This thread is for online deals, consumer reports, and requests for reviews in adding to the crap you own.
Iāll start this by saying that I have become so domestic that I am looking at Black Friday ads for a vacuum cleaner. I am leaning towards a Dyson V7 or V8 for a two-bedroom apartment that is carpeted except for the kitchen and bathroom. Does anyone have experience with this model?
The main deal sites I scrounge are Kinja Deals and Slick Deals. Does anyone else have favorite deal sites?
Welcome back, broseph.
the only thing Iāll be buying this weekend is 30" of fresh powder at Mammothā¦and itās pretty cheap since we stay in our RV and have a pass that pays for itself in 4 days.
hereās a shot of my hubby today, near the bottom of the mountainā¦
hastag OptOutside
my bro and I were known as the Terrors of Mammoth Mountain as kids
heh, that picture was taken on Stump Alley today. Fucking Stump Alley. lmao
I have the older V6 thatās capped at 20 mins runtime, but itās considerably less if you use the motorized head for carpet. I would say go with the biggest runtime you can get unless you are fine charging between cleaning sessions. I was skeptical but the cordless units really make vacuuming a breeze and I found myself doing it more. My other unit is an older built-like-a-tank canister that was a PITA to pull around a 1600 sq ft condo. I found myself doing more frequent smaller jobs with the Dyson since I could just pull it off the charger and vacuum. Some areas need more frequent attention like kitchen floor that tends to accumulate food debris.
Ooh, a shopping thread. Is this where we come to brag about not shopping?
Here are some of my picks for 2019:
Thermoworks Thermapen MK4
Itās on sale right now for $74.25 (regular $99). Yes, thatās a lot of money for a food thermometer, but itās generally regarded as the single best one you can buy. While I donāt put too much stock in any single reviewer, I do regard Americaās Test Kitchen quite highly for most cooking gear. They absolutely swear by the Thermapen:
I own the smaller and cheaper ThermoPop ($34) which is good but isnāt built as well nor does it have some of the better features (Auto-On, Auto Backlight, IP67 waterproof, easy to hold).
The Mk4 is assembled by hand in England whereas the ThermoPop is produced in China. At normal pricing Iād have went with the ThermoPop, but for $74 I thought the Mk4 was the no-brainer buy for the serious cooks I shop for. Thereās also a splash-proof (IP66, same as the ThermoPop) Thermapen available for $59, but I think waterproof is worth the extra $15 given how easy it is to knock stuff into water in the kitchen. Thereās also a version with an infrared reader on sale for $111. Two-year warranty on all of these. Hereās a video of the assembly, testing, and calibration:
Thereās another aspect that I think puts them into the ELITE GIFT category which is they arenāt really distributed through retailers and are therefore rare in the wild. You have to really care about cooking to bother to find these.
Where Can I Buy The Thermapen?
You can buy it right here online. There are only a few authorized dealers, (watch out for counterfeit Thermapen look-alikes). There are a few retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada that stock the Thermapen.
Why Donāt More Retail Outlets Carry It?
Most retailers want to more than double their money. The big name chains want the most. If a product costs them $4, they want to charge you $10. The Thermapen is already priced at āTrade Pricingā. Meaning, this is the price we sell it to commercial food service users and health departments. And, we offer it to the general public at the same price. Big retail chains would have to charge you much, much more and theyād still be mad that we would take your order at a lower price. The retailers that do carry the Thermapen are not making their normal mark-up so thank them if you buy there!
ok, I lied, I did buy something this weekend.
20,000 custom stickers for $350 (with shipping). Iām boring, but it had to be done, we have a HUGE event next weekend and we gotta have swag.
Sennheiser 6xx on (Mass) Drop. These are re/co-branded Sennheiser HD 650 which used to be THE reference headphones back in the day. The Massdrop version is structurally identicalāno cut corners or cheaper parts. Price has been reduced from $220 to $180 which is a killer deal for audiophile grade phones. Sennheiser still wants $500 for the HD 650. Only drawback to these is that they are 300 ohm resistance, so it takes quite a bit of power (in theory) to drive them properly. Most people recommend an amp and a DAC wouldnāt hurt either.
My man! A fellow audiophile. At least itās safe to assume you are after experiencing those. I own that pair and some other badass ones. There are better, more expensive headphones to be had than the 6xx/650, but IMO after the 6xx, the returns on spending extra start to greatly diminish. Itās a great pair and music canāt sound much better. For a little cheaper thereās the 58x, which are less likely to need an amp and might be more like a sidegrade than a downgrade, allegedly sounding more similar to the 660s. Probably most people would prefer the 6xx though.
The 6xx seem to require less power than youād expect at 300ohm, but one still might need an amp depending on oneās source. Apparently some smartphones can play them without a problem, but Iāve read that if you have to turn your volume up too close to 100%, that could mess with the sound by causing audible distortion. But if your volume is under like 75% then an amp probably wonāt make a difference (aside from turning the knob less far). My source is an mp3 player that puts out a lot of power. Using an audio switch Iāve A/B compared the sound with/without an amp and there was zero difference. So IMO if you can get enough volume without running into your sourceās limitations, youāre fine without an amp.
