Wiim Streamer

Got myself a lil housewarming gift, a streamer so we can play our (digital) music from any point or device in the house. I looked around at several options and found a sale on the Wiim Pro Plus streamer. I already had the Wii Mini, (I reviewed here) which was a great replacement for my dead Apple Airplay device, the Airport Express (which I loved).

Geez do you ever dust??

The Wiim Pro lets you stream from your own server, you favorite music streamer or your stereo, including a turntable! Now that is slick! It has a AKM4493SEQ DAC up to 768kHz/32-Bit, and ADC for converting analog inputs into digital outputting to 192kHz/24-Bit. My current DAC can be input via coaxial or SPDF. I’m still putting this thing through the hoops so hopefully I can give a better more detailed review in the future.

Unfortunately it has taken me some time to get myself unpacked. My turntable is in a box in the basement, waiting to be played…..

Moving out of PDX....

Titles says it all. My parter and I are moving just 1/2 mile south of the Portland city limits to the city of Milwaukie. This is odd, because I have lived in Oregon for the vast majority of my life and Portland has been my home the entire time (well, I did live in Springfield temporary as a kid).

Many people are exiting Portland, for many reasons. High real estate costs, crime, drugs (everywhere), the list goes on and on. For the first time in decades the population in Portland is in decline. We just moved because we found a great house on a great street and we knew it would not cost us more than what we were renting for.

So bye bye Portland and hello Milwaukie. just 8 blocks from the line and things are a little bit different. Cops seem to patrol here, and garbage comes every week. Air smells nicer (probably from Johnson Creek. But other than that, same same.

RIP Richard Roundtree

Just heard that the man himself, star of Shaft films (among many others), Richard Roundtree has died. I had an opportunity to work on his likeness for the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Photo is below, shot by Jeff Vespa.

I have been a fan of Roundtree’s work since I discovered Blacksploitation films when I was in my 20s. Bummer he passed…..

Can you dig it?

Japanese Kong Poster

While perusing the internets I came across this amazing Japanese poster for King Kong climbing the World Trade Center building. The image speaks for itself….

Amazing artwork by John Berkey!

King Kong Straws by Mego

Mego toy company, who made some of my favorite dolls action figures when I was a kid (Star Trek, Planet of the Apes) apparently made some Kong related toys for the 76 King Kong film. My friend sent me this image of the Kong Straws.

A straw? Really?

Proving that they will market anything! Check out the commercial below, via YouTube:

Polar Lights Kong Kit

The 1960s and 70s brought us kids some sweet horror model kits to stimulate imaginations and inspire young minds. Also to separate our parents money from their wallets…. Polar Lights made some amazing monster diorama kits. Here is a King Kong one. Sure, its for the original RKO picture, but who cares, its cool anyhoo!

There is even a glow in the dark variant, though I am not sure I would like that, a Kong that is not black.

Topps King Kong Trading Cards

I remember these as a kid, and had a few of them, but alas, all are lost to time. Great stills from the 1976 King Kong movie!

Great Packaging!

I did not find any of the stickers when I searched for these online. Wish I had some myself, my toolbox has a perfect place for one!

I have written on here that I have 2 gorilla suits but if I could find one of these, I would have to make it three!. Don’t think I could pull it off though, I lack the physique….

Wish I had this box:

Kong on Cracked

Was more of a Mad guy growing up, but Cracked was great too. Here is a cover with their take on Kong, King Kung.

USB on Peachtree died

Well, I have had a number of snags on the new computer, and the latest is the USB output for the DAC on my Peachtree Audio amplifier has crapped out. I hope this is not from the new machine, though the timing could have been a coincidence. I plugged it into the USB-A port on the Mac Studio and poof-no sound.

Unfortunately the USB card on the Peachtree is not repairable, the card is no longer produced. The nice folks over at Peachtree suggested I connect via optical. Unfortunately Apple does not include an optical output on a $6000 computer!

So I had to order this little doohickey, Douk Audio U2 XMOS XU208 USB to Coaxial/Optical Converter. This switches the USB audio to Optical and now I am back in business! Now I can listen to my trash rock in 24bit/196kHz once again!

Tubes for Amplifiers....where are they made?

So the world is again consumed by some shitty war. For over a year now the Russians have been attacking Ukraine in their illegal attempt to annex that country. Such a waste. Also such a bummer. As an audiophile I realized last year that things may get bad for people who enjoy vintage audio sounds. All amplifiers that use tubes (as opposed to the solid state components) are now a victim of this stupid war. Almost all tubes for HiFi systems are made in Russia.

So not only are the prices going up, many of us simply do not want to do any business with Russia.

Luckily I saw this as a potential problem last year and bought replacement tubs for all of my tube equipment. Prices currently have skyrocketed, and I would hate to have to replace a tube now only to find it costs 200 bucks and that it was coming from Russia.

I hope this conflict ends soon….

Made in Russia? Boooooo!

