Phantaminum

@crenca I’m shaking my head since I live in Texas, it was at the right sorting facility by me, and now it’s in Louisiana. I have a feeling @Vtory diverted the package to his address. >_>

By the way, I have been sporting the Utopia's now for a week and sometimes, like right now listening to the first Rage Against the Machine album (not my usual genre) they just F#$%ing rock. They are always special, but even beyond this sometimes RROOCCKKK! ;)

And just now the RAtM album ended and Elgar's Violin concerto B minor (Hilary Hahn featured) was cued and I can still say RRROOCCCKKK!! Believe it or not, I have not been drinking ;)

The Show Must Go On. Looking forward to your impressions!

getting ready to write a paragraph or so on my impressions as my came in 48 hours ago. I expected it to be more hd800 than hd650 tonally, I was wrong...

I am supposed to present my research accomplishments to med school students and faculty members. Feel both excited and nervous. lol

Three things got better in Philly: (1) cooler summer, (2) now I have more noise-tolerant neighbors, and (3) cheesesteaks taste really good here!

You're going to do great man!

So what you're trying to say is....next SBAF meeting at your place? :D

Unless... I am living in 440 sq ft studio. lol. A lot smaller than my previous [email protected] Worth. Same rent but half area. That's one thing I have to deal with in Philly. Funny thing is to add any change to my current living condition (house, car, etc), pandemic should be over anyway.

Bro, my work schedule is bananas. 76 hour weeks have eaten up all of my time that writing a review is the last thought in my mind. Once the dust settles (hopefully in two weeks) i’ll probably pump out the EC Jr, Pendant, and Borealis review over a weekend.

Nope

Unfortunately they lost my romanticism when I scrolled down to this point: https://imgur.com/bfzYtL2

@Vtory Maybe Amir was moved with how the "spiritis elevate, the heart is warmed, and your body is
brought back into balance." Or he just got his jollies off reading the graphs.

@Phantaminum I've been curious about this amp for a while since Zach had a major part in tuning it, but barely any impressions on here :( How is the front/back layering compared to big boi Eddie Current/DNA stuff?

The comparison depends on the type of power tube being used in the Studio Jr. I say Studio Jr.because out of the box the ZMF Pendant does this really well with the default tubes. The EML 300B staging is flatter than the Pendant and I've rolled several sets of 396A/2C51 driver tubes. I came to the conclusion that's the characteristic of those power tubes. I'd rather listen to the Pendant than the Sjr with the EMLs in.

Now the Psvanes 300bs are a different story. It has a deeper and wider sound stage than the Pendant but the Pendant gets very close to it's front to back layering. The thing that surprised me most was the clarity of the Pendant. Very vivid images. Personally this amp really hits it out the park with its price to performance ratio.

Rachel reminds me of Geoffrey from GoT. Two characters so well written that your natural reaction when you see them is a deep, subconscious hate. She is “ugly”. SIU should really rename it Tower of Harem. ;)

I still confused as to why SIU took down his earlier work. I guess it gives away too much about the tower and axis/exis.

Oh I had no idea SIU had other works relating to ToG? Are they prequels or something?

Rachel is despicable, but there's some part of me that sees her as relatable and feel sorry for her more than hating her. She is destined to be outshined by Bam and wants to change destiny.

hah I don't mind Harems at all as long as there's no excessive fanservice like some anime/manga

I find it funny that Rachel whines all the time about how life is unfair and she’s so unlucky, for someone being hard carried up the tower. How a cruel place like the Tower hasn’t eaten her alive really makes it hit home what Headon said. Some people are born strong and others are just lucky.

The ToG Universe is bigger than what’s been shown. Let me know if you have any questions about it over PM.

While the talk is going minimal I'm heading the wrong way, lol. Hope things are going well for you in Philly bro!

Sorta knew you go that way some day, knowing your journey. We both love, say, controlled sweetness (my take of teton as well). Seems you're even closer on that end. I am just too procrastinated (and chicken-herted) to perform that due diligence though.

Still good to see non-NOS non-WE conclusion.

Now I sadly? moved to El Cheapo.. no idea when/whether to come back to where I belong. lol

Just don't tell your significant other about how much that beautiful glowing things costed. haha.

That was us last week until more cases popped up in Dallas. I’m more lucky than most that I can work from home but the guys out on the field don’t have that luxury.

We are approaching social distancing at work, the bosses stay home while we work in the store today.

But truthfully, one is having eye surgery today and the other threw out his back.

Walk in customers I am maintaining a distance, wiping down everything. Got masks and hand sanitizer everywhere round the store.

Interesting how we risk our lives so our bosses can keep profiting from the safety of their homes.

Sounds like my dispatcher.

You mean you have to do two peoples' jobs? For the same pay? It sucks and its exploitation.

We've created software solutions for our company. Lots of good work there but maintaining them, while provisioning users, troubleshooting, and trying to meet deadlines for new software updates/roll outs has just eaten so much of my time. Even though he came in late or would "work from home" when he wasn't supposed to, he at least held back the dam while I did my job.

I’m glad you’re enjoying it as much as I am. I can’t take all the credit as another member found the Elex and SW51 pairing but I can definitely raise a whiskey glass to you both!

Shitty HD6XX bass getting more irritating too.. the Elex making that quite obvious.

@Phantaminum You ever heard Elex with Liquid Platinum? I listened to that pair once and like it a lot. Just wondering how you would compare LP to SW51 with Elex.

I owned the LP and the Elex at different times. Never had the chance to pair them together. About the only thing I can say that the LP would do better is bass will probably hit harder and enough power for planars. I’d still prefer the SW51 over the LP.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/dyson-patent-describes-air-purifying-headphones?fbclid=IwAR0QtrRMewfcE0Uq5_guc7S_8tOg4q_gdjbq7OT9oDzSJHJhEugKwuowOL8

I run the Amperex Holland tubes. I've not heard the Elex myself so I can't comment too much about their relative difference, but I thought the synergy was much better with the Focals than the Senns, but I needed a slightly less distracting setup since I use it at work.

Have you tried the Mullards? They're my favorite after the Russians.

Mullards are nice.. But I felt they were a little too closed in with both the Elex & HD650. Amperex have a slight U shape presentation and less dynamic than the stock tube, but all in all, a damn fine match with Elex (Amperex had great imaging, though). Stock tube, to me, is still my daily driver. Should have a pair of Tungsram in soon. Have always really enjoyed those tubes in good amps.

Agreed, there’s some things missing, and albums where half of the tracks are samples only....

I am not a fan of their interface. Can't I browse through just an artist's actual album collection without seeing every single song and every single reissue or greatest hits album?

I think the Closed model might have the most promise of the two, based on an early listen I had with it. Haven't yet heard the production version, though.

You may be right. From how other reviewers are describing the closed version, it seems they've taken a step in the right direction. The AC was too thin/dry sounding for my tastes but that was on a Lyr 3. Now it looks like it has more body and evens out the rest of the FR.

I do find A2O fun and it gets my toes tapping. Regardless of some of its fault. This thing really does a great job in instrument separation. It doesn't resolve every detail but all instruments has it's own solid space.