Take some time off!
Damn it! Just do it.
I got an e-mail from an old friend asking me to meet him on Sunday at a hotel near Los Angeles International airport to attend the last day of a big home entertainment event hosted there. It was four floors of pure audio/visual bliss of all kinds! Everything from game console surround sound and HD screens to custom live recording tech to home theater hardware (none really up and running, though) to the main course: good old fashioned two channel stereo, featuring a really large number of turntable based playback!
That's right! Records are putting up a good fight against the sins of digital audio. And I tend to agree with them after several practical demonstrations. And the cheap end turntables were no slouches! Someone had a copy of Morph the Cat by Donald Fagen on a $1200 German Clearaudio turntable with a $200 cartridge. It was fed through a basic $250 phono amplifier to a mid ranage pair of Stax headphones. Nothing fancy in between.
I was blown away. It was quiet beyond my wildest expectations. Nothing but music.
But that was not the only revelation. I found that the most expensive Shure isolation ear speakers were no better than the Aiwa ear buds I bought two years ago. Glad I didn't have to pay $500 to figure that out.
I jacked my iPod mini into a series of really nice systems. Had a fine time testing various speakers.
It was a great event. My friend was right. I do need to take more time for myself.
I got an e-mail from an old friend asking me to meet him on Sunday at a hotel near Los Angeles International airport to attend the last day of a big home entertainment event hosted there. It was four floors of pure audio/visual bliss of all kinds! Everything from game console surround sound and HD screens to custom live recording tech to home theater hardware (none really up and running, though) to the main course: good old fashioned two channel stereo, featuring a really large number of turntable based playback!
That's right! Records are putting up a good fight against the sins of digital audio. And I tend to agree with them after several practical demonstrations. And the cheap end turntables were no slouches! Someone had a copy of Morph the Cat by Donald Fagen on a $1200 German Clearaudio turntable with a $200 cartridge. It was fed through a basic $250 phono amplifier to a mid ranage pair of Stax headphones. Nothing fancy in between.
I was blown away. It was quiet beyond my wildest expectations. Nothing but music.
But that was not the only revelation. I found that the most expensive Shure isolation ear speakers were no better than the Aiwa ear buds I bought two years ago. Glad I didn't have to pay $500 to figure that out.
I jacked my iPod mini into a series of really nice systems. Had a fine time testing various speakers.
It was a great event. My friend was right. I do need to take more time for myself.