DOOD.CA: Guy Stuff

Lately I’ve had a renewed interested in improving my audio system, and it likely has something to do with my recent move to Vancouver and the sudden accessibility of all sort of neat stuff.

One of the first things I decided to do was play around with my Vinyl Rig. I picked up a Pro-Ject Tube Box II on from Canuck Audio Mart to try out with my Pro-Ject Perspective Turntable the other day and see how it compared with my SonoCable SonoStasis Phono Preamp. I am currently running a Grado Prestige Gold cart on my Pro-Ject Perspective, and have a Grado Reference Sonata cartridge on order.

Price and Components
The SonoStatis sells for around $800 with the full set of upgrades that I got for it including high end Burr-Brown opamps, MIT RIAA Capacitors and MIT output capacitors. The Project Tube Box II sells for $450, and uses two 12AX7 tubes for amplification. I did not open up the Pro-Ject to see what kinds of components were used, but I assume there is nothing really special.

The SonoStasis as I use it also has a specialized SonoSupply which is the reason it’s high cost. The SonoSupply provides a dedicated high-current toroidal transformer filtered by Black Gate electrolytic capacitors and bypassed with Wima capacitors for clean, dedicated power.

Features
The SonoStasis is very limited in features, and only supports MM cartridges while the Tube Box II has MM and MC capability as well as a subsonic filter to filter out rumble caused by wobbly records or kids jumping up and down on the floor which causes your bass woofers to max out and go nuts. This can be especially useful if you have a subwoofer connected to your system. Feature-wise, the Pro-Ject certainly has the SonoStasis beat.

Turning on and off the subsonic filter showed a slight compression in dynamics in the music when it was in the on state. The Tube Box sounded noticeably better with the subsonic filter turned off.

Music – Impressions
First of all, I have to say that I much prefered the attack and presentation of the SonoStasis over the Tube Box II, however that is because I am typically a CD listener, and like that sound. The Tube Box II provided a laid back liquid sound that was noticeably smoother and felt more like background music to me. Perhaps good for company.

First I compared some 80’s new wave dance, which is my primary reason for getting into vinyl. One of my favourite albums to compare is New Order Substance 1987. On the Tube Box II it was so smooth you could call it butter, but it sounded like the music was back behind the speakers. The track “True Faith” is one of my favourites and it has a catchiness to it on vinyl that I don’t get when I listen to the CD. With the Tube Box II it sounded great, but a bit laid back for my tastes.

Next I popped in something new, Tool Lateralus. Tool actually sounded better on the Tube Box, because it lacks some of the detail especially in the high end that the SonoStasis has, which because of the somewhat poor pressing, sounds thrashy. It took the edge off, and made the record much more easy to listen to.

Next I tried switching my turntable to a vintage one, the Dual 704 with a Shure M73HE cartridge. This is a bassy, full-sounding cartridget that makes every recording sound rich and immersive, and in many ways sounds better, though less “hi-fi”, than my main rig.

When I used this with the Tube Dac, I found it a bit too slow and plodding. Almost like the music was slowed down, but checking the pitch on the Dual it was perfect speed. The Tube Dac II works better with the sound of modern turntables and cartridges than the vintage stuff in my opinion. At least with my two rigs.

Overall
The Tube Dac II is a strong performer, and with the other rigs in the price range it is a solid buy. If it were me I would spend a few hundred extra and get something better, and likely solid state with a bit more punch and attack to it, but that is my preference in music.

The True Religion Joey Super T’s I bought my woman from Revolve Clothing were out of stock… unfortunately because of the sale (I’m assuming) they have been very slow in shipping stuff. Having ordered the stuff a week ago, most of it only shipped yesterday. They only told us that the miscalculated the stock for that jean yesterday, but compensated by giving us a 25% off coupon that could be used for the next week on one item. So instead of picking out another pair of jeans for her, we got her a short sleeved ed hardy geisha hoody. She preferred it to the jeans… and it was only $66 after the coupon!!

I have to say I’m impressed with Revolve Clothing sending a 25% off coupon in light of their miscalculation. It was very nice of them and makes me want to continue shopping there, especially after the stuff has been taking so much longer to ship.

There is still a ton of stuff available from the sale, though mousing over many of the items it seems like a lot of it is sold out. The women’s clothing is still pretty decent though. Buy your woman something nice 😉

Huge sale… like almost 500 Women’s and 200 Men’s items on sale!!

I picked up 3 pairs of jeans, 1 Ed Hardy shirt and a Ed Hardy hoody. Sweet deals, I tell ya. Free shipping in the US and Canada, which is a definate plus.

http://www.revolveclothing.com/

Well, we’re doing the low-carb maintenance thing now, and its going well. I’m continuing to see increased definition in my abs, and I’m taking some supplements like CLA and Phase 2 to aid in the reduction of body fat.

I now allow myself around 60-70g of carbs a day, which is quite a bit if I don’t indulge on snacks like chips and stuff. When I’m hungry I’ll eat a smokie or something instead… no more popcorn.. no more snacking. I’ll have a slice of toast in the morning, and maybe a small scoop of rice with dinner. The most important thing I think is to stay away from sugars.

I’ve had experience with low-carbing before when I lost about 70lbs… this was 8 years ago… but I put some of that back on.. now its time to get ripped again. Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.

Well.. I went on an atkins based diet a week ago, and now it has been a week of low carb (under 20g/day) high protein/fat diet. More high protein than high fat, but I am taking the opportunity to eat a lot of the healthy fats that I don’t always get a lot of such as lots of Salmon and using products like Udo’s Oil and NutraSea Oil.

Its been difficult. One of the things that I am finding about Atkins types of diets is that the only food that feels like junk food and kills the cravings for me somewhat is cheese. I am also finding it hard to eat enough calories to keep me full all day. I have been eating steak and pork chops and chicken, and without the carb filler, its hard to stay full. Lots of veggies to fill up the rest of the 20grams too.

After a week I’ve lost quite a bit of weight (about 5-10lbs), but a majority of it is water weight that came off after the first day.

I’m quite honestly getting sick of Eggs, Salmon, Halibut, Prawns, Steak, Pork Chops, Chicken, Sashimi, etc… cuz that’s all we can eat. After a while you just crave a good slice of toast. We have been supplementing our diets with vitamins, minerals and PGX and some other stuff as well.