Sennheiser HD 650 & Vandamme Balanced Cable Set Massdrop Unveiling 20Mar18

Clean and flat with great range; they are super light and much easier to drive than my planar magnetics... my Massdrop Sennheiser HD 650 dynamic headphones, and the associated Vandamme (more typically a musical instrument cabling supplier) balanced cable set were delivered (early) today! I am auditing them now and will provide a full "unboxing experience." If anyone is concerned about Massdrop vs Sennheiser branded HD 650s - I can say don't be; there is no difference but color and markings. They are taking their rightful spot in COS as my reference dynamic headphones. I'm even able to properly correct equalization with the "standard" HD 650 correction curve - awesome. I call these a spectacular value at "only" $250 for the cans and balanced cable.

Ok, full truth time, and heartening truth at that. The HD 650s are keen (they are the best I've heard <$1K) but can't compete with my Ether C Flows. The speed and definition of my closed PMs can't be beat - I hear each instrument more clearly and cleanly, all the transients seem in tact whereas on the Sennheisers, relatively, I get a bit lost in the upper mids and highs - especially if I don't listen pretty loud. Still, no regrets on Massdrop or owning these - I call them even to the AKG 702s to my ear, when corrected and cranked to 11.

The one criticism I'd have is not about sound or build quality of either the cans or the cable set - but it is about the junction of the two. It appears that the connectors to the headphones on the cables do not seat completely flush to the earpieces. The stock cabling showed a cleaner mating. I can probably correct it with a scalpel or a Dremel tool but I also could goof it up and it does not affect stellar sonic performance... meh.

Worth It 19Mar18

I stayed in Summit for a 2nd storm to hit on Sun night. While Breck & KS only declared 4", and on occasions I dropped straight through the new stuff to ice, it was worth it. I did find plenty of 8" deep runs off Outback - I don't know whether it was spindrift or just greater microclimate snowfall but I hung out back there and lapped a ton of runs for another quick 20K of vert. Yeah, lot's of those are my turns - no lines to speak of and Keystone was not at all crowded. The snow was much lighter due to the cold - brrr 9° when I left for an early chair. And, while I left mid-day pretty pooped, there's all new snow coming again now! I still haven't hit 20 days of measured runs yet though in this thin snowfall year.

Coon Sign & A Pennsylvania Thing 18Mar18

Awaiting the next storm I was able to catch some of the NCAA National Wrestling Championship televised from Ohio. It was awesome. It must be a Pennsylvania kind of thing... I went to many college wrestling matches in "the pit" at Lehigh and we were good; a friend from COS & Lehigh was at the championships this year; and 8 of the 20 finalists are from PA. Penn State won the team title again when Bo Nikal here won by a pin in the 184# class to close out Ohio State. The Nittany Lions had 5 guys in the finals, 4 of whom became national champs.

Also while hanging out for a storm, I was in the hot tub. Leaning over the edge I caught sight of a raccoon attack. Feb-Mar is the mating time for raccoons and mama coons have attempted to get into the Nest in previous seasons. Here one lady effectively attacked the spa side panels and did get one open after in part destroying it. I was able to re-secure it without her in there. Sheesh.

Thin To Win Among Texas Onslaught 16Mar18

We only scored about 4" of heavy-ish snow Thu evening for the Fri AM pow' hunt. It was worth heading over to Keystone for the morning and early afternoon but I left after it was all skied off and sunshine was softening the base... just 'cause. There must've been 40% Texas plates in the RR parking lot - must be a spring break down there as there were more crowds on the hill than for a normal Friday - even with the 4" of new. I'm stayin' to hopefully grab some more on Sun-Mon but who knows.

True Wireless Field Trial @ Ute 14Mar18

I took a lap around Ute to test tire and suss mods to the SuperBike as well as the field trial the Sony true wireless earbuds. Bike worked great - I hadn't done any riding to speak of in 2018 and dang mtn biking is fun. I was really pleased too that the earbuds played very well and stayed in without fail through the entire ride - again a boon. I'm looking forward to more mtn bike rides this year but I think I need to adjust my new Smith MIPS helmet - I've got a gap.

So, I fixed the helmet gap and took another ride to continue the test. Up past the AFA on railroad grade on the cross bike. I am thinking of selling the Fuji Altimera as I don't do roads and can use the hardtail 29er in most similar instances. So, I took it out - jeez those things are light and react to every down-thrust. Kala had a party so I was scare and stopped for pizza & beer at OC and tasted this nice floral Stone IPA there called Scorpion Bowl. I am really impressed with the Sony WX1000 true wireless buds - they lasted for both rides and sounded gr8 - all good, including the battery case - shown here recharging the buds.

Blue-Eyed Soul & Fiber Fun 13Mar18

The new DAC/AMP stack has allowed me to venture into some delicate musical areas. Today's comment is about Lake Street Dive... four cool musicians from a Boston conservatory with a bluesy lead singer Rachel Price backed by great harmonizers and multi-instrumentalists. Multi-genres inhabit this band but mainly blue-eyed soul (like Dave Mason, but better). Click through some of their sweet stuff but if time is short at least hit the hot funky beats of Call Off Your Dogs... nothing sounds like this!

Good Kisser

What Am I Doin' Here

Call Off Your Dog

Stop Your Cryin'

Bohemian Rhapsody (Cover)

Others & Godawful Things

I exploited the Mac's dual purpose audio port to send some some high-rez bitstreams to the DAC via fiber cabling. It all worked great - the new multi-bit DAC is really fine. The pic doesn't show the red LED driving the fiber as my phone auto-eliminates that as red-eye and I couldn't turn it off - oh well. I regularly need new t-shirts to replace old & ratty ones. My latest batch is themed not on fishing or biking but on headphones, to celebrate the arrival and install of the big Schiit.

Not Yet On The Ark 12Mar18

I hit the PT this morning and it is not "on" in any way yet. The redds are evident and the spawn must've started but I did not see cuts and bows on them. I did see huge fish behind the weirs pretty deep but could not entice them with my morsels. I spent 3 hours in nice weather with no runs, no hits and no errors ('cept once when I threw my rig in a tree). The air was 50°, the water was 39° and clear and flowing ~325cfs for my entire outing up from the NC. I saw very little bug-sign but did see a few #26 gray-black midges. I think this is a first for me at the PT... but that is not a good thing. There is construction upstream but I did not perceive the dirty water at all. I was the only guy on the cold water.

I went back and checked the flows and the spike just prior to my arriving might be part of the issue and challenge I faced.