Once again, this is all in my own subjective opinion. (But most views are backed up vociferously online :D ) Keep in mind, low-bitrate mp3's will stick out even more on a good source/headphone. I basically re-ripped my entire collection in a higher bitrate after I tried listening to the standard 128Kbps rip I had of Dark Side of the Moon on a good pair of headphones. I recommend either ripping with LAME or Vorbis encoders at a decent bitrate. (read 256 kb/s or higher).
For MP3 players: The ubiquitous iPod is virtually laughed at in every respectable hi-fi corner. A few great versions came out - the first-gen Shuffle and the 5.5-gen Video (with the GUI replaced with RockBox) are the two biggies, but anything since then, including the gorgeous iPod Touch are pretty well substandard in terms of pure audio-quality. So, the big winners here (all in my opinion, mind you) are:
Sansa Clip - for $30-50, this veritable Shuffle killer is king, with pricing and one of the best sounding players available. A recent update allows for playback of lossless "Flac" encoded files and the lossy (albeit vastly better than mp3) Ogg Vorbis. I've seen pics of people using this little bastard with $1,000 headphones and portable amps. Seriously. Pick one of these up for the gym.
Sansa Fuze - A bit better than the clip in every way, but a bit pricier and bigger. This is my new DAP. Same sound signature as the Clip, but with a bigger screen, expandable memory via the microSD/SDHC port, and larger internal memory versions. Also supports playback of FLAC and Vorbis. Got mine on Black Friday from Radio Shack for $50 (reg. $99) along with an 8Gb Sandisk microSDHC card from amazon.com for $20. Want an iPod Nano killer? Here's the real deal and it will save you some cashmonies!
Cowon D2 - Haven't pulled the trigger on this one yet, but I'm seriously jonesing for one. A 2.5" touch screen with a sound-quality equal to that of the Sansas. Supposedly the GUI is a bit quirky, but if you can get past that, everyone who owns one raves about the SQ and infinitely changeable EQ. Also supports the widest array of audio codecs, FLAC and Vorbis, as well as expandable memory with miniSD/SDHC cards. Downside? At least $150 with less peripherals available.
Headphones.
All these great DAPs will do you exactly squat if you're listening through the earbuds that typically come packaged with them. Unfortunatley, most people don't know that, but a growing few do, and I've sifted the pages of head-fi.org and anythingbutipod.com and grabbed a few good nods.
IEMs - "In Ear Monitors". Sounds scary. But if you're serious about your hearing, your music, and isolation. This is probably the best solution for you. The fit can be kind of alarming at first, as IEMs (also dubbed "Canalphones") are designed to fit snuggly into your ear canal. Mind you, not painfully so. Foam tips, rubber/silicone tips, and others are usually packaged with them to let you find the best fitting and comfortable wear. Why's the fit so important? Because if you don't have them snuggly and tightly in place, you'll lose all concept of isolation and soundstage. Buy a cheap pair of IEMs to see if you don't mind the fit before jumping into the abyss.
JVC FX-33/34s "Marshmallows" - For 15 American Dollars or so, these are a great entry level canalphone. Do a little bit of modification to them to open up the sparkle of the highs, and these are affordable beauts after a bit of burn-in.
JLAudio J2's - These are remarkably new phones, and I haven't quite received the 2 pairs (B1G1!) I ordered from amazon.com, but by all accounts can be compared to the bigger players in the iem world, including some 10 times the price. 25 bucks isn't bad, if they're this good. I'll report back.
SoundMagic PL-30s - Same goes as above, though they've been around a bit longer. Some seem to prefer J2's to these, but it's all subjective. And at $20, they're a virtual steal and will blow the Marshmallows out of the water as well. My father ordered a pair of these, so I'll give them a listen and once again, report back.
Now, if you're doing the listening in a quiet area and don't need the isolation, and won't bother people with sound leakage, you may as well go with full sized "cans". For that, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, unless you want truly "audiophile-quality" sounds.
First off, the can that everyone should own.
Koss KSC-75 - For a really low cost headphone these things sound brilliant. Once again an inexpensive mod (The so-called "Kramer" mod after the most read and one of the first poster of the mod on head-fi.org) really opens these phones up. At 60 ohms, they're a little under-driven by the typical DAP, so an amp can really make these things sing. Granted, none is really needed, but you'll find battery power goes down drastically without a dedicated headphone amp. (More on that later!) Also, if you don't like the "sporty" clip-on styling or fit, the same drivers that push these is in the Koss "PortaPro's" with a headband, which also beefs up the bass a bit. Granted, an extra 20 bucks for a headband without much change in SQ doesn't appeal to me.
