Nice Things

[AnOldFolkSong]

The Real McCoy’s Handcrafted Shinki Hikaku Wallaroo

Edited March 31, 2023 by AnOldFolkSong

[MJF9]

Bump!!!

I got this Tender hand-thrown blue hadal zone cutaway sgraffito coffee mug just before William closed the UK operations

Seems to change colour in the light from deep blue through what looks brown to me

It's really nice

[jeash90]

On 7/14/2024 at 5:35 AM, MJF9 said:

Bump!!!

I got this Tender hand-thrown blue hadal zone cutaway sgraffito coffee mug just before William closed the UK operations

Seems to change colour in the light from deep blue through what looks brown to me

It's really nice

 

Very cool! I have a Tender mug as well that I really like.

[Cold Summer]

I got a new old car recently and I am loving it. Very low mileage, in excellent condition. 1996 Oldsmobile Ciera wagon. 
 

 

Edited July 19 by Cold Summer

[CSL]

A friend of mine (an upright bass player) had one of those, and spoke highly of it. Sadly it got wrecked. He was heartbroken.

Edited July 24 by CSL

[MJF9]

Mugs... by Tone Von Krogh (who we ask)... I bought it for the dimple

[rbeck]

Here's a nice thing that came in the mail yesterday. Looking forward to building it up. Chromag Darco. 

Pardon the flashlight-lit pictures, northeast ohio had a wicked storm Tuesday, and we are one of >300,000 customers who lost power. 

[reallypeacedoff]

I recently picked up a cheap iPod (4th Gen Classic Mono) and installed a new battery. The nostalgia is real (was my first ever iPod after coming from MiniDisc), but on a recent trip to the UK and Portugal, it was nice to only have music and not have other distractions from apps on an iDevice. Planning on picking up some of the other ones I owned throughout the years as well. I'm also planning on finding my old MD player, too; resurgence in all these devices is starting to pick up. Denimes make a nice contrast though.

[Maynard Friedman]

Excellent! Is it easy to install a new battery? I have a couple of dead iPods (2nd and 4th Gen).

[reallypeacedoff]

4 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Excellent! Is it easy to install a new battery? I have a couple of dead iPods (2nd and 4th Gen).

Gen 4 is easy! A battery costs around $10. You just need to make sure to calibrate it a few times once it's installed. It charges a lot faster on a Firewire brick, which I found an old Foxconn testing cable for cheap on eBay.

As far as Gen 2, a lot harder to find parts. You also need to have a computer that has Firewire to sync the music, which rules most people out unless you have an old iBook lying around. I really want a Gen 1 (same as Gen 2 basically) but it just has that old Apple Garamound iPod logo text on the back. 

They might not be "nice things" per se, as far as moneywise, but if I had a dollar for every time someone commented or stopped me after having this for 2 weeks, it would have paid for itself 😂

[Double 0 Soul]

Briefly.. during lockdown, i acquired a Roland TR-909, i was really enjoying it when my friend who it belonged to, sold it.. what an inconsiderate wanker!

I've since bought the boutique versions of the TR-08 and the TR-09

I can't play them live, a'la Jeff Mills so i spend hours programing them

..It's my birthday in Jan.. i'm hoping for a TB-03 squelsh box to add to the mix..

Edited September 15 by Double 0 Soul

[fabes]

@Double 0 Soul so cool! Are you going to upload some beats for us?

[Double 0 Soul]

I might do at some point.. i'm not using any editing software at the mo so i'm not recording anything.

The inbuilt speakers are shite but they sound incredible through headphones so i've been programming them, sat in the chair, sequencer on my knee with the headphones plugged in (+ i'm not sure the family really want to be listening to repeating drum patterns for hours on end) i've programmed patterns into lets say 8 of the steps (some i've made up, some i've copied like VooDoo Ray) and i leave another 8 steps open to fk around with..

I've since synced the TR08 and TR09 together with a midi cable which opens up a whole new world of sounds.. mainly using the TR-09 for the heavy baseline and TR-08 for everything else.. then i've connected them together with a 3.5mm jack from the phono socket to the 'mix in' so no sound comes out of the units.. then i've connected the master unit to my amp via RCA into the output so all the sounds come out of my main speakers..  then i can plug my headphones into the amp and all the sounds come through the headphones which is just mindblowing..

