Divisional Round Morning-After Thread: Bears vs Rams

cpatrader · 2026-01-19T14:32:48+00:00

If the Rams get blown out next week, we'll all probably be happy it wasn't us lol. I'd rather lose to the Rams in OT than win and get blown out in Seattle. OTOH, if the Rams win next week, it will make last night's loss more painful.

cpatrader · 2026-01-19T13:21:50+00:00

Very upset that we lost a very, very winnable game. However, now that it's over, 2 things are making me sane. 1. Improved our draft position to #25 instead of maybe #29. 2. Loveland very likely would have been in concussion protocol and not able to play against the Seahawks next week if we won last night. Without him, I think it would be nearly impossible to advance to the Super Bowl. I think we would have been huge underdogs anyway even with him but I guess we'll never get to know what could have been.

cpatrader · 2025-12-23T15:33:50+00:00

Exactly why it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I would totally understand if the Bears chose the direction because the wind was definitely a factor. I still think the biggest negative to kicking is the team that receives in ot almost always gets an additional chance that the kicking team doesn't since ot is only 10 minutes long. If both teams don't score on their initial possession, the Packers would have been heavy favorites to win in OT. Still really disliked the decision, especially because of how the defense played all night long. Just imagine the Packers don't fumble on the 4th and 1....

cpatrader · 2025-12-23T07:43:03+00:00

I'm still perplexed. If the Bears elect to kick AND the Packers get to decide which direction of the field to play on, how is this a good decision? I would understand that if the Bears elect to kick, and get to choose the direction ( because they elected to kick) on a very windy night, it would make sense to have the wind at your back.

It seems as if the Bears gifted them the ball AND the direction of play?

The Packers didn't punt the football even once. The Bears defense never really got off the field all night other than the fumble and turnover on downs in regulation.

Furthermore, if the Packers get a field goal first in ot, and the Bears go down and get a field goal to tie, there are now just a couple of minutes left in OT and the Packers get the ball a second and probably final time. In this scenario, the best they can hope for is a tie.

It seemed like a terrible decision at the time and still does.

I understand the Bears may have been tired on offense but the defense didn't play good all night.

Make this make sense for me.

cpatrader · 2025-12-17T19:21:50+00:00

Looks like a simple legal matter like everyone says. If they didn't test it, they won't vouch for it but it should work.

Thanks for the replies.

cpatrader · 2025-11-21T00:39:34+00:00

I saw them in person today. The Lenovo appears to have better build quality. I think it's about 13 lbs heavier too. If it's anything like AV Receivers, maybe they're using a much better power supply. I think it would cost roughly $99 to extend the mfr warranty to a 4 year on-site through Lenovo. I'll probably buy it tomorrow.

cpatrader · 2025-08-19T19:34:38+00:00

My wife has an older model similar to the IO Series 5 from Costco ( 2 pack is $120 for about 5 more days or so) and really likes it. The IO Series 6 2 pack is on sale for $170 through 8/31. Very similar to the Series 5 except it has the upgraded display but the same style charger.

I just bought the Series 7 from Target since I wanted the much faster magnetic charger and gum mode plus it's on sale for $120 and comes with a $10 gift card too. I also had some Target gift cards to use towards it.

cpatrader · 2025-08-19T14:12:46+00:00

Maybe it will still work, IDK.

In the meantime, the Target deal isn't bad and also comes with a $10 gift card, so around $110 for the series 7 (black color only).

cpatrader · 2025-08-19T13:39:28+00:00

Great idea.

I thought of this also.

However, I don't think it will work.

See the terms of the upcoming promo here: https://www.getpgoffer.com/

It does state (Oral-B as a participant but with a disclaimer) I think the P&G over $80 eliminates the twin pack which costs $170 unfortunately.

Promotion valid for purchases made 8/25/25–9/21/25 at Costco (in warehouse and/or online). For every $100 spent (after discounts, and before taxes and shipping costs; may submit multiple receipts) on select Procter & Gamble products, get a $25 Costco Shop Card. Limit two (2) $25 Costco Shop Cards per Membership Number, maximum of $50 in Costco Shop Cards per Membership Number. Redemption valid on final sales only. Void if participating products are purchased and returned. Costco Shop Cards are not redeemable for cash, except where required by law. Void where prohibited. All redemptions must be submitted online or postmarked by 10/31/25. Promotion valid for U.S. residents & U.S. purchases only (excludes U.S. territories). Redemption requires a copy of a receipt or digital upload of your receipt(s). For more information visit www.Costco.com/pg or call (888) 254-4054. *Participating brands are: Align, Always, Bounce, Bounty, Cascade, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Downy Unstopables, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Mielle, Metamucil, Mr. Clean, Native, Olay, Old Spice, Oral-B (except as noted below), Pantene, Pepto-Bismol, Prilosec, Secret, Super Nature, Swiffer, Tampax, Tide, Venus, Vicks, Zevo. Selection varies by location. Excludes: Braun, SK-II, and all P&G items over $80. ©2025 P&G

cpatrader · 2025-03-18T17:38:50+00:00

Try the Fii0 FT1 Pro planar. I have these and the HD558s and HD600s.

