yongchris

I got these 2 DVDs just before the sgheadphones.com crash, and the review I wrote couldn't get posted. Well, here it goes. Sarah Machlaclan - VH1 storytellers DVD beautiful beautiful CD, better than mirrorball by miles. A small intimate setting of abt 200 people with Sarah M. She makes an intro to every song, including some background... etc (you can turn off this feature and just go to the songs on the DVD). And she looks so gorgeous and sounds so amazing. The song selection is very good, typically her more "popular" songs from surfacing, not so much from the older album. I feel a little short-changed, cos there were only 10 songs and there aren't a lot of extras on the DVD, but then I only paid abt $30 from gramaphone. I don't regret buying it though. Compared to Mirrorball (which I own as well), this is much better in terms of sound quality and visual quality. Also, she wears a pair of E5s throughout the entire performance. Lilith Fair DVD I've already got the collection on CD, but adding the visual to the mix does make the music better. Sarah M is amazing as usual, she's beautiful, wonderfully wonderfully talented with an absolutely amazing voice. I can feel the tears when she sings Angel. Jewel is similarly brilliant. Another beautiful woman with a wonderful voice. The highlight of the DVD must be the 3 way performance of "The water is wide", originally like Dylan, with the Indigo girls, Sarah M and Jewel performing it. That track is simply magic. Starts off with a clean acoustic guitar sound by the indigo girls, followed by a solo verse by Jewel, and a solo verse by Sarah M. You can hear the contrasting voices of both ladies. Both voices are so beautiful, yet the tone is so different. Gun to my head, I wouldn't be able to choose which one I liked better. The rest of the DVD was pretty good, and at $22, a decent bargain, especially since the CD cost $25 but with more tracks. I didn't review the other tracks as I didn't pay much attention to them Soundwise,If I turn off the tv and play both tracks back to back, the CD does sound better (well, my CD player is $1.8k and my DVD player is $180...go figure), but the visual impact to your senses lend alot more credence and weight to the entire performance. Watching the expressions and movements of the artists do benefit the listening experience. As far as I know, I bought the only copies from gramaphone, and I haven't seen it there ever since, but you guys can try your luck.

I buy those floorwipe stuff that attracts dust and clean my speakers everyday. Even though my speakers are on abt 12hrs a day, I find that dust(I live right next to a main road) does collect on the woofer's cone and on top, a quick wipe everyday when I get home from work sorts everything. The tweeters on the other hand, are a different matter, I find that it sometimes picks up hair from my cat, so I got one of those camera lens air-blower thingies to gently blow the particles away. sometimes I do wish I had grills.

I have sent an email to Shure and I got the following reply from them. [reply]: The item still has a 2 year warranty even though it was discontinued and bough overseas. Hi Shure, I am from Singapore, and I am intending to purchase the E1C model earphones. Fortunately, I found a dealer which still carries stock of this. However, I am worried about the warranty. I understand that this model has been discontinued and replaced by the E3C, and I was also informed that the 2 year warranty does not cover items purchased overseas. Could I please get some confirmation from you? If I do purchase the E1C, and it is from an authorised dealer, would I still receive the 2 year warranty as claimed by your webpage? As the E1C has been discontinued, would the item still be covered, with parts available for repair/replacement? Thank you

Yeah, I inspected it carefully at hung bros, they do not look comfortable. However, hung bros do not have a sample open and the salesgirl told me that if I wanted to try them, I'd have to buy them. I didn't buy them. the box says it's made of silicon, with 3 sizes, but the plastic box is very hard, and I even tried pressing on the box to see the softness of the headbud, but to no avail. the shape is very odd, are our ear canals really shaped that way? btw, it cost abt 20ish, but I didn't feel inclined to buy to try. maybe if they had a sample open...

Has anyone tried these? Just saw them at hungbros. thinking of getting them for my mx500s, but they don't have an open set, so couldn't see how well it fits and how good the material is. http://www.heartechnologies.com/hearbuds/hearbuds.htm

Welcome back guys, I've missed you (strictly in a non-sexual way )

believe it or not? NO. I've never done that. I don't like going into shops, as I find most salesmen are stuckup and rude. and I can't say no to nice ones. so in order to prevent "upgraditis" I simply don't listen to other equipment. anywya, I'm very content with my current setup. Chris.

