Occupy HiFi, Author at Positive Feedback

My Crazy Hifi-Life + Honoring My Brother

Occupy HiFi — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 22:22:36 +0000

Before I started Love + Gratitude (cuz it's only a week after the first shot at it - sorry bout' that folks ) I made a tactical error in judgement: I remembered that Recondite, one of my favorite electronic artists (writer, engineer, DJ & Superman;) had either just finished an Essential Mix (long-running DJ mix series) or was about to release it.

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Couch-Surfing & Liquid Dreamin'

Occupy HiFi — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 20:08:59 +0000

After the madness (and I mean, literally BTW) ensued following my separation, I found myself driving back to Los Angeles. I didn't have a plan, no place to sleep arranged yet, nothin'. So, naturally, this was a bit of a nightmare for my OCD brain,

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Gear and Roaming in Colorado - RMAF 2016

Occupy HiFi — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 14:47:59 +0000

What a long, strange trip it's been. I've wanted to start an on-going, diary-like series for too long now. I'll be the first one to say that Transcendence For The Rest of Us was indeed a work-in-progress (the Mike Drop I started on September 25th, but I was far too overloaded with other work to keep the flow there) but it quickly morphed into something else.

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[a]pendics.shuffle: Crazy Music Connection

Occupy HiFi — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 22:53:11 +0000

[a]pendics.shuffle: The name jumped off the screen during some late-night online record shopping. One day I'll share about the site itself, as I'm on there often - but admittedly I'm very protective of the outfit: For selfish reasons of course: The spot's usually got wicked underground electronic tunes (on vinyl, CD and hi-rez downloads via FLAC & .WAV).

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Music is My Favorite Drug

Occupy HiFi — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:22:12 +0000

I love experiencing great sounding music. It's my favorite drug. The high is everlasting, and the withdrawals are nothing compared to chemicals flowing through my bloodstream. When the music stops, when I have to take a break from it (maybe I'm not in my car, or in my room, and my attention is required elsewhere, and music is not a welcome accompaniment during that time period) the great thing is I don't suffer physical withdrawals like I did when I was a dope-fiend ("dope" as in heroin, smack, or Oxycontin). Sure, I've messed with all sorts of drugs, and I don't wanna get too deeply into that here, as I probably said too much already! But music is the only one that I can return to every-time without blowing up the world around me! Now, when I say music is my favorite drug, I mean it's my favorite natural stimulant. Now, there are dangers when experimenting with any drug, natural or chemical, and music is like a narcotic for my soul. And I love narcotics! So, believe me when I say that music literally saved my life more than once.

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From the Sonic Satori Personal Audio Lab: Updates and Upgrades!

Occupy HiFi — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 16:16:54 +0000

If you ever get tired of the way I choose to express the strange, wonderful, and occasionally morose journeys in my Hi-fi life here at Occupyhifi - I'm sorry I can't be more straight-up and editorial-like for ya. There are plenty of solid Hi-fi magazines and websites out there full of that. I even write for a couple of em, and I love that too.

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Quality Headphone Gear For The Rest Of Us Pt. 1

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 19:14:06 +0000

I love writing about what we audio geeks call "reference-level" audio components. By reference-level we mean state-of-the-art, "reference" meaning close to referencing the real thing: The sound of music in real time and space.

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Needed An Audible Time Machine Tonight

Occupy HiFi — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:19:01 +0000

I cherished this spectacular article Harry Pearson wrote for his HPSoundings blog a couple years ago about his stereo systems being Time Machines. It was like he channeled my brain directly for that piece, because I feel the same way about my systems: Headphone and stereo in-room.

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BANNERS Wraps Itself Around My Heart

Occupy HiFi — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:10:04 +0000

I needed music tonight, and I needed something new. As I drove home in the early-morning hours, cruising at the kinda speed that says to the world: I just don't...

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Bass for Miles Part II - The Power of Audeze, SubPac, & the Force

Occupy HiFi — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:30:35 +0000

Miles has clocked plenty of game-time since Part I of our Bass for Miles column here at OccupyHifi. So I thought it was time to head over to Fort Miles (a.k.a Miles room at his mothers house, where his first-rate PC Gaming lair is located) and speak with Miles in his element. Admittedly, I had other motives: Like experiencing Star Wars Battlefront on Miles gaming system with my beloved Audeze LCD-X open-back planar headphones with the SubPac S2 radiating low-end through my bones as I waged war against the Dark Side.

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Bass for Miles Part I

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 21:59:24 +0000

Miles Stratton is a dedicated PC Gamer. He's also the son of Russ Stratton, (VP of Audio/Video Systems at the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society) and a dear friend of mine. Russ is also a diehard audiophile and fellow music addict.

