A Geek Goes Flying

After stripping everything down to minimalism to comfortably host Thanksgiving this year, I’ve decided to redo my reading/listening station . Getting rid of the IKEA side table, the clusterfuck of cables, etc., and getting down to basics. Moving the Schiit stack to the built-in bookshelves, which aren’t deep enough to comfortably host the Mac Mini, let alone the shelf I built . Also ditching the iPhone 12 setup, since I just never really used it. But I still do want streaming capability. (I tried, I really tried, to use / like the Logitech Media Server setup on the mini, but, alas.) Wiim Pro Enter the streamer After too much research, and considering the Arylic S10+ and LP10, and the Eve Play, and some other devices, I settled on the WiiM Pro , especially once Amazon dropped it from $150 to $125, a pretty good price . If I ever use Spotify, it integrates (though I probably won’t ), and apparently it works with the Pandora and SiriusXM I do  have ... But mostly I anticipate using it...

Following up on a previous post , I can now confirm that, in addition to the reliable Qualcomm QCC5125 and CSR8675 chipsets (and unlike the QCC3034 , apparently), the “Flagship QCC518x”[ 1 ] chipset in the ifi Zen Blue v3 also connects via AAC to Mac  computers. Huzzah. I have one patched into an original Schiit Jotunheim (with the AK4490 Balanced DAC card installed ) via a 4.4 mm to dual XLR cable , and it sounds incredible . iFi Zen Blue v3 circuit board ifi Zen Blue v3 Bluetooth transmitter/receiver/DAC

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...

I can now confirm (with my shiny new iPhone 16 Pro in “natural titanium”), hooking up to something like a Schiit Jotunheim amp with an internal AK4490 DAC card via a USB C to USB B cable , is all you need to do to listen to the portable through the beefier amplifier. No “camera kit” or anything else required. iPhone screenshot

Back in January I sent off a Schiit Hel 2E to be repaired. It had just stopped supplying a signal to the headphones (was still being recognized by the computer when connected via USB). In February, I got it back, with a swapped board and a new serial number sticker - it’s now a Hel+ . According to the support person I swapped emails with, all their repairs have a one (1) year warranty – good thing, since it just started doing exactly the same thing as before . I can hear the relay inside clicking, so it’s getting power. I can see it on the computer when USB connected. But no audio. Meh. Just sent it back today, this time to Corpus Christi, Texas. I guess the move is complete, or nearly so. (They used to be just over the hill from me, in Valencia, California.) Sigh. So now I’m limping along with my Fulla E, which has never given me any issues (but is very lightly used; after I got the Hel for the office I moved the Fulla E to my “kitchen table workstation,” which has since been disman...

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 ...

I picked up a second-hand Schiit Jotunheim 2 for a great deal, but it does not have a DAC card installed.  Schiit Jotunheim 2  For my arrangement, I kinda need one. ( Trying it out with a Topping D10 Balanced revealed what the amp is capable of.) Having Schiit install it blesses the entire package with a 2 year warranty (and since the Jotunheim is second-hand, it has not Schiit warranty otherwise): For out-of-warranty products, having Schiit install the DAC module re-activates the warranty on the complete product for 2 years. ( Source ) So I ordered the 9028 DAC card , which is balanced (and half the price of the multi-bit card): Schiit ES9028 DAC Card I placed the order on April 18th, at which point I was #2 in a queue of 2. By the 24th there were 5 in the queue, 6 as of the 29th, 8 on the 1st of May, and 9 by the 4th. I got the email with the RMA number and ship-to address on May 8th and mailed it out yesterday (in the original packaging, the whole thing was 5 lbs., and it...

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...

Shanling M1s being used as a DAC So I found a good deal on a used Schiit Jotunheim 2 , but it doesn’t come with a DAC. I expect I’ll pop in a $100 ES9028 card and probably splurge and pay the $50 to have Schiit install it. I’m positive I could do it, but Schiit will bump the warranty on the whole package to 2 years if I do that: “For out-of-warranty products, having Schiit install the DAC module re-activates the warranty on the complete product for 2 years.” But I haven’t done that yet. And I should be responsible and sell off some of the gear I’m not using to cover the cost of the upgrade. (I already sent a Schiit Hel off to a new home...) But I know me and I know I’m going to want to play with my new “toy” at least a little bit, which means it’s going to need a signal.  At first I was going to drop $25 or so on an Apple USB-C to 3.5 mm dongle , a USB A/C adapter , and a decent 3.5mm to RCA Cable , but then I screeched the needle off the record and realized how silly it was to s...

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...

HE400se Picked up “ B-stock ” HiFiMan HE400se headphones (stealth magnets, planar magnetic ). First impression: Whoa. I’m hearing detail I never noticed before, in an album I’ve spun a thousand times (Tori Amos, Under the Pink ). The immediate response by the drivers to things like the sharp attack of Tori’s piano keys is crisp and controlled in a way I’ve never heard before. Driving them with the Schiit Hel 2 DAC/Amp . They’re 25Ω (or 32Ω? The site says one thing, the box another), but have a sensitivity of only 91 db, so they’re somewhat hard to drive . The Hel seems up to the task, though (though I do have it switched to high gain). I also have a balanced cable coming that might make them usable with the ES100 or AP80 Pro or Surfans F28 or ...? Meanwhile, Apple Music’s EQ doesn’t quite line up with the 10-band oratory1990 provides , so I kinda approximated it. I’m sure I have tweaking to do and I lack the instrumentation to confirm how close to (or nowhere near) the Harman Curv...

Baby Wharfedale behind a Schiit DAC/Amp next to PC38X headset My current setup at the office is a Mac Mini running macOS Monterey, connected via 3.5 mm / RCA to a  PreSonus Eris Sub8 and through that, to Wharfedale DS-2 speakers , and now via a Schiit Fulla E to a Sennheiser PC38X headset. Now, the PC38X is aimed at the gaming market, I use ’em for interminable Zoom and Microsoft Teams remote appearances, depositions, etc. The mic works great and flipping it up is a zero-ambiguity way of quickly muting my audio, which I really appreciate. They’re not half-bad to listen to, either; Josh Valour compares them relatively favorably against the Sennheiser HD560S and HD58X (which I have at home ). Anyway, I played Tori Amos’ Cornflake Girl for my law partner through the PC38X / Fulla E combo and he was blown away. Had never heard anything “so clear and detailed.” I decided to spin that track for myself, it had been a while since I’ve listened to Tori, and I’m not sure I’ve ever reall...