Little Luxuries (SFW)

Vinyl.
Instead of downloading my music having it on a slab of physical medium and if I can find it recorded in analog.
I don't know if it counts as little.
Each album isn't that much but damn does it add up fast when you are a music addict like me.

 

Damn, maggies and the 4312. Nice speakers. I have my jbl l80s that I never listen to because they are in the basement and my paradigm studio 20s. I would love the big sound of the 4312s.

 

Someday I will get some awesome speakers but right now I have to stick with headphones because I live in an apartment with walls so thin I know what my neighbors bowl movements are.
I have a neat little tube amp connected to my computer and a fine pair of Bose headphones connected to that.
My friend does needle drops of all my albums so I get the best possible sound and I don't annoy my neighbors.
Plus I can download it to my portable device and still get the nice clear sound.

 

I'm also a music snob, though I didn't include it here because I wouldn't consider it little.

I've had large systems (party was generally at my house); but really don't have room for it any more. The 15" woofers in disco era cabinets and the 300W per channel amps went bye bye during the great living room argument of 2012.

These days I do my listening in the man cave with some very nice bookshelf speakers from Ascend Accoustics.



I also use a tube amp with headphones when the Mrs doesn't want to hear it.

I have moving boxes full of vinyl in the basement. My listening these days is generally from FLAC files on my PC through a fairly high end DAC. My goal was to get my digital audio to sound as good as vinyl. I still have my old turntable and cartridge. One of these days I need to pick up a phono preamp and compare. It's been a decade or so; but I feel like I have digital sounding at least as good as vinyl.

 

How do you feel about the dac? Do you feel it is giving better sound than the sound card you already have on your computer?

 

Yes, though it's difficult to quantify.

Using the sound card means using the DAC and the amplifier built in . I'm not aware of a way to separate the two, at least with my MB.

My present DAC is modular and upgradeable when the vendor has a newer revision of hardware or firmware. I recently sent it in for upgrade and used my sound card for 3 weeks. It's a pretty significant difference on the order of FM radio vs cd. Details are much better defined. On a live recording, you can hear clinking of glasses and on stage conversations. Imaging is greatly improved, on CSN's remastered first album, Crosby is left, Stills right, with Nash inbetween. I can actually hear Nash moving from left to right as he is picked up by Crosby or Stills mic. This is an album that I've listened to for 50 years and I'm hearing details and imaging that I've never heard before. Dynamics are also improved, the difference between very loud and very quiet is significantly larger with the DAC vs sound card.

There are half a dozen albums where I have an original vinyl LP, a cd, and a remastered high res download. I'd love to do a comparison, I just need to get a phone preamp, and dust off my turntable.

 

I'm surprised there is not an output from your soundcard. But maybe it has been so long since I looked. Or maybe I am just considering my desktop I built aeons ago. And I know all soundcards are not created equal. But good to know. Basically you are hearing compression still with your soundcard. I like what you said about dynamics as well. It becomes so much more apparent when you listen to older music that was not designed for headphones and automobile play, where every sound is at the same dynamic level. I had read a couple reviews on stereophile, but you know how fluffy their articles are.

 

Cooking. Simple. I love to cook, and whenever i get time to spare on cooking, i try something new, or some regular recipes with some twist. I guess being an introvert, this kind of thing helps !

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

This—currently a work in progress here, and progress has been slow. Months ago, I picked out somewhere between 30 and 50 photos I've taken to get printed and eventually framed and hung throughout the house (not all of them will make the final cut). Hasn't happened yet. You'd think a pandemic lockdown would be a good time to do it, but work has kept me too damned busy.

I went into this a bit in another thread, but there are many things about my house now, post-remodel, that I consider luxuries to be enjoyed and appreciated, especially with spending so much time at home. Working all day with windows open and brightly-painted walls in a home full of natural light is a luxury. My new comfort-height toilet, bidet, and superfancy bamboo Squatty Potty add a little luxury to every morning constitutional (no shame). I treat my shower like a luxury every time I use it, and I treated myself to a reusable silicone body scrubber a few weeks back for added sustainable luxury.

Now I want to be able to spend more time in the back yard as the weather cools. But I need to deal with the downright un-luxurious hyperaggressive mosquitoes and chihuahua shit first.

 

Internet access which allows me to converse with all you fine folks here at the TFP.

 

Once again my wife takes my daughter out of the state to look at colleges, so I frequently have the house to myself again for weekends.

I tend to celebrate whenever this happens...

 

We got one of these for work and it was a great investment.
Highly recommended.

 

So, I feel a need to say this.

View: https://youtu.be/PJgQEpFMptQ?si=jLY5gBr4daKdcOg1


Hopefully your not drinking g mexi-coke for the cane sugar.
One commenter I see says, it's the glass bottle. It stays cold longer and glass saves the fizz, doesn't leach out chemicals from the can...all very relevant points I'd say

 

I've never tasted any difference in the BIM Coke. But I could be wrong because I find aluminum cans let sodas get much colder than glass bottles .

Perception is everything. If you don't believe me read some of the
discussions/debates/arguments
among acoustic guitar afficiciindos.