Digital Audio Done Right ~ Added New JRMC Streamer, Mobile Stand, And Equalization To EleFrugalKit 28Apr26

Monitor & Stand... The lower level east wall EleFrugalKit got an update with the addition of a new TV stand & monitor, and the additional of a new Mele Quieter 3C streamer. I broke an old 65" monitor attempting to one-man load it on the new stand but bought an out-of-date, refurbed, smaller one on AMZ for cheap. The stand is mobile "just in case" and hosts my 'tiny' electronics stack of the Elekit SET amp, the DSPro 200 bluetooth receiver (most often receiving YouTube Music from guests), the new JRiver Media Center streamer (hosted on Ubuntu 22 on the Mele fanless PC), and the Schiit Modi MB 2 DAC.

MC Streamer... I built the streamer pretty quickly from a bootable thumb drive but getting JRMC32 (4 versions back) to run well on Jammy Jellyfish took some trials to find and install the correct archived versions and install them properly. Got it done and working on the best unadulterated audio path from USB-C on the PC to USB-C on the ModiMB2. Some say the JRMC software is acid, especially on Linux, and it does fail, and is bloated with so many features and so much flexibility, it is sometimes painful. Nonetheless, once dialed in, it works well for me... I've built 4 of these fanless Linux streamers now and once clean, they are strong. I don't really need a monitor (see my phone-based remote control of the streamer) but it's nice for updating software and viewing band images and lyrics. All my streamers pull mostly FLAC files from a multi-TB archLinux server.

Equalization... The new streamer also provided the chance to reload parametric equalization filters for the FrugalHorn Mk3s in this location, at least for JRMC content. Room curve flat baby.

One can really warm up the most sterile digital files with some fine speakers, a multi-bit DAC, and tubes. The EleFrugalKit is very inexpensive, very cool, and very very...

MA April 2027 ~ Late Cuts & 1Q26 Album Drops26Apr26

I delayed my MA blog entry in April to snag more nasty stuff. I surely wasn't watching F1... we saw to that by declaring war on Iran; now Hormuz is a real thing at risk to decades of maritime law overseen by our US Navy. Did we game this out right? Never-mind I'm on to my vibe-plane, Music Appreciation for April 2026. I'll start with that to which I listened with intent in ~

1Q26,  the album drops... 

• The New Pornographers - The Former Site Of 28Mar26 Frequently completely infectious AC Nelson songs & prep leads to great songs, recordings, and tour dates. I love this supergroup even though AC didn't have Neko sing many leads on this album. Always worth the time to listen.
  

• Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - Hell To Breakfast 06Mar26 If you're from AZ, you know Roger Clyne; if you know me, you know Roger Clyne. The southwest's rockin' cowboy balladeer dropped another disc and it's very good (again).

  

• I’m With Her - Sing Me Alive 06Mar26 Sure I profiled this last month; I listened to the whole live album on bandcamp.com and boy howdy it was gonna be good. I received the digital version and integrated it into my audio infrastructure so listened on higher end gear ~ even better. Ltd release vinyl is next. 
  
• Sweet Pill - Still There’s A Glow 20Feb26 Philly rarely fails. The latest rip from the prog emo team is again very hot. 

• Cat Clyde - Mud Blood Bone 21Jan26 My latest crush from a deep dive on a prolific career from Canada. Spectacular writer, player (4 string is cool since when?), and vocalist. Wild backcountry stuff with killer voice breaks and country sentiments. I saw her and band @ eTown recently... polished delivery but fun.
  
  
  

Recent cuts, just a few for you... some especially anticipating To-Hell-You-Ride BG Fest...

• Punch Brothers - New Bike (Live OV) 21Apr26
  
  
  
  
  

• The Vindys - Same Stars 12Apr26

  

  
  

• Larkin Poe - The Royal Express 14Apr26

  

• Tedeschi Trucks Band - Medley of Sly on Stern 27Mar26

  

