[Oh, yes, black humor is the best humor at times like these…]
Forget your troubles c’mon get happy,
you better chase all your cares away.
Shout hallejulah c’mon get happy
get ready for the judgement day.
The Girl from Ipanema by Joao Gilberto was one of the first songs, [along with Miles’ Kind of Blue], that we heard on a high-fidelity audio system. [Von Schweikert VR4 speakers, Mark Levison 20.6 monoblocks and several other systems at the time – but this is the one I think both Neli and I think of this as our first major audiophile *rush*. We soon bought the 20.6’s (and separately Dunlavy 4 speakers)]
We’ve played Ipanema 1000s of times since [close to 1000 anyway] including many wonderful variations.
Ran across this video [recommended by YouTube (they *used* to have the BEST recommender system) along with fascinating videos from MIT and Ted Talks and, of course, the awful hate and conspiracy B.S. because what would poor old big tech do if it wasn’t spending most of its time pandering to the barbarians at the gates? [yeah, I can think of a lot of things, too. But apparently they can’t]].
The video talks primarily about the music composition – which is a nice alternative to the ‘backgrounder’ ‘human interest’ perspective that has been popular for several decades now. Kinda over my head but in an enjoyable way that made me come away with a better understanding of the skills that went into creating such a ‘simple’ song as this.
Couple o’ great reviews out there on the good parts of the Internet…
Constantine Soo at Dagogo posted a nice review of the Audio Note Fifth Element/Fifth Force DAC. At some point we will post some extra photos from that review as well.
Aron Garrecht at Sound Stage Ultra posed a nice review of the EMM Labs DV2 DAC-Preamplifier. Although our associated gear here is almost the polar opposite of Aron’s we have more or less the same opinion of the sonic signature of the DV2 [how cool is that?!].
[As I post here and elsewhere and read posts from everywhere – I am so often amazed at how people can write such large amounts of content – and similarly how people have the patience to read it. Rarely can I do either].
The DV2 has as it’s forte the ability to render music with subtleties and musicality that no other solid-state DAC approaches [weird, huh? most seem to focus on sonic fireworks and extensive feature-sets] but is a little less dynamic than some [careful vibration control helps].
The Fifth Element + Fifth Force doesn’t sound like a ‘DAC’ at all – can take on mid-price [$30K-50K, say] turntables and is comparable enough [but different! but in a OKAY way] that the only reason to play vinyl anymore is the ‘nostalgic experience’ of it – and makes one take a good hard look at the ‘slacker components’ in the rest of the system and wonder… .
In other words: It is the F*** You DAC.
Stay safe and stay healthy, everyone!
It is unclear how much of the regulations are Santa Clara county and how much are Californian. But these signs are what we needed to have displayed – to remind us and our store visitors what every rational [insert any of a thousand L.A. jokes here – except now not so funny] person already knows about keeping safe and healthy.
In the meantime, Audio Federation is doing well. Mike and Neli are doing well. The rest of the world… the rest of the world needs to crank up the tunes and remember what these short years we are alive are all about.
We have been playing lately with using 3 different DACs for streaming audio using Roon: Audio Note’s DAC Five Signature and Audio Note’s 2-block Fifth Element DAC and Fifth Force power supply and EMM Lab’s DV2 DAC/Pre. A write-up will be forthcoming…
Stay safe. Stay healthy!
Capital Audiofest 2020 cancelled. No show until next year (no surprise here. But here is the announcement)
… if signup by clicking on the image below or, if not ready, at some later date by clicking on the Roon promotion in our sidebar on the right… over there ->.
We access Qobuz and Tidal through Roon and it has become addictive. For those of us who, in olden days [like last year and every year since we were old enough to spend money], splurged on media during holidays and birthdays, this is nothing if not exactly like being on permanent holiday.
Hard to get work done but, oh well, you win some you win some… 🙂
Continuing our “Any audio show on the COVID 19 desert island is a GREAT audio show” coverage (and Capital Audiofest is our current favorite audio show, anyway) ….even if the report *is* 5 months late… 🙂
Audio Federation (Acapella “Campanile 2” speakers, Audio Note “DAC 5 Signature”, HRS “SXR” equipment rack) plays Take Five. Recorded in 24×96 in metro Washington D.C. on Nov. 3, 2019.
Enjoy!
Continuing our “Any audio show on the COVID 19 desert island is a GREAT audio show” coverage (and Capital Audiofest is our current favorite audio show, anyway) ….even if the report *is* 5 months late… 🙂
Audio Federation (Acapella Campanile 2 speakers, Audio Note DAC 5 Signature, HRS SXR equipment rack) plays Over The Rainbow at Capital Audiofest. Recorded in 24×96 in metro Washington D.C. on Nov. 3, 2019.
Enjoy!
Continuing our “Any audio show on the COVID 19 desert island is a GREAT audio show” (and Capital Audiofest is our current favorite audio show, anyway) ….even if the report *is* 5 months late… 🙂
Robyatt with Quad speakers at Capital Audiofest 2019. Recorded in 24×96 in metro Washington D.C. on Nov. 3, 2019.
Enjoy!
