Lyander

@Wilson A place called Pagudpud. Basically the furthest north you can go short of taking a boat ride to the tiny islands up top. Beautiful scenery! I felt like a character in a fantasy game walking around there. Man, almost makes me want to give up city living. Will be sharing pics soon :)

I went to Sagada many years ago. Truly beautiful.

Awesome! I don't think I've ever been there, or if I have been it was over a decade ago. Lots of people recommend it for sightseeing, I may head there myself when I can afford the time.

I may be biased but yeah, this is a beautiful country with nice people (for the most part...). Just need to keep the pollution in check so it stays that way.

@Senorx12562 , you contribute good to the world: hope it reflects some back to you. Wishing you well.

@Senorx12562 FWIW I believe no one is beyond help.
(not judging I swear)
If music helps at this point, go with it. Hopefully you'll find another way to 'be' in the world.
But PLEASE keep moving forward.

@Senorx12562 Nah dude, it's not like I'm doing this just cuz. I genuinely like you, and I mean that. You're a cool dude, at least from what I've seen of you on here, so it'd be my pleasure.

@Thad E Ginathom Oh I can certainly hear it, it's just that I'm worried because there was an upper treble spike on my cans that used to bother me, but now it doesn't, even at moderate volumes: https://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/massdrop-fostex-th-x00-ebony-measurements.2434/

Used to pride myself on being sensitive to something so high up, haha.

Take care of your ears, especially in your youth when you really want stuff to be loud. Else you end up spending half of your life *needing* them to be loud.

But... maybe your brain's highly advanced eq system adjusted to that spike?

Well I got the Fostexes in Feb and they only stopped bothering me recently so...

But yeah. Invest in IEMs with a good seal to double as earplugs and don't crank the volume up (except maybe a teensy bit for really good songs).

I think they often do that if there is a bassline so they don't muddy up the vocals.

@Riotvan Because bass is basically impossible to localise, yeah? That... is the single most plausible explanation I've heard yet. Learning something new every day over here. Thanks! :))

Yep, been listening to Nirvana and Michael Jackson. Bass is important here.

"Hyperbolical" what a nice word! I'm inspired today, so here's a short poem:
"Reviews are hyperbolical
as porn is hyperphallical"

That's it, have a nice day!

HAHA! @9suns friend, you should have a career making this crap up XD

@Magnetostatic_Tubephile Just saw you edited your post! I agree that upgrading DACs after a certain price point (say, Modi Multibit level) is akin to using a set square to make sure that the length of each blade of grass on one's lawn is within a mm of acceptable tolerances, but given my experiences between the iFi/Chord/Schiit (granted, not blind), I feel I may look into it after I sort the front end out a bit more :)

@Jinxy245 's idea has value.

Just get the tape OEM to print you a custom label, find someone local to make you cheap wooden boxes, line them with dollar store fake velvet, and say the tape is made from plasma-deposited pixie wings and the glue from boiled unicorns.

When you become a well-paid rich person, don't forget your friends. Meaning me.

@Jinxy245 HAHA! I swear if I had no integrity I might actually do just that. Something about helping galvanic isolation and adding to the skin effect. Sad thing is I feel many might actually fall for that :/

@Thad E Ginathom Nope, just the stock HD800 cable. My friend bought it used and has had it for a few years (S/N 228XX), but the local climate just really sucks for cable longevity.

@Taverius Definitely not gonna forget about you guys! Gonna be sending you free samples each ;) (lol!)

Jokes aside, I actually gave it some thought after reading your comments and figure I could come up with some shmancy packaging to go with the tape. Might ask for woodworking advice from @Elnrik or something.

Please, dont make your ears bleed to much... only the necessary ... lol

Hahaha! After my recent mishap I'm much more careful about that sorta thing :P

At worst a day without music. Some days I keep total silence until I hear all my clocks ticking...

My routine, whenever actual volume is an unknown, is to put the phones off my ears and round my neck. But sometimes, I forget that too.

My worry is that the stuffiness had been around for a couple days now. Something tells me I need more of a break. Sigh

buy him chocolate!

That bites. Virginia usually that bad? And yeah. I want to rip my skin off and crawl info a freezer.

Dubai is a challenge in summer too. Last year we had a few +50°C (actual shade temp) +95% humidity days. Average is 46°/48° and 80% ish. Plus side is we spend a lot of our free time in the swimming pool!

I'm going to bookmark this for the summer so I don't complain.

Yikes.

Nice! Her previous album was a winner.

Might be a bit biased (her last album was my introduction to her work), but I have to agree! The lady knows how to make good music. Puberty 2 also has a few tracks I keep on for gear evaluation, haha.