Fishing The Ark Headwaters ~ Small German Browns & A Cascading Fail 24Apr26

Well, the best laid plans sometimes don't work out. Now in Summit, my trip to Jurassic Pk on the Blue was blasted when flows impulse-changed from 85cfs-415cfs yesterday. I fish the Blue at that level but the impulse change in flows will put fishing off a bit, so I shifted allegiance this day. I checked alternatives and headed to the Arkansas River headwaters south of Leadville this morning. I was a bit concerned hitting this spot at 10Kft elevation in Apr. It was 42° on arriving and my concern was warranted as fishing was slow and my overall outing even worse. I caught some 10" German browns on a brownish/olive #22 flashy midge, as yielded by this fishery often, from my stop at Kobe. I had a cascading set of haps that disabled images for this blog entry however. I forgot to bring the Hero cam as it was recharging, and as mentioned yesterday, the memory card now fails to be read properly by the camera, so I didn't bring it either. At the river I said 'I'll just bring the phone this once.' Prophetic, it was the once and last, as I lost my phone in the river, with the selfie, pan of San Isabels, pics of brown trout, and all my data/music/images/configs on my iPhone 12 Pro. I do not have good luck with phones on rivers and my 'backup' practice is not strong. Dang it ~ I ordered a new one and 'locked' the old one (just in case someone finds it and it still works). With rain & snow pending for Sun/Mon, and my Apple order awaiting me at Briargate, I'll head to El Paso Co tomorrow instead of out to the Colo River tribs I'd expected to attempt this weekend... and so much for Copper Mtn weekend events.

Fishing The Middle Fk Of SPLatte @ Tomahawk ~ Windy & Chilly But Effective 23Apr26

I hit the Middle Fk of the South Platte above Hartsel today as I passed by on my way to Summit. No one else was at the Tomahawk pull out, for good reason. Flows were low; temp was 41°; winds were high and gusty. Undeterred I suited up and grabbed my new v2 version of the 8' Rodfather True 3 and Lamson reel for its maiden field trial on this small river. My first hour at 10:15am was nothing caught or seen. In my 2nd hour though I began to see some small fish in shallow warming water and I was encouraged to keep going, but I did change rigs to include a #22 glass head tan midge. Then, I began to catch a number of 10"-14" rainbows and a couple of 10" browns ~ all on the tan midge. All the pics were taken via my still fish camera, which ultimately wasn't really storing them as the card wasn't recognized... I hadn't noticed; oh well. The selfie is the only thing captured as it was done with the Hero cam. Fishing wasn't off the hook but it was sufficient and I headed on to the Nest at 12:15pm as I was done with the chill and the wind. The new True 3 was fun for this size of fish, and was even pretty effective in the wind.

Fishing The Arkansas @ Breach Below Pueblo Rez ~ Town Runs Slow With Smalls & Nature Center Good With Bigs 22Apr26

Happy Earth Day ~ Nature Center ~ I finally caught a righteous 20+" fish this season! It used to be many outings in a row I could do this in CO; it happens less now and I don't believe it's me. Nonetheless, exciting and fun. I fished the Nature Center section this morning after the Town section seemed slow. I believed it'd be an epic mayfly day with warm 70° temps, low wind, and nice cloud cover. But nah ~ little known bug-sign this day. Nonetheless, this 20.5" cutbow was fooled by an oil can Perdigon and offered a good fight against the Rodfather True 5. Let's start @ the Nature Center from 11am - 1pm. I also caught a nice fat 18" cutbow just prior to the 20.5"er. I left the NC with a  sucker. 

Town ~ I hit the HS football stadium (now marked Scheel's) town section first. There were peeps but it wasn't heavily impacted except at my favorite spot there under the footbridge. The guy didn't move so I moved ahead of him to finish my pass with a few small cutbows. I hit a number of better fish on the nose with mayflies and midges but the bite was not 'on.' Flows seem low, slow, and water a bit warmer in town.

Fishing The So Platte In 11 Mile Canyon ~ Wonderful Pass On The River, On The Run 20Apr26

I arose early at the Nest and cleaned quickly in order to fish 11 Mile Canyon as I passed Lk George on the way back to COS. It was a beautiful day with 70°s and little wind. Flows are fishable but a smidge low @ 75cfs. There were 38 cars in the canyon with 29 above the single tunnel alone. NP. I set up at the last bridge and started there for a "normal" pass upstream on my home water. I skipped around teams as I encountered them so left some very good spots alone. I didn't stay but 2 hrs and caught 10 good cutbows. Most were on #20 Destiny's Child mayfly but some were on the #22 red/black PopTop and one on the Perdigon. It was strong action, the spawn is evident & redds are avoided. Though one guy accused me of fishing on the redds when I wasn't ~ I think he was just bummed at my frequent takes. I left him to lament and didn't even finish my pass ~ I went back to the car and on home. Lots of fun on 17"ers - 19"ers on the Rodfather Diamond Blaze 4 wt ~ including one super cutthroat looking one.

Ripping The Brewers With AM ~ Fun In COS 16Apr26

Alan and I finally closed a plan for a mini-rip in the FlyBox with beers at our best local brewers. I brought the car and AM brought the card for many of our short pours. We hit: WestFax, Fossil, Cerberus (dinner too), Gunslinger, Goat Patch, and Urban Animal. We met some great patrons, great brewers, and great collaborators. A fine tour with a mini-rip back to Peregrine with my newish mate.