Stinkers and Stonkers

[1kyle]

Hi all --just put down here a few items preferably electronics / computer gear which you found really excellent or a real dog (MD or otherwise)

Stinkers - MD RH10 (could have delivered a lot but failed on nearly every count)

Windows NT (precursor to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. This version of Windows was so bad it was popularly called Windows Neanderthal or Windows No Thanks.

Any Sony Ear bud or in ear phones.

Pretty well any Computer Sound system I've ever heard from simple speakers to modern surround. They always sound too Boxy and "Boomy" for me --basically they sound like an overblown "Ghetto Blaster".

Stonkers - MD RH1 (far exceeded what I expected from it)

Flash player NW S706-F I was always sceptical of these until I tried this one.

Beautiful tiny NH10 NET-MD from many years ago (if only Sony had made more of MD then and without the hideous music copy limitations - even of your OWN music). Even today this unit still looks fabulous. Class act.

Wharfdale speakers - still one of the best even after all these years.

Philips X62 computer -- a Marvel of useful engineering with 11.5 inch screen and really portable.

Bose QC3 noise cancelling Phones -- pure heaven on London's undergound system where normally you are competing with 100 different people with Ipods playing at full volume in all their tinny excruciating cacophonies. These phones cost the earth but what a treat. Money well spent even if I have to eat "Roast Hind Leg of dog" for the next few weeks.

Cheers

-k

Edited January 17, 2007 by 1kyle

[pata2001]

The worst windows version according to the masses is Windows ME (which I beg to differ also). Windows NT is a good OS, still being used by many companies today. Without NT, we won't see 2000 nor XP. Sure, before win2k, winNT lacks directX and plug-n-play, but it was geared towards business anyway, not mass consumer OS.

[King Ghidora]

NT was geared toward networked systems and wa far superior to it's actual competition, W9x, in many ways. Let's not forget that XP is based on the NT kernel. It's why XP is far more stable than W9x. I go months without having to reboot sometimes now. I had to reboot several times a day back in the W9x days. NT was completely useless for gamers and music type operations. But if you wanted a VERY stable Windows based system back in the late 90's you bought NT. Your network stayed up almost all of the time because of it.

And BTW I have a very old set of Sony buds that sound great. I wore the plastic down to the metal listening to them so much. I guess I got them about 12-14 years ago and I still have them. They still sound good.

My worst experience with electronics stuff was with JVC stereo equipment. I had so many JVC components quit on me I vowed to never buy their stuff again. They had some nice features at the time like the ability to control a cassette deck with a remote and also an EQ that could be controlled by remote. Their VCR's had better specs than any other equipment too. But just about every piece of JVC stuff I bought broke down within a month after the warranty expired. Sometimes it broke down before the warranty expired but it took almost a year to get it back from being repaired.

The best results I've ever gotten from audio electronics would be my Kenwood Basic M2 amp which pumps out staggering amounts of clean power (rated at 300 wpc RMS and 480 wpc peak at 4 ohms) after 20 years of operation and my Cerwin Vega DX-9 speakers (4 ohm speakers rated at 107db at 1 watt so you can imagine what they do at a strong 300 wpc).

The audiophile types will say everything made by CV is junk but these speakers will rattle the walls down to 20hz (the specs say 30hz but I have the test tones to prove they play 25hz very well and 20hz where you can hear it - most humans can't even hear any 20hz sound so who knows if it's the speakers dropping off at that level or your ears) and they will play clean all the way up to the point the fuses blow. I've never heard them distort even when being pushed by my monster Kenwood amp which means they were putting out 130db of sound easily. They play details that most speakers can't touch and they do it as loud as you can stand it (if you actually want to do that of course which I don't recommend).

I've owned a lot of speakers over the years and I've listened to a lot more in the sound rooms of various retailers. I'll admit that CV does make a lot of junk and there are audiophile speakers that sound great but these speakers can hold their own with speakers that cost 5X as much. It takes a lot of cash to get true audiophile quality that also has the bass that these speakers have. They sold for around $600 each and I've seen speakers that cost $2500 each that couldn't compete with them. I can make out every word in albums like Dark Side Of The Moon and still have earthquake quality bass. They are a real treasure IMO.

Edited January 17, 2007 by King Ghidora