A Geek Goes Flying

Innioasis Y1 Ads popped up for The Classic MP3 Player (128GB) that tries to be a dupe of the OG Apple iPods. (No idea how close it comes, haven’t played with one personally.) The price as I type this is $179.99 $99.90 (and I suspect it never actually sells for $179.99), but I think  it was a bit more when I looked at it the first time. Just expensive enough to put it out of “impulse buy” territory for me (especially when I have a tragically underutilized Sony Walkman, and recently sold a Shanling M1s on eBay because I wasn’t using it enough.) Out of curiosity, I did a reverse image search and it’s apparently (also sold as?) the  Innioasis Y1 , and a bit cheaper on Amazon (which also has an even cheaper 64GB option , if you just want to try it out). It has a standard USB C port, doesn’t have a ton of storage but it’s not seriously hurting there (even using FLAC, 128GB will fit thousands of songs and hundreds of albums), claims 25 hours of music playback on a battery, has Bl...

AONIC 215 Way back in 2007 or so, I finally splurged on a pair of good headphones (i.e., not bundled with a music player, or the $19.99 ones from Best Buy, I'd been using since I was a teenager. I picked up a pair of Shure SE210s at Fry's and was blown away - they were the first headphones that ever made me go "wow." As time went on, though, they disintegrated, and were set aside. These days I mostly use over the ear stuff , but I wanted a portable set with noise isolation with foam plugs without having to go aftermarket, and an integrated microphone. I decided to see what Shure was up to these days (er, well, 13 years ago(!)). Had the opportunity to pick up a pair of the AONIC 215s (which are the SE215s repackaged, apparently) for $65. They’re ... Fine. Competent. They don’t blow me away like the 210s used to, but I've upgraded my cans and my expectations several times along the way, so that's to be expected. They're probably roughly o...

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...