Before I took receipt of the Simaudio 750D, other audiophiles experimented with a wide variety of powercords, line-level interconnects, and digital cables. You will be justified in using car-priced cables, with the assumption that they have the ability to uncover the 750D's resolution. But that is no fun. It is far more fun, to find good affordable cables for the 750D.

At the entry-level end, the Kimber original PowerKord and Timbre (XLR or with WBT RCAs), because they don't roll off the treble, are good matches for the 750D. The Lifatec Silflex Tos-link cable outperforms many electrical digital cables of all price ranges.

The $14,000 750D will leave you broke, so as always, scrounge around for great deals on used cables. Then place them on a proper cable burn-in device, such as the audiodharma Cable Cooker.

If you want something better than the entry-level spread, but can't afford the kilobuck-and-up cables, again, don't be afraid to go with the old/used.

Even at its original retail price (around $595), the mid-90s Tara Labs Decade AC gives you a good view of what the 750D can do. Likewise, the matching Decade interconnect, or the similarly-priced original XLO Signature 1.1 and 2.1, are complimentary to the 750D.

But the most cost-effective accessory for the 750D is an after-market fuse, of which the 750D uses just one. Audiophiles are willing to go to great lengths, and exorbitant expense, to find Old Stock vacuum tubes. Are you willing to put in a little effort, and find a discontinued fuse? If so, try to find the Hi-Fi Tuning Silverstar, in the 20mm slow-blo 0.200A value. The good news is, about half a year ago, I got this at a closeout price of $20!

Let the Silverstar burn-in for 6-8 weeks. Make sure it points towards the 750D's side wall. It will then reward you with razor-sharp image outlines; speed coupled with control; and the tightest bass of all the after-market fuses I've tried in the 750D. If you like "looking" at the music, you will love the Silverstar.

The Silverstar is not as open up top as, for example, Hi-Fi Tuning's own Supreme. Thus, the Silverstar will not reproduce as large a soundstage as other fuses. However, if you use the Silverstar-equipped 750D as a headphone source, the sonic traits can add up to headphone listening perfection.

For overall use, I and those who live with me rank the Silverstar as one of the go-to fuses for the 750D. Again, if you are willing to search a little harder, and find the Silverstar, it shouldn't cost much. Yet, it allows the 750D to plant a flag at the top of the digital mountain.

I am of the age where, when I was in high school, talking about sex toys was taboo. That wasn't shattered, until I got to college. On Friday evenings, staff would gather us dormies in a corner lounge, and we'd discuss challenging topics, such as peer pressure, date rape, safe sex, drug abuse, binge drinking, communications, loud music, body image, and compromise.

In one of those discussions, a senior girl, who had a single room, mentioned her "little friend," a small cord-operated vibrator. The thought of her using such a device mildly upset my inexperienced mind. And then she jokingly said something like, "And if someone walks in on me, I can always shove it [the vibrator] up your ass."

Yes, while once in her room, I did see a small pink vibrator. No, I did not see her or anyone else use it. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Several girls excitedly talked about dildoes. A few guys would shyly complain that the average dildo was at least 50% larger than a real-world penis.

Audiophiles may be disappointed that the Simaudio Mind 180 uses a small, made-in-China, wall-wart outboard AC adapter. As of this writing, Simaudio, unlike companies like Audio Alchemy and Naim (or Simaudio's own Moon 320S and Evolution 820S), do not offer an outboard power supply for the Mind 180. This AC adapter is similar in size to vibrators, but....don't get any ideas. Get your mind out of the gutter.

But do keep in mind that the AC adapter's body is 2.875" long, plus the attached base of the cord. If you are using a power strip, you will have to accommodate this AC adapter.

Get your mind out of the gutter. Stop thinking phallic thoughts. At the end of the approximately 1.5-meter cord is the AC adapter's plug, which goes into the back of the Mind 180.

When I was dating ACS in the mid-90s, she played some rough and physical sports, including martial arts. Bashed, battered, and beaten, she'd come home, and upon entering the front door, she immediately dropped her stuff. She'd kick off her shoes, remove her headband, shed her outer clothes, rip off her bra (usually a sports bra), pull down her panties, and unwrap tape.

By looking in the mirror, feeling herself, and asking me, she'd inventory her parts. She'd cup her breasts, and complain that they were either too tender, or "hard as rock." She'd sniff her stubbly armpits, and even her snatch. Facing sideways, she'd turn her big butt to me, and ask, "Is my rump bruised?"

Get your mind out of the gutter. Now that you have opened the Simaudio Mind 180, it is time to inventory its parts.

It comes with a "Sim-Link" wire, which is just a mini-headphone to mini-headphone cable. By running this cable from the Mind 180 to Simaudio preamps, CD players, and DACs, you may use your iPhone or iPad [as of this writing, the Mind 180 only works with Apple products. Supposedly it will, in the future, be compatible with Android devices] to switch inputs, control volume, or adjust display brightness.

The Mind 180's flexible AC adapter is identical to that used in the Moon 100D. Since many of you have not read my coverage of the Moon 100D's AC adapter, I will dedicate another future post to it. Stay tuned.

Finally, the Mind 180 comes with a small screw-in (get your mind out of the gutter) antenna. Again, I'll have to dedicate a future post, to cover this antenna.

When I entered college in September 1989, California was in the midst of a long drought. On the day I moved into that Crown College dorm, I spotted a hand-written sign in the bathroom, which read:

"If it's yellow, it's mellow. So just let it sit.
If it's brown, flush it down, 'cuz it looks like shit."

