Show your new toys Topic

1337harcha

Caliper Novice
Apr 9, 2019
33
13
I can second that impression of ADT's risers - sturdy and good quality, but stiff cabling. Works very well in my Optiplex.
I can third that. I got a full width one that is 50cm long, bent it many times (current bend is pretty hard too). Still working great. What surprised me is that mine even has a mini-molex-floppy-kind power connector on the GPU end that was not mentioned in the aliexpress listing. No twisting though.
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
2,233
2,556
This was a few weeks ago but I joined the Thinkpad gang with a used T430. Now my desktop Win7 drive has a temporary home in there while I install Linux on my new desktop and a secondary drive on the Thinkpad. Shown here just before its full HD screen upgrade.

 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
***Apologies in advance for the upcoming not-actually-SFFness. You've been warned I guess.***

Christmas gift from my partner, perfect timing to replace my HyperX Cloud Cores that died a few weeks back. Also (further) proof that I've hit romantic jackpot, I guess.


Haven't used them that much yet, but the sound quality is excellent - it sounds like there's a pair of good speakers mounted a meter or so off each ear. I'm officially a convert: I absolutely love open-backed headphones. Can't ever see myself going back (as long as the environment isn't ridiculously noisy).

(And yes, of course there are christmas lights across the PC and desk - isn't that the most obvious place to put them?)
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Old laptop charger (Innergie 60C), meet the new laptop charger (Baseus BS-E915). Still GaN, 5W higher max power output, but most importantly more outputs. Now I can truly travel with just one charger. Also dirt cheap: normally $60 on Aliexpress, I got it at half off on a pre-Christmas sale (currently going for about $40, looks like). QC3.0, USB-PD 3.0, and everything else I could want. And it's just barely bigger.


Makes me look forward to GaN really arriving all the more.
 

rapidshrub

Trash Compacter
Jun 3, 2019
42
48
***Apologies in advance for the upcoming not-actually-SFFness. You've been warned I guess.***

Christmas gift from my partner, perfect timing to replace my HyperX Cloud Cores that died a few weeks back. Also (further) proof that I've hit romantic jackpot, I guess.


Haven't used them that much yet, but the sound quality is excellent - it sounds like there's a pair of good speakers mounted a meter or so off each ear. I'm officially a convert: I absolutely love open-backed headphones. Can't ever see myself going back (as long as the environment isn't ridiculously noisy).

(And yes, of course there are christmas lights across the PC and desk - isn't that the most obvious place to put them?)

Your partner picked you up a solid set of headphones. The HD 598/599 (basically the same thing) are great entry level "audiophile" headphones. They're better suited to all types of media than some headphones that cost twice as much. They were my first set of open backs too and boy did I fall down the audio rabbit hole. It took me a couple years of buying and selling headphones, amps and DAC's to finally accept the fact that headphones beyond the $150-$200 price points only give you marginal improvements in sound quality, mostly just different sound signatures.

I've "downsized" my collection to "just" two pairs but have a new pair coming tomorrow... I've got a problem
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
Makes me look forward to GaN really arriving all the more.

Along these lines, received my 200W GaN AC-DC bricks from Adaptertech recently and the 19V I've been using for my Micro STX system has been working great. Have options up to 300W now


The 300W is 70% of the weight and 60% of the size of the Dell 330W we've all used forever.
 

1337harcha

Caliper Novice
Apr 9, 2019
33
13
Old laptop charger (Innergie 60C), meet the new laptop charger (Baseus BS-E915). Still GaN, 5W higher max power output, but most importantly more outputs. Now I can truly travel with just one charger. Also dirt cheap: normally $60 on Aliexpress, I got it at half off on a pre-Christmas sale (currently going for about $40, looks like). QC3.0, USB-PD 3.0, and everything else I could want. And it's just barely bigger.


Makes me look forward to GaN really arriving all the more.
Beware, my BS-EU910 disables quickcharge (the 9V mode) as soon as both Type As are populated. However populating the type-c doesn't have any effect on this. It's just a little bit of misleading advertising that caught me off-guard.
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Beware, my BS-EU910 disables quickcharge (the 9V mode) as soon as both Type As are populated. However populating the type-c doesn't have any effect on this. It's just a little bit of misleading advertising that caught me off-guard.
This one supports 45W output on the first USB-C with either of the two others connected, with a total combined output of up to 63W (45+18). It says it even supports 63W output with all three in use, though it doesn't clarify how the distribution works then (I'd think 30+15+18 or something). Either way I don't think it drops into legacy 5V-only mode in any of these use cases :)
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Your partner picked you up a solid set of headphones. The HD 598/599 (basically the same thing) are great entry level "audiophile" headphones. They're better suited to all types of media than some headphones that cost twice as much. They were my first set of open backs too and boy did I fall down the audio rabbit hole. It took me a couple years of buying and selling headphones, amps and DAC's to finally accept the fact that headphones beyond the $150-$200 price points only give you marginal improvements in sound quality, mostly just different sound signatures.

