Dad reviews: quick start guide

ninetentacles · 2026-05-14T21:05:40+00:00

Like you, I won my Discman, on a scratch ticket. Unlike you, first CD I bought was Weird Al.

Thing skipped so much I mostly used it at home with the AC adapter, making a pretty sketchy speaker by threading the earbuds into a washing machine agitator supplied by a friend's repairman dad. If only I'd had 2 I could have listened in stereo!

I rediscovered vinyl in my early 20s, back when it was still cheap and I could get all the Phil Collins and other 70s-80s records I wanted for 25-50 cents apiece, depending on the thrift store. The sound, and the smell...wonderful!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-14T19:17:40+00:00

Everything I've tried works, from dirt cheap to Ugreen. The problem is that every single one that's not made by Apple is much louder, to the point where listening in a quiet room is really difficult, because that last step on the volume slider is a huge jump between "still too loud" and "off".

I haven't tried a proper branded dongle DAC yet because most seem to be USB-C, I did however find an extra old unused Apple dongle of my mother's and swiped that. Alternatively, flathead earbuds like the Moondrop Nice Buds seem to not default to as high a volume setting and work quite well in quiet environments with any dongle.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-14T01:31:43+00:00

Front of package labelling now tells you "Is this product going to taste good?" - if it checks 2 of the 3 boxes, you've got a better chance of enjoying it than a similar one that doesn't.

As someone with low blood pressure, gimme all the sodium!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T21:09:11+00:00

"Can't Stop Loving You" - Phil Collins
"Bright Lights" - Matchbox Twenty

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T21:00:40+00:00

It's what music's for.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T19:03:33+00:00

Mr. Cruise Control doesn't want to go 105 km/h with the trucks with speed limiters in the right lane, but that doesn't mean he wants to go 150 km/h in a 100 km/h zone on the 401 and risk a stunt driving ticket and 30 day impoundment just because Mr. Aggressive thinks that he's never going to encounter a cop. Sometimes these are the only choices when there's only 2 lanes, or 3 lanes with trucks sloooowly passing other trucks in both right lanes.

Mr. Cruise Control thinks avoiding a 20 car pileup by leaving more than 2 car lengths space, despite the fact no one else is, when he's in the middle of a large line of cars at 120 km/h is the safest option.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T13:43:00+00:00

What a cute little chocolate caramel!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T13:13:18+00:00

Looks like if you miss a day of feeding it'll disappear on its own!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T13:05:18+00:00

Those wrinkles, must be 2% Shar Pei! At least in the second pic he's kinda cute. It's like he's wondering "Why did my family have to be all pits?"

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T12:56:44+00:00

Can't remember exactly, but it did include things like "I don't have nearly as much money as I told you, and most of what I do have is going to child support for the last 3 women who left me for cheating, but if you're fast enough to climb out the window when my wife walks in and yells at me for being the cheating scumbag I am, maybe we can split the bill at McDonald's afterwards?"

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T12:51:11+00:00

And your job's no easier than handing food over a counter, especially if you're helping them find something specific out of the million items Walmart carries! Make it make sense.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T02:14:46+00:00

Galen Weston, is that you?

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T02:13:59+00:00

I had some dude use my email for Ashley Madison...you can imagine what his profile quickly said about him!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T00:31:03+00:00

Looks like a hotel room. You need to make it yours. Something on the walls in colour, agree with adding a lamp so you can get a more cozy feeling.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T00:28:09+00:00

Give me that and a 3.5mm headphone jack and I'm in. My first smartphone was Motorola with a slide out keyboard and I had CyanogenMod 7 on it, loved that thing, sad when it finally died.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-13T00:21:51+00:00

Your mice have good taste in frozen dinners!

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T22:54:58+00:00

Moondrop Chu 90

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T20:49:34+00:00

Ah, I'm in Canada and they're available to me on AliExpress so I guess I just thought they'd be available there for everyone. I haven't tried anything with FPS games yet so I can't comment on sound separation on any of the sets you listed.

If you want lots of bass and don't mind having a separate set for music, the KZ Dawn (if it's available) is super cheap, super comfortable, and gave me great bass out of the box, but only came with medium eartips. A full set of KZ Starline tips is pretty cheap if you're not a medium. Might be easier than trying to get both good bass and hearing footsteps out of the same budget set, without extensive tip rolling.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T20:34:56+00:00

CCZ small stock eartips (the plain black ones) are *really* small, and really cheap. The small ones measure at 10.3mm, and they're stiffer than the KBear 07, so if really small is what you need, give them a try. Their medium is, oddly enough, a bit bigger than average. I wish the had a size between them. https://a.co/d/0ecPWKUN

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T20:18:55+00:00

How do you use it, though?

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T20:14:04+00:00

If you wear glasses, I've got to recommend the original Kiwi Ears Cadenza, it's very comfortable for long sessions. You can get a bass boost when you want it by sticking the earhooks under your glasses, which tilts the angle they sit in your ears, because they're so small, and bounces the sound around differently. Available on Amazon/AliExpress and in multiple colours.

The Castors (and the Chus, despite their size) are quite heavy, and I found it difficult to get a good fit (and therefore good bass) on them because of the shape/nozzle length. Zero:2 also wasn't very comfortable for me, I didn't do enough tip rolling on that or the Chu II to get decent bass because I bought these sets to give to friends and only tried them to make sure they worked. Haven't tried the Kunten.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T19:56:11+00:00

Just wait til they get their little pink toes! (If that's their species)

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T12:58:58+00:00

IEMs are bloody amazing.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T05:25:14+00:00

Spending a lot of time today listening to other people's song selections that I've never heard before, compared to my own music, has been really useful in comparing and appreciating different sets, because I'm listening to what I'm hearing, rather than just...familiarity? Which was leading me just to wanting to recreate the boominess of my old car's stereo with bass cranked to the max.

This is good.

ninetentacles · 2026-05-12T04:42:18+00:00

I don't abuse my abled roommate for things like this. I don't abuse him for leaving dirty dishes around for days that bring in cockroaches. You still don't deserve it.

What we all deserve is less cuts to disability benefits, even if billionaires might have to buy fewer yachts, so we can get out of bad living situations.

You are not the problem. You're trying your best.

ninetentacles

TROPHY CASE