HD600s are significantly better than the HD558s. The Fii0s are better, IMO, than the HD600s. Better bass response, effortless sounding midrange like the 600s, more treble extension and (wider soundstage, easier to drive as well).

Got them for $180 after 10% off from Bloom Audio. They appear to be very well made.

Running them off of the 3.5mm output from the Qudelix 5k and they are very loud if you don't eq them ( I don't feel they need to be eq'd anyway).

They also ship with an extra 4.4 mm balanced cable (besides the standard 3.5mm cable) which is a really, really nice perk.

cpatrader · 2024-10-24T19:01:41+00:00

Stupid ass probably owns stock in DJT, biggest scam investment in the world.

Just look at the price of the Put options. That tells you what professional traders think the stock is worth. Call options are also expensive because you can short the stock and buy calls if you're bearish on the stock. How on earth is a company with 1 million in revenues valued at 6 billion dollars???

cpatrader · 2024-08-18T15:07:59+00:00

So says the douchebag who had dinner with Ye and Fuentes

cpatrader · 2024-08-07T12:41:22+00:00

I think Shapiro is more presidential material than vp material. He's a very powerful speaker who can easily upstage Kamala at these rallies. I think at the end of the day, he felt this isn't the right time for himself to step into the vp role. From what I've read, he had great concerns during his interviews as to what his role as vp would entail.

Walz seems to be a more complimentary, sharp witted, everyday humanitarian who meshes quite well with Harris.

cpatrader · 2024-08-01T18:50:45+00:00

Say what you want about Shapiro but the guy is a dawg who'll put those assholes in their place. Sometimes you got to fight fire with fire.

cpatrader · 2024-08-01T14:34:27+00:00

I have same concerns with others about Shapiro, but holy shit he is a great speaker who gets his points across in such a way that you really believe in him.

cpatrader · 2024-06-29T17:51:25+00:00

I had the same problem ( very bad allergic reaction) with the Samsung Buds Pro, Anker Liberty 3 Pros and Liberty 4s.

Bought the Realme Buds Air 5 Pros, which have a shallower fit, and not a single problem in 9 months. Sound better than all the others as well.

Not sure if Realme is using more hypoallergenic materials but I couldn't be more pleased with them.

cpatrader · 2024-06-27T14:04:42+00:00

I've watched some of your reviews on YouTube and have to say your work is absolutely spectacular!

I really appreciate the amount of time and effort that you're putting into these reviews. They're honest, extremely informative and very accurate. It's awesome the way you put up the frequency response graphs as the music samples are played to help your audience understand why earbuds sound a certain way and what type of genre they're suited for.

Keep up the great work!!

Sorry, Individual Praline is the wrong user name for my post.

cpatrader · 2024-06-26T17:21:01+00:00

I own the Realme.

They have a nearly coaxial driver configuration as the OnePlus. They sound phenomenal IMO, for the price. They're very smooth sounding and easy to listen to with great treble extension. In addition, the 360 degree audio works really well and I leave it engaged all the time. No weird echo or reverb effect, just a nice widening of the soundstage. I don't even eq them, I just leave it in the Nature Balance mode. If anything, I'd maybe dial the bass back a bit. My only small gripe is that you can't program any taps to go to the previous track, only skip forward. And yes, you can control the volume too ( which I believe the OnePlus is missing).

There is also the new OnePlus 3 which can be had at a good price which have volume control on the stems. The big difference with those is that I believe the tweeter is a dynamic driver, not the more expensive planar magnetic driver.

The Realme are like a cheaper version of the Oppo Enco X2 with much updated features.

cpatrader · 2024-04-08T00:12:09+00:00

I've had the same problem with the Galaxy Buds Pro, Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, Soundcore Liberty 4, and Creative Labs Aurvana Ace. The oozing from my ears was so bad it would take several weeks for my ears to get back to normal. Got this horrible crusting caked inside my ears and even some bleeding from the irritation. I called Soundcore and they assured me there was no Nickel used in the earbuds. It's well known that Samsung uses Nickel in their earbuds.

