I bet it’s great with the RME!

My first ask would be for preamp outputs (RCA & XLR) on the Lina Amp - either switched or auto muted when headphones are connected.

Beautiful pair of amplifiers. It strikes me that inside the amp on the right, there must be at least one Flux Capacitor. I'll show myself out...

That's right. I've had a 25 year love/hate relationship with the Salamander Synergy series equipment racks. I only have that one in the house now, but I've had as many as three. The tall rack on the left used to be in my dining room and the one next to it used to be in my home office room...

Panasonic Viera TC-P65VT30 plasma checking in... It's been the center of my home theater system since 2011. Long may she reign! (The speakers are Paradigm Reference Series v2 from 2001 - Studio 60 mains, Studio Center, and Servo-15 subwoofer - in the rosewood finish.)

Over in speaker world they say, to drive a given load, you need fewer “tube watts” than solid-state watts.

"Fully guilty. Fully aware." An inscription for my tombstone one day.

I've written about this quirk of the volume control on the US 5 Pro model before. Relay-based volume controls tend to make clicking sounds when changing the volume. The sound comes from the relays actuating. I'm not an electronics engineer, but I don't think the sound can be avoided completely...

Hah! I paid $20 to a tube seller on eBay. Oh, well. Mine is "Sylvania Gold Brand" with gold pins. Maybe those come at a premium?

I found a second-hand Niimbus US5 Pro locally in 2022 at a good price. I had the Benchmark and the Niimbus in my rack together for a while that year. Later on I had a local buyer in my house auditioning a different piece I had listed for sale and he expressed interest in my HPA4 as well. I...

I've owned the HPA4 and it's an excellent piece. I don't see any reason it wouldn't be relevant in 2024 and well beyond. In fact, as happy as I am with my current system, there are days when I regret selling the HPA4 and can see myself going back to a Benchmark stack with its smaller footprint...

Serial #26 responding... I've upgraded to a pair of Takatsuki TA-2A3 power tubes, an Elrog ER-5U4G rectifier tube, and a Sylvania Gold Brand 6BQ7A input tube. I'm not very skilled at describing the subtle sonic characteristics of these things. The Stellaris is my first tube amp so I'm not...

The SDV 3100 HV seems like an excellent piece. It's only aspirational for me, but I hope to find a way to listen to one sometime.

Now this is the content I come here for... I took four years of Latin in high school... you know, back when Declension IV was Imperator.

I had a listen to this setup, as well. I'm not accustomed to the Sennheiser 800 series headphones, but I thought the system sounded darn good. Topping has also elevated the look-n-feel with these pieces. Looking forward to reading more about them once they hit the market.

I got a chance to spend some time listening to this amp (the upcoming Headamp CFA3) on Saturday. I was also expecting it to run hot, so I touched the heatsinks a bit. Definitely hot, but not too hot to touch.

I can't believe sign-ups are closed already. I just got home from work. What a bummer...

This would be fantastic... very appealing.

Fantastic speakers! Good luck with the sale...

I owned a Benchmark DAC2 DX for a few years. That was my experience, as well.

Now that’s the way to do it.

I guess that answers my question from last month.

I have heard the Boulder 812 and the Meze Elite, but not in combination. Given the specs I think they would be great together. I have not heard the Esoteric. I like its casework better, though - cleaner lines, more refined. It looks more consistent with its price. Esoteric is a brand more...

I heard this piece at the Audeze booth at CanJam NYC last month. It sounded excellent with the headphones on hand (LCD-5, LCD-X, etc). The casework is a bit strange, but gives it some character. The power output is modest, which is not what I expected from Boulder. But performance was quite...

FYI: Daylight Saving Time transition is Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 2:00am in New York. We lose an hour overnight between the two days of the show.