A Geek Goes Flying

Shelf over the Schiit Jotunheim amplifier Bedside. I got a great price on an older Jotunheim (not the Jotunheim 2) with the AK4490 DAC card installed, that I couldn’t pass up. This is for more casual listening; music while reading before bed, maybe the occasional TV show or online lecture series or whatever before bed. (I know I maybe shouldn’t , but, here we are.) But my bedside table is getting a little crowded. At first I put this shelf over the amp, but that put my Belkin charger a bit too high for my iPhone in ___ mode to be effective, so I returned to the well and picked up another 10" square aluminum plate to build another small aluminum shelf to put over the amp. This time I used 4" legs for air flow ( 2/7 x 4 inch Sign Standoff Screws ), since the Schiit is passively cooled and the vents are on the top (the mac mini has a fan and vents out the back, so I wasn’t as worried about leaving space above it). Drill bits to poke holes in the aluminum. It’s a little wobb...

The Chair Back in May, in the middle of an organization kick, I had a KIA Nero EV rental for a few days, and used it to pick up some closet organization stuff at IKEA ( KALLAX shelving units ; DRÖNA inserts ). I’d been thinking about getting a reading chair that would be more conducive to reading and some work, vs. the IKEA FRIHETEN that provides all my living room seating. Somewhere in my reading, I stumbled across someone raving about the POÄNG chair, which has a bit of a cult following and a strong pedigree: No Shame in the Poäng Chair Architectural Digest Poäng: The Little-Known History Of Ikea’s Most Famous Chair Fast Company The Goddamn POÄNG Chair (“[T]he famously frugal IKEA founder and billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, owned the same POÄNG chair since 1978.”) I wasn’t sure if it would fit my weird, lengthy proportions, so I decided to try one out during my IKEA visit. And, yep, it fits more or less perfectly. So I picked it up with the matching ottoma...

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 ...

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...

Audeze MM-100 About a year ago I picked up a pair of HE400se headphones, B-stock , from HiFiMan; at $79 they seemed like a good, inexpensive way to see if I liked the whole “planar magnetic” thing. Turns out I do. So I started looking around for what might be a good upgrade, and was recommended the HE6se v2. HiFiMan has some questionable history with their quality control, and I wasn’t wild about staying with ChiFi (“ awesome products that are coming out of China for fair prices but good performance ” - but also somewhat of a hassle with shipping, warranty service (if available at all), etc.). Too, the HE6se v2 is apparently discontinued, although as of this writing still available open box for $399 . Given all of that, I started casting a wider net. Started hearing about Audeze, whose flagship LCD line get great reviews but were generally way out of my price range. Audeze is an Orange County, California company, who was recently bought by Sony . And while the LCD range was out of rea...

Weighing the Hel 2E for shipping I have a Schiit Hel 2E ( introduced in 2021 with “ a 3-year warranty ” (but see below)) I got second-hand this past summer. It’s served light duty, maybe 2-3 days/week for a couple of hours each of those days, as a headset interface and for music listening, on my office computer. After working perfectly for months, including on that Monday, I came in on Tuesday morning to find it dead. Well, it turns on (the internal red light is on), and it’s seen by the computer, but there’s no output, on two different headsets. Hrm. There’s no support email address on Schiit’s Contact page , just a form to fill out for “Help & Suport.” So I did that, on or about January 17th. The form states in prominent text:  “NO WORRIES. FILL OUT THIS FORM AND WE'LL [sic; “GET”?] BACK TO YOU ASAP. “NO, REALLY—WE WILL!” (Caps original.) A week later (January 24th), having heard nothing, I resubmitted the form with some new information - I’d brought in my Fulla E from home...

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...

Looking at FLAC players for an old iPhone I want to repurpose into a listening station (that I think I’m going to build around the JDS Atom 2 stack ?). Quick synopsis of the few I’ve looked at so far: VOX . Premium features, including basics like a parametric EQ and EQ presents, an ad-free experience, gapless playback, etc., are locked behind a subscription. $49.99 yearly or $4.99 monthly. Once I saw that pricing I stopped looking at it. Flacbox . Natively connects to WebDAV, SMB, etc. servers, along with the usual litany of cloud services. Premium is a lifetime purchase of $14.99 (with a free trial), and includes ad delete, an unlimited number of cloud services, downloading albums and playlists, an unlimited number of playlists and songs in a playlist, etc. Has a 10-band EQ with precise ± decibel settings per octave. A contender. Doppler . A 7 day free trial and then a one time $9 charge. Doesn’t connect directly to servers but helpfully links to instructions for how to mount servers ...