It all boils down to the "boys and toys" syndrome. As boys, we need our toys, be it cars, hi-fi, computers, fishing rods...etc. We need the bright lights, the feel of the metal, the roar of the engine/speakers etc. Our toys are physical things. We never grow up. That's why women are supposedly more mature than men. They have left their toys when they left school. They no longer have the urge to "play". Rather, they seek more intangible objects like love, companionship, friendship...etc. Though women do spend money on shoes and bags and clothes, it stems more from a practical need (though I'd hardly call thousand dollar handbags practical, but to each his/her own). Just like a woman would buy a all-in-one stereo to listen to music, simply because they are listening to the music, and not the equipment. The scary ending to this story is that even though we men call ourselves audiophools, when we buy new equipment, the first person we usually seek for an audio opinion is our girlfriend or wife. I know everytime I upgrade a piece of gear, I know I would turn to my gf and say "do you hear a difference? do you like what you hear?" If she says "yes, it sounds amazing" I can go back to being an audiophool. Chris.

Interesting read, http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George.../music_man.html http://www.positive-feedback.com/pfbackiss...rstein.7n4.html They are actually a couple of jokes I've read about this, but I can;t seem to find them. Chris. ps. I'm looking for them.

So anyway, I was watching that American Idol interview show at 8.30, when adverts came in. I usually channel surf at this time, but a trailer for a new TV show came on. The trailer for "The OC". Anyway, the music struck a familar chord. That haunting voice, that melancholic guitar. I know that song...I know those words....I know that artist...but what was her name.... I frantically skimmed through my CD collection, thank god I sort them alphabetically according to artist name, and I found Her. I found the CD. The song was "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star. from the album "So Tonight that I might see". I immediately put in the CD, cued up the track and "WOAH!" I forgot how good this CD sounds. I spent the night listening to all 3 of her albums. "She hangs brightly" "Among my swan" and the above mentioned. Junkie fans will definitely like her sound. dark, haunting and melancholic. usually a clean guitar and her voice. Quite a tad of reverb to the sound,but it makes it more "Airy" than as if it's coming from a bathroom. Beautiful lyrics and melodies. I don't know if you can get them in Singapore. I ordered mine from the states quite some years ago. I discovered her from some soundtrack of a movie (forgot which) and I bought all 3 albums without hesitation. She only released these 3, so I've never thought to look for them here. amazon link here. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...7088200-9542242 Chris

Their recent albums have been quite "poppish" sounding very synthesized and james cookish. I've listened to them at the shop and have not liked it. But this one is a gem, they go back to their early roots, clean recordings with no overdubs and none of that processed music you usually hear when you buy "guitar" or "flamenco" albums. basically, guitars, bass, and hands clapping for percussion btw, I'm really into the traditional toe tapping, hand clapping gypsy/flamenco/ole music right now, ever since I went for that nacional de ballet espanole, flamenco concert.( it was awesome. Going for another one in June.) So if anyone has recommendations, please tell me. I've gone to listen to most of those "flamenco" compilations and those so called "flamenco" guitarists, and I've bought NONE of them so far, cos they are all CRAP. processed music with synths. BLARGGG! A good example of what I'm looking for is from that flamenco dance during the first 10mins of Mission Impossible 2. that was awesome (btw, the guy who choreograhed that scene is in Singapore conducting flamenco clinics, don't ask me how I know ) Chris

For those of you Buena Vista Social Club fans, you might be interested in checking out this CD. The Gypsy Kings - Roots Basically traditional gypsy and flamenco music. 3-4 guitars, a double bass and an amazing vocalist. The guitar work is brilliant and I love the sound of the percussion box thingy (dunno the name of it, but the player sits on a box that has metal links in it, kinda like a snare, and taps the sides). The music is very good, great melodies and rhythms Recording is very good and as a bonus there is a DVD with the CD package. The DVD shows the recording of this album. btw, if you watch the DVD, the entire band uses ATH monitoring headphones for the recording. I got mine from gramaphone for abt $23. Chris

Check out these 2 tests I stumbled across. 1. is from slashdot.org, it's a Double Blind Test for the different compression softwares available. Basically, you DL the test program to your PC and run it, and you can choose to submit the test to the compiler. It's a public test. http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat12...esentation.html 2. The other test is something I came across in echoloft. It's a test to measure how sensitive your ears are to distortion. IMO, its a good test for your headphone systems as well. http://www.klippel.de/aura/ try it and have fun. Chris

