Butcher

I've arrived late to this party. Would there be any chance of the 2014 Reference CD taking a 2nd run? Perhaps a 2024 10th anniversary re-issue? OR - assuming Mark would still be interested - should we do a new Reference disc list for 2024? I have some nominees if we do that, and since we've at least a few members over the preceding decade, perhaps some of them would have recommendations.

Greeting Ben, and welcome to the site. Hafler amplifiers are robust and relatively simple designs, but the work was completed with passive components that were rather, shall we say... economically chosen. I've redone my share of them and had excellent results for reasonable amount of effort and cost. Whilst you've established that your Hafler 500 has been a spot of bother for you, you've not said what that bother is. Could you please elaborate?

Did you find a C-1 to go with your Perreaux?

Ooooh, a threadjack in progress, let me play! What is your opinion on the Amplifi/Ubiquiti mesh routers?

And indeed you have. Thank you for clearing up that bit of Schiit.

Oh dear, the forum appears to have gone wonky. Post send doesn't bring me to the bottom of the thread, it just sits there. So I mistakenly reposted twice more and the "its a duplicate of your last post you sodding git" message didn't come up. Have I broken the system?

I spent some time looking at that and it appears to be interesting Schiit indeed. Analog as my brain is, I don't quite understand the difference between the $99 DAC and the $299 "Multibit", other than the obvious price disparity. What does the one do that the other cannot? I believe either one would be a nice addition to my gum-and-bailing-wire Airplay node.

Phone support is largely the bane of mankind. The support worker claiming through their thick accent that they're speaking to you from Omaha and asking you about the weather, strict adherence to flow-chart remedies, and when they encounter something outside their limited flow chart there's the inevitable "I will have to check with my supervisor I will return please wait" followed by interminable hold music on a 30 second loop. When I was a lad the sound was kindly referred to as "lift music", meaning Muzak versions of popular songs expired at least 15 years ago. No bends in the notes, nothing less than a quarter note, bass keyboard keeping the time instead of drums. Later on this was replaced with something akin to stock music used in videos of a prurient nature, and we've now gotten to the point where the vile "dubstep" has appeared on holds, in between messages telling us to "please wait" and "have you heard about our new... " thing that I've already bought and its broken and thats why I rung you up, you treacle-laden whore. I would imagine eventually the woke will claim this hold area as their own and start broadcasting messages about race theory and feminist intersectionality or whatever this nonsense is called while we await the next person who will refuse to believe we've already rebooted the modem twelve times and insist we do that and a factory reset while they have us on the phone.

Thats certainly one way to do it. Quite a hefty investment though. If I were to spend that much on music management for my home I'd have just bought a Mac Mini. It would have become a full-fledged server then, and one could plug the DAC of choice into it, should one be so inclined. For my own uses, I stay away from streaming music from the outside world. I've read some truly terrifying things about the information being compiled on paid customers of such services. And of course I like to own my music. Its not much trouble for me to rip and add the appropriate art, and at under $50 per unit for one in like-new condition, adding Airport extenders to the system here is both easy and cost-effective. Or as I call them, "Oiport!" for those rare moments when the Airplay connections drop. "Oi! What now?"

Thats interesting. I've seen those implementations before but never delved into them. How do you remotely control said streamer?

I had a few moments after that last post to think to myself, "Oi, what about that other system upstairs? Y'know, that one system as opposed to all the other systems? Don't you want music streams going that a way?" I had one router left, a truly ancient one that looks to all the world like a laptop power adapter, so I decided to repurpose that thingie. Plug it into the wall outlet next to my desk computer, find it with the setup utility, name it, try to update it a couple of times but its so old the firmware is rather soft and moldy so no updates, but it tests out ok. So I pull it out of the wall, run it up the stairs, stop for a moment and breathe heavily, then plug it in with all the appropriate cables and such. Cracking good music source, and this one is controlled from my iPhone. I do believe I'll sieve me a few more of these "outdated" routers from the stagnant pool that is eBay and have a go at this with the other, oh, 9 systems in the Schloss.

I liked her in my youth, much less so as time passed. This song, however you feel about Carly, is probably her masterwork. I'd almost swear it was written by Greg Lake, for it has his depth of material.

I must bring this thread back from the nether, for I have progress to report. I was mucking about on the Drop forum and found a thread very similar to this one. One participant had achieved some success by re-purposing an old Apple router as a music source for his stereo. I happen to have several boxes of cast-off computer bits, and I found a pair of old Airport Wifi routers in there. I took the newer of the pair, which is called the Express, or Extreme, or Exuberant, or whatever marketing superlative they used. The important part is that it is an 802.11alphabet router with an analog audio out on the back. Use the Airport setup program to set the modem up as an extender, and plug it into the preamp. I've gotten mine set up with my old office system: Adcom preamp and amplifier, Canton bookshelf speakers. My MacOS computer supplies the sound over the Music program, but you can use anything that supports Airplay. If I decided I don't want to sit at the desk but rather in the lounger over in the corner of the office, I can use my phone to control the system. Since my music is stored on a NAS drive next to my primary router, every device in the house signed into the network can make these bits work. Using the computer or phone, I can change tracks in my library or use TunedIn, and set the EQ and volume. The only thing left to do is figure out a remote power switch and then my swiftly decomposing bottom need never leave the chair. Since I'll need a power protector for the office system perhaps I'll find something that can do this.

Indeed. Allow me to offer another instance that relates to yours, if merely tangentially. I recently took upon myself the burden of setting up a system for an old friend. To be more specific, we've been friends for many a year, and he's got more than a few years behind him. Still, he yearns for a good sounding stereo and I aim to steer him in a direction that's a good value and pleasing to the ears. I coached him into buying an NAD integrated, much the same as mine. Upon hearing said amp with several different speakers, I've established that the power circuit needs to be refreshed at a minimum. Without getting into audio snobbery, just take my word when I say it must be done for the good of all. He's had a few pair of my speakers at his house, along with one of my amps, and my NAD acting as preamp, to stand-in for his while I adjusted a few things on it and built an order sheet for refresh parts. He was at a loss for why he didn't like one pair of speakers, so I tried to instruct him on critical listening. I'd brought along a few of my favorite test CDs and played a bit. As I began to talk about a particular track and what to listen for (usually its the magic cowbells or marimba or whatever, which one should notice floating in space about 6-8 feet ahead), he just waved his hand and said "I don't know about any of that, I just want the speakers to sound good". So, imagine my frustration as I wanted to give him a 5 minute course in exactly what to look for out of a good system, and he just wants it to "sound good". I was at an impasse: he thought that "sounds good" was the end of it all, and here I felt he would be able to make better decisions if he just knew why the bits sounded good in the first place. Deep breath, and soldier on. I'm going to upgrade his amplifier and be done with it.

Ah, Fair Warning is excellent indeed. Mean Streets comes to mind, as does Unchained. The former has this wild, galloping easiness to it that builds up into a full on riot. The latter explodes right out of the box, burns as a bright flame, and makes me wish it was at least a minute longer.