Sennheiser PX-100 - These are almost the next step up from the KSC-75s, although some (myself included) prefer the former. At $30 they're pretty inexpensive but with a great sound. A good alternative to the people biased against Koss. They are collapsible and quite portable. Sennheiser's virtually always won't disappoint.
Okay, for the things I haven't tried out yet......but will eventually ;)
Grado SR-60/SR-80 - Grado, an American maker of audiophile quality headphones and cartridges came out with the SR-60 as an affordable step into high quality cans 20 plus years back and haven't changed a thing. The look tells this (although I kind of like the old-school styling) , but if you aren't set back by this these are reputably some of the best price-point/performance cans available. The 80 model changes a little, with the same drivers, but a larger, more spacious earpad and increased bass-responsiveness. A bit forward sounding to some, these are suposedly deadly for rock.
Granted, now we're moving out of the "affordable-to-starving-music-student" price range so I'll stop there. Sennheiser makes great can's in this range too, the HD515 and HD555. But I haven't had the opportunity to sample these either, but I have a sneaking suspicion you can't go wrong with either choice.
With the bigger headphones, more power will be needed to fully take advantage of the sound. Portable headphone amps come in all shapes and sizes, but two styles stick out with price in mind. The hand-made "CMoy" amps vary from maker to maker, but are relatively cheap and in large avail on eBay. Or, a new affordable alternative has recently reared it's head. FiiO, a Chinese manufacturer has released extremely affordable and portable amps, the E3 and more recently, the E5. Google those for the best prices, but they both have garnered relative praise from among the good folk from head-fi.org. I'll post my review of the E3 as soon as they arrive!
Happy Solstice!
As promised, the A/V section!
Live vid from PK!
Here's a vid, albeit not the one I promised (still trying to find a decent video editor for that one) from the First Annual Dia De Los Toadies that Ross and I went to.
Also, I promise to post more often!
-w-
Toadies "No Deliverance" Live
Apologies for the wait!
Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted on here. So, I guess I'll have to start doing so again.
First off, I saw the Toadies once again on the same tour, granted, this time there was no 50+ hours of driving involved. Just a mere 14, to Minneapolis. We surprised Andy with tickets a week after he returned from Europe, and he had a blast. Great show, but they didn't play Dollskin, always a favorite of mine live.
I'm helping out at a local video game store for the holiday season, or as I like to say, "I've rejoined the circus." Seriously. If another over-weight middle aged woman yells at me for not having the WiiFit in stock, I'll shoot myself.
It's strange. I really don't play any games anymore, much less anything on the three "next-gen" systems...so I kinda feel really old when people are asking me about games that game out "a long time ago" that I've never even heard of. Granted, in the game business, "a long time ago" typically refers to a few months back. But, I'm still amazed at the graphics these systems can push out. Also, I still find myself wanting to play the really old classics. After watching a particular episode of the British Channel 4 series "Spaced" I found myself looking up if we had in stock Resident Evil 2. I think I may check it out and borrow my ASM's GameCube and play it. I remember me and my brother staying up late to play that creepy game....It'll pass the time before Starcraft 2 comes out, anyway.
It's now getting close to officially being winter, so alas, there's no frolfing anywhere near Minot. I'm finding I miss my daily walks in the park. I suppose I could go walk in the park now, but losing frolf discs in the snow, not to mention personal extremities to the bitter cold, somehow doesn't sound appealing.
Also, I'm trying desperately not to become a de facto audiophile, for fear of my wallet. But I've become somewhat knowledgeable in the fields of MP3 players (of the non-fruity kind) and affordable audiophile-quality headphone gear. So, in a little bit of a winter solstice gift to you all, I'll share some links to some decent stuff which would make excellent gifts/stocking stuffers!
(in the next post, of course!)
-w-
Evidence.
Here are some assorted pictures from the trip, to hold you over until I have a bit of downtime to arrange a proper viewing. (plus a great video I have yet to edit!)
-w-
What's that?!
Yup, so, if you're reading this now, the new timer to the right of this post is counting down to the moment the gates open at the 1st annual "Dia De Los Toadies" festival in Graham, Texas. Actually, it's not in Graham per se, but instead on the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake. Ross and I are making the long drive to see this amazing show. Pictures and I'm sure a long-winded story are to follow this, on my journey to the heart of the American Dream. Rock on.
-w-
Back.
