Lyander

That's awesome! I wish I could get along with SS but I think I'm just unfortunately fond of the sound of horrible distortion (kidding). At least I only have to worry about one 6SN7 with the Lyr. DACs are fun esp NOS + custom filters.

I wouldn't like SS without the transformers either. Don't really mess with dac filters. It's just the analog boards and now maybe the new upgrades with byggy. But i don't see the need really.

bigger sounding, and smoother, with less rounded notes.
Does seem pretty good.

Thanks for the heads up. I guess there is still a mystery behind that (whether it is true or not). In any case, I haven't touched my steam account for quite some time now, so 2FA now enabled and another new strong, super long a** gibberish password to boot.

UPDATE: seems to have been debunked so that's nice, but regular password changing is always good

https://bsky.app/profile/tannerofthenorth.bsky.social/post/3lp572utm5c2c

Big sound event in Montana was so cool! Remember being very proud of Hans/Hands when he scored 10/10 in blind amp testing!

@CEE TEE That was one of the articles over on IF that convinced me to look more deeply into audio way back and consider that there COULD be more to it than NwAvGuy-isms! I still haven't heard nearly all the TOTL stuff I've been curious about over the years cuz I dunno anyone local to me who owns em but I think I'm more curious about them than I am modern TOTL stuff.

It can feel like the fact that it's easier to get good sound for MUCH less money now has cost the hobby a lot of its fun: there are "ideal" FR targets to aim for (ha) and "perfect" rigs now like the 5128 (lol), not a lot of exploration or curiosity left. Think that's why I do treasure things like the Piety which stands out in a sea of samey chip amps and Grados which are unapologetic about their interpretativeness.

Lol, i only found out the tip was done when i had an urge to roll something else and it came off in two pieces. For my IE600 i had the ie pro silicone tips for well over a year but on a whim i wanted more isolation or maybe a different sound. Settled on the ie pro foam tips i still had. Not sure why i didn't like them last time, they are amazing.

@Riotvan that's the same thing I do to determine when I need to replace IEM tips haha. But in the case of the Spiral Dot++, I feel like the cost is GOOD reason to wait until the things start falling apart to replace em. Foams are great for a lot of IEMs I think, just that they hardly last a couple months here!

You sure have me curious about those Spiral dot's! I wouldn't use foams much either in the past. Especially the comply ones just deaden the sound too much. Also call me lazy but having to pinch and roll before inserting is annoying(i remove them often when i need to talk to someone). The Senn's don't need that, they are foam with a layer over it and you can insert like normal.

Thanks @Biodegraded, just read up on how DeoxIT is apparently not quite ideal owing to the amount of residue it leaves behind so I'm curious to check alternatives out.

Do say how well that works out for you if you do end up comparing them, @SofaSamuraiX ! Rather curious. I'm just going off random internet chatter at the moment from folks ergo why I asked for verification here.

Interesting topic. I wouldn’t know how to de-gunk anything properly. My go-to is alcohol. (I don’t mean get a drink and stare at the problem, but yeah that too)

@joch Ain't that just the way, haha. But nah the thing I've been using is WD40 Specialist Contact Cleaner and one criticism of it I've seen is that this apparently doesn't leave a protectant component in it unlike DeoxIT, so could lead to issues down the line. The MG Nutrol stuff seems to be scarcer but the most versatile thing, specifically 801 which is advertised as plastics safe.

I spent an afternoon at a classical musician friend's place listening to vinyl yesterday. I brought the TA-66 and my HD800Ss. He has a SIM Moon integrated and a some kind of fancy phono pre. I have to say I preferred the solid state out of the SIM to the TA-66 direct from his pre. SS was more "complete" sounding. I also preferred the HD650s in his chain than my HD800Ss. It really emphasized that chain is everything.

@Justin S synergy trumps MSRP indeed, plus also preferences account for a lot even when you go by technical performance I think cuz a lot of things are still down to character no? Even things like transient sharpness can be qualified as a matter of taste, so more isn't always better. Not familiar with SIM stuff but seems VERY cool

Remembered this convo cuz I revisited Piety (WTF that is a lot of bass, I was actually taken aback a bit) and one thing Marv didn't touch on vs Pietus @roshambo123 is that the Lyr+ just has an eerily OUT there stage with great delineation. Pietus allegedly has more width but similar upfrontedness as Piety, so you'd get more exaggerated contrasts of depth vs Lyr.

@Thad E Ginathom - I remember reading somewhere that UK plugs are designed the way they wire everything is atrocious. So they over-engineer the plugs to compensate

I don't *think* that's true: British wiring is usually, in my opinion, done to a high standard and is subject to inspection with regulations that are enforce. A far cry from my adopted country.

India, by the way, follows Britain. But the *old* British round-pin plugs.

I think that, at the time Britain introduced the new system, it also introduced the *ring main*. The reason for this was a post-war shortage of copper. A ring main uses far less than lots of spurs. It also fetches current from both sides so it can be smaller guage.

Also check out Mad Season. Like a grunge supergroup but stepping outside of just grunge in style. I like the live performance of 'Long Gone Day'. And if you haven't found them already, Mother Love Bone is a must.

