The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

good developers like getting paid at the end of the day. all of the great free plugins eventually became paid. why should they make their code open source and undermine their livelihoods?

 

To follow up on this, I feel even dumber because this time was the easiest out of any time I’ve swapped 300B’s. I legit think I may just have had a problem because I was using the base of the glass as leverage (which I’ve since read is not a good idea - you could detach the glass from the base or break the glass) when pulling up and out instead of just grabbing the base. Whatever the case, they slid in and out easily this time. I did see a video by Thomas & Stereo reviewing the Reisong A50 where he mentioned a similar problem but his sockets just made a click when they accept the tube, which doesn’t happen with Studio B.

Anyway, don’t be like me and make sure you avoid the glass when inserting/removing big tubes in SET/DHT amps, if possible.

 

This is a bit of a random query: my wife's an avid swimmer and would like some kind of system to play music while doing laps in the pool. She tried a headset tied to her phone but the connection kept cutting out. She's looked at Amazon options like these:



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQX37VY7?starsLeft=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_sms_apin_dp_GTDRYCQ1D4CSSYDSVQJ8

The catch is that she doesn't like IEMs with a deep insertion. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

I wound up changing my A/V rack setup. I went with two heavy duty Sanus three shelf racks side by side (black on black); it's a much better setup for the main rig. I'll keep my old custom wood rack for a future secondary system.
All the components now have their own shelf, no need to stack them; it also looks pretty darn good.

 

I'm thinking of going on a road trip with my wife in the next couple of months, and we want a high-quality portable speaker (Bluetooth probably). Anyone have any good recommendations?

 

^Decent-quality = Used Riva? I have a Riva TurboX and a smaller Riva S that I have taken on trips. Issue might be battery quality and battery life if buying used. (Also- there might be better new stuff out there.)

 

I really like the Vifa bluetooth speakers: https://www.vifa.dk/collections
I own the Helsinki, Copenhagen, and the Stockholm. Pricey, but they sound excellent without getting boomy bloat and sound bigger than they are. For carting around on a road trip, probably the Helsinki or Oslo would be best. Helsinki and Copenhagen are relatively neutral sounding. The Oslo is more V shaped.

 

The Bang & Olufsen stuff is quite good. I personally heard the A1, which is a bit light on bass but otherwise excellent, and the Level, which is good, but far too expensive for what it does (while the price for the A1 isn’t cheap, too, but okay-ish in my eyes—used ones are great value, IMHO).

 

For my laps I have used a dap from H20 Audio (several to choose from on Amazon). Wired earbuds, so you have to hook/intertwine the wires and dap into your goggle straps, which works better than it sounds it would.

Thing is I have not used it a while, as I found I personally found music during swimming somewhat a distraction, unlike say when I'm on an tread/elliptical. SQ of these units is what you would expect from the price point and use case, but it could be nice for a person who enjoys music with swimming...

 

I swam miles each day in my twenties, some of it in the ocean, most in lap pools. In those days there were no earbuds, no way to listen to music (or anything else) while swimming.

I probably wouldn't have used it, even if it was available. Water is an impaired acoustic environment for humans. I appreciated the isolation it provided. After a couple hours in the water, the sensory deprivation factor becomes intense. It felt like meditating, but in an auditory vacuum, while constantly moving.

 

Maybe try bone conduction headphones while swimming?