Well, since it's been a long time since the last post (argh, so busy) I figured I'd update this ol' wall.
I'm back in Minot.
After a uneventful yet successfully long drive, I got back up here on the 30th of July. Got a new job as a server at Up The Creek, and have, in my first week, pulled about 44+ hours, basically picking up every shift I could after the initial 4 days of training. It's strange, getting back the muscle memory of serving, after taking a 3 year hiatus from it. But, I haven't dropped any plates or anything, and I'm loving the restaurant thus far. By far the best run and cleanest joint I've worked at. Plus, the money is easily just as good, if not better then at the BrainSlopper. Getting ready for school to start and some insane concert trips with some close friends.
-w-
The moments that make up a dull day.
While I wait for laundry to finish I figured I'd post.
Long time coming, here's some pictures of Jeanette and I rock climbing. Whee!
First off, some pics of the gym, Inner Strength Rock Gym, where Jeanette goes every week, and took me a long this summer. It's where I honed my skills. Well, not really skills, but I did start out on a 5.5 my first climb, and went to 5.8s by the end. Didn't get any shots of me on the wall, as I didn't really want to plummet, but here are some pics from the bouldering wall. 
Eventually we went outside. And I looked like a real climber. It was intense.
Epic Fail!-------------->
(P.S. Bouldering is hard.)
-w-
Lay on the lawn, he's already home, when the morning ray hits his face.
Yup. MySpace actually pulled something pretty neat. Their latest "Secret Show" was Ween, at "Hodi's Half Note" in FtC. Amazing. My first time seeing a band that I've listened to since my junior year of High School. They are amazing live. Pics from climbing, throwing, and the drive-in are forthcoming. I must shower.
This is the hand-numbered limited to 400 litho we got as we left the 3 hour show.
-w-
Cause all I need to know is what I can see.
So I'm in love...
...with rock climbing. Jeanette took me to the local rock gym on Tuesday and showed me the ropes (literally!). Took the little test on the knots, belay, and commands, then hit the wall. Hard. As Jeanette put it, "You haven't really gone climbing until you leave some blood on the wall." Well, I didn't leave blood so much as the wall left a good sized bruise on my knee. We did a little bit of bouldering after my first two complete climbs (the first attempt was badly received by myself), or I should say that Jeanette did some bouldering and I really tried hard. But the good news is that we're going again today, and I'm psyched for it. It's probably one of the best workouts I've ever had. I'll see if Jeanette or someone can snag some photos today.
Also, I get to go to my first drive-in tonight! That's pretty neat. I think we're going to see "Hancock" and "Don't Mess with the Zohan" double-header, although the "Wall-E" and "Get Smart" appeal to me more, but I think Jeanette already saw "Wall-E". Anyway, that should be pretty cool.
I should go clean my windshield. I don't think the moviemakers intended for their craft to be viewed through 800 miles of bug splatter.
Frolf is starting to come to me more naturally. Beat my first group of FtC natives on Edora the other day, due to my drives really coming along. Granted, they aren't tourney players, but they live right next to Edora and throw it all the time. And, I still only beat them by parring most of the front nine, getting my first birds on the course, and solidly parring all of the back nine. Think I'll go throw in a little bit to loosen up the arms before a few solid hours of practicing Popper and Bach, then warping the forearms on a cement wall. Whoo!
Also, send me your addresses for some postcards from NBB!
-w-
Damn the man.
So, on our way down to Denver yesterday afternoon, my van died again. Methinks it's time to take it in again. Hopefully this won't be another 2300 down and out. But we still ended up having a good time anyway...Jeanette's friend picked us up, then we went down to Old Town and had a few drinks (my first good mojito since Pto Vallarta, mind you) and then over to another bar and had some of the local breweries finers....still having a hard time passing up draught 1554, but I really enjoyed Odell's 5 Barrel Pale Ale, as well as their IPA. Lovely bunch of coconuts. Then we travelled back, picked up the van (seems it doesn't like the heat), and went to watch the fireworks over at City Park Nine golf course. Best fireworks I've seen in a long while. Not saying much considering for the past two years I've been working in a bar with no windows on the fourth, and before that I was always playing with the BMSO during the capitol's fireworks down in Bismarck, but nonetheless, they were impressive. Except for the d-bags screaming behind us. Ugh.
Went out with a couple more of Jeanette's work friends today to Horsetooth Reservoir. That was a blast. Tubing, waterskiing, and just general sitting around having crappy beer on the water. Stupid "Can Only" rules. Next time I'll have to bring some of New Belgium's newest fare....Fat Tire in cans. That might make me weep openly inside when I drink it, but it's better than the other domestic drinkables.