Yes

Lana Del Rey nearly unlistenable on my current rig :(

I think that any sort of skills like plumbing, carpentry, etc include taking care of stuff, whether its their own tools, or the customer's property. Yes, they are responsible.

Frankly? They gunked up a couple drawers so badly it was impossible to open em, the finish on my bedside table has bubbles bigger than the Japanese economy, and I just don't agree with the choice of colour (I can blame my family for that last one).

Something tells me I'm a bit too lax about this sorta thing.

@Thad E Ginathom Huh, don't think I've heard that joke before. Medicine still seems like a lucrative business, and I almost went to med school myself, but life happened and I chose psychology. No real regrets other than maybe less money for new books and fun things, but all that aside, I do agree that they might need to brush up on "How to Handle Shit That Isn't Yours 101"

From what i've seen they've been dropping consistently once a month on Massdrop. Previous drop lasted pretty much the whole drop duration, so probably no need to rush once they appear.

Really? Seemed to me they've been gone for a while before they went live again recently. Then again, I don't exactly check MD daily so there's a *small* chance I missed it.

They do go down for a week i remember, but yeah they're dropping every month (February dropped, March dropped, April dropped, and currently dropping in May)

@Taverius I will say that these are a tad less comfy than the X00s. More ear clearance and better headband padding besides, but the earpads are stiffer and it just seems a tad heavier, even though these SHOULD be about 10g lighter

I haven't owned X00s but that's not greatly encouraging :D

HAHA! DT880s (aftermarket pads) are still the comfiest cans I've ever owned. I wouldn't say the HP-3 is uncomfortable by any means, it's plenty spacious and the weight is nicely distributed. I'm just being super nitpicky because, well, not cheap cans :))

@Elnrik Yeah! Once I figure someone's actually genuinely nice I have fewer suspicions about them making fun of me online :))

Thanks for the consideration though, I can see why you thought it necessary XD

@Kunlun "It's also good for wiping butts."

It doesn't take long living in a country where they use sprays to find start finding that idea really disgusting.

Going to England soon. Yuck! A month of smearing shit over my backside!

@Thad E Ginathom my original reply to @Kunlun was "only barbarians would dare waste TP to wipe their backsides, real men use bidets /s", but I figured that was a bit too punitive :))

@FallingObjects I'll concede it was only recently that I found out Root A deviated from the manga in a big way— always figured they were just trying to cram so much crud into the one season that they just imploded!

I liked RA. Not as much as the first season, not by a long shot, but it was a damn sight better than this trashfire that reminds me so strongly of Taboo Tattoo. *shudder*

Hey, if you ever feel like you need a palate cleanser, you could always try to watch the 2016 Berserk adaptation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also I haven't seen Taboo Tattoo, but the reviews for it are... less than enthusiastic.

@FallingObjects I love the Berserk manga and the original anime, the newer one... less than love. As for Taboo Tattoo, sweet fajitas that was a disappointment. The first few episodes were actually pretty good, but then it all just came apart at the seams like a condom made from paper towels towards the end. I don't even know what they were thinking. Whatever the MAL rating is, it's about 10 points too high.

@Jinxy245 "user error" is a polite way of saying that I'm a forgetful sonnuvagun, but yeah, I'll keep that in mind :))

And then some dacs like the Topping D30 I had will clip on some loudish bass notes(no EQ) like from great but poorly recorded new London Grammar cd. Or my particular dac was defective.

@bixby Hey, I'm using a Bifrost Multibit which is measurably inferior to the D30! No surprise the clipping was much worse on mine. EQ? Pshh, everyone uses EQ, it should be accounted for!

Also, yeah, I love London Grammar but the sq out of their albums makes me wanna cry. I can listen to the whole album on repeat, but I do wish production were better.

Haha! @Thad E Ginathom I'm actually amenable to using EQ, but mods are nicer (IMO) if only because they don't change when I plug my cans into, say, a random phone :))

As for better cables, I'm thinking I'll just see what my local shops have in store, as per @bixby. While I do appreciate Blue Jeans having a great rep, I'm still at a stage where I'm more concerned about components than wires, haha!

@bixby "There is nothing magic about blue jeans..."

That's why I like them so much :)

I completely agree that any well-made cable with good components will do fine. I wouldn't say that Blue Jeans would be better. What I really like about the company is the educational material.

I referred so many people to their articles, so often, that when the rare day came that I actually needed a new set of cables, I thought I should put money and mouth in the same place.

... As in the Multibit, USB Gen 5 kind XD

Thanks, @Elnrik!

Welcome! Hope you enjoy it muchly!

I very likely will! Not quite confident in my ability to convey impressions yet for if and when I do decide to post a few words on it, but eh, practise :P