Wallpaper: Trent Reznor

I shot this picture from third row center of a NIN/JA show on May 31, 2009. Just a couple quick operations in the Gimp, and here’s what we have! I’ve actually been using this wallpaper for months already, and it seems to deliver exactly what I want from my wallpaper. :)

CanJam at RMAF 2009!

Just last weekend, the annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest happened in Denver, Colorado. RMAF is a massive audio show. Several floors of rooms in a huge hotel are cleaned out and turned into listening areas for vendors of all kinds. They set up their gear and show it off to audiophiles.

This is the first RMAF that CanJam has participated in. CanJam, of course, is an official (read: huge) Head-Fi.org meet. Up until now it was an annual event, but CanJam@RMAF is set to become the CanJam.5 each year.

Wish I could have been there, but I do have my sights on CanJam 2010 in Chicago!

Check out the RMAF thread, Jude’s pics, or Dave & Carol’s pics.

Microphone Made of Frickin’ Lasers

Just imagine the types of recordings that could become possible once this technology is fully realized! I bet this is where microphone technology will be heading.

The press release on this one is full of superlatives, but somehow most of them seem justified. Schwartz Engineering & Design just announced its Laser-Accurate microphone technology, which promises to provide “pure sound” from a microphone for the “first time ever.” It works by detecting the impact of sound on the motion of particles in a stream of air by running a laser across them, and was created by David Schwartz, who holds several digital audio patents, including one that is foundational to the MP3 format (which is, ironically, not a traditional friend to the audiophile). The idea is to avoid the inherent “coloring” of sound due to a regular microphone’s physical diaphragm, since the moving particles are virtually weightless. Of course, it seems that a Laser-Accurate mic would have plenty of variables of its own to deal with in regards to the stream of air, but we suppose we’ll find out just how tight Schwartz has this thing when it’s shown off for the first time in NY next month. PR is after the break.

Laser-Accurate microphone proves once and for all that everything is better with lasers via Engadget

Ultrasone Edition 9 vs Edition 8 Headphones

I’ve owned Ultrasone’s Edition 9 headphones for nearly two years now. While I do like their sound, the insides of the cups are not quite deep enough for my ears. The sensation of them resting on the tops of my ears starts out annoying and becomes downright irritating before very long at all. Well, I finally decided to give them up. They’re now sold and gone. During the transaction, though, I happened upon an opportunity to pick up the new Edition 8′s second hand for a reasonable price. So, since I’ve been wanting to try them for some time now, I decided to jump in and give them a go. I even had a few days with both headphones as I waited for the buyer’s payment to clear.

The Edition 9′s make no attempt to “disappear” due to their clamping force and weight. They have a long cable, terminated with a 1/4″ plug. They are obviously designed for stationary listening, though many have found use for them as a portable headphone. To me, I hear a bit of a bass exaggeration all through the low frequencies. I feel that the Edition 9′s are better suited to a rocker who wants their basslines slamming. Genres like pop, metal, or hip hop seem like they do well since bass is so important there, and detail is not the most important aspect. I always felt the Edition 9′s were really great headphones for me until I tried the JH13 and Edition 8.

The Edition 8‘s are quite a different animal. They are much lighter on my head and the enclosures almost don’t touch my ears at all. This time, it’s the bottoms of my ears that touch the insides of the cups a little. It’s far less annoying, though, and I seem to be able to wear these for much longer without issue. They are terminated with a 1/8″ plug after only 1.2 meters. This, and their weight, make them a much better choice for a portable rig. They also come with a 4 meter extension cable that I have found useful since all my headphones now have short cables.

I have the impression that the sound from the Edition 8 is more polite and balanced. While there is no doubt the sub bass has a somewhat generous boost, everything else seems quite balanced. I find this low bass occasionally annoying, but I think that it is helped with a good amp; my RPX-33 seems to take better control of the bass than my RSA portables. They also have great transients. The speed increase of these drivers mean noticeably improved detail retrieval! Ultrasone’s “S-Logic Plus” on the Edition 8 does seem to increase upon the effect of the “S-Logic” in the Edition 9. The drivers are aimed at the listener’s pinna (the outer ear) so the sound must bounce around the ear before finding the eardrum. This leads to a more “3-D” sound that seems more like a projection. I think the Edition 8 would be better suited to instrumental music like classical or jazz, where neutrality and detail are more important.

