I killed this one, with a little help from my friends.
Added over 300 new albums to my library and 26 artists that are either new or that I didn’t have represented in my local collection. Not bad at all and we’ve still got a month left to the year. 
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I had multiple needs for storage expansion this year, a great indication that ive been diving into and trying more music.
A lot of new music came from revisiting old artists, looking up if they had new albums since last I checked, then seeing similar artists. Bandcamp’s bottom of the page suggestions have been great.
I found Elder and King Buffalo via these suggestions from my friends Moon Tooth. Outside of some kinda long 10+ minute songs, they seem to be a crowd favorite.
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One thing The Audiophiliac does is mention albums he uses during his reviews. Two really good ones I found this year are ESG (Emerald, Sapphire & Gold) a trio fro Da Bronx in the late 70’s that I’d never heard of before even though they were local to me at the time.
Another one is Cal Tjader the album Soña Libre, excellent recording, serious 60’s latin & bossa nova.
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Ive actually picked up some good tracks from reviewer mentions as well. Not always things that are my normal cup of tea either.
Reading through my beginning of the year goals is interesting. I accomplished most of what I set out to do but also had some discoveries that pushed me in different directions.
- I still have 10+ headphones although I sold a bunch after realizing that I generally prefer the sound of a dynamic driver headphone to a planar. I sold caldera, expanse, 1266, susvara, and lcd-24. I acquired Utopia and quite a few ZMFs and have been holding onto Diana v2 and Tungsten as my planars for now. I don’t know how to pair down my collection any further and I’m not sure if I want to.
- Ended up with a Holo Serene KTE which I like a lot and a Schiit Kara which is fine but will probably be sold. LTA preamp sounded better but serene is more enjoyable to use.
- My main setup is now 100% solid state but I have been enjoying having a DNA Stratus on loan and might be getting in line for a Stellaris soon.
- Didn’t accomplish this goal although I do own a Urd but I don’t use it’s CD playback capabilities much.
- Bought a Meitner MA3 which I’m really happy with. Didn’t get around to trying a Yggy as I had a hard time justifying a 2-3k dac that would probably be a downgrade from the MC1.
Not sure about goals for 2024 yet so will come back closer to the new year and write those down.
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Well, 6 months delay, one AIC-10 and a 465 later and safe to say this played out very differently. HM1 will go on sale at some point for certain.
Actually had X9000 and Z10E as I planned. Happy I tried it, the Stax flagship is amazing. Price and dedicated gear indeed made me continue elsewhere.
Sold my 2ch, got active speakers with room correction for desk listening so this wasn’t a priority anymore. One day…
Life had other plans for me but I landed well on both feet. Happy for now, still don’t have an office that requires a second system.
Not too much live but did find a lot of exciting music to listen to. Also started growing my local library instead of streaming.
2024 goals to follow in late December.
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LTA was nice enough to let me into both of their 2 channel listening rooms at Axpona to demo the Z40+ and Ultralinear+ with headphones and I fell in love with the UL+ and bought it. Sold my MZ3, which was actually fine with my Omegas, but I liked the UL+ more.
One of my 2023 goals, which I forgot to post originally, was to meet more “internet friends” in person and I made good headway at both Axpona and CAF this year. In fact I didn’t even make it to half the rooms at CAF this year because I spent so much time talking to people in corridors, but I had the time of my life. The social side of CAF was a highlight of 2023, and I’m already planning on going to various shows next year.
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Hmmm i did poorly on my first points as I havent gone to shows or listened to much more equipment. I did however meet one or two more of the community and look forward to more meetups once my health gets back to normal. Funny 2023 is going out just like it came in.
I definitely cleaned things up and made some shelves while selling things ill never use again.
And oh yeah did the music library grow, and it is still going. Bye, bye old mp3 from whatever download service was popular when I was a teen. A lot more hi-rez and superiorly mastered tracks, which leads to the last goal…
…I had to increase storage by a lot! I currently am at 8x the space i started the year at. 4tb drives in the Antipodes and my PC. No NAS still, but an old PC is now my ripping and cataloging workhorse which actually may be better as with no fuss I can do normal pc functions (downloads, web browsing, ripping, cataloging) then i just transfer it to the antipodes and whatever dap or thumb drive needed. DAP microSD and car thumbdrives have also been replaced multiple times.
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I didn’t have clearly defined goals for 2023, but in hindsight and actual fact that’s exactly what I did as well! 
I never seriously thought I would get a Utopia, as it’s kind of out of my league $ wise.