Had a good practice today, as well. Starting to really blast through "Dance of the Elves", as well as getting some good mem work done on Bach 2. If only it weren't so damn hot in this condo.
Also, had to go buy another Neti pot. Can't believe I left mine in Mindrot.
The fuzzy picture is of Jeanette and I at the new d-bag bar in old town, the "Drunken Monkey". They have swings instead of barstools.
-w-
The 1/4th of Joo-lie.
Happy Fourth everyone. Remember, in order to be as patriotic and American as you possibly can, revolt and resist the powers at be. Happy revolution!
Jeanette and I are driving to Denver today to spend some time around the city and later hit up a party of a friend of hers. Should be fun. I woke up fairly early today and did some laundry, cleaned the room a little bit, ate some tasty cereal, and went for a throw.
Warmed up for 20 minutes on the practice green, then got through the first nine before heading back due to heat and exhaustion. This whole acclimation thing is terrible. Bike for 30 minutes, or carry boxes for 10, and you're winded, plus you're drinking water constantly. Plus, beer seems to affect you quicker, therefore, even though you've got the entire world of great selections in front of you, after one or two your tastebuds are dead to the world as your already semi-soused. Terrible, but I can deal with that!
My throws are starting to get better, getting some distance finally on the drives, and with no loss of control on the mid-ranges. I think I bogied 1 and 6, but parred the rest, including the brutal no. 7, with the huge bend in the river right before the hole (plus the hole is up a small but steep incline about 15 ft, oh yeah, and of course there's trees right before the river on the bank...)
But I'll be happy with +2 on the front nine, on my third real time throwing it.
Gonna practice cello for a bit and then I think Jeanette and I will be out. We got invited to a lake/boating thing tomorrow, so we'll probably do that. I'm starting to get pretty tan. So much so that Jeanette commented on it last night by saying that it makes my eyes look really blue. So blue, in fact, she said I look "demonic".....hehehe.
Updates on the beer:
Had the Alaskan Amber my first night here, instead of the planned Westie, but that was mostly due to the fact that I had no correct glassware here. That situation was ameliorated with a trip to Wilbur's Total Beverage last night. Anyway the Alaskan Amber, supposedly pretty new to the FtC area was a delightfully drinkable beer. Similar in style to Fat Tire, but with quite a bit less biscuit-y nose. Fair lacing, and a quickly receded head, but overall not a bad brew by any stretch of the imagination. Now, if we could get that in ND, I wouldn't pine for FT so much.
Last night I popped the Stone Ruination I.P.A. Such as the bottle says, "A liquid poem to the glory of the hop", this thing is a total hop bomb. Lovely. An almost reddish tinged gold colour, with a frothy, large head which leaves light transparent lacing, and a fruity nose. As well as small notes of hops, grapefruit comes through in the nose, in my opinion. Hops and more hops are almost all you taste, from beginning to end. Astounding, perfect for a warm summer night outside. I think I'll pick a few of these up for my friends back in ND.
Once again, safe blowing-shit-up day to all!
-w-
Second day. Exhaustion. Shoes.
Yesterday was fun. I went down to the closest mall and bought some shoes....finally a pair to replace the Chuck Taylors that fell to tiny bits a few months back....good frolf, erm, Frisbee Golfing shoes.
After making my purchase, I found my way down to Edora Park, and the course there. It's a blast. I met up with some older lady who throws all the time in the tournaments and knows all the guys from the Ft Collins Frisbee Golf Club, and she gave me a lot of tips on my technique. I still had a few great throws sneak in, and managed to par most of the back nine. Only a matter of time before I really start getting some great distance on my drives. Also, I managed to wear in my brand new shoes by having to jump into the river about waist deep and fish out my Ontario Roc (why didn't I throw the floatable Dragon on that hole??Argh!)
After that, I came back home, changed my shoes and socks, and went out to eat at a great little local deli/butcher shop, Choice City Deli. Let me tell you, the food was pretty damn good, but that place has things on tap that I haven't seen outside of Brussels. Chimay Tripel, St. Bernardus Abt 12, and all of the small FtCo-exclusive New Belgium brews are just a taste. So I ordered a nice Reuban, with a side of zesty potato salad, and a Bernardus. Ahhhhhhhhh........
Ahhhhh..........
