Photos Latest Purchases Thread: v2.0

Bought myself a shiny new Asus Strix Soar sound card, because the Xonar DX is getting a bit flaky in quality and starting to show issues relating to it generally being... Seven? Years old.

It looks to have broadly similar features to my DX, but with better SNR and newer software, so I won't mind in the slightest so long as it works at least as well as my DX did before the issues started to crop up. (Dropping audio channels, minor hissing in audio that wasn't present before, sometimes taking several attempts to switch audio outputs owing to the physical electromechanical switches in the card)

It's arriving tomorrow, either way, and I'll update with a comparison once I've had a play!

 

Bought one of these second hand yesterday: Dagger Axis 10.5 Touring Kayak



I've been kayaking a couple of years and only had a short white water kayak that's good in the surf but poor (goes in circles for the unskilled...) for river and coastal trips.

Picked this up on Gumtree with some nice accs and had my first paddle last night .

It paddles really straight, and is quick for its length - very pleased with it.

 

Wacom Cintiq 13HD

 

My first foray...

 

Both me and my lady are on Innokins now. They charge nice and fast (I have a 3a charger) and seem to last OK too. I think yours is like mine, and will probably have an 18650 inside it.

 

After a quick Google ...

 

Ah OK it's possibly an 18350 then. Good place to start.

 

Aye, it seems pretty ...

 

For work or for play?

 

This still blows me away.

It's not a criticism, Craig, I'm just surprised how quickly vaping went from being a quitting aid to a lifestyle choice for erstwhile non-smokers.

 

...

 

No, it's because you are inhaling vapour containing what is quite literally the most addictive narcotic known to medical science.

Not only does it make you feel calm by stimulating your Basal Ganglia (the Dopamine giving part of your brain), your brain is growing extra Nicotine receptive neurons in your Basal Ganglia as you read this. You are going to get more and more motivated to vape and within weeks you will find you need to vape to feel normal, it will become and ingrained habit. Once it's happened it's partially permanent, which is why ex-smokers still crave after years.

Nicotine re-wires your brain to seek out more Nicotine, nothing else, so stop now.

 

Thankfully, not me - I went cold turkey three and a half years ago (after 25 years of smoking), with the intent to become an occasional smoker - I didn't quit because I didn't like it - it was a money and health thing.

After a year, I bought a pack and lit one up as an anniversary treat. It was fcukin' vile.

I haven't touched one since.

 

...

 

I too gave up around 6 years ago, 40/50 a day, oddly enough two years after I finished treatment for throat cancer so never gave it up for health reasons but purely for financial. Ii have no idea how people on benefits can afford to smoke. My good lady also gave up the fags after being diagnosed with COPD but went the vaping route but she stil vapes which I find very silly given her chronic ling condition. But hey we are both in our twilight years so why not? I personally do not like the taste of any of the different flavours I have tried that she has but this is probably down to my lack of any real sense of taste now since radiation treatment.

 

Noice. I'm still not enticed by Cintiqs for my own work (I love the versatility of a 30" display) but I can imagine it would be a lot of fun and great for productivity. I see a lot of pros have started using the iPad Pro for sketching and many of them say it's even more capable than PS for digital illustration, which I find very surprising. Wacom had better watch out!

 

Whilst I am still vaping (though I have made the drop to 18mg now) I totally agree. My mum is a party smoker (she smokes when smokers are around and can just put them down and leave them) and about 18 months back I fancied a real cig as I hadn't had one for about six months. Never again. It was like licking an ash tray. I ran upstairs and had to fully brush my teeth then gargle for about five minutes just to get the vile taste out of my mouth. I have no idea how I did that for so long.

I don't even like the smell any more. The Polish bloke living below us smokes those Polish death ciggys that reek of cigars and the tw@ always smokes a few outside every night stinking our whole flat out

 

The Strix arrived yesterday, and after some faffing about getting it installed (Seriously, who thought a PCI-E 6 pin connector was a good idea?); It sounds pretty damn good! Barring the driver issues. Because Asus Drivers.

Bonus Comparison Shot;


I may wind up returning it if I can't find a fix for the issues, there's crackles and pops on the analog outputs that don't seem to be related to the card itself, they're too random, it seems instead the drivers are buggering it up somehow, which wouldn't surprise me, knowing how iffy Asus drivers were for my DX at times.

On an unrelated note to the issues; this sound card is really oddly built. The central audio processor is a C-Media CM6632AX, a USB 2.0 sound chip. The card shows up as a PCI-E to USB conversion chip in windows before drivers are installed.

 

I've not had any issues with my Strix, or the drivers, but with all the use I don't give it I'm half tempted to pull it and sell it.

 

Always knew you were a freak of nature