I've "downsized" my collection to "just" two pairs but have a new pair coming tomorrow... I've got a problem
Yeah, they're really good. At first try they did sound a bit flat even for Sennheisers, but they've warmed up nicely over the past few days. I've loved Sennheiser's more natural sound signature ever since I got my first CX 400 earbuds a decade or more back, and I've been longing to get something really good for quite a while. I've been drooling over HD 650/HD 6XXes, but they're too pricy by far. She definitely made an excellent choice in finding something very good that doesn't require a mortgage to afford :) I'm running them off an Optoma NuForce uDac3, which is plenty good for me (and small enough to have taped to the underside of my desk, completely invisible).

I doubt I'll go bonkers for audio, as I'm kind of allergic to audiophile BS. I worked in an electronics retailer while I was a student, and we got bought up by a high end audio chain. Half of the training stuff they made us go through was ... ineffective, to put it mildly. I mean, there was a lot of great-sounding stuff we sold, but I will never, ever believe in the value of $500 USB cables or $1000/m speaker wire. There were some very expensive speakers and high-end amps that did sound very, very good - but there were plenty of inexpensive speakers that sounded very good too, and low-end amps with surprising sound quality. So I'm pretty firmly in the "I want good sound, but I don't believe in magic ghosts things I can't hear" camp. And I'm not rich enough to go crazy ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: rapidshrub

rapidshrub

Trash Compacter
Jun 3, 2019
42
48
My new cans came in today, Sennheiser HD 58X's. The second picture is my collection. From right to left: Sennheiser HD 58X, Audioquest Nighthawk, AKG K371


Yeah, they're really good. At first try they did sound a bit flat even for Sennheisers, but they've warmed up nicely over the past few days. I've loved Sennheiser's more natural sound signature ever since I got my first CX 400 earbuds a decade or more back, and I've been longing to get something really good for quite a while. I've been drooling over HD 650/HD 6XXes, but they're too pricy by far. She definitely made an excellent choice in finding something very good that doesn't require a mortgage to afford :) I'm running them off an Optoma NuForce uDac3, which is plenty good for me (and small enough to have taped to the underside of my desk, completely invisible).

I doubt I'll go bonkers for audio, as I'm kind of allergic to audiophile BS. I worked in an electronics retailer while I was a student, and we got bought up by a high end audio chain. Half of the training stuff they made us go through was ... ineffective, to put it mildly. I mean, there was a lot of great-sounding stuff we sold, but I will never, ever believe in the value of $500 USB cables or $1000/m speaker wire. There were some very expensive speakers and high-end amps that did sound very, very good - but there were plenty of inexpensive speakers that sounded very good too, and low-end amps with surprising sound quality. So I'm pretty firmly in the "I want good sound, but I don't believe in magic ghosts things I can't hear" camp. And I'm not rich enough to go crazy ;)

I nerd out to any gear so once I discovered HiFi I naturally went overboard. I'm not articulate enough to express my opinions on the audio industry and community but there's just so much nonsense that gets perpetuated in the popular forums. People honestly believe that cables change their sound, people claim to hear differences in things that have imperceptible differences based on their measurements, people claim minor things make something unlistenable... it goes on. So much garbage.

I've always put my money into the headphones themselves and have come full circle back to $200 and under offerings. Like most of my interests I mainly buy and sell used so the most I generally lost was shipping and PayPal fees. My 3 cans combined cost less than I've spent on one set in the past and they all serve a purpose now. The HD 58X's are filling the gap that I left when I gave away my HD 598's which I wore at the office and around the house. I got closed backs for those purposes but then realized that I don't like be audibly isolated from the world when I'm going about my day.

Honestly for $40 you can get "Chi-Fi" in ear monitors that rival many over ear headphones. I have a pair of Blon BL-03's that absolutely kill it once you install some better tips.
 

1337harcha

Caliper Novice
Apr 9, 2019
33
13
Speaking of new toys and in line with the comment above - just bought second set of Comply Foam tips for my Samsung Iconx 2018s. The first set last about 5 months for the 3 included pairs. This is a significant cost increase compared to using included tips as these foam tips wear out and have to be replaced, but personally the increase in comfort and the minimization of Iconx design flaws (where the volume is killed by regular use - getting dirty) makes them totally worth it. Don't think I ever want to use in-ears with rubber tips again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Finley Leonard

Finley Leonard

Efficiency Noob
Dec 30, 2019
6
1
Speaking of new toys and in line with the comment above - just bought second set of Comply Foam tips for my Samsung Iconx 2018s. The first set last about 5 months for the 3 included pairs. This is a significant cost increase compared to using included tips as these foam tips wear out and have to be replaced, but personally the increase in comfort and the minimization of Iconx design flaws (where the volume is killed by regular use - getting dirty) makes them totally worth it. Don't think I ever want to use in-ears with rubber tips again.
I ordered it a week ago, too. Waiting for delivery.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,582
Along these lines, received my 200W GaN AC-DC bricks from Adaptertech recently and the 19V I've been using for my Micro STX system has been working great. Have options up to 300W now


The 300W is 70% of the weight and 60% of the size of the Dell 330W we've all used forever.

I think there would be a market for internal PSUs with GaN tech around this forum. *cough cough*
 

enricko7

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jun 12, 2018
95
50
Have two 12V AC-DC bricks, one of which I plan to tear down to see the actual size of the PCB etc. If it's favourable I would be keen to approach the supplier about doing an internal version.

Anything that makes brickless S4M builds easier is sure to get a warm welcome.