[reallypeacedoff]

Need some new songs @Double 0 Soul!

This one is a doozy. Dual boot, so Apple iPod OS or RockBox where you can fully customize practically every setting and run themes. I'm currently designing and coding a theme but using one of the best ones I could find. 5.5 Gen iPod with 64MB onboard, 512GB Samsung flash on a iFlash board, 3300mAh phone battery, taptic engine (so it vibrates as well as clicks) with a transparent front, OEM black clickwheel and an older 80GB backplate (scratched up). Gets about 80 hours or so at least.

Edited September 18 by reallypeacedoff

[Double 0 Soul]

^That's awesome..

[julian-wolf]

I was tempted to set up something like the above ^ just to get around storage + battery limitations on my phone…but in the end decided against it since, even with the bit of extra space, fitting everything on the local drive would have meant downconverting my whole library, and even then it would probably have been tight

In stead I landed on moving all my media to a Synology NAS box, and setting up a lightweight Plex server. It was pretty straightforward to get it up and running, and it lets me stream my music from anywhere without needing to do any conversions or make any copies. It also gives me easy access to streaming my movies & TV, although that collection is quite a bit smaller. As an added bonus, there’s enough room on the NAS that I was able to set up an extra partition for keeping backups of my computer and phone. I’d definitely recommend a similar setup to anyone with a large library

[OutSider]

On 8/9/2024 at 10:23 AM, reallypeacedoff said:

I recently picked up a cheap iPod (4th Gen Classic Mono) and installed a new battery. The nostalgia is real (was my first ever iPod after coming from MiniDisc), but on a recent trip to the UK and Portugal, it was nice to only have music and not have other distractions from apps on an iDevice. Planning on picking up some of the other ones I owned throughout the years as well. I'm also planning on finding my old MD player, too; resurgence in all these devices is starting to pick up. Denimes make a nice contrast though.

 

 

Can I ask why? Is just to be "cool" rocking an older Apple device? Really loved the cheap DAC/AMP apple used? They were never about sound quality. If you want to rock a device just for music then buy a DAP . You'll be amazed at what some of the high end stuff sounds like. Even the cheapest one likely sounds better then an Ipod. 

Edited September 19 by OutSider

[Talan]

2 hours ago, OutSider said:

 

 

Can I ask why? Is just to be "cool" rocking an older Apple device? Really loved the cheap DAC/AMP apple used? They were never about sound quality. If you want to rock a device just for music then buy a DAP . You'll be amazed at what some of the high end stuff sounds like. Even the cheapest one likely sounds better then an Ipod. 

What was missing from this forum were debates about sound quality, comparisons of different types of audio equipment, and discussions on whether different cables sound different, or they all transmit the signal the same way.

Edited September 19 by Talan

[OutSider]

13 minutes ago, Talan said:

What was missing from this forum were debates about sound quality, comparisons of different types of audio equipment, and discussions on whether different cables sound different, or they all transmit the signal the same way.

Sound quality comparison aside. Was just curious why go to the trouble involved with using one when any modern DAP is easier.

It was a question not a debate. I wonder why it's missing

It was a opening to learn why this is an interest. Nothing more 

Edited September 19 by OutSider

[Double 0 Soul]

17 minutes ago, Talan said:

What was missing from this forum were debates about sound quality, comparisons of different types of audio equipment, and discussions on whether different cables sound different, or they all transmit the signal the same way.

Y'know what middle aged men are like with this kind of shit.. if we're going to do it, let's do it in the nonsense thread!

[Mtvare]

If anyone can recommend a DAP that fits the following criteria I'd be very grateful :

- under £250

- easy to transfer music from Windows

- albums transferred remain organized as albums rather than as individual tracks

- proper display so you can actually see what you're doing

My impression has been that there's nothing in between cheap crap and £500+. A guy in Richer Sounds told me that this was basically true because all the needs between clipping to your shorts while running and really high end sound quality are covered by phones these days.

[Talan]

2 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Y'know what middle aged men are like with this kind of shit.. if we're going to do it, let's do it in the nonsense thread!

