The "New Toys" Thread

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They were decent earphones but the cabling is made so poorly that they end up needing to be replaced frequently.

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That’s impressive. I used to use them with bands I worked with and the leading cause of “I can’t hear anything in my *names ear*” was ear wax getting clogged in the little sound port. But these people weren’t traveling off the stage much and used in everyday life.

I’ve wanted to try them personally, so this is good info to help change my thinking a little. With Shure headquarters being nearby and using their microphones nearly exclusively for years, I’m a bit biased toward them.
 
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That’s impressive. I used to use them with bands I worked with and the leading cause of “I can’t hear anything in my *names ear*” was ear wax getting clogged in the little sound port. But these people weren’t traveling off the stage much and used in everyday life.

I’ve wanted to try them personally, so this is good info to help change my thinking a little. With Shure headquarters being nearby and using their microphones nearly exclusively for years, I’m a bit biased toward them.
Shure microphones are like the gold standard in the industry so I'm not surprised that you were using them in your stage work. They're so ubiquitous.

And yeah I definitely cleaned up as much of the earwax as I could regularly, but the main mitigating factor after a while was that the cable would turn green from oxidation. Combine the two and you've got the issue I had so I moved back to my beloved ATH-M50 (which is used a lot in studio work from what I can see :D)
 
I just picked up a Logitech MX Master 3.

The magnetic scroll wheel is really neat. It's a normal stepped wheel but with smooth magnetic "clicks" instead of mechanical ones. If you flick it, the magnet lets go and the scroll wheel freewheels until you stop it. At that point it becomes a normal scroll wheel again.



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Have you had an earlier MX Master before? I have a first gen and my wheel acts just like you describe, it’s really quite fun. At work I have an my anywhere that doesn’t have it and it annoys me more than I care to admit…
 
No, this is my first MX Master. I'm very partial to Logitech but this is the first one of the series.
 
Ah ok, I was curious whether they might have changed the design… not that the first generation was missing much tbh.
 
There used to be a Logitech diNovo in one of the conference rooms at work and it was paired with the same type of mouse. I never got on with it myself and have always preferred the mice that changed between modes with a click. I suppose it's just a case of getting used to it.
 
With the MX Master 3 you can change between modes with a click on the button behind the wheel as well. The two modes are "always freewheeling" and "if you turn the wheel slowly it has the steps in it, if you turn the wheel fast it freewheels".
 
I just picked up a Logitech MX Master 3.

The magnetic scroll wheel is really neat. It's a normal stepped wheel but with smooth magnetic "clicks" instead of mechanical ones. If you flick it, the magnet lets go and the scroll wheel freewheels until you stop it. At that point it becomes a normal scroll wheel again.

I have had the same mouse for a little over a year now, and it's excellent, I use it together with the MX Keys keyboard, which is also fantastic. I bought them because I needed something that was easy to switch between multiple devices, like my work PC, home desktop PC and my Mac.

A lot of things have happened with my work situation since Covid. The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) where I work has been almost exclusively home office since March 12th 2020. The board recently decided that moving forward, we will essentially be given carte blanche to work from home also after Covid, since our productivity has been better in 2020 when we worked from home, compared to previous years. You only need to come back to the office if you feel like it, or of your work cannot be performed from home.

As a result of this, our employer will generously reimburse us for up to NOK 2000 in home office equipment. So I bought a new monitor, as my old Dell U2716DG with it's gaming centric TN-panel is not very happy at displaying static pictures day in/day out.

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I went for a Samsung S34J550, got it for NOK 3300. I wanted an UltraWide with at least 1140p to get space for everything I need at work on one display. At 3440x1440, it's very practical for work, and the same size and resolution as the curved Philips monitors they bought at work, but with my Mac I don't even know what I'm going to do with all that screen real estate...:ROFLMAO: The only thing I don't like is the slightly wobbly display stand that was included with it, but that can be fixed with a cheap 3rd party one (VESA-pattern mounts at the back). Not complaining about that at this price level, for now, it works fine.
 
It's been a while since I invested some notable cash into the drone hobby...

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So I went and bought me some DJI FPV goggles and a couple matching "air units" to go on various drones and planes.

Yeah, these will look even more ridiculous on my face than the Fatshark goggles I used previously. BUT! These transmit HD - full-on low-latency 720p at up to 120fps, instead of grainy analog PAL/NTSC signal I had before. The difference is quite significant. And I can still sell off the Fatshark and all my old analog hardware at somewhat decent prices, so in the end the upgrade is not thaaaat expensive... ok no it still cost an arm and a leg

Will have these around at the Ringmeet, with at least one drone (the same racing/chaser drone I had in 2019/2020, with the camera setup swapped to digital). The HD picture can also be taken off via cable to a laptop or Android device, for people to watch, if somebody cares to.
 
