It was a happy coincidence, it’s the color gradations of the Manzanita burl.
The Manzanita is such beautiful stuff I’m tempted to mention it to Zach to check out. But it may not be available in any kind of commercially viable quantity.
I don’t know where @oberon gets his, maybe he can comment. It might be pretty scarce.
Thanks!
It’s not easy to find. I’ve gotten mine from a few people I found on eBay. There are probably sources out there though. I’ve always wanted to ask Zach about using manzanita too. I had asked about other specific woods in the past and was given a straight “no” though so I didn’t bother asking. That was before he was doing resin though so he may be a lot more open to it now.
Manzanita grows pretty much from British Columbia all the way down into California, The Sierra Nevada, Utah, Arizona New Mexico, Texas and Mexico etc. Why would it be hard to find? seems fairly common
Burls and usable pieces may be a bit more rare though.
Picked up an element 3 mk2 boosted for my desktop. Works well with the HD800S for gaming. Imaging and separation is solid. Wanted something I could fit under my monitor riser and this works well.
I saw the 4 came out but don’t really need the DSP they’re selling. I doubt the sound is that much better/different.
Just got the Utopia OG and the Susvara OG to complete my collection, its a freaking dream come true for me 
congratz! what a collection!
That looks like a show!
It’s not so much finding manzanita bushes but finding usable burls and someone to harvest, prep, dry, and deal with them. Manzanita is not used for much because it’s not a lumber wood and the burls, which are actually root balls, are fairly small and full of voids and cracks that often contain rocks and dirt so a lot of mills won’t touch them as they can destroy blades.
Venture Electronics new Dongle, the Devastator
And the earbuds that they force you to buy with them but its ok since its only $5 more
This exceeded all of my expectations, its the budget dongle dac to get
Its basically the size of the cable no small boxes or anything, comes in 3.5mm and 4.4mm both with 110mw at 32ohm
For the $33 I paid including shipping and taxes, this neutral warm dongle is the best ive heard under $70, it sounds amazing, doesnt bother at all in the pocket and is also really well built they are resistant.
I’ve had this in house for almost two weeks now, wonderful combination with the Omegas.
here are some bonus pictures of the inside, this unit was built very recently in August 2024
According to seller it came stock with;
Preamp: RFT ECC92 (12AU7 equiv)
Input: Brimar CV4024 (12AT7 equiv)
Phase Splitter: Sylvania 6189W (12AU7 equiv)
Output: 6p14P-EV (EL84 equiv)
According to the seller he rolled the input tubes with Philips heerlen pinched waist E181cc and the Output with Philips keerlen O-getter el84.
Although I suspect the phase splitter was also rolled because the box of tubes I received with the amp came with a pair of sylvania 6189w. Someday I might open the amp back up and pull the tubes to find out, for now just enjoying the music lol
That is a super interesting tube selection and internal circuit design, im not as well versed as some people here but to me… I just would habe never imagined a z10 would look like that on the inside nor have that configuration.
Congratulations on the amp.
Hey congrats! Very nice 
I’ll be interested what you think of it. What are you running it off, the SAEQ?
Thanks! I’m really liking it so far with only a few hours of play time on it. I’m running it off the SAEQ ribbon output. It has plenty of power. I’ve also tried the little Gremlin with it and that actually does really well also.
Bought a Ferrum Wandla Goldensound Edition DAC.
It currently sits between my Aurender A1000 server (with USB) and the Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 acting as the amp for speakers and subwoofer with room correction applied through it as well.
Not sure I’ll keep the Wandla but it was a good deal and will tell me a lot about what I think I need to do with my budgets and downsized system…
@Virion please eventually take time to tell us more about these components, how you are enjoying them, your likes and dislikes etc. Happy to hear your adventures and general impressions of the whole system
