A Geek Goes Flying

The Audeze MM-100 comes with only a “2.5m (8.2ft) Single ended 3.5mm TRS to 1/4" TRS” cable ( seen here ). There are various ways to set it up to run balanced ( detailed in this video ), including, e.g., something like this $113 Fostex ET-RPXLR OFC Balanced Cable for T60RP Studio Headphones, XLR Connector (after apparently partially frying my Magnius amp by disconnecting a 4.4 mm cable from an XLR4 adapter while the amp was powered on ‡ , I’m leery of the multi-part options Zadius Tech links to). But the Hart Audio Cables modular system seems to be the most elegant and flexible, and not too dear. I’ve started with: Hart HC-2 cable and interconnect Multi-Kit with Hard Case HC-2: 3.5mm TRRS Balanced Modular Headphone Cable , a 3.5 mm TRRS connector for the headphones terminating in a Mini XLR 4-pin connector that works with Hart’s interconnects ; and Custom Hybrid Metallic Multi-Kit With Hard Case , which (roughly) includes: IC-2-T Threaded 3.5mm TRS + screw-on 1/4" adapter ...

Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter for DAC / Amp Connection Picked up a “used – like new” Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter , which is specifically recommended by, e.g., DragonFly (“[i]n our tests, Apple's Lightning-to-USB 3 Camera Adapter (with charging port) sounds better and is more reliable than Apple’s less expensive Lightning-to-USB Camera Adapter, while also providing the ability to charge during playback”) and Schiit . Photos show, e.g., the DragonFly being used without external power, but mine won’t. In fact, basically nothing worked: Cannot Use Accessory AudioQuest DragonFly: This accessory requires too much power. Cannot Use Accessory SanDisk 3.2Gen1: This accessory requires too much power. The Schiit Fulla E, even when connected to a beefy USB-C power supply, just clicked in the headphones repeatedly, or every second would play a tone for a fraction of a second, click softly, go silent, and then repeat. Hooking up an external USB A to Lightning cable to provide po...

Was listening to SiriusXM on my Mac, using the web interface . SiriusXM web interface playing Korn. Listening casually at not a high volume, I noticed a little harshness, likely compression artifacts?, in the sound, using my Loxjie A40 powering Klipsch B-100 bookshelf speakers. I’m new to this combination, so I started to worry a tiny bit - is the A40 a lesser quality unit than the A30? Did I maybe get a bad one? What’s going on? A short while later I was watching a YouTube video of Biden giving a speech regarding student loan forgiveness, and it was definitely clipping. WTF?! This isn’t good ... But, wait. I downloaded the clip using a Firefox plugin and copied the audio track out into a stand-alone file:  % ffmpeg -i President\ Biden\ gives\ remarks\ from\ Culver\ City.mp4 -acodec copy President\ Biden\ gives\ remarks\ from\ Culver\ City.m4a A peek at the audio track in Audacity showed what I kinda thought it might: Blown out audio. Audacity showing clipped waveforms. Just to be...

My “mid-2010” iMac is getting flaky, and with its HD 4760 GPU, wasn’t a great contender for a Big Sur update, even with OpenCore Patcher. The 2012 Mac Mini occupies a sweet spot on eBay, selling for around $100-150 (depending on configuration), and can run Big Sur quite well, patched. The GPU in the iMac can be upgraded, but it’s still an old, underpowered machine witth splotches on the screen, etc. Newer iMacs aren’t that expensive by themselves, but once you factor in shipping, they’re spendy. Still, for dragging out onto the balcony to enjoy our reliably nice SoCal weather, you can’t beat the form factor. I decided to hack together a machine that met my specifications (including relatively low cost). I started with the highest spec inexpensive Mac Mini I could find, a late-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz with 16GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive ($150). I swapped the hard drive for a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD ($90). I got a VESA mount ($15) so I could bolt it to the back of a monitor; for that I we...

A few days ago a mass drop special, offering the Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee headphones, caught my attention at a price I couldn’t pass up ($135, less the $20 for being a new drop member). I’ve been listening to Bose QC25s at the office and QC35 IIs at home, but they just lacked a certain je ne sais quoi . (In particular: Bass. Bury a Friend just gets murdered on them.) Meanwhile, I still  haven’t listened to Fear Inoculum , as I haven’t found the right time to sit down with it, without distraction. (I named my first Labrador Maynard, y’all...) Finally, cleaning house, I found (again) my old iPod mini first generation, and toyed with the idea (again) of modernizing it. It still works, but the battery is pretty weak, and the MicroDrive is a moving part that will fail sooner or later. So I ordered: A high capacity replacement battery (750mAh EC003, 3.7 VDC, 2.77 Wh) ($17 when I ordered it, free shipping) (no reviews; wish me luck ) (I would have gone with the relative known quanti...