So, what did you get yourself for the holidays?


My guess is that most of us are "hard to buy for". That said, I get my own presents.

Outside of audio, this holiday season I treated myself to a 3D printer (Bambu Lab P1S), a ZWO Seestar S50 smart telescope, and I will be ordering a PiFinder for my 20" telescope next week.

In the world of audio I upgraded my Rogue Cronus Magnum II to the III. I added the home theater feature so I can put a tube pre-amp between my DAC and the amp at a later date. And since they had the amp in the shop I added a processor loop in the event my hearing would benefit from additional processing in years to come. I'm a small spender for this group and I expect this is my ultimate amp. I will upgrade other components over time, but this is making me very happy right now. Besides, my astronomy hobby is where most of my extra money goes. 

I've been playing the CR III for the past week and it is an amazing upgrade. It also helps that my backup amp was a major step down and since I hand delivered and picked up the amp I've been without the CM since October.

As far as the new amp goes, I love the triode mode and the phono pre-amp is noticeably improved. I'll test out the new headphone circuit in January, I don't use headphones often so I won't be able to weigh in on any improvement, just the end result.

So, what did you get for yourself?

 

 

 

markcasazza

@markcasazza 

So, what did you get for yourself?

Records, which my wife dutifully wraps up for me to open on Christmas day. My sons introduce an element of surprise with their choices.

Traded my 24 Civic Si for a new 25 Subaru BRZ TS in blue with matching ultra suede and leather trimmed interior. Added all season floor liners, trunk liner, splash guards and wheel locks. Comes with Brembo calipers, oversized rotors, suspension upgrades, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires and a delicious 6 speed manual that’s quite a bit slicker than the one in the Si. Yum!

After trade I only had to finance $13.4K. Waiting for the insurance company to put a stamp on the paperwork so the dealer can register it and I can get it inspected on Monday.  Been having a blast driving it meanwhile.

On the audiophile front I’m thinking about snagging a Rotel a8 integrated in silver to use with the Dali Oberon 5s I bought for kicks and an inexpensive if I can find one mc step up transformer to use with it’s phono input. Think it will work a treat with my Luxman PD151 MKII and my Hana ML cartridge as a change of pace. 

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2x Martin Logan Abyss 10 subs, some new Blue Jeans cables to hook it all up.