What are your computer's specs ?

[Andy Nguyen]

@Cjs
Are those amp on the desk part of "your work"?

 

[Cjs]

my copperhead back from my counter strike days. good times. i miss them.

 

[Cjs]

@Cjs
Are those amp on the desk part of "your work"?

heh, if it werent for math, i would be building headphone/speaker amps for a living. actually got a job offer multiple times to help design and make them. would have taken it too if it werent for personal reasons that kept me anchored where i am right now. in fact i enjoy that stuff far more than any math/coding really. have been building all my own stuff and for other people for about 5 years now. used to listen to music close to 12 - 14 hours/day when school isnt in session. if i am not in class or teaching, toones are playing.

the black box is a dac (digital to analog converter) to bypass the noisy, poorly filtered soundcard + power supply of the laptop and the amp is something i built last year.

 

[vincegata]

Not fan of tubes but impressive since you build it yourself.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You are a geek @Cjs
I used to be into AVS stuff prior to 06 where I bought several digital projectors to watch my DVD collection. Then I went into DYI HTPC. Then Blu-ray. Those were the days. In fact, I still have an account on AVS forum where I have several hundred posts.
But then was fun, now is work so I just stick to my trusty computer, put my head down and work on stuff. If you can make significant money to do your hobby, go for it.

 

[Cjs]

the job offered ~$120/year + medical benefits + the most amazing work environment + free travel and board to all big audio events and conventions. every time i got the offer i was torn between leaving something big behind to pursue my dreams and well pursuing my dreams. in retrospect, i dont regret making the decisions i made. last year the ceo of the company stepped down and under new leadership, the whole enterprise has taken a turn for the worse. what was once a very well respected name in the community is now the laughing stock.

we learn from our mistakes. i am not one to believe that things happen for a reason - the future depends on the choices we make today. i will never know if my life would have been different/better had i taken the job and i am content with never finding out. just as long as the music keeps playing...

 

[Cjs]

Not fan of tubes but impressive since you build it yourself.

vacuum tubes are so misunderstood in the audio community. silly forums only propagate poor information without context and leave novices with the impression that amps with tubes sound worse than solid state amps when in fact they both are good for their own purposes. for my purposes, i havent heard a single solid state amp come close to a 3 watt monoblock pair of amps i salvaged from a vintage akai reel to reel player. i have modified it heavily but it has gone up against $10k solid state amps and come out on top. yes, tubes add distortion but not all distortion is bad. it is very difficult to understand this without having lived with tubes for a while. if you build an amp with them, things become clearer much faster.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Looks like we have lot of talented members here. I wonder what are the most common hobby among our quant members.

 

[alain]

I haven't seen a tube since I left Cuba. That's how I started in electronics, building signal boosters so we could listen to FM radio coming from US. My first Audio Amp was also driven by tubes.

People might be surprised but there might still be TVs in Cuba that use tubes.

 

[vincegata]

vacuum tubes are so misunderstood in the audio community. silly forums only propagate poor information without context and leave novices with the impression that amps with tubes sound worse than solid state amps when in fact they both are good for their own purposes. for my purposes, i havent heard a single solid state amp come close to a 3 watt monoblock pair of amps i salvaged from a vintage akai reel to reel player. i have modified it heavily but it has gone up against $10k solid state amps and come out on top. yes, tubes add distortion but not all distortion is bad. it is very difficult to understand this without having lived with tubes for a while. if you build an amp with them, things become clearer much faster.

Oh, no, tubes sound warm and wonderful, I used to have one myself. It's just they require a regular maintenance but all I want nowadays for it just to work. It's a very nice hobby you've got there.

I wonder how would your amp stack up against my solid state McIntosh