But in March I had the opportunity to get a new set of the U2020 on final clearance when the newtopia launched, and through a serendipitous deal that wasn’t really supposed to happen I got >40% off. The retailer (who asked not to be identified) honored a pricing error for me, which was too good to pass up. So I got a U2020!
That put me on a quest to get an amp for it that I liked better than the one I had. Long story short, I got the Nitsch/ECP DSHA-3 FN after much consideration.
I think it’s a fantastic amp, which beautifully drives the Utopia. It was designed with Focal in mind, and it sounds really excellent with every mid to high impedance dynamic driver headphone I’ve listened with. Focal Utopia, Clear OG, ZMF Verite Open, Atrium Open, and HD 650 Sennheiser.
I’ve never heard such incredibly black background, detail extraction, driver control, and soundstage before. It even brings the same magic to the Rosson RAD-0, but the Burson Soloist 3X GT I had was better in the bass. But the Nitsch isn’t really designed with planars in mind.
For 2024 my goal is to be happy with what I have, and take a breather from new purchases.
Upgrading from what I have now (Schiit Yggy OG and the Nitsch) would require considerable outlays. And any new headphones would be additions to or substitutions from what I already own. 
Must resist temptation! 
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- Speaker placement is both enjoyable and hard work. lol. Move a little bit and listen. Repeat. At least it doesn’t cost me anything to try it out.
- Room treatment - Didn’t get around to this one, so, I guess I’ll add it to my 2024 goals.
- Different/Higher grade cables - Moved away from basic cables. There is still room for improvement but not high on my list atm.
- Replaced rpi4 with Pi2AES (w/ LPS). Great upgrade.
- I might end up getting a dedicated outlet installed near the 2ch. Still debating…
- Local FLAC library is still growing.
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Yoooooooooo
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- Finally buy a damn Tube amp (or maybe build one this winter)
- Settle on getting a PS Audio P3 or Puritan PSM156
- Make it to my second show
- Investigate a better DDC (than my current Matrix XSPDIF3)
- Listen to a TD or Mojo
- Continue experimenting with USB cable recipes
- Write one good cable or gear review
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Didn’t I set you up with that? Lol
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IDK, not sure…
What I can say is that a picture had been posted of someone else’s purchase of the same item at the price in question.
Said retailer quickly fixed the error, but I emailed them that picture (a screenshot) and after some emails back and forth they agreed to honor it for me.
They really did me a solid, as they could have easily just said no. But they are well regarded, and probably wanted to clear out the ones they had left anyway…
The U2022 was just out at that point.
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If youre building them yourself look up the double helix / BBQ usb method. It seemed pretty interesting to me.
Going to add my 2024 goals.
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Get back to feeling normal again. Too much health BS lasting for too long with no real solutions, yet. Its been physically amd mentally exhausting and I yearn to just be “normal” again so I can focus on life and hobbies.
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Improve the current chain, final steps type stuff. Cables, power, try other 300B tubes.
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A far shot but see where i can go amp wise from the Studio B as it is technically the “weak link”. A Studio T seems like the logical step, i just dont know if they can be found too easily, and shipping them, and price. I can always vicariously live through @Polygonhell
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Mo’ music.
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Write my article while listening to said mo’ music.
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Ignoring the fact the Studio T is more acquired by good luck than anything.
They are quite different sounding Amps, my understanding is the Studio B is closer to the Balancing act than the other Studio amps. The Studio T is going to be significantly dryer.
Stepping up from the Studio B, is going to be expensive, and difficult to audition. And you really want to know what your endgame in headphones is.
My policies been buy interesting amps when they turn up, within reason. I have a short list of 3 or 4 amps, once I sell the WA33 (requires me to actually list it I guess) , I’d pick up at the right price.
And if something interesting outside that list came up I’d probably do that to.
I certainly never set out to buy the Studio T, it was just listed locally the week I sold the Stratus, with the intention of probably ordering a Stellaris, or something else if it turned up,
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Thus why I listed this one as a far shot. I am more inclined in tweaking the B (bye bye bad volume pot) than looking at a T or any other amps tbh. With their rarity you can probably pick up and resell one for little to no loss but thats a hassle too. I am more than happy to make no moves and live vicariously through your notes on the amp.
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Holy shit man, the healthcare system has failed me for so long now its ridiculous, one doctor even scammed me.
I also want to get back to normal, but I have to pay for specialists because the free healthcare is kind of shit, and even then im still sick.
Viva egoista 845? AIC riviera? The next step is so expensive and headphone specific
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Whats funny is that I have been looking at upgrades from the Studio-T and I am living vicariously through @Polygonhell 's Viva 845 
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