It’s interesting to note, though, that I still greatly prefer my JH13 for just about everything. They have much better detail than even the Edition 8. They are more intimate and definite in their view into the recording. The bass, while not lacking at all, is very well integrated and doesn’t stick out as much as the Ultrasones. I’d even go as far as to say that they’re more comfortable. Why do I bother then? Well, I like different perspectives on my music. Sometimes I don’t want to stick my IEMs in my ears, but would prefer to have big, warm pads enclosing my ears and have big bass and a different soundstage.

Thankfully, given that I was already in the process of letting go of the Edition 9, I found that I overall prefer the Edition 8. I really appreciate the increased clarity and more neutral presentation. And the better comfort is icing on the cake.

Steve Gibson on Vitamin D

Though my favorite podcast, Security Now, usually aims to cover topics related to computer security, Steve Gibson decided to devote an episode to a topic that he felt was very important to everyone: vitamin D.

Steve makes the great point that vitamin D is not patentable! Thus, the large pharmaceutical companies with all the money have no incentive to research, and the burden is left to universities and other organizations with limited funding. So, it has only been in recent years that this powerful steroid hormone (as he describes it) has been more fully understood.

UVB rays from the sun can cause you to produce vitamin D in your skin. It is widely accepted that we originally evolved in Africa near the equator with plenty of direct sunlight. It is believed that these abundant amounts of vitamin D, over time, caused the substance to become very important to the function of our bodies. So it’s no wonder vitamin D turns out to be such an important part of a healthy individual.

Up here in North America, though, we can only get the UVB rays for about half an hour around high noon due to the latitude. At any time outside this window, the rays are absorbed by the atmosphere before they reach us. So, dietary supplements become the most realistic way for us to get our vitamin D.

Our bodies were designed to have this in normal operation, but since we essentially don’t get it these days, there is an epidemic of vitamin D deficient people. This is bad, because having some vitamin D means:

• Greatly decreased chances of a long list of cancers
• General increase in effectiveness of the immune system
• Mood elevation (ever heard of seasonal affective disorder?)
• Better calcium metabolism (stronger bones)
• Probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten, or that isn’t even known yet

So I’ve taken Steve’s advice and got some supplements. They’re inexpensive, easy to swallow, and I only have to take one of these tiny capsules every three days.

I highly recommend that you either read his vitamin D page, listen to the podcast (linked on the page), or both. He goes into much more detail than I have, and I found it all quite interesting.

New Headphones from Sennheiser

Oh nice, Sennheiser has just released the PX 100-II and the PX 200-II headphones. The original (PX 100) is said to be a VERY good value right up there with the Koss KSC75 in the price/performance ratio.

The story at ecoustics.com

Sennheiser press release

Many Shower Heads Filled with Nasty Bacteria

Here’s a delicious thought. An article just posted to boingboing says that a third of 50 shower heads tested contained a film coating of “significant levels” of Mycobacterium avium, a bacteria that can cause lung disease.

So be sure and let that shower warm up before putting your face in it!

My Thoughts on JHAudio’s JH13 Pro IEM

Jerry Harvey is a pioneer in custom-molded, in-ear monitors. In 1995, he founded Ultimate Ears and was responsible for engineering their line-up of custom products. After enjoying wild success, capturing 75%+ of the touring musician market, he left to start Jerry Harvey Audio 2-3 years ago. Since Jerry is a pilot, they initially specialized only in aviation headsets — a custom earpiece with an attached boom mic. At the (May) 2009 CanJam event in Los Angeles, though, he proved that he was about to make big waves in the custom IEM market once again.

Now that I have about 2 months of use on my JH13 Pro‘s (and a refreshed blog featuring them top and center) I will hopefully be able to share some thoughts on these unique IEMs. › Continue reading

Hooray for a Blog Makeover!

So I’ve finally gotten around to migrating my blog from Mephisto to WordPress. I took a free theme that was pretty simple, and applied a good amount of tweakage to make it my own. I hope to find more things to blog about, so prepared for more traffic than we’ve seen in a while.

Edit: Almost forgot to include a screenshot of the old design like I used to do.

All Settled in the New House

Hi, Internet! My site only just came back online because I took my sweet time about properly configuring my Gentoo Linux server to support my Mephisto blog. The site was being run by my good friend and roommate, Matt Nagi, but now that I’ve moved into my new house with Julie, I’ve set the site up the site to run on my very own cable modem. So please be gentile. :)

The new house is awesome—having a cozy place to call your own is totally worth the bit of extra work required to repair and maintain it.

And I’m still “Unraveling” on dnbradio.com every Tuesday at 7:00 PM EST.