I have rediscovered my blog!

It has been so long since I've posted, and I think I had forgotten my scribblings were still out there in the ether.

So I have a commitment to myself: I shall write more. If only for me. If only for you if you visit. I like the idea of putting down in words thing that may now last for an eternity. The universe could one day be full of thoughts left on servers. No claim to quality, no attempt at perfection, just some honesty and a bit of fun for me. And hopefully you.

Today I'm working form home. Working on some policy and procedure stuff for a new transport company. Happy to have the work, nothing earth shattering but it's good to be part of establishing something that will be used and hopefully enjoyed by its customers and employees.

In my office listening to Beach Boys Pet Sounds at the moment. Earlier Crosby Stills Nash & Young, next thinking of some classical choir from Harry Christopher and The Sixteen - Barber, Poulenc, Stravinsky and others.

Have (after many years of shilly shallying) got into digitised music: ripping CDs to FLAC files. Combining an old laptop as a music server, with a NAS drive for back-up, a fab little 24 bit DAC (available from http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/ if you are interested), played back through two vintage Sony STR 5800 receivers (one driving bass, the other treble), bi-amped into a pair of 14 year old Monitor Audio Silver 8i speakers. Wonderful sound-stage, separation of instruments and voices is so good. Tight bass with a warm mid and top. Really really satisfying. I've had the speakers from new and the Lenovo laptop was redundant model from 2008 or so). the rest cost me circa £400 and was put together from Ebay (the two receivers), Epiphany Acoustics (DAC), and speaker cable from a local supplier. IMHO I would struggle to do better without spending a fortune. I shall post some pictures at some point.

Office listening is a bit more mundane - Focusrite DAC I use for recording into powered nEar 05 monitors - OK but not stunning - and I want stunning. I have bought a half dozen or so vintage Sony amps and receivers and plan to get another DAC and use that to drive one of them into some new speakers. That's for another day and time though.....