also have an Acoustic Research AR-ES1 turntable that has just been sitting in a box for weeks because I have been too frightened to get into vinyl... My excuse is that its missing a stylus and I don't know jack shit about TTs... Please forgive me.

[guzziguy]

<snip>

... and I don't know jack shit about TTs... Please forgive me.

Taking Jack's name in vain isn't a good way to get forgiveness.

[wrecked_porsche]

Taking Jack's name in vain isn't a good way to get forgiveness.

Shoot! I didn't notice that.

Now I'm going to go to (audio)hell for sure. :(

Please, please forgive me Father Posty.

[Asr]

There's really only one thing I'd like to confess here. I enjoyed selling a Singlepower amp to get it off my hands and will freely admit to no longer being a supporter of that business, as I was in 2006-07.

I was also seriously hoping to buy fewer and cheaper components this year but ended up doing quite the opposite with some major purchases on the CDP, interconnect, headphone, and amp fronts. I neglected to note my BHSE pre-order in my earlier post in the other related thread - by far the next most I've ever spent on a single component yet (the single most expensive was the dCS P8i CDP).

Oh and some time after I paid in full for my BHSE, I almost thought about selling my place in line. Later changed my mind, I think I would've incurred the wrath of the Stax Mafia if maybe I hadn't...

Er actually I might as well also add that I sold Pico #11 that I bought - with no regrets. I don't like every single HeadAmp product, the Pico was actually the first one I didn't like, sorry Justin.

[Currawong]

Forgive me this year, for I sinned by buying not one, but TWO flavors of the month on head-fi.

[MASantos]

Forgive me father for I have sinned, I still have an revMillett Hibrid to finish (the one that Nate and Drew organized wayyyyyy back). I never finished the casework. I also have a TPA opus dac to finish.

The worst sin this year was not being able to demove by brother of buying creative earphones...

[postjack]

I have sinned against the audio gods by spending more time praying to the gods of fresh powder.

Yea, so long as you are outside in the snow, and not inside face down in the "snow", you are blessed. Don't follow your nose to where the coconut grows, lest ye end up at Vicki's place of business.

I bought a dozen ABBA LP's at a garage sale.

Yea, I purchased a dozen Neil Diamond LPs on eBay for $10.

i buried 17 people in my basement. wait, wrong thread.

Yea, and I say unto you verily, you are the right hand of the community, you display our strength by murdering people who annoy you.

Depending on one's position, I suppose these all could be considered "audio sins," not that any of them bother me:

I never have, nor intend to own a turntable/vinyl

I never have, nor intend to own an Apple product (iPood or computer)

My system has always gone through either a computer or DAP

I play lossless files (as opposed to WAV files or CD's)

Yea, vinyl is a pain in the ass sometimes and I don't blame you, but man, at least be open to the idea. See what I said earlier about grawk. he has like a bunch of different copies of Raw Power now, how sweet is that?

Yea, I'm beginning to think Apple kind of sucks because they have this way of making their last generation products look like old pieces of shit from the 80s or something. Like when you look at a white or mac blackbook that looked so cool not but 4 months ago, today it looks like plastic garbage you wipe your ass with and shit on, while the newer "unibody" laptop is awesome and I want to eat an egg on it and then clean it real good and be like check out my laptop guys.

Yea, we are the Squeezebox generation, and WAV files are untaggable and even though hard drive space is relatively cheap, still it gets to be crazy how many hard drives you have hooked up when you can hear them all individually spinning up everytime you open Windows Explorer, and truly FLAC sounds the same anyway, just don't bring that MP3 shit around unless its portable.

[Dusty Chalk]

... dCS P8i...

Have you posted impressions of that somewhere?

[recstar24]

I sold the Zana:(

[morphsci]

I own an ES-1 and I like it.

I owned an RSA Stealth and SR-71 and liked them both.

I sold an original Hornet and then bought another one.

I cannot hear any difference between CD, WAV, FLAC and ALAC (when all other variables are carefully controlled).

I care how my gear looks as well as how it sounds.

I am a gear whore.

Please forgive these sins, both venial and mortal, most holy postjack

[Hopstretch]

I built two separate and rather spiffy home theater systems this year and hardly ever watch or play anything on either of them.

[mulveling]

Oh father posty, absolve me for I am lost from my flock!

I bought an HP2 for a THIRD time.

I might repeat the cycle again

I dropped ungodly amounts of money on audio gear, in the face of my girlfriend, before Christmas.

She buys me vinyl and prodded me to get the turntable

I quit drinking for the better part of the year.

It's great to enjoy good tunes with some beers again

After preaching for years on my preference for headphones, I finally got a good-sounding room and became a...speaker man! Hypocrisy!

I became a raving fanboy of another brand - Tannoy.

I began to shun modern expensive hifi gear in favor of moderately priced well-engineered vintage gear, where possible. Not sure if this one is a sin...

I gave up completely what little faith I had in cables, power conditioning, boutique caps, etc. Not sure if that's considered a sin in your church, either.

I dropped off the audio forums for the better part of the year

[Knuckledragger]

I began to shun modern expensive hifi gear in favor of moderately priced well-engineered vintage gear, where possible. Not sure if this one is a sin...

IANPJ, but this is decidedly a virtue.

[recstar24]

Oh father posty, absolve me for I am lost from my flock!

I bought an HP2 for a THIRD time.

I might repeat the cycle again

I dropped ungodly amounts of money on audio gear

After preaching for years on my preference for headphones, I finally got a good-sounding room and became a...speaker man! Hypocrisy!

I became a raving fanboy of another brand - Tannoy.

I gave up completely what little faith I had in cables, power conditioning, boutique caps, etc. Not sure if that's considered a sin in your church, either.

Jeebus, it's scary how similar are interests have been for the past couple of years!

Father PJ, forgot to add that I as well bought hp2's for the 4th time this year, dropped plenty of money on gear I do not need, began listening to those dreaded big boxes with little drivers on them, got crazy into vintage klipsch only to sell those freaking boxes within a week (darn WAF), and have done away with power conditioning crap and random audiophilia tweaks.

Random off topic - mike, would love to hear your thoughts on the vintage tannoy's. They have this one 12" coaxial driver hi sensitive vintage model that is supposed to be fantastic, but rare and expensive (can't think of it anymore). I believe they had a couple of speakers that would probably sound fantastic with my 2a3 or 45 tubes

[Asr]

Have you posted impressions of that somewhere?

Death...by the dCS P8i - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Worst "high-end" equipment you've heard - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

[aerius]

You know, if it weren't christmas eve I'd be asking some serious questions about the following.

From the first thread:

The P8i and I have finally met. Have already listened for a few hours. This machine is absolutely flooring me, if you guys want the short version.

2nd thread:

In a general sense, yeah this CDP was ok, I guess. But for a machine that cost $14K when it was production, it sounded pretty terrible - I mean we're talking $14K here! It should sound freakin' amazing!

Unless of course by "flooring" you actually mean "what the fuck is this godawful shit?!"

[Dusty Chalk]

What, people aren't allowed to change their mind in hindsight? What, they can't be guilty of "new gearz disease"?

[guzziguy]

No flip-flopping in the 21st century.