wbass

Get out before you wake up with your legs hobbled together and her holding a sledgehammer saying, “The aphids… were my family.”

The Day of the Aphids

"The Day of the Aphids"

*R*O*F*L*

(five-star rofl)

"There's also the dog hair and the hoarding of every knick knack under the sun."

I should meet your aunt. Sounds like we would get on. I could bring copious cat hair into her life :)

And/or search "Taylor Haskins--Alberto Balsam" on streaming service of your choice.

Hey- I like GoGoPenguin and this is is more downtempo but really nice. And yeah- a great track to test the Yggdrasil A2 boards that just came in. :)

GoGoPenguin also great. Beat-driven UK jazz definitely still continuing its moment.

On the Haskins track, the drummer is doing all sorts of fun subtle stuff. Really quiet chatter on the snare drum and so forth.

For Aphex Twin jazz covers, I also love The Bad Plus' version of "Film."

Listening with the Susvara now and enjoying it a lot. Not wanting for dynamism or liveliness at the moment. Based on audio memory, Sus does seem a touch brighter out of the Enleum than the Ferrum, but it's also a slightly easier and, again, cleaner sound.

I think I'm starting to hear that somewhat tube-like sound some folks have mentioned. It's a bit more liquid, less hashy than other solid-state I've heard. At the same time, I would't call it forward. It's not a "front row seat" kind of amp. Not thus far anyway.

"Vivid" and "more tonal colors" are also coming to mind. I hate audiophile-speak. Could also be new-toy syndrome. Who knows? Unscientific, stream-of-conscious impressions, for whatever they're worth.

Mostly jazz: Oliver Nelson/Dolphy, Kenny Wheeler, Willis Jackson (soul jazz guilty pleasure), Barry Altschul, Charles Earland, Randy Weston, Benny Carter, John McLaughlin (early rock-fusion), Tadd Dameron/Coltrane

Finally found a good copy of Little Feat, Sailin' Shoes, too.

A few others I maybe could/shoulda left behind, but that's digging.

I came up with two options, the basic and the semi-lux. Ordered both, and we'll see which does the trick.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C6XX6PM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.theselektor.com/us/products/selektor-messenger-bag-x-30-lp-12-burgundy-and-black/

"Is 19" x 19" big enough to fit LPs now adays?"

Aren't they the same size as they always were?

It's been a long time (like decades), but... 12"?

(I'd have to climb to a ladder-access cupboard to measure one)

I think of a jacket as 13" x 13", which leaves room for over-sized jackets. Those flight/helmet bags look really handy, but maybe a bit big. I also like the roll-top backpacks for LPs, but I need a shoulder bag in this case.

Not sure if there's a direct connection--oops, didn't mean to imply that--but they definitely cite Rachael's as an inspiration. And Mogwai and Tortoise. A lot of acts have been hip to those bands, but Balmorhea have been more interesting than most IMO.

If i were to recommend any one album of theirs as a jumping off point, it'd be Stranger. Then move through Clear Language and The Wind. Then move back through their earlier catalog. I'm still parsing out their newest, tho. There are portions that I'm still trying to understand how they fit with the overall sensibility of the album as a whole.

I very much appreciate how most of their work grows in intricacy through familiarity, where that's usually not the case with a lot of music. At first blush things sound rather simple, but generally there's more going on, and the nuance is in what we don't notice, almost as if an intention of the group.

Very curious to hear about the Enleum. A friend of mine had that as his last rig (only sold it all because he had another kid).

Yeah, very curious to hear the Enleum. Ferrum is excellent but not always toe-tapping. Susvara is great, but can sometimes be slightly reserved dynamically, so more power might be the ticket. I think the Enleum is meant to have a mild mid-bass hump, which I think will also compliment the Sus well.

@wbass Will wait for your impressions on the AMP-23R. My Susvara has been sitting here for weeks because of the lack of "toe-tappiness" as you've said. As much as I want it to be an all-rounder, it's been limited to select genres + non-music listening (YouTube, podcasts, etc). Hopefully more power really does the thing. Been triangulating findings with fellow local hobbyists, and they've also said the same thing.

Electronic music/production seems to favor hard-panned detail, texture, deep bass, lots of panning effects. In short, ear candy. Probably b/c most of its made and mixed on HPs. I prefer band stuff and acoustic instruments on 2ch. And 50s-70s recordings on vinyl.

P3ESR-XD (not the original P3ESRs), Heed Obelisk SI MKIII, a smallish REL turned way down for fill and staging. They'll fill a medium sized room at a distance or pull them in for pretty striking staging in nearfield. Very very natural sounding.

@wbass I somehow missed that you are also looking for something for the Susvara. While I have not heard that combo, folks rave about it. AMP-23r is too perfect of a fit for a small profile device for Forte+Susvara.

@Justin S Probably not moving away from the Klipsch Forte III. I'm not a huge mini-monitor fan, personally, and the Forte's do well at lower volumes, which I might be forced to embrace. But thanks for the suggestion.