Wow, that was delicious. Sat outside on the patio and people watched with one of the best beers around. Then I struck up a conversation with a guy who'd sat at the table next to mine about beer (He was drinking the New Belgium Jessica's Porter), and we chatted for almost 3 hours - ranging on topics from IT, beer, wine, music, life, his kid's going to college, biking, cooking, and a plethora of other topics. Moved on to a good glass of New Belgium's Old Cherry, then he introduced me to the owners of the deli, and we all chatted about good beers from Belgium, and we split a great bottle of Fantome, a Belgian Saison, with a remarkable nose and very drinkable mouthfeel.
After a meeting for volunteers for a local "Live at Lunch" show at the community radio, I went to Big City Burrito for the first time....that was awesome....
Basically, BCB is a homegrown version of Chipotle, only with better food and cheaper prices....Let me tell you, it hit the spot when your three sheets to the wind on good beer.
Passed out safe and sound at my place by 11:00 pm. I'm starting to get to know the city's layout a bit more. Love it.
More later.
-w-
Repost of first blog. (A new beginning)
To start off, I've moved to Fort Collins. This is more like a trial run than an actual move, just to see if I like it, and can bear not being around the good folk of Minot.
I left Minot about 10:00 am or so Monday, June 30 and spent a few hours in Bismarck bidding adieu to the parents, old friend Landon, and James, as even if I do return as originally scheduled in the third week of August, he'll have already moved to Minneapolis. Same reason for the week of inebriation/frolf with Matt and Andy (although they're going to Europe for 8 weeks or so. Jealousy!) prior to leaving.
On the way down here, three things immediately became apparent. One, I really should have gotten the AC checked out in my van. 87 degrees outside and not having any AC was hellish. And nekid. Two,I should've done more testing on the recently revived vehicle. 5 miles from the middle of nowhere, South Dakota, the van died. Granted, it started after it cooled down a bit, I think the fuel pump was going shitty, but it made for a few terse moments and choice words at that time....also happened outside of Spearfish, SD, twice. And lastly, frolf is a wonderful thing to do when you're on a long drive....it gets you out of the car and off your sore ass, walk for an hour or so, and loosen up the shoulders. Good times.
In Spearfish, there's a nice frolf course, on the Campus of Black Hills State University. Really, it's pretty great. I, for the first time in a couple of weeks, brought out the whole bag of discs and threw something other than the Ontario Roc Matt and I picked up in Bismarck. It was fun throwing a driver and putter again, and I can really tell that my skills have improved overall due to the vow of driver chastity we took after being humbled by the Mandan course. I had probably my best throw of the season, quite possibly my life on the course....close to 80-90 feet with my Ontario Roc, off of my drive, right in the basket. Nice bird on a long 300ft par 3. Threw the full 18 with a group of guys I met on the course in the putting practice area, and played some HORSE with them to warm up, good times.
I took the rest of the drive pretty easy, nothing over 65mph, to save on fuel. A two hour nap at the Dwyer Junction Rest Area in Wyoming helped me finish up the trip, as did some coffee and Visine in Cheyenne. I must say I had some pretty awesome timing, however, as when I was pulling into FtC, the sun had just risen and set the mountains alight. Astounding visual added to the quiet morning and Radiohead's "Nude" from In Rainbows playing.
Today was nothing big, just drove around while Jeanette was at work, and it's good to spend time with the sister. Ate some pretty decent food at a local brewpup and quasi-enjoyed their sub-par and overall disappointing Pujabi Pale Ale. I just now stopped at a local liquor store and picked up my first good batch of beers:
Avery "MEPHISTOPHELE'S Stout" (Name besides, it's supposed to be astounding)
Westmalle Tripel - my celebratory beer tonight, I'm happy.
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Stout
Alaskan Amber - Andy and Matt have waxed on about how drinkable this is too much for me to pass up....
Victory Storm King Imperial Stout
Stone Ruination IPA
The store was out of Rochefort 8 and 10, so I couldn't grab a bottle of that, but you have to love looking at a hundred feet of different beers. Seriously. It's fun.
I'm going to finish setting up my room and crack a beer or three. This is going to be a fun summer. Next up, bike the multitudes of trails around here, frolf at least one of the courses, and hit up New Belgium for the first time. Pics will be somewhere, shortly. On another note..."Frolf" doesn't seem to be an accepted term here. The damn puritan bastards all call it Frisbee Golf. Strange. I would think that compounding of words would've started in such a liberal area. It's still frolf to me. Or Disc Golf if it's a really hard course. (read: Mandan)
-w-