I went for a Samsung S34J550, got it for NOK 3300. I wanted an UltraWide with at least 1140p to get space for everything I need at work on one display. At 3440x1440, it's very practical for work, and the same size and resolution as the curved Philips monitors they bought at work, but with my Mac I don't even know what I'm going to do with all that screen real estate...:ROFLMAO: The only thing I don't like is the slightly wobbly display stand that was included with it, but that can be fixed with a cheap 3rd party one (VESA-pattern mounts at the back). Not complaining about that at this price level, for now, it works fine.
I was gonna say I have the same... but then I realized it only seems that way. I basically have the 100Hz version with USB-C of this thing... also curved for my pleasure :)|) With the same wobbly stand, yes. I put it up on some vesa mount that officially only supports up to 32" monitors, but it feels fine. Little wobbly when I let my desk go up and down, but that's basically it.
It still feels strange to me that USB-C connectivity on these monitors is so seldomly found. And if you find it, it's not entirely thought through, since it's the only USB input the monitor has... so if I switch from my work laptop (USB-C) to my desktop PC (which doesn't do DP via USB-C), I still have to plug the USB-C back into the desktop to get the mouse and keyboard to work. Shame, really - would've been great if the thing were capable of full kvm switching via a second USB input... but i guess it would've been even more expensive then.

for people to watch, if somebody cares to.
bring on the motion sickness! :-?
I've never seen these on a person's head before, but a few friends of mine do FPV-droning as well, so I've seen pictures of these before. The design decisions that went into this, damn: standing (or sitting) in a field, being utterly blind to your surroundings, but looking like darth vader - yup!
edit: quick thought - are those things ventilated? they look so well-sealed somehow, how are they to wear especially in summer weather (what with being black and all)? I'm starting to sweat just looking at those :p
 
edit: quick thought - are those things ventilated? they look so well-sealed somehow, how are they to wear especially in summer weather (what with being black and all)? I'm starting to sweat just looking at those :p
Yes, they are - there's a fan pushing quite a lot of air through. The main issue it solves is not as much "being too warm", but rather the lenses fogging up.
 
I was gonna say I have the same... but then I realized it only seems that way. I basically have the 100Hz version with USB-C of this thing... also curved for my pleasure :)|) With the same wobbly stand, yes. I put it up on some vesa mount that officially only supports up to 32" monitors, but it feels fine. Little wobbly when I let my desk go up and down, but that's basically it.
It still feels strange to me that USB-C connectivity on these monitors is so seldomly found. And if you find it, it's not entirely thought through, since it's the only USB input the monitor has... so if I switch from my work laptop (USB-C) to my desktop PC (which doesn't do DP via USB-C), I still have to plug the USB-C back into the desktop to get the mouse and keyboard to work. Shame, really - would've been great if the thing were capable of full kvm switching via a second USB input... but i guess it would've been even more expensive then.

Yes, it's strange that so few have USB-C input, but there are plenty of USB-C to HDMI or DP cables around, as well as Hubs and dongles that gives you USB-PD for connecting up portable devices. I did look around a lot before settling with the Samsung S34, I looked at a lot of LG displays, as well as Dell, which I have mostly used before. Displays with built in docks for mobile devices tend to carry a solid price premium though, something like twice of what I paid for my Samsung S34, and I don't think it's worth it.

Plugging the mouse and keyboard through the display seems like a hassle though, my Samsung S34 doesn't have any pass through USB ports, so that option is off the table, so what I did was that I bought wireless ones: Logitech MX keys and MX Master 3, these are super easy to switch between devices.
 
The volume control on the DAC I bought in February has started cracking and it the L/R balance dances around all over the place, which is odd because they wouldn't run the analogue audio through the potentiometer instead of using it for digital control, would they? Surely not?

Anyway I decided to get an audio interface, something that has independent headphone control as well as giving me MIDI in/out for future use. I looked at the MOTU M2 and, while it ticked all of the boxes and the screen was nice, I didn't like the idea of having to turn it off every day to avoid having the LCD on the entire time.

Focusrite interfaces are nice but they only have 1/4" balanced outputs and I wanted something with RCA to avoid using converters. Remember this! I also didn't want to throw huge amounts of money at this yet and the MOTU/Focusrite interfaces are both quite expensive, so I got a Behringer UMC204HD. I know the quality of their kit is questionable, we'll see.

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Now, hindsight is a funny thing. I set it up not long ago and quickly found that the RCA plugs are line level only and not controlled by the front monitor volume knob. They are on the MOTU at least. So I had to scrounge some 1/4" RCA splitters anyway, which I had, fortunately. Then I tried the headphone socket and found DT770 PROs work fine but my Sony earbuds that I usually use can't handle the signal at the right volume (presumably an impedance thing) and I've had to plug them back in through their split off RCA line and level control. Not the end of the world, now I can plug in the DT770s without unplugging the Sony headset I suppose.