Mostly just trying to figure out the amp/phono pre situation. Down the road I might check out Quad 57s though, as had a pretty amazing audition of those a few years ago.

I plan to keep bike commuting. In fact, I liked this flat, b/c it has a relatively calm route to work. And storage enough for 2-4 bikes. Been cycling quite a bit lately and want to do some touring and gravel soon. But I really don't like to cycle when it rains, and it does, of course, rain.

So, tube access will be nice. And, of course, there are cross-city trips best done via train. Also, 20 minutes to King's Cross and trains to Brussels, Paris, and beyond. And it's the same line out to Heathrow, too.

But I'll probably have to turn my subwoofers way, way down. Ha. Priorities.

SBAF will do that to you :-). When I joined I didn't even have a headphone rig never mind a DAP and multiple IEMs. They do all sound really good though...

Hey, thanks for buying the Noble X and FD-X1 that I worked on. Appreciate it. :) (Side note: I have been re-buying up used FD-X1 for my oldest/best friends...)

Ha ha, your technical and marketing prowess worked on me. I like the FD-X1 and find them a solid to strong listen, especially for the price. The Noble X I'm a bit divided on. Have had some good sessions, but they don't like to stay in my ears. Beautifully made though.

Can't wait to try these with all my Excel Spreadsheets!!

Bro.. apple VR + Dyson headphones mask and suddenly all those 1970’s characterizations of “the future” don’t seem so far off.

My first reaction: "Is there an Apple Vision non-Pro? The only thing "pro" about it is the price."

Guess they could come out with the Apple Vision Plebe later.

The attic is by far the best room in our house, acoustically. Maybe a bit too dry, even, although untreated. I guess this is due to the materials: Wooden floor with PVC coating, only one relatively small stone wall and window, the rest including the ceiling is plasterboard with some stone wool or glass wool isolation behind.

Clap your hands and you’ll hear no reverb whatsoever, and I didn’t have any problems with bass, either.

Low ceiling and lightweight walls? Hard sell to anyone wanting bass and good tonality. Other than that it can be dialed-in in other areas.

We're living in the golden age, though there's so much more content being recorded today that it takes more effort to find it.

@dubharmonic In every period of the history of recording, there are excellent boutique labels. Occasionally, a talented engineer does fine work at one of the big labels. E.g. of each: The Bis label does record a little better than Decca ~1958–1969. Riccardo Chailly's Brahms on Decca (2012–2013) too. But these are exceptions. Our is not a golden age.

@Claritas maybe yours isn't but mine sure is!

Spoon, "The Way We Get By," sounding fat on Susvara.

Nutty HP. Sometimes sounds a bit thin, sometimes as big and bottom-heavy as you want. Never sounds bad though.

That’s a fantastic album, Ekute is my favorite song.

I first heard it at Axpona of all places. It's almost like a conspiratorial thing going into a room and they're actually playing interesting music.

https://www.whathifi.com/news/ifis-new-ican-phantom-is-the-quirkiest-headphone-amp-i-saw-at-high-end-munich-2023

@iFi audio Can you drop some specs on us? Will this drive Susvara?

My recent semi-nutty auditioning of every high-end-ish HP I could get my hands on got me interested enough in e-stats to want to own some one day. But not enough to want to get a separate amp, so this is interesting.

Interesting move to replace their current flagship with one that's a combo of that plus the iESL and a significantly higher pricetag... I wonder if that means they'll have a separate non-electrostat "flagship" amp incoming soon.

Brah... Bro.

Any other minimal jazz recs? Putting together a playlist.

ECM catalog is packed full. Have you tried John Surman? Upon Reflection is a good album to start with. Forgot to add Jakob Bro is great, nice choice.

Oh, yeah, love ECM. It's such a huge catalogue, I'm always discovering new stuff. Latest is Bengt Berger, Bitter Funeral Beer.

I've never really gotten along with the likes of Ralph Towner or Jan Garbarek. Too new-agey and edge-less for me. I skip them by reflex now and go for the deeper cuts.

The parts that were interesting was not the actual plot of the movie. As soon as Tommy Lee Jones showed up on screen, it sucked from there. The other stuff was cool AF. Like the moon scenes, etc.

Yeah, a lot of the visualization of space travel and living is excellent. I like, especially, the Mars stuff, where everyone is just depressed. Interesting mix of dreamy imagery and sudden violence. But the plot is so, so dumb. Every other line of dialogue is a wince. Some cool moments, but they're linked together in the most perfunctory way.

It's hard to identify with the character's struggles when they are so far out there.

It's tube rolling for zoomers

miss me with all the HQ Player neurosis. this is why I like the Mscaler, you just plug it in and it does the thing

Definitely like the idea of the MScaler, but not the cost. Be nice if someone came along and made an upscaling box for something more like $1k. I was sort of hoping that was what the Syn would end up being.