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T.G.I.RMAF! Years of Great Friends, Music & Sound

Occupy HiFi — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:48:23 +0000

It's that time of year again! I've been spendin' weeks gearin' up for my favorite audio show: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. This show has always meant far more to me than the gear displayed or even the music played. It's a time to see good friends whose paths I don't cross too often, maybe because of geography, maybe because we're too damn busy for phone calls, but the bottom line is RMAF has always been more about the people than high fidelity - at least to me.

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JH Audio Announces Their JH Crew Loyalty Program!

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 19:12:41 +0000

It's a rarity, watching an audio company take the type of user-oriented action we've been editorializing about here at OccupyHifi for awhile now (long before our own blog - back when Occupy Hifi was a featured column at The High Fidelity Report ). But leave it to our friends at JH Audio for comin' out swingin' with their brand-new JH Crew Program!

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The Music and Sound Always Draws Me Back In

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:14:31 +0000

I'm not sure I can keep the fact that, at forty, I'm going through a separation following a marriage that's lasted half my life from my readers. Do I have a choice? Though I'm doin' all this "work on myself" to keep movin' forward, that inescapable fact is always lurkin' in my mind. I'm no Yoda.

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The Chems are re-Born in the Echoes

Occupy HiFi — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:55:31 +0000

f you're into dance music and you haven't heard of The Chemical Brothers, well, I was gonna say you gotta be livin' under a rock. Perhaps it might be more appropriate to tell ya to stop smokin' so much rock, and open your eyes.

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ETHER's just that F____in' Great

Occupy HiFi — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 18:53:08 +0000

I love it when people get their "sheeple" on, especially in a niche group. One person says something isn't comfortable, and ten hours later there's a thread somewhere reaching out to this headphone company, addressing the clamping force issue on that user's set of cans. Users justifiably request better padding in the headband.

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JADED: Thoughts on Sennheiser Momentums

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 19:57:16 +0000

I mentioned the Sennheiser Momentums that uncle Mikey lent me in my Audioquest Dragonfly review at OccupyHifi.org. I promised I would talk about them some more; so here's that article I know you've been dying for.

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JADED - Audioquest Dragonfly

Occupy HiFi — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 21:47:39 +0000

The first time I listened to music with the Dragonfly was with a pair of Audeze LCD-XCs and a SubPac S2 Tactile Bass Ssytem! It sounded great, and the SubPac made it so much better. I've been using the Dragonfly with a pair of Sennheiser HD7s (with cushion pads) - and I'll be talking about them more soon.

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Ether Re-defines the Planar Headphone Experience

Occupy HiFi — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 22:38:13 +0000

When I speak about meeting Dan Clark of MrSpeakers I often talk about buying his original Mad Dog headphones without even listening to em! I was at one of our Los Angeles Head-Fi Meets a couple years ago, and my friend Jude Mansilla (Founder of Head-Fi.org) went to his booth and bought a pair. All I needed to hear was that the MD were a pair of closed-back planar magnetic headphones - and since Jude bought em on the spot, I figured they were good. Well, Jude was on as usual. Not only did Dan Clark give me a wonderful gift: The planar magnetic headphones experience without bothering others around me - they're also a damn good pair a' cans!

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Had Enough CRAZY? Monetizing WITH YOU

Occupy HiFi — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:32:20 +0000

Lets prove em' wrong. Many people think quality appreciators are snobs. Now, if you are a dweeby-snob get the fuck off my page - or, rather, STAY ON IT - But the truth is many of us MUSIC ADDICTS are tired of the ol' school high end audio BULLSHIT. I'm not interested in debate over this either. Truth is: I worked for the man, and most importantly, I honored the man who coined the fuckin' term. GET OVER IT. I have!

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Mumford & Sons Blow My Soul Away With Wilder Mind

Occupy HiFi — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 21:50:09 +0000

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The Democratization of Hi-fi Through Personal Audio Part One

Occupy HiFi — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 21:51:54 +0000

I missed the golden age of stereo, I've said it before and that really sucks. By the time I got a job at Pearson Publishing, home of The Absolute Sound magazine in 1994 (where other mags also lived, like The Perfect Vision & Films in Review) the party was nearing its end.

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Just a Live DJ Mix: ALL VINYL... NO Edits/Fixes - Underground Tech

Occupy HiFi — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:00:45 +0000

Don't forget to hit SAVE while writing a new blog - Learned that lesson the Hard-Way JUST NOW!! I had a whole thing typed and ready - w/ a link to the mix of mine and everything.

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Didn't Feel the Shift? Really?

Occupy HiFi — Tue, 26 May 2015 21:56:29 +0000

Seriously: Still denying the "paradigm shift" in consumer culture? Forget that I used the damn terminology. Forget that I have some sort of twisted-back-door stake in being right about this shit.

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Shlohmo Drops Rhythmic Knowledge on Dark Red

Occupy HiFi — Sat, 23 May 2015 21:54:45 +0000

Shlohmo's got the Midas touch. Lemme just say it straight outta the gate. I think the guy's a musical genius. Why? If I could encapsulate that answer for you here I don't think he would've achieved genius-status to begin with!

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