I read this wrong and thought you were referring to Hair of a Dog (the Nazareth album). Was going to to say, I didn't remember highs being that bad on there, lol

Don't forget the Singles soundtrack as well.

May your kitty get well soon. That kitty won the kitty lotto in the cat distribution system with you as a pet parent.

Wishing your cat a full recovery. Visit her regularly in the hospital. It will be good for both of you.

Yes, do regular visits: she needs you.

And if you do happen to find your *car* sneaking off to hide at the back of building, it means it needs some TLC too.

Love to Puss. Hope she's doing well.

I did think that the body horror aspect was over the top towards the end, but not enough so that it really detracted much from the intended effect I think. But yeah it really was just mainly the way it presented the societal pressures and how folks TRY to navigate them that really got under my skin. Sometimes a lack of subtlety can work wonders.

The scenes toward the end were magnificent. Came away from it thinking I'd watched 2 movies, a good serious one *and* a great vintage splatter!

@Biodegraded GREAT analogy, it was a 2.5 hour runtime thing and I do think that there was a definite gearshift in the back half. Even the vintage splatter had some genuinely emotional moments for me. I was hesitant to watch the film cuz it was being hyped to hell, turns out I actually liked it a lot too.

@Kernel Kurtz lmao agreed! Had a celeb crush on her since Death Stranding!

If it's easy enough to open up i'd replace the battery. Found this post with some info to look out for: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/16e59xd/fiio_btr5_how_to_replace_a_battery_and_where_do_i/

Nice! I think the unit in the BTR7 is an 800mAh one so I'll be trying to find a compatible part number. Won't be trying to dismantle it quite yet, hah. Thanks @Riotvan !

No worries dude, hope you get it fixed!

I use a Dayton Audio DATS

Measurement procedure & circuit:

https://www.roomeqwizard.com/help/help_en-GB/html/impedancemeasurement.html#top

Pic of actual wiring for resistor circuit (pretty scruffy!):

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/measurement-setups-post-your-rig.141/page-14#post-336645

And if you want to use the measurements to see how amp output Z will distort the FR of a particular headphone:

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/frequency-response-vs-amplifier-output-impedance-calculator-for-rew.7008/

Give me a shout if you have questions :)

I normally order one "meh" bag of coffee along with something nicer and more interesting like a G1 Masha or Yirgacheffe to let it rest, opened the nice bag too early by mistake and yeah was too vegetal right at the beginning and only started really turning *nice* right as I was running out today.

Buy more for sharing!

To quote Bill Hicks: "did I miss a meeting?"

@Deep Funk some zombified accounts engaged in trades and now @rhythmdevils has to deal with PayPal refunds. Hopefully that gets sorted and is the full extent of the damage

I missed quite some meetings indeed.

@Cspirou this is why I'm wondering if the wall-warts are still good to use. But per @atomicbob earlier LPS seem to be less apt than SMPS at suppressing over-voltage events so maybe the bricks are still good to use, just that it was too much for the board.

Also, I tracked voltage over the day and it ranges from ~226V to 250V, latter isn't typical per se but it is something that my mains seems to drift to just out of hand. I'm sitting at around 243V atm. Never realised how weird my wall power was, but it'd explain the appliances sometimes randomly dying or power strips melting

Most schiit wall bricks are just transformers. So if it didn't burn, explode, melt or otherwise appear damaged simply measure the AC output with a DMM. If that is an appropriate voltage then it will be ok.

226 to 250 Vac is quite a range. A small variac to protect your audio equipment by lowering the range to 216 to 240 might be prudent.

Freaky ghost bed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdyU_gW6WE

I don't believe MMB2 USB-C connector uses USB power and probably has no connections to those USB pins.

@atomicbob That's what I was thinking too else the MMB2 wouldn't NEED the barrel plug, but given I concede a lot of ignorance I was wondering whether or not I could be overlooking something. Thanks for taking the time to allay a silly fear

Thanks for the heads up! I was able to switch it to the classic before I got charge the extra for stupid AI crap that I was forced to sign up!

@theveterans glad it helped. Someone needs to have a baseball bat shoved up their butt for forcing people into this, like even if they CAN afford the 30% bump at least be upfront about having the option to NOT use the AI tier.

But what should we have expected? The new tier system was probably designed by the AI ;)

I was about to say that yeah the prices were out for everything. These could be worth keeping in mind as an alternative to the 6xx depending on their characters

Just noticed that the maximum input power is highest on the R50x (1.6W) as opposed to 1W on both the R70xa and the R30x. Curious about the difference in power handling. 470R impedance for the 70xa, 50R on the 50x, and 47R on the 30x besides gradually increasing sensitivity. Looks fun.

I've got the refine loaner. It wants so much power. Didn't try it on an OTL but for low Z amps it wants the juice. On MJ3 it needs an additional 15-20 degrees of turn vs 300 ohm senns

Inland Empire is the only movie I’ve ever walked out of crying.

His family statement in part: “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not the hole’”

This news got me, we lost a really good one.

RIP. I’m thinking back at his version of Dune…I still enjoy this more visually than the recent two-parters with CGI.