But if one does need an amp, I recommend either the JDS Atom ($99) or the Geshelli Archel2 (on sale for $130). I have the archel2 and after trying it with very power-hungry headphones, I concluded that it puts out enough power for probably any headphone in existence. The JDS Atom puts out more power yet, so IMO thereās no reason to buy an expensive solid-state amp these days.
If you donāt think you want the intentional treble roll-off that the hd6xx has, then another good deal is an open-box Shure srh1840 for $189 on ebay (8 left in stock). I havenāt personally tried it, but from everything Iāve read about it, Iād be pretty surprised if it werenāt great. Another option for more treble is the hd600 if you can find a good deal on it. Or the Beyerdynamic dt880, but Iām not confident in recommending that after having heard a different Beyer model that sounded completely wacky, so I say only buy it if returns are an option.
Ok Iāll stop rambling now lol.
My experience with the 650/6xx is a friend of mine ran the 650ās on a tube. Sounded amazing but thatās not really an on-the-go setup so Iāve been using the 58x Jubilees instead. They are really great and just loud enough before I get to distortion volumes from my phone, laptop, etc. And yes, apparently they are a bit more brilliant in the highs / upper mids and not āveiledā like some people claim on the 650s. Canāt really go wrong with either pair at these prices. My only complaint would be that they lack soundstage but hard to complain < $200.
While weāre at it, do you have any value-pricing picks for IEMs and portable MP3 players? Preferrably < $100 for IEMs and < $200 for MP3.
Iām not into IEMās personally, so I donāt read up on them and donāt have recommendations. However, probably a good place to start would be to find out which ones have a frequency response resembling the IEM-specific Harman target. One way to research that is to peruse this database of headphone FRās provided by an audio engineer. Whatās nice about his raw graphs is that they show the Harman curve alongside the FR curve for comparison. His measurements are taken with the GRAS equipment, which is more accurate than the more commonly posted E.A.R.S measurements (such as those found at InnerFidelity). He also provides parametric EQ presets for bringing your headphones closer to Harman. (To any of the older posters reading this, Harman might be too treble-light for you since our ears lose treble as we age. Youād probably want headphones/IEMās with more treble than Harman to compensate.)
As for a budget DAP, chi-fi is probably your best bet. Thereās a mega thread at head-fi: Obscure Chinese DAPs. I recently bought the Acmee mf-01 which is $95 at Penon Audio. I canāt quite recommend it yet until a firmware update (which may come very soon) fixes a major UI problem - you canāt have your songs in folders (eg for artists and albums). You have to put all your songs in the root directory or it thinks you have no songs. So I donāt use it at the moment, but I tested its sound against my Hifiman DAP and so far havenāt noticed a difference, which means the sound is fantastic. It also means the alleged differences in sound between different DAPs and DACs might be a myth (at least after a baseline price point) as some people say, which wouldnāt surprise me, because in theory any DAC chip that does its job oughtta do the same job.
That thingās got the functionality of a Westinghouse barometer.
Sure itās overkill but itās designed so well that you donāt have to press buttons or do anything special. Just unfold the probe and go.
Yeah thing is I am kind of sick of Chi-fi or Chi-anything for that matter. Iād rather buy a nice product once than supporting cheap, buggy products that break. And other problem is there are so many Chi-fi pieces flooding the market it makes research way harder.
Can any of you sound nerds recommend a set of headphones with as little sound bleed as possible for use in a small, deathly silent office?
If UI is important to you, or an aesthetic that doesnāt look like itās from 1995, then Chinese DAPs by and large arenāt for you. The firmware tends to be minimalist and quirky, though some of them are Rockbox-able. I havenāt heard of build/durability being a problem though. Iāve never had an issue with my current Hifiman, nor the one I had before it which I regrettably sold.
FiiO is a Chinese brand thatās supposed to make good DAPs with good UIās. The $98 Zishan T1 is one I forgot to mention thatās getting a lot of buzz and isnāt buggy like the Acmee (but probably not polished like a FiiO).
Iām blanking on whether there are any bang-for-buck DAPs that arenāt Chinese, sorry. Iām behind on DAP news. All I really stay up-to-date on are over-ear wired headphones because Iām always in the market for them.
Iāve owned a few. Just get the feeling all of this stuff is sloppily thrown together, fly-by-night product development. I guess it usually works ok but itās not confidence inspiring. Iāve definitely had some dead Chi DAPs. FiiO seems ok to me. I probably have a lot of the same opinions on this as you. Was thinking more like:
A&K Jr
Sony Walkman (lots of dumb issues like software and cables)
Ipod Touch
This player isnāt for me btw. Getting it for someone that has only ever used cheap gear and heard some of my stuff recently and loved it. I think he has one of the Sansa Clips which tbh might be good enough.
