Weekend On The Boards 09Mar18-10Mar18

Yoho came out to ski on Fri & Sat... we hit A-Bay on Friday in the sun and shredded nearly the entire mountain - a strong go for the boys. We were in the front and back bowls; we were on the traverses and ridges next to Zuma; we were on the East face; we were in the trees and moguls into the front bowl off Pali. While the pic is from the top of Pali - awesome as always, the only runs we didn't hit were the Pali face, Beavers or Steep Chutes as there was way too much showing through. Of course we hit 6th Alley and Angry James on the way back to the Nest. JY tried a tasty German ale which was sweet and hoppy; I hit the Tricentric IPA. This was Jim's 1st visit to the Legend in 20 years of CO living! What a blast; what a view; what a vibe.

On Sat AM we ventured to Keystone with an even draw on the overnight snowfall. Gr8 choice as the skies hammered us all day on top of the 2" from evening. We departed a smidge early for Sat PM events but really had a good day on Outback and Dercum. Yoho was linking turns well in the moguls and skied fast - woohoo.

Hop Worship 08Mar18

Kala and I did stuff and then hit Angry James for happy hour. A new DIPA was not chosen over the Tricentric IPA. I also stopped to replenish the stocks and procured a fine new limited release from Stone called Exalted IPA; it features Loral and Citra hops - tasty.

 

Kala's Up The Creek 07Mar18

Kala and I got out on the snow together and headed up Peru Ck Road near Montezuma. We donned snowshoes for the hike so Peru Shoe for 5 miles in great weather. Beyond each other we saw some amazing stuff - the avy at the cabin is all cleaned up but high across the creek were some amazing ski lines down from the high ridge. One guy took 4 trips or 4 friends took one each with unique lines - very cool. The rendering of just one is a good enough pic. Of course we capped the hike with burgers & beers at the famous 6th Alley Bar & Grill at the Legend. Really fun day.

Brisk Day For Fresh & Fast @ Keystone 06Mar18

We've had a couple of days of a couple of inches of snow in Summit. I didn't brave the -4° and 20mph wind yesterday but did get out this morning for a quick 20Kft of vert at Keystone. I went early and grabbed what fresh lines I could but it was 4" on top of very hard-packed stuff, often ice, in many spots so conditions were variable. Dropping into moguls with 12" at the bottom and then scraping across the fronts on ice was at times dicey. It was sunny with bright blue skies and yet 20, so outstanding weather really; now it's 40° and all melting down. I chose the early selfie versus the full icicle one. Too, a decent iPhone shot of the Gore and Dillon Rez.

Big Schiit Rockin' 04Mar18

It's here and it's sparklingly tight; I'm hearing every instrument spread across the stage or studio while still encountering a warm and unfatiguing presentation. This sounds like bullshit but the Gungnir multi-bit DAC is sweeter than I've ever heard from a DAC; its the first multi-bit design I've owned (vs more typical delta sigma design). And the Mjolinir 2 balanced AMP reproduces deeply and faithfully. This is a fully balanced system when driven from USB or optical as there's balanced out to the AMP and the AMP is balanced out to each of my ears under my calibrated Ether C Flow cans. The big Schiit was indeed bigger and heavier than I expected and I felt it best to spread out my listening station from prior.

I've now rolled through a number of pre-amp tubes in the Mjolinir 2 AMP - all new old stock (NOS) tubes from the best factories of the 60's & 70's and purchased in matched pairs. I tried the "stock" Schiit solid state LISST "tubes" which were great & fast but a smidge colder; 

I tried the Czech Tesla gold pin E88CCs which were very nice & warmer but a bit more smeared than the next rolls;

I tried the famous special quality Dutch (Herleen) Amperex D-getter gold pin E88CCs (marked Phillips and sold through Dario Miniwatt) which were superior with sound stage and frequency extremes;

I tried the rare German diamond base Telefunken white label gold pin E88CCs which were fabulous and clean and a bit flatter than the Amperex tubes.

All things considered I liked the latter two better than the rest and while I hear differences, I don't prefer one over the other. I'd say I like the Amperex tubes a bit more in rock & roll and the Telefunken a bit more on more subtle tracks. I am using a socket saver beneath the tubes, at least while I'm rolling, and this makes the tubes sit proud above the amp - kindof a nice look IMO.

To complete the update I'll describe again my current reference sound chain delivering my source material to the standout new reference DAC/AMP stack. FLAC/MP3/DSD/WAV files start on my Win7 server - a Win10 Surface Pro running JRiver MC23 maintains a library of all of them and allows me to sort, choose and play anything bit-perfect via USB to the DAC. I do a bit of signal processing on the stream within MC23 before its delivered: 1st I mimic standard speakers for my headphones by having a bit of each channel played in the opposite channel with a nano-moment of delay (in a live, non-headphone, environment our ears hear both sides) and 2nd I apply a headphone frequency response calibration curve to the signal through the Sonarworks Ref4 plugin to MC23.

The only strange things with the new big Schiit is that Schiit made the logos on these components different sizes: why, who knows - and on the rear panel the Right channel is on the left and the Left channel is on the right: why, who knows - and the on/off switches are on the rear panel instead of the front: why, who knows. All in - I doubt I can make anything sound better anymore on headphones - this system is reference and just sounds completely gr8.

Lax Is Back & Beer 03Mar18

NCAA lacrosse is back to playin' across America. The early AFA-DU game was played in 16° and a snowstorm. DU #3 played Duke #1 in a thriller in which DU lost a 4 goal lead in the 3rd quarter to be beaten by the Blue Devils. Still, DU's faceoff guy Trevor Baptiste was great and gave DU most of the possessions. And my own Lehigh Mtn Hawks took on North Carolina, champs 2 seasons ago, with effectiveness but lost in OT. Thank goodness I didn't need to play the Tar Heels, the Nittany Lions were plenty for me. What a blast... it's on.

While watching lax I've tried some newish brews - the Stone Inevitable Adventure is a tasty new DIPA featuring the same Lori hops as in the Ghost Hammer and the Sierra Nevada Hazy Little thing is a super-hoppy but not bitter east coast style IPA which is very good.

Great Sounds Of The 70's ~ Renewed By The Original, Now Old Guys 01Mar18

NPR Tiny Desk brings in legends with silver hair... if you aren't into nostalgia then just listen to 73 yr old Randy Newman; he's still releasing hits.

Who doesn't know Cat Stevens - here playing Father & Son @ 10:40 and others at a ripe age with still a strong voice.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

A legendary songrwriter by any measure. Randy Newman is hysterical always - something fairly new to start, Putin at 0:0 is brilliant but even the rest brings tears. Awesome.

Randy Newman

A guidance in my 20s included songwriters from the valleys east of LA. All that country rock like Eagles, Flying Burrito Brothers, and many others including Jackson Browne - one of my favs

Jackson Browne

Wow... Baby, I Love Your Way @ 12:05 from Peter Frampton.

Peter Frampton

Just one classic but so recognizable. Graham Nash with his CSNY mates were a staple for me from years gone by.

Graham Nash

Pat Benetar still has it, even though she dyes her hair. Check We Belong @ 4:50.

Pat Benetar & Neil Giraldo

NPR's Tiny Desk is a treasure for bringing these artists in. and many others... so cool.