Merrick

@JK47 @MellowVelo Currently borrowing an MM-6 while I wait for my MP-7 order to arrive. I ordered on a while back but canceled and took a detour for a bit with the Tavish Adagio.

Glad to hear you’re back in the queue for the MP-7. How was the Tavish?

@MellowVelo It was good! Very liquid presentation. I wrote up more about it in the Tavish thread.

Congrats! I thought about this one for a long time too as an upgrade from the MP110 but decided that I want to try MC (AT33PTG/II).

I’ll always be curious though..

@JayC I have an AT33ML/OCC, which I believe is the predecessor to yours. I prefer the Nagaoka personally but they’re both great.

Thats interesting! Would be nice to hear more about the comparison. There isnt enough analog content here so it would be a really nice addition to the cartridge thread..

The prices of turntables and elements have gone crazy in the last 2 years though.. I remember looking at the MP500 for ~550 euro and now its 899! Heck, my clearaudio concept was 1300 back then and its now 1750

I was a fool to ever let these go.

Black housing or white (sorry meant silver) ?

@jexby Silver, the original Vega.

I own a Vega and enjoy it. I bought the EE Odin as my TOTL IEM. The cost to refine what the Vega offers defines diminishing returns

@Gazny (real) electrostats ftw. I have a janky KSE1500 recabled with a stax plug (original cable broke), and it sounds amazing out of my Stax amps.

Must. Resist.
I had a look and found a 1st gen Vega for € 380,– in Germany. I always think how nice it must be with those little things, nothing large and heavy to lug around, but actually, I never use those I have because I don’t like the feeling in the ears.

Dunu Zen Pro fixed the V-shape and over aggressive upper mids, but it took away some of the magic of the Zen. Have not heard RE2000.

I have nothing of value to add, except to lol at the Hiby's marketing team on this egregious name, "HiBy RS2 Hi-Fi Audio Player Medium-end DAP with Darwin Architecture"

Hi-Fi, but also Medium-end? wat. it's generally assumed that higher priced offerings provide better sound, but outright saying medium-end? It's not like ppl gonna feel happy about getting 2nd or 3rd best... very odd strategy.

I hereby ask @schiit to rename the 2/64 to the "The Schiit Bifrost 2/64 Hi-Fi Medium-end DAC with Multibit Architecture" to get ppl to just skip it and go Yggdrasil. The Yggdrasil+ Fully Modular Hi-FI It's Really High-End We Promise True Multibit™ DAC.

Another option is the cheap DAP + easy to drive IEMs route. Every time I go to my Shanling Q1 + MD Plus combo (for air travel) I wonder if I really need more (need being the key word there).

@JK47 I bought it used and the seller didn’t mention updating the firmware, so I’m guessing whatever the original firmware is. I did check iFi’s site and the only firmware updates are Bluetooth and USB XMOS updates.

Well, damn it, the USB on this sounds considerably better than the other digital inputs. Given that this is the most expensive Zen DAC and it seems to be specifically because of the extra digital inputs, I am having a hard time understanding the rationale for this device.

The USB input sounds much more like how Marv described the Zen DAC v2, which was the thread that got me intrigued to try this DAC. I figured the Pi2AES would be a better source than USB, which is why I went for the Zen One specifically, and now it seems like it was thrown in as an afterthought. Maybe the coax sounds better from the balanced output, but in SE the USB spanks it.

I feel like a slut every time I listen to their first album (which is the only album that I liked from them).

I used to work with Ric Olson.

For those who have no fuckin clue (like me)
https://youtu.be/y2cQvZPX3OY

@gixxerwimp Close, but not quite… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOCYQtrm19s

Never thought I would see both Dylan and Death Grips in the same comment section on SBAF, but I'm not complaining.

The differences are sometimes subtle and sometimes immediate--it's so cool to hear these albums I've listened to a million times in a new context.

@fraggler Yeah, 7Hz sound more audiophile than AirPods. AirPods are so supremely convenient, with the most features, that they completely cover the true wireless needs in my life.

@fraggler I’m the same, I prefer over ear whenever possible (and speakers beyond that tbh). IEMs are for situations where over ears would be clunky/prohibitive.

I just got in the Let's Shower S12 and Audeze Euclid. Both showing promise thus far. Both reminding me that I dislike having something stuck in my ears for more than an hour. Which then dissuades me from wanting to spend $$$ on IEMs. And, yeah, over-ear always better in every way. And speakers more so.

You guys are too sophisticated for me. I'm waiting for bacon to fall out of the sky.

Ares Cerat Kassandra Ref DAC into Piety feeding HD600. Done!

Don't see myself changing my 2ch system for a long time. Maybe when 8k is a thing I'll get a fancy avr.

https://youtu.be/plZRe1kPWZw

I'd love to have a real 2-chan system, but my living room is now completely filled by playpen https://imgur.com/a/kLshS3m

@gixxerwimp A trade off I would make every time! I remember those days. My son is three now and I do have tower speakers in the living room. I have to stop him from pretending to grapple onto them and climb them like he’s Batman.

We'll move (back) to Canada in a few years and I'll have a "real" house, instead of a tiny Asian apartment. Will be hitting peeps up for reccos then

Too much turkey probably.

He shouldn’t have had the final cut.

SBF?

Making love to girls In magazines...

That is the closest thing I have heard this week.
What Cdrs did you get?

I had a pile of Verbatims in a box in the garage. I also have some higher end ones but moved them and forgot where I put them, ha.

I <3 CDs

Silly me still has that sealed waiting for the (next) turntable...

I've got the Ryan K. Smith mastered mono mix release from IIRC 2013, sound spectacular!