Just bought this amazing album from HMV(spore), cost me a whopping $41 but worth every penny. Cowboy Junkies - In the time before Llamas I've got all the junkies' albums (live and studio) and this has got to be the best of the lot(yes, I think it's even better than trinity sessions, which WAS my previous fav). fantastic recording (BBC) in a small, cosy theatre (Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre). Only the core members play on this session so the sound is not so cluttered, and the soundstage and instrument seperation is incredible. I dunno abt phones, but on my speaker system, it was pure magic. Her voice was very closely miked, so you can hear every nuance of her breathing and singing. I was listening to it last night and I swear, it gave me goose pimples. Also, the interpretations of the songs are not their standards. This set is much more mellow. They play the same songs, but the pace is much slower and melancholy. Superb!!! A definite must buy for junkie fans. Chris [edited] If you look at the album cover, that's exactly how the sound comes out, the guitar to the left, her voice slighty off center to the right and the drums behind her. The bass doesn't seem to come from an exact place(which is always true for live sets) and the harmonica is on the right. For those of you on headphones without crossfeed, it'll sound abit strange cos of the instrument seperation. [edited again] The word I was looking for is "Haunting" the sound of this album is haunting(and not in a bad way).

I personally think this is worse. http://www.echoloft.com/cgi-bin/buysell/Ya...&num=1083132716 pure profiteering. and this "person" has trolled over to sgh as well. I'm sure most of you would know the cost of this cable from LHS. I can't believe someone would be so blatant. Buyer Beware...Indeed. Chris. PS. I think it's $120 now, but in his original post, it was $150. ridiculous.

Thanks everyone. I checked the other suggestions by evil-zen and they are tube amps. err...nope, not for me. The corda prehead looks interesting with enuff inputs as well, cept no remote, but won't sign off on that one yet. but remote is pretty important cos I sit in the same place to watch tv, listen to music and watch dvds (sometimes all at the same time ) couldn't find the gilmore. which model is it? thanks again. Chris

I've been ghosting on this forum for sometime now, occasionally recommending music, frankly, I'm getting downright itchy and I'm thinking of getting myself a proper rig. I have no intention of letting go my speaker system, but.....the itch for headphones is there. My current headphones are SR60s plugged into my NAD C370, and MX500s plugged into my PCDP. I rarely listen to headphones at home, in fact I've given my grados to my dad so that he can watch tv late at night while my mum is sleeping. Since I don't want to give up my speaker system, and the headamps for home, and I don't want to have to change cables and I don't want a switch box to degrade the sound (yes, I'm damn picky, sorry). I was thinking that the headmaster might be perfect for my needs, since I am in the market for a preamp anyways. I got 3 sources at home (CD, DVD, TV) and my amp has a pre-out/in, so I can use the NAD as a poweramp, bypassing it's preamp facilities. Use the headmaster as my pre, and also my headamp. (which means I will be buying new cans too) Cut the long story short, has anyone used the headmaster as a preamp proper, and how does it sound? (I've looked online, but mostly it was as a headamp) I have no particular taste in music, generally very eclectic selections(no country/western). but I value accuracy and transparency above all else (very PRAT). Thanks in advance Chris

Frankly I dunno if this should go into the DIY Section or the CRAZY section. but check this link out... http://www.royaldevice.com/custom3.htm

Naz, Check this out, if you're still into the female vocal in ambient room recording genre Portishead, live in NYC. Beth Gibbons has an amazing voice. The recording is pretty good too. Chris

lengcm, did you get my pm?

This just in, Wes Phillips reviews the Xcan V3. http://www.onhifi.com/product.shtml if you don't see it, hit refresh. it should be the product for MAR 15 update.

found it!!! gosh, that was a tough site to find. http://www.original-cd.com.cn/en/company/company2.htm http://www.original-cd.com.cn/en/products.htm Chris

Finally, something I can afford.... guess my conversion to the headside is inevitable. Is there a webby for this brand that I can order from? Is there gonna be a powerbuy? I wonder if that shop in Bukit Timah will bring it in, should give them a ring. I think they bring in the CD player for this "Original" brand too. Chris

this fella wants to buy a headmaster. http://pub1.bravenet.com/classified/show.p...m=57182966&cp=3 coldfuzion@hotmail.com from iaudio

My fav is "Blue Moon Revisited" by Cowboy Junkies. A brand new take on that 60's classic.