A Geek Goes Flying

(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...

Found this article ( A Decade of Music Is Lost on Your iPod. These Are The Deleted Years. Now Let Us Praise Them. ) from this article ( Jewel-Box Heroes: Why the CD Revival Is Finally Here ), and I take exception: Everything you bought from 2003 to 2009 is stuck on a dusty iPod for which a charger can no longer be found, or on a MacBook that’s three MacBooks ago. Whether you bought that whole first Kaiser Chiefs album or just plunked down the 99 cents for ‘I Predict A Riot,’ you don’t have it anymore .   Ahem. I’m not necessarily proud of what remains from that era, but it’s still here. Screenshot of Apple Music in 2023, showing iTunes purchases from 2004 2004 was about when I got my first iPod, a mini, that I still have and use today (albeit refreshed ). And that’s just the music I bought via the Apple iTunes Music Store. A quick glance at my music folder on my NAS shows MP3s dating back to September of 1997! (Ah, college... I remember everyone having open Windows or AppleTalk sha...