Neither of the reasons I bought this specific device have worked out but it sounds great and I can actually adjust the volume without it crackling and bouncing around. I like the option to plug in a 'proper' mic or line input on the front too and I'd like to get a used MIDI keyboard, it's still the cheapest new device with MIDI and the only one to have activity lights on the front (something I'm told is very handy for troubleshooting). it feels decently put together too, better than I was expecting.

It's currently held under my desk with a bungee cord is a less convenient spot but I'm not fixing it permanently until I'm happy that it does the job. Someone designed a bracket and put it on Thingiverse, it has some interesting overhangs.
 
The volume control on the DAC I bought in February has started cracking…
Ughhh i know that annoyance… had an Amp (good NAD stuff even) do that to me once.

my DAC / headphone amp combo at least made it 10 years until it started acting up recently. It has a super inaccessible power switch, so I always left it on. Anyway after not using it for maybe a year, it started switching on off on off clickity clack like crazy…

Anyway, after fiddling around with it for a while, it seemed the power switch was at fault. And while the switch is directly beside the 24V DC input, it doesn’t actually just switch the power to the unit. It sorta switches power to the DAC and Switches the output of the amp via a relay (hence the clickityclack). There are actually 3 of those relays in there… (why? I dunno…). Anyway, despite the relays, there seems to be quite a current going through the switch, evident from the fact that it gets noticeably warm and had developed a nice brown color on its contacts. Decided to just bridge it to always on with a nice large blob of solder. No issues since.
 
, so I got a Behringer UMC204HD. I know the quality of their kit is questionable, we'll see.

Behringer has such a weird portfolio. They have unmitigated garbage (a rip off at any price) to some of the best bang-for-the-buck gear available.
 
Behringer has such a weird portfolio. They have unmitigated garbage (a rip off at any price) to some of the best bang-for-the-buck gear available.
I was honestly expecting spindly, wobbly knobs like the sort you get on really cheap car stereos but it's fine. It certainly sound better than the other DAC. Connections are solid enough too as expected. The interface was £75, around £100 less than the MOTU M2.
Ughhh i know that annoyance… had an Amp (good NAD stuff even) do that to me once.

my DAC / headphone amp combo at least made it 10 years until it started acting up recently. It has a super inaccessible power switch, so I always left it on. Anyway after not using it for maybe a year, it started switching on off on off clickity clack like crazy…

Anyway, after fiddling around with it for a while, it seemed the power switch was at fault. And while the switch is directly beside the 24V DC input, it doesn’t actually just switch the power to the unit. It sorta switches power to the DAC and Switches the output of the amp via a relay (hence the clickityclack). There are actually 3 of those relays in there… (why? I dunno…). Anyway, despite the relays, there seems to be quite a current going through the switch, evident from the fact that it gets noticeably warm and had developed a nice brown color on its contacts. Decided to just bridge it to always on with a nice large blob of solder. No issues since.
The fact that the power relay had been changed was a big selling point for the Braun Atelier A1 amplifier that I imported along with the rest of the system, they included the old one.

I honestly think that they have just run the analogue output signal through a cheap pot to control volume before sending it straight out, how bloody lazy?
 
My new toy is an old toy, a Logitech Cordless Action Controller for the PS2. Stock picture:

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I didn't know about this until I saw a Reddit post last week and it just happened that I was organising all of my old PS1 and PS2 game discs into a big wallet so I could play them, only to find that the controller I have has bitten the dust. Apparently it's common for Dualshock2 controllers to kick the bucket and be essentially unrepairable.

Anyway mine was used from eBay and I gambled by buying the controller and receiver separately as the only auction for both was going to end at more than the two separate items. Fortunately they both work and paired with no hassle. The controller is built like a tank and is every bit as good as the hype, pressure-sensitive controls still work perfectly too. I fired off a new Gran Turismo 4 save and bought myself a used 1986 MR2 just to try it out.
 
I don't use a laptop every day and tried to make do with my 8 year old MacBook Air but I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to a new M1 Air.

I also picked up a new Apple TV at the same time. So much nicer and quicker than LG's WebOS. I had an 1080p ATV before but since my tv is 4k (and it had that horrible remote) I didn't really use it.
 
I don't use a laptop every day and tried to make do with my 8 year old MacBook Air but I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to a new M1 Air.

I also picked up a new Apple TV at the same time. So much nicer and quicker than LG's WebOS. I had an 1080p ATV before but since my tv is 4k (and it had that horrible remote) I didn't really use it.
Congrats! The M1 is a tremendous upgrade coming from any sort of MacBook Air, particularly as the current chassis has been begging for such a chip since its introduction in 2018. You essentially get the same CPU-performance (if not the same GPU-performance) as a high end (Core i9) 16" MacBook Pro in a fan-less ultrabook with an all-day battery life, like an iPad. It can also be charged (and operated) from the same 18/20 watt charge brick as an iPhone/iPad if needs be.
 
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