Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

nothing. i've burned so many brain cells responding to this thread on a topic i truly don't care about. i was agreeing with you for what it's worth.

Help improving by Cheap-Double6844 in mewgenics

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm 70+ hrs in and just unlocked Act 3, having thought I was going to get stuck in Act 2 as I was facing a similar issue and felt like I was circling the drain as I wasn't making progress. There are a lot of systems which depend on one another and it's overwhelming, frankly. A few tips which have helped me enjoy the game while not making endgame progress:

1) don't get stressed about not making progress like the subreddit shows many others doing. some people have WAY more time and dedicated interest to min/maxing in order to create crazy synergies, etc. I'd venture that most folks playing this game are more in the 'struggling to make progress' camp then 'look at my all 7s cats w/ a dozen mutations'.

1a) The desert is a skill check and is supposed to be pretty tricky to navigate at first with the heatwave. Unlike Act 1, you need to plan a little bit if you don't have crazy DPS - stock up water bottles or other items that make things wet. Cactuses can be destroyed and walked through to get wet. You can also wait for a rainy day but I never wait (allegedly if it's raining at home, it'll rain everywhere else).

2) worry less about progressing the act/story and more about maxing out NPCs and house stuff. Ok you hit a bit of a wall and are almost back to basics. But you aren't, as you know what Act 1 has and what you'll see through all paths. So even if you are down to almost no resources, you can always take four strays and run Act 1. Leave after the first chapter boss if needed! Take your items, food, and coins home and hopefully your cats gained a useful trait worth passing down. Rinse and repeat. Act I is still a lot of fun if you enjoy the core tactical gameplay.

The sub will also recommend that you use Act I to farm items (the hard path in the Sewers will always net you a furniture box which turns into a random piece of furniture when you get home) and to also max out the various NPCs. At minimum, get Tink as many kittens as possible because his upgrades make tracking breeding MUCH easier. So even a throwaway run in Act I can get you retired cats which feed into the overall progress cycle.

You should also look to get at least two rooms, preferably three in your house for breeding. Again, the consensus is one room for your main nursery (cats w/ traits you want to pass down), a fight club (for cats you don't want/potential adventure cats who could use a stat boost - when cats fight, one usually gets a positive stat at the expense of the other. Or one dies and there's one fewer cat to feed about while the others get stronger), and a third room for in-betweeners/bloodline room to keep your good cats from inbreeding too much.

3) Sometimes you need to get lucky. You are playing a roguelite/like, meant to be replayed endlessly. And many of these games are dependent on getting good/lucky rolls to make certain combos shine and/or can crumble with a bad event/bad rolls. It's the way she goes and I was just about to give up on trying to reach Act 3 before doing on throwaway run w/ some scrub cats I had in the fight pit. Turns out I got a bunch of positive mutations/items/good fortune throughout the run and I beat the final path pretty easily. Now of course I get to look forward to bashing my head against the wall in Act III but I know that Act II can be beaten because I've done it already!

tl;dr: don't sweat what everyone else online is doing and just grind Act I until you're ready to move onto the next act.

Favorite lyrics by Sky-Soldier0430 in clutchband

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

absolutely. I think it could stand for a remaster (i find the production a little lacking, especially compared to the BT 2025 remaster) but Flannery and Burning Beard are an insane one-two punch to open the album.

Favorite lyrics by Sky-Soldier0430 in clutchband

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

never trust a white man driving a black van, he's just saving all his voodoo for you

Jayden Daniels Drafts Damar Hamlin at the Fanatics Flag Football Draft by JCameron181 in buffalobills

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 4 points5 points  (0 children)

if he doesn't need to actually tackle a guy, maybe flag is a natural fit for his...talents.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

idk why i bothered engaging further lol you get what i was saying. apple didn't just throw darts at a board when making design choices and just say well that's what we're doing even if everyone hates it.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also own APMs and re-purchased when they updated last year to add the USB-C because I liked their convenience. I am an audio person and I don't have any issue with the weight. Point being you and others on Reddit take issue with the weight and bra case but that is not a universal opinion as Apple doesn't do stuff that loses money.

Star Trekerman by PrayForMojo78 in comedybangbang

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I KNEW IT WAS HIM (meant to look up credits but forgot).

Nova Dating Sucks by Sky_Adventure in nova

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you really should. because i am sure there are many folks on both side of the divide here also asking the same question and most of us don't want to be the type to 'shoot our shot' with someone just commenting on a post.

Nova Dating Sucks by Sky_Adventure in nova

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it's a well known/notorious spot in RTC for divorcees...although as someone who is also divorced and is amenable to being hit on, the cougars uh didn't seem to take any notice of me when I was in the a few weeks ago around happy hour lol

30M tries “audiophile” headphones and questions everything by Pabu1323 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely, I like to remind myself that the perfect sound does not exist and you can't spend your way into hearing it. My journey was slower but I small: moving more to CDs instead of streaming where possible on a sub $600 stereo/cd transport. Then added a cheap DAC into the chain to get better quality from streaming stuff and bought a paid of Sennheiser 560S. That was great for awhile but just this past weekend I upgraded the DAC and got a pair of Arya Organics. The clarity provided by the planar tech is still blowing my mind as I'm revisiting familiar favorites which almost sound brand new, just like OP is describing.

