Isn't it odd how sometimes the things you intend to do first end up being the last things you actually get done? Or am I the only one with this problem??

I always have a few projects on the back burner, and few that are supposed to high priority and sometimes one or two that just appear because of an unforseen opportunity or a seemingly good idea.

In order of supposed priority I have been working on a new GM70 based SE amp design, an acrylic plinth TT, a pair of Half Chili Changs, and quite unexpectedly an FFT based audio measurement set up.

The turntable and the GM70 are more or less stalled. I need to purchase a mini-lathe, and a good metal cutting blade.

On the GM70 despite designing a choke coupled driver stage that really performs well I am still waffling over whether I want to use IT coupling instead. And the kicker is I need the above tools to fabricate the chassis for these amplifiers which ultimately will be 4 chassis...

Well those PX100 headphones came a couple of weeks ago, have to say acoustic sounds was quick on the shipping..

To say they are an upgrade over my old JVC folding phones would be just a bit of an understatement. They're just clearly better in every not so subtle way. Much more extension at both extremes, and much improved clarity - a surprising amount of resolution IMHO for $69..
They're not circum-aural, and have open backs, but surprisingly ambient noise does not seem to be much of an issue. And they're reasonably comfortable.

On a slightly different note I have a fairly large number of songs on my iPod that I downloaded from iTunes. Recently I swapped a not so well liked Pixies album for BT Emotional Technology on Swaptree. I have listened to it a few times and realized that the songs I actually like best are none of the ones I purchased on iTunes! I ripped it to the iPod last night using Apple Lossless and removed the original AAC encoded copies....

Went to the gym this afternoon with my iPod (Classic 160GB) as usual - about 15 minutes into a torturous session on the elliptical the left channel just died. PANIC.. I had a further 45 minutes of time to reflect on the meaning of music in my life - in this case it really helps me to get through what I find to be an exceedingly tedious activity. Sonic wall paper to my life outside of my house??

Got home and quickly checked with another set of headphones and determined that my iPod was just fine.The aftermarket JVC folding headphones I purchased a couple of years ago just before this iPod apparently have an open connection somewhere. They never entirely pleased me so I am not too sad to see them go.

Have ordered a set of the folding PX100 made by Sennheiser to replace them - should be a lot better sounding than the failed JVC headphones.

It does rather make me realize just how important a role music plays in my daily life.

As an aside...

For some time I've had the feeling that there was something not quite right about the sound I was getting out of my most recent phono stage. The phono stage in question had never been compared to anything else, so it was difficult to understand what was going on. To add to the complications I use a Grado Reference Platinum cartridge that has a reputation for being rather laid back - so I was not really sure if the often boring sound was due to the cartridge or a problem with my phono stage design.

The design is a two stage with Lipshitz based passive eq., high transconductance type tubes, and gyrator loads. The tube complement is triode connected D3A in the front end, fixed biased 5842 output stage and gyrator loads based on the 5687.

The problem seemed to center around my choice of cathode bias in the first stage with the D3A. This resulted in a 60 ohm resistor and a 1000uF electrolytic cap shunted by a variety of other caps, after a long succession of problems...