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Hi guys, Happy New Year. Over the long weekend I've finally completed my AMP5. Got the black version of this case at Well Audio Lab for $85. Saves me a lot of drilling. http://eshop.diyclub.biz/product_info.php?...products_id=232 But being a pre-amp case, I still need to drill additional holes for the speaker binding posts. However the other holes for the 4 RCA inputs, volume knob, source selector, power, etc are all pre-drilled. None of the pre-drilled holes on the baseplate fits my transformer and the AMP5 PCB, so need to drill them too. Man, I really hate metalwork. The case came with feet, knobs for the volume/source (but unfortunately does not fit the ALPS pot that I use, so I'll have to source for another) and a power LED which somehow is not working Had a scare this morning when one of the speaker output had a DC offset of -22V!! Turned out to be a bad solder connection on one of the pins of the Tripath chip. Thankfully my speakers are still ok. Phew. The amp sounds pretty good. Didn't sound overly bright to me. Pretty good bass too. I am now using some cheapo wires for the speaker outputs, will need to replace them soon, probably with some decent wires. Regards CK

Too bad no space inside to mod with a Alps Blue Velvet Regards CK

The bass from the T20 is actually pretty decent for the price/size. And it can drive pretty loud before it distorts. Of coz, it's not the kind of deep bass you get from full-range floorstanders or subwoofers but it's still pretty darn good. Regards CK

That's quite a nice price! Regards CK

Give the Usher S-520 a try. It is within your budget. Clarity is excellent. Regards CK

Don't know of any classical piece with "Souvenir" in the name, but the closest that I know would be Souvenir D’enfance played by Richard Clayderman. Not classical though. Regards CK

Too clean eh? I used to buy audiophile recordings, now I buy normal recordings. I was even enjoying mono recordings of Ella and Louis, absolutely wonderful performance. Regards CK

Haha, spent too much money on the hifi liao. No more money left for the music. Then again, some of these expensive systems don't sound good when playing most music, so the owner ended up only having a few which does sound good. Regards CK

Well they've (COEM) actually been blacklisted by Oyaide for some months already... Regards CK

Everybody knows the music lover. Just someone who enjoys his/her music. The audiophile group can be divided into 2 sub-groups :- 1. The primarily music lover who also pursues the highest fidelity of audio reproduction to take him deeper into the music/into the performance (or the other way) but the music is still more important. Some of these audiophiles might even be musicians themselves. The musical performance is more important than the quality of the recording itself. 2. The audiophile with only 10 CDs mostly made up of stuff like demo discs, drum discs, etc and change equipment every now and then. They don't listen to music, they listen to equipment. "Which power cord sounds better" is more important that "Who's a better singer". 1950s analog mono recordings probably won't cut it for them. The same segregation also happens in the photography circles, we got one group of people who are more interested in taking good photos, and the other group who is more interested to discuss whether Nikon or Canon is better, which lens is better, and shoots only test charts. Regards CK

IEMs + Aircraft adaptor + DAP or inflight system really helps to remove most of the aircraft noise. I always use it on my trips. Regards CK

I tried one of the Genelecs (can't remember which, smallish one) - it sounds just like a studio monitor should - accurate and flat, which might be too "boring" for general music listening. Regards CK

The ESI nEar for sale: http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.ph...495.0;topicseen Regards CK

They want to charge the angmos more? yeah_guyz, how much did you pay for yours? Regards CK

The thread seems to be inaccessible, so I did a search to see what it looks like. Indeed it's gorgeous. Wonder how much it'll cost to get it over here. The prices there are substantially higher than those quoted for the LDII+, LDM in the MO thread. Regards CK

Usher S-520. Excellent speakers for the money. Looks good too. Should cost around $500+ at X-Audio. Regards CK

Wow, this was once my dream camera when I first started out... Regards CK

The theme from "Once Upon a Time in the West" as performed by Yo-yo Ma on this album. Sounds very sad, and Yo-Yo Ma brings out the mood very well. I am curious to know what the movie was about to require such sad music, so I went YouTube-ing. Not that sad after all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU8PyzplcPI Regards CK

I just got this at Gramophone. Very good performance. The dynamics here are excellent. I prefer it over the Karajan one which I have also. The dynamic range of the Symphony No. 9 is so wide, that if you turn the volume on your hifi to hear the extremely pianissimo parts of the work, you'll be blown away when the climax arrives. Regards CK

Been too busy/tired to even start Haven't even gotten the transformers and casing man. Regards CK

Hi, For me, good bass is deep, tight, not overwhelming and adds depth to the music. Bad bass is like those ah beng techno bass which is technically mid-bass overly boosted which detracts from the music and draws attention to itself. Regards CK

Gramophone and That CD doesn't have that big a selection but prices at Gramophone are pretty good. That CD's classical CDs (and many others as well) are unpriced, which is quite a put off. HMV Heeren has a good collection (was way better years ago tho) but the prices are ridiculous! The average price of a classical CD from the likes of Deutsche Grammophone costs like $28 Regards CK

Anyone wants to try listening with the volume knob at THAT position? Regards CK

This album is pretty good. Features songs from various old movies (as title suggests) with pretty good arrangements too. Regards CK

However the 2-transformer solution is going to cost quite a bit more. I am now deliberating between 18-0-18 toroidal (and lose some power) or a 20-0-20 EI monster This will ultimately determine which case I can get. Of coz, one more solution if I go with the monster is to have a nice slim case for the amp and have the transformer in an separate external casing. Regards CK