Yes, I know. I happily left behind my years of obsession with high-end gear—tube amps, ribbon loudspeakers, esoteric cables, network switches, $100 fuses, and so on. Now I listen to Beethoven and Schubert from Qobuz streaming through mid-priced Beyerdynamic headphones and am completely happy with my music 🙂

[OutSider]

4 hours ago, Mtvare said:

If anyone can recommend a DAP that fits the following criteria I'd be very grateful :

- under £250

- easy to transfer music from Windows

- albums transferred remain organized as albums rather than as individual tracks

- proper display so you can actually see what you're doing

My impression has been that there's nothing in between cheap crap and £500+. A guy in Richer Sounds told me that this was basically true because all the needs between clipping to your shorts while running and really high end sound quality are covered by phones these days.

Have you considered the used market? 

While many brands such as Ibasso, Fiio, Hiby and others entry models are closer to the £500 range, they should be cheaper options for used or previous models. 

Just have to put up with outdated versions of Android and depending on uses that isn't much a concern. 

[Mtvare]

Thanks.  To be honest I'm a bit afraid to go second-hand for a product i don't understand properly. 

[reallypeacedoff]

15 hours ago, OutSider said:

Can I ask why? Is just to be "cool" rocking an older Apple device? Really loved the cheap DAC/AMP apple used? They were never about sound quality. If you want to rock a device just for music then buy a DAP . You'll be amazed at what some of the high end stuff sounds like. Even the cheapest one likely sounds better then an Ipod. 

 

12 hours ago, OutSider said:

Sound quality comparison aside. Was just curious why go to the trouble involved with using one when any modern DAP is easier.

It was a question not a debate. I wonder why it's missing

It was a opening to learn why this is an interest. Nothing more 

Nostalgia. Most of the time it's in my pocket so no one sees what it is. But I illustrated that it turns heads (whether they know what it is or not). I like the player's industrial design. I like the OS UI/UX. I don't care for "super high quality audio." It's fun pulling things apart and figuring out what's wrong, so no trouble. The 4th Gen cost me a little over $40 so it's hardly breaking the bank. I listen to albums as a whole more than when on Spotify. Keeps me off my iPhone a lot more et al etc etc

[chicote]

I just finished rebuilding & modifying my 2000 Kawasaki W650 that I’ve had for a few years… it was a lot of work and money put into it, and I’m really proud of the result. I rebuilt and upgraded the front and rear suspension, adding 1” of length to the rear shocks and balancing it out with a 1” raised custom triple clamp. Rewired the whole bike with a Motogadget solid state control unit and an Ignitech ignition, and mounted a motogadget gauge into the original headlight housing. Cut and rebuilt the fenders, built a custom battery box, replaced the stock CV carbs with Keihin CR Special flat-slides, wired new controls for the handlebars, and replaced pretty much all the other consumable parts on the bike. I was planning on riding this bike to South America but haven’t really gotten to test it enough to really know how it will do on long off-road trails, at altitude, etc., so am taking my old dr650 instead. But I can’t wait to take this out riding again whenever im back in the states!

[cheapmuthafukr]

I just bought a new car. Well, a used car. That’s 20 years old. My E46 330i finally died, so I started looking at dealerships because I wanted something reliable. Somehow ended up with. 2004 Chrysler Crossfire with 23k miles on it. It’s a lot of fun, especially in the mountains near me. 

 

Edited September 20 by cheapmuthafukr

[OutSider]

10 hours ago, reallypeacedoff said:

 

Nostalgia. Most of the time it's in my pocket so no one sees what it is. But I illustrated that it turns heads (whether they know what it is or not). I like the player's industrial design. I like the OS UI/UX. I don't care for "super high quality audio." It's fun pulling things apart and figuring out what's wrong, so no trouble. The 4th Gen cost me a little over $40 so it's hardly breaking the bank. I listen to albums as a whole more than when on Spotify. Keeps me off my iPhone a lot more et al etc etc

Cool. Perfectly valid reasons. I really wish Apple invested more into the audio side more. Bring back a new model of the IPod.

[Talan]

1 hour ago, OutSider said:

Cool. Perfectly valid reasons. I really wish Apple invested more into the audio side more. Bring back a new model of the IPod.

It seems to me that Apple has found a very good sound for their products. I like how music sounds directly from my MacBook Air. It’s a mystery how they managed to achieve this, given the minimal thickness of the case. Where does such good sound come from?

[CSL]

I agree re the macbook air. Very decent.

The pro I had before that was awful. Buzzy & distorted.