TourBox

Hey there, if you are looking for a way to expand your access to tools or to find a new way to interface with your computer, then there are a lot of options out there. Recently, I got myself a TourBox Elite. It’s a nice, compact bluetooth capable device with knobs, buttons and rollers. It uses batteries, which you can turn off-unfortunately I forget to do this, so I have had to resort to rechargeable batteries-this puppy eats energy.

The device has a nice feel to it, not just with its buttons and knobs, it is also heavy. I like things to have a little heft to them, I like to know it will stay on my desk if I start to work like an animal! My only gripe is that the power button is on the bottom, where I forget to turn it off. Maybe a light on the top to remind me it is on would help. Check it out!

Kong on Wacky Packages

Back when I was a kid, I was very interested in Wacky Package, Topps Cards product parodies. I have a couple of sheets of some of the runs in the late 70s myself, along with two books published by Abrams Books.

Recently I found some newer Wacky Packages produced in the last 15 years or so with a Kong theme. Check them out below:

Looks like he is going to cook her….

130 Natives, 16 helicopters, & 1 hot blonde in each bottle!

Amplifier

After selecting some reasonably priced, decent sounding speakers, I needed a new amplifier. And as I stated in my last HiFi posting, I needed something that could drive a speaker that needed 50-150 Watts per channel. I also was exploring purchasing a new DAC.

What I found was a nice little used amp from Peachtree audio, the Nova 125. This was just a straight Class-D amplifier with no bells or whistles (except for the tube preamp). It has a built in ESS Sabre 9023 DAC, which was perfect for my computer, able to connect via USB, Optical, or Coaxial. The amp has a 6n1p tube preamp which is pretty sweet. Best of all, the amp produces straight up clear sounding music. It was perfect. If you don’t have a decent amp, no need to get a DAC, but if you do have a good amp, then a DAC is a necessity. This one has both!

HiFi Stereo

Back during the pandemic, many people were left at home without any way of enjoying the things they loved doing outside of their homes, so they turned to enhancing their home lives. Many of us were music lovers and since we were spending so much time listening to music on our stereos (not in our cars, head phones, or bluetooth speakers), we started to desire something better than just a Spotify account and some basic speakers to enjoy that music on.

Personally I have always liked the sound of a nice stereo, but things in life took me away from the current audio gear and its nuances. I have a number of vintage components that I enjoy the sound of, especially tube amplifiers. I did not know in what way things have changed over the years, but I will say that the products available for, say, budget or consumer level electronics has gone way downhill in audio quality, making way for convenience and simplicity.

A number of years ago when I was making my work space in the basement of my home, I decided to buy some solid speakers that sounded great and would fill the small space I allocated to work in. After reading several reviews, I settled on a pair of Klipsch R-14M Speakers. They are small, 4” bookshelf speakers, and I assumed they could be driven by any old amplifier. Boy was I wrong, as these babies had to be driven by an amp that had a minimum of 50 watts per channel.

This pulled me down a rabbit hole that lead me to get a special class-D amplifier with a built in DAC. More on that later…

New Computer Blues....

As I have written before, my 2013 Trashcan MacPro has been dying. After upgrading to MacOS Monterey, (which I had to do for a job that required new software) my days were plagued by constant Kernel Panics. Sure, there would be days when I had a solid run, but they were overshadowed by the days which my computer would restart, seemingly at random intervals. There were even times when I would force restart my computer, get things moving again, step away to grab a cup of tea only to find it restarted itself while I was gone!

I knew this thing was old, and my friends and colleges kept telling me to replace it, but I was waiting for Apple to release its new Mac Pro with the Apple Silicon (promised originally to happen by the beginning of 2022). The Mac Studio, currently the fastest and most powerful mac built to date looked promising, but again, I was waiting to see what a new pro level computer could do for me. And besides, I don’t like to get the “first of something” released, waiting for any bugs to be eliminated in next gen machines.

3D images of a Jungle in Hawaii

When I was a kid, I always wanted to go to a jungle and delve into its mysteries. Luckily, when I was last in Hawaii, I got to explore a jungle on the East side of the Big Island. Enjoy the 3D images I shot there:

Replacement Computer!

So the day has finally arrived when I threw down Six K on a new computer.

Yikes, SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS?? Yep, you hear right, the new Mac Studio, purchased out of necessity, costs over double what my Mac Pro Trashcan cost me, and it is not expandable. NOT EXPANDABLE. This is why I opted for the higher priced model, hoping it would be staying with me for years to come. This machine has been a bit of a struggle setting up, only because I have been customizing my older machine for so long, I felt I had to do the same on the Studio. Apple has locked out many things that I was able to access via command line or just installing alternative software. For those who want to move to an Apple Silicon machine from an Intel one-watch out. There are many new hoops to jump through before you can modify how your machine is designed to behave….

six K for this lil thing? It better “scream” as Steve Jobs used to say…..

Dead Trashcan

Yeah, fed up I decided to retire this thing. It hasn’t officially died, I can boot it up, and do somethings with it, but for a workstation, it is pretty useless. This thing will be missed (if I can ignore the last couple months of frustration).

kinda looks like a tombstone on its own….