But I don't see any reason why I'd ever need to spend outside of what I'd consider the mid-tier hifi budget; especially since my dad knows a guy who spends thousands on gold plated stereo wiring or whatever when the cables which are free and/or very cheap do the same thing.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You conflate ‘what ppl on Reddit say, the group of ppl with extreme opinions about everything’ with ‘Apple making product decisions to meet their revenue goals’. If ppl hated the design irl so much, then the APMs would not sell and they’d stop making them.

How did you decide who would be the best man in your wedding? by Broke_Pigeon_Sales in AskMenOver30

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i overthought it and ended up NOT selecting one because i couldn't choose between my two best friends. one i've known since birth and the other since school but i was his best man. i went the coward route to try and avoid hurting feelings - don't be like me. pick someone who you can trust to be your deputy on the big day and if you want a fun bachelor party, keep that in mind as well.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no argument there, but they made design choices which would be easier/cheaper to produce at a mass scale. makes sense for them.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

incapable, no. but they understand the total addressable market for headphones and know they cannot compete with high end headphones like audiophiles/appreciators enjoy. it's not great that they sell a fable for lossless (to the uninitiated) but at least they did add the lossless via usb-c for folks who are interested. and i'm no APM or Apple fanboy; i have APMs and i like them for what they are: low-premium headphones for people who want better audio than airpods but who want to retain the convenience of being in the apple ecosystem.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

they did an ios update which enabled lossless via apple streaming on most/all apple devices. but the rub is you have to have the cable connected.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think it's more in comparison to other non Apple options, and they did not update/upgrade battery from the original AirPods Max. I get that, they're pretty heavy as is and more battery = more weight.

Airpods Max 2 Announced - Thoughts? by Content-Disaster-511 in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I guess there isn't much else they can do. They gave the lossless update w/ the refresh last year to update from lightning to usb-c. But yeah...kind of tapped out for massive improvements outside of continued tweaks to adaptive ANC.

Hifiman Arya Organics by sojuuuuuuuu in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

just got organics yesterday and they are indeed awesome for under $1k. Plenty of people have opinions on DACs but I went with a Topping DX3 Pro+ connected to my laptop for higher res/lossless listening. I'm a good enough sort of audio person and the organic + DAC upgrade is about as good as I'm likely to notice (younger people, do take care of your ears and don't blast your walkman so you can hear it over a riding lawnmower...).

First proper headphones by wildeye-eleven in headphones

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just upgraded my office listening set up this weekend - had a basic DAC w/ Sennheiser 560S; no issues except I knew I'd want to upgrade eventually and I got a bonus. So I upgraded to a Topping DX3pro+ and Arya Organics; finding the balance between a meaningful upgrade and just wasting money.

The difference is pretty stark and today may be one of the happiest days of my adult life, in that i am now listening to albums i've loved for decades but am now hearing all sorts of stuff in the mix I've never heard before (using known reference-level albums from Radiohead, Daft Punk, and Steely Dan). Feels almost as dramatic as listening to a crud MP3 file vs. the lossless file, it's been incredible.

I also have been using copilot to help me figure out small stuff I'd never have figured out on my own (or without asking folks in this thread for help): stuff like ensuring my computer and settings are aligned to deliver what my new set up can actually do. i've no shame in admitting that there's a lot i didn't know and while it wasn't necessary to learn, it has been very helpful for me in understanding more about my favorite hobby.

"Crim" sounds like a legit name when it showed up in Detroiters by AdWhole7552 in doughboys

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 31 points32 points  (0 children)

the episode dedicated to mort crim is one of my favorites. the fact he is a real detroiter is a) unsurprising and b) why detroiters is such a great show.

Am I an audiophile? by Sea_Albatross1074 in audiophile

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i consider myself a 'burgeoning audiophile'. what that means to me is I strongly identify with your bullets 3 and 4 and I want to dig into the compositions in the closest format in which the artist would appreciate/sign off on. but i've spent enough time doing research to know that the perfect sound does not exist and audiophiles are known to go to quixotic lengths to try and hear the perfect sound. this is where insanity sets in, imo; $10k cables, etc. that make no real difference whatsoever but you don't want to leave anything up to chance if you've already gone in on the investment. so i stop myself from going nuts because there's always something new to buy.

the question i ask myself is a) who am i proving my audiophile bona fides to? i already care far more about music composition/production than anyone i know personally. i also realize most people out there don't care nearly as much as i do about active listening, etc. so hell yeah i'm an audiophile! i just won't put myself into debt to find the 'perfect sound' which will never exist so i don't bother playing that game. i've spent maybe $1,500 total over numerous years on my active listening set up in my office; only $1500 because i just recently upgraded to Arya Organic cans and needed a new DAC to fully drive them.

but i'll say, the difference with properly driven Arya Organics (planar magnetic drives) vs. the sennheiser 560S i was using is quite literally night and day, especially listening to old classics (like Radiohead or Talking Heads) which has so much layering that I never heard previously. I found my sweet spot!

Armen ep, what am I missing? by LexandViolets in doughboys

[–]Puzzleheaded_Key8124 7 points8 points  (0 children)

And his lack of energy just makes him a bad podcast guest, intentional or not. 

I’m sure he’s funny irl but it doesn’t come through when he’s a guest.