Shanling M1s on top of Kobo Elipsa 2E Got a Shanling M1s digital audio player (DAP), and a Kobo Elipsa 2E eReader, for Xmas this year. More as I dig into both, but some first impressions and notes: Kobo Elipsa 2E This trick still works to bypass the “download our software, create an account, login” hoops you otherwise have to jump through. I’m sure I’m missing out on some functionality but I can’t be arsed. I’m excited for the bigger screen and the stylus / notetaking functionality. Loading it up with my .epub (etc) library. It’s not waterproof. But I still have my Libra 2 for hot tub reading, which I keep saying I’ll do but never quite seem to get around to. I got this cover for it ( learned my lesson a while ago with these things). It has a slot for the stylus. It was relatively inexpensive, and it’s relatively cheap. Stay tuned. Shanling M1s I’m using these with this 4.4mm male to 2.5mm female balanced adapter and currently trying them out with my HiFiMan HE400se planar magnet...

(With apologies to Thanos. Cute idea for a headphone stand !) Thanos bust headphone holder I recently picked up the Drop 2.5mm to Sennheiser headphone cable (for $19, I wouldn’t have at $50) (the 3.5mm single-ended cable that comes with the Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee headphones is hilariously long; the balanced cable is only slightly awkward in comparison). I’m using it with my EarStudio ES100 MK2 portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp, and it does seem to make a difference - the headphones seem “punchier” with the balanced connection, and can be set at a lower volume for an equivalent sonic experience. Liking it. So of course that set me down the rabbit hole of DAPs with balanced outputs. The least expensive seems to be the $130 SHANLING M0 Pro , but to use a 2.5mm connection with that you’ll need their $14 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapter , plus another $10+ 4.4mm to 2.5mm adapter like this , and now you’re at like $160 for the audio player, and you have something akin to a Rube Goldberg machine sticking...

When my AirPods Pro are working, they’re great. They sound great (especially considering their size), calls are clear, ambient noise is a little weird but much appreciated when walking the dogs along streets, etc. I like ’em. But the left unit will randomly stop working mid-song, or won’t connect at all, or ... Sometimes it’s solved by putting it back in the case and taking it out, or putting both back in the case, or doing a full reset ... Frustrating and annoying! Also, they were over $200 when I got them (they’re $179 now), and I don’t want to lose them out and about. After a disastrous experience with an older Klipsch headphones/mic setup (the person I was on the video conference could barely hear me over all the background noise), I decided to change things up and go a different route in my EDC kit . (One more thing to keep charged, sigh. Was really hoping I could find a good wired setup, but seems not to be a thing.) After reading through a few reviews, I decided on the Edifier ...

This is an uncommon use case, since most people using Bluetooth headphones don’t want the audio leakage of an open back headphone, and most people using open back headphones want the audio quality of a wired connection ( Wireless tech can degrade audio quality , though many – most? – listeners won’t notice). But. For those looking for an open back Bluetooth headphone solution (like I do, on the balcony, when I’m hanging out with my dogs and want to be aware of what’s going on in the world around us), I’ve gathered the following... Grado GW100 Wireless Open Back Headphones Headphones There are a few options that incorporate a “native” Bluetooth option: Grado GW100 v2 (though these are apparently designed to leak 60% less noise than the wired version, so if you’re trying to keep situational awareness, might not be ideal; the microphone is also apparently not amazing ) HIFIMAN Deva (older Bluetooth dongle, and like the Deva Pro below, the microphone is suspect) HIFIMAN Deva-Pro (purpor...

The current gold standard seems to be the Harman Curve , and enthusiasts have gone to considerable effort to measure different headphones and create equalization curves to try to bring their “cans” more in line with that ideal . One huge repository of presets is found in the AutoEQ project . For instance, the Sennheiser PC38X headset I use at the office has multiple enthusiast-provided EQ settings: Sennheiser PC38X (velour earpads) [ oratory1990 ] (though oratory1990 disclaims : “The ‘Github-page’ ... is created and maintained by u/jaakkopasanen. It’s his thing, has very little to do with me, actually.”) Sennheiser PC38X [ oratory1990 ] Sennheiser PC38X [ Rtings ] On a Mac, the excellent application SoundSource not only allows a system-wide EQ, but it incorporates the AutoEQ database; if your headphones are in the database, a ready-to-go set of EQ parameters is a couple of clicks away. I haven’t been able to find where SoundSource stores these presets, nor does it appear there’s an...

I ran a test, recording voiceovers for videos while monitoring the audio on the Sennheiser PC38X headset I use and love at the office. As I feared, the microphone was picking up the output from the headphones - perils of an open back design (or maybe - or also? - electrical cross-talk from the shared 3.5mm TRRS cable setup). So I started looking into a solution with a good cost-performance ratio. After hearing the relatively dramatic difference between the PC38X microphone and the ModMic in this video review , I decided that was the route I’d go. Antlion had a bundle , pairing the ModMic USB (GDL-1500) with the Ultrasone 580i . The 580i headphones don’t get glowing reviews, but they’re closed-back, noise-isolating, and the combo brought the price down around $100 to about $205, so I gave ’em a shot. I like the way they sound (though I might tweak with an EQ ). For convenience, I’m routing everything to a single USB port; the headphones (3.5mm) are plugged into a Sound Blaster Play!...

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...