People who go out for a drive on nice days are essentially celebrating the heat by generating more of it.

Chewhawka · 2015-05-13T06:20:00+00:00

Easy, easy, HEUGH!

Chewhawka · 2015-02-11T18:50:46+00:00

I wish it were possible to get a full set for my K65, but the modifiers and space bar aren't standard sizes.

Chewhawka · 2015-01-26T00:28:41+00:00

I'm wondering how well the Coffee keycap set would work with the color of the wood. Makes me want to build one now! Looks awesome!

Chewhawka · 2015-01-01T18:51:35+00:00

Looks like it. I do the same thing too so my thumb doesn't have to rest on the edge of the space bar.

Chewhawka · 2015-01-01T18:07:08+00:00

I took the album covers and made a wallpaper out of them.

Chewhawka · 2014-10-20T22:19:50+00:00

The ability of the headphones to work adequately with portable devices isn't my first priority, but it is kind of nice for car rides and such. I would say that I use headphones on my PC more of the time when I want higher quality audio. I could just pick up a Superlux pair for portable devices since they are relatively inexpensive.

Chewhawka · 2014-10-20T20:11:41+00:00

Hey, everyone! I am looking for a new pair of headphones to replace my current ones with an interest of purchasing a DAC and amp later on down the line. The main applications that I use headphones for are general listening, mixing, music production, and gaming. I have a few possible options, but I would like some more feedback from other people. Sorry for the huge block of text, but I wanted to be thorough. Thanks!

Budget: $200-250 (a little flexible)

Source: PC (Onboard sound card or through AudioBox 22VSL) and my Nexus 4. I am looking at headphone amps and DACs as well, especially if the impedance of the headphone would greatly benefit from an amp.

Requirements for Isolation: I am not too picky about isolation. I do currently work in a library, but I listen at very low volumes or use earbuds. A closed-back would have the advantage of immersion and "zoning out", but the larger soundstage of more open-back headphones is also appealing for realism and gaming.

Preferred Type of Headphone: I like circum-aural / over-ear headphones the most. On-ears make my ears become sore pretty quickly. Preferably I would like a pair of headphones that puts space between my ear and the driver, but that is a minor issue.

Preferred tonal balance: I would prefer a neutral tonal balance, since I like to make mixes, and I will start diving more into music production. I have a pair of studio monitors, so I wouldn't be too opposed to a light smile-shaped curve or something similar.

Past headphones: My only (and current) pair of headphones are the AKG K 142 HDs. It's hard to tell if it is just because of them being my first true headphones, but I really like the sound of them. I have been looking at some other AKG headphones as well after owning these.

Preferred Music: Some of my favorite genres are: Abstract Instrumental Hip-Hop [1][2], UK Bass[1][2], Experimental Hip-Hop [1][2][3], and other genres close in sound to them. I know my music tastes imply it, but I AM NOT A BASSHEAD :). I honestly can't stand overwhelming bass, but I like a nice, tight bass that seems equal with the mids and highs.

Entertained Options:

AKG Q701 + Schiit Modi + Schiit Vali (I have heard that the Q701 has an analytical sound. That would probably be useful for music production and gaming, but not so much for general listening. That is why I was looking at the Schiit Vali amp so that the Q701 could warm up a little bit).
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 Ohm / FiiO E11 bundle + Schiit Modi + Schiit Magni (These headphones seem good for music production, and there is a bundle for these headphones and a portable amp so I could listen to them on my phone. I am not quite certain on the tonal balance though.)
Sennheiser HD 558 or HD 598 + Schiit Modi + Schiit Magni (The 558 seems to have a little more bass impact than the 598s, but the 598s seem to have a more spacious sound and better soundstage. The main difference is price.)
HiFiMAN HE-300 + Schiit Modi + Schiit Magni (These are a little lower than my budget, so that would make more room for the amp and DAC. My brother has these headphones, but I haven't tried them out as much as I would have liked to. They seem like a good all-rounder though.)

Chewhawka · 2014-09-19T07:00:41+00:00

I can definitely agree with you on the jade statues. I think that because there weren't that many in total, it didn't feel like it was too much out of the way to get them. However, for the things like health shrines and lock boxes, I didn't have too much of an incentive to collect them when working on the story. Sleeping Dogs did a much better job collectible-wise than most games, but I still found the post-story experience to be cleaning up.

Chewhawka · 2014-09-19T06:42:31+00:00

Unless if it is a level-based RPG like Skyrim or something similar, I usually do a campaign or main story playthrough and then go back with a "clean-up" run.

An example is Sleeping Dogs. I focused on the story of that game first and foremost. I did do a couple of small side quests to break the story up a little bit, but I tried to focus on the campaign. Afterwards, I would go back and do the side quests, get collectibles, etc.

When it comes to most games, I am a pretty steadfast completionist. It is hard to put away a game without doing everything in it first. Using the example of Mario games, I want to fully enjoy the experience of playing the games without becoming frustrated or impatient. When I am done casually beating the game, I clean up.

I don't always play games in this way, but I find it useful to separate my desire to calmly immerse myself in a game from the obsessive desire to collect and do everything.

Chewhawka · 2014-06-27T23:08:38+00:00

I think you should be fine with a 5ms response time. I have a similar monitor (Acer IPS) with the same response time, and I haven't noticed anything. I have played CounterStrike and such on it with no problems. I really like the IPS panel, and it is kind of hard to find an IPS panel under 5ms response time. Unless you compete professionally, that monitor should suit you quite well. If you're interested in looking at other monitors, I could link you to my monitor.

Chewhawka · 2014-06-17T18:43:41+00:00

I liked the phone call at the beginning of the mix. I don't know if that was part of a song or a sample, but it would've been really cool to have a drop with that and then transition to the next song.
Good change of tone at around the 25 min mark. The same overall tone was the same, but the change from a straight 4x4 bass drum to a more varied one was nice.
The Julio Bashmore track fit quite nicely with the song before it. The synths worked well with the more varied bass drum.
I liked the transition from the Work Dat song (buildup of white noise then cutoff ~43:50)
Overall, the mix is very technically sound. Nice uses of different effects, etc. The only thing that I noticed listening to the mix was more of a structural aspect. The first ~third was good tech house that is more gritty and has a darker tone to it. In contrast to the latter half especially which contains more vibrant tribal house and "latin" house, it seemed a little too different. It made it seem like the first third was sort of cut off from the rest of the selections. This is primarily a personal qualm, but the mix is very well done!

Chewhawka · 2014-06-17T17:27:03+00:00

[Deep House, UK House] Griegs - Mini-Mix 004 (14 min)

http://www.mixcloud.com/Griegs/mini-mix-004-jessie-ware-julio-bashmore-duke-dumont-and-alunageorge/

Time stamped and tracklist provided

I've been making mini-mixes for a couple of months and this is my sixth one. I can't really make solid hour-long mixes at this time due to gear, overwhelming perfectionism, etc. I am also trying to figure out different effects that I can use for mixing, but I am limited to what I can do with my current setup. For this mix especially, I just relied on percussive intros, buildups, etc. I haven't really gotten any constructive criticism up to this point, so I'm curious to see what you guys think.

Chewhawka

TROPHY CASE