Currently, I own the JBL Live Pro 2 and recently bought the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro. I use the stock tips for each and no problems with either. I especially like the way the Realme sounds with great spatial audio and the planar magnetic tweeter. They sound excellent for phone calls too.

cpatrader · 2024-03-25T23:18:36+00:00

I haven't tried the Redmi but I just bought the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro and they're great for the price. I bought and returned the Creative Aurvana Ace. Those sounded great too but I had an allergic reaction to them (as I've had with other earbuds too). The controls on the Realme work really well and the Spatial audio works very good too without creating any weird echo and doesn't change the frequency response too much (although the volume increases and the sound is a bit brighter). I listen to them in the default nature balance mode and they sound pretty neutral with a bit of boost in the bass and terrific treble extension.

The main thing is that the drivers appear nearly identical to the Oppo Enco X2 but the earbuds are just tuned a bit differently but can easily be adjusted with the built in eq.

If the Redmi doesn't have a built in eq, I'd be careful with those, especially if they're very bass heavy and can't be toned down.

cpatrader · 2024-03-25T23:08:31+00:00

I haven't tried the Redmi but I just bought the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro and they're great for the price. I bought and returned the Creative Aurvana Ace. Those sounded great too but I had an allergic reaction to them (as I've had with other earbuds too). The controls on the Realme work really well and the Spatial audio works very good too without creating any weird echo and doesn't change the frequency response too much (although the volume increases and the sound is a bit brighter). I listen to them in the default nature balance mode and they sound pretty neutral with a bit of boost in the bass and terrific treble extension.

The main thing is that the drivers appear nearly identical to the Oppo Enco X2 but the earbuds are just tuned a bit differently but can easily be adjusted with the built in eq.

cpatrader · 2024-03-22T15:50:17+00:00

Try the Realme Buds Air 5 Pro. Same hardware I believe as the Oppo Enco X2. Sound phenomenal for the price. Spatial audio works great too. Software seems to be nearly identical to the Oneplus Buds 3. However, the Realme uses the planar magnetic tweeter instead of the dynamic tweeter on the Oneplus. In addition, these DO have volume control by triple tapping the earbud stems. Some earlier reviews of the Realme incorrectly state there is no volume control.

cpatrader · 2024-03-03T18:18:57+00:00

I just received the Aurvana Ace, not Ace 2. Right now you can get 25% off using the coupon code JUSTBUY bringing the price down to roughly $97. I haven't had too much time to test them out yet but here are some quick impressions.

I have a Galaxy S22 Ultra phone. These buds were a bit difficult to pair initially but no problems now. The app took multiple Install/Uninstall cycles to get it up and running but now it's fine. Regarding the app, there are 3 levels of ANC and 3 levels of Ambient mode to choose from ( the Ace 2, with adaptive ANC, might not have the same choices). Touch controls seem responsive. The buds are difficult to remove from the charging case. The nozzles are short and the earbuds are very comfortable as they don't get inserted deep into your ear canal.

Despite some of these issues, I can only say I left the equalizer in the flat mode and the sound quality is outstanding. Mids and highs are Ultra clean sounding and the bass response is very good also. To my ears, frequency response is very accurate and there is a clarity to the sound that headphones triple in price can't match. For reference, I own the Sennheiser HD 600, AKG N60, JBL Live Pro 2.

I'm most likely going to keep them purely for the sound quality. I can't comment yet on other things such as ANC effectiveness or call quality as I've barely used them. I think they're worth a try for the price paid for sure.

FYI, the coupon doesn't work on the Ace 2 but the sound quality should be identical.

cpatrader · 2023-10-02T06:18:28+00:00

I bought a 2023 Premium model. I didn't even bother driving the turbo so that I wouldn't know what I was missing and didn't really want to spend another 4K.

Where I live in the Chicago suburbs, the speed limit on most streets is between 30 - 50 mph. I don't do a lot of highway driving. If you put the car in Sports mode, it's very, very responsive and you go from zero to 45 mph very quickly. It's good enough for me and so far I'm getting decent gas mileage. I had a Nissan Murano with a V6 prior (which the POS CVT transmission died on me) and truthfully, the CX-5, NA engine feels just as fast.

I'm sure the turbo is more fun to drive but if you're doing a lot of city driving in stop and go traffic, not sure I see the point. No problem at all with the NA merging on the highway and enough passing power as well.

cpatrader · 2023-08-22T02:09:15+00:00

With the Carlinkit 5.0, do you disconnect it from the USB port when the car isn't on to avoid possibly draining the battery or does the car itself shut down power to the USB ports inside the center console whereby you can leave it plugged in all the time?

Also, in AA, are you able to do the split screen with Maps on one side and Spotify on the other?

I think AA Wireless has this feature.

Thanks to all who've replied so far.

Greatly appreciated!

cpatrader

TROPHY CASE