There was nothing fancy or professional, about that written-in-marker sign. In fact, there was a certain charm and care about the sign, most likely done by the RA. While it was okay if the toilet water was always yellow, just don't pee all over the rim or floor!

In the tiny box which holds the Simaudio Mind 180, there is no room for big and slick brochures or booklets. So, the instructions are merely 8.5x11 printouts. And if you lose them, you can always go to Simaudio's website, and print from the pdf files. Put your mind at ease.

Each Crown College dorm building had 2 washers and 2 dryers in the basement. Because kids went down, did laundry, and left (i.e., did not stick around), the machines were usually full of clothes. So if you had to do your laundry, but the machines were full, you had to remove the already-done clothes. Fortunately, a table was provided. Now, its primary purpose was for you to fold your laundry. But it acted as a holding place, for finished laundry. It always seemed that, if there were clothes on that table, they were bras and panties.

One Saturday morning, I was taking my clothes out of a dryer. My neighbor Andrea then showed up, to clean her colored clothes. She placed her dirty clothes into the washing machine, saw that there was still a little room left, stepped out of the jeans shorts she was wearing, looked down at her pelvis, muttered a "Hmmm," slipped off her light blue panties, tossed them into the washing machine. Yep, she was cuntmando. Put your mind at ease; she retained her white t-shirt, so she wasn't completely naked.

Andrea and I glanced at the table, and saw a mound of lingerie items lying on the table. Sensing that I needed space on the table to fold my clothes, Andrea shrugged, "[Girls] here don't wear underwear, anyway," which was her explanation for why all those panties and bras lay on the table. She shoved them aside, thus giving me ample room to fold my clean clothes.

Andrea had a good point. In the 90s, padded bras may have been the "in" thing, but at UC Santa Cruz, girls often didn't wear a bra at all.

There is no padding in the Simaudio Mind 180's box. I don't know if that'll put your mind at ease, but the Rubik's cube-like packaging job does remind me of the petite Andrea. No taller than 5'1", Andrea had no, um, padding. Her moon was, ah, not full. Neither is the compact Mind 180, which is part of Simaudio's Moon series. Even when fully-dressed, Andrea never wore big, poofy clothing. There's nothing big or poofy about the Mind 180, either.

I had played organized sports since age 7. From the sanctuary/circus of the men's locker rooms, I had for years seen all the guys' moons. Heck, guys saw my moon, as well. Mind over matter.

Towards the end of my high school stint, I saw KJ's big naked moon. But the first time I really saw girls' moons was when I got to college. In the dorms (above), and out in the quad on sunny weekends, an individual girl commonly would go around cuntmando. But the first time I saw multiple girls' moons was during UC Santa Cruz's inaugural "First Rain." You see, after the October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, there was nothing to do. So when the first rain of the season fell one early evening, some students from Porter College, on UCSC's western edge, decided to walk naked across campus. As they started to march across campus, others joined in. So by the time they got to my Crown College, the stream may have numbered 50 naked students. Wondering what the commotion was, my roommate Josh and I looked out of our third floor window. At least 1/3 of the marchers was female. I had never seen multiple female moons before. Mind over matter.

My dorm was coed, meaning that, regardless of gender, everyone on the floor shared the bathroom. As the days during that Fall 1989 quarter slowly turned, I would see more than one female moon, as multiple girls used and went in and out of the bathroom. As I got to know more and more of the dormmates, I learned that certain pairs of girls would, in the comfort of their dorm room, not wear any pants. In fact, the room next to mine had two girls. Josh and I one night went to ask one of the girls something (I don't recall what). It turned out that both girls, though wearing something up top, were cuntmando. While one turned, and got a book for Josh, the other got up, and lit some candles. Yep, Josh and I saw both girls' moons. He and I almost felt bad, that we were fully clothed. Mind over matter.

Many weekends were sunny and warm. The staff was pretty much gone on weekends. So you know that students took advantage, and did nude sunbathing on the quad. Girls would lie on their stomachs, meaning buns-up. Thus, those were the times you'd see multiple female moons. Mind over matter.

During my last two years of college, I was living in the Crown-Merrill apartments. Occasionally, a small handful of students would sunbathe nude on the small berms in front of their first-floor units. However, third floor (the apartments were only 3 stories tall) residents could use their balconies (which had no roof or balcony above) for nude sunbathing. During my junior year, my unit had an exclusive view of the third-floor balcony of the apartment building below us. The occupants were four girls, who were friends of my housemate, Dave. What a perk; that whole school year, we got a full view of those girls, who, as long as it was sunny, liked to lie naked on their balcony. Heck, on occasion, Dave or I joined them, and got to rub suntan lotion on them. Yes, I was between two of the girls, who were lying buns-up. I did indeed reapply suntan lotion to both girls' moon (and the rest of their backside). Mind over matter.

Actually, our own balcony was private, sheltered from view. Our building was located on top of the hill, above all others, and no one else could see anything or anyone on our balcony. Alas, my housemate Doug did not care for the four girls, so they were not invited to sunbathe on our balcony. Damn, Doug, do you mind?

In these pages, I have reviewed Simaudio's Moon 100D. I am not sure if Simaudio's Moon 100D and Mind 180 are "feminine," but since they are petite, they certainly are not masculine. In order to keep costs down, Simaudio smartly use the same packaging to house the Moon 100D and Mind 180. Mind over matter.

At the beginning of the school year, when you went to the Baytree Bookstore, student groups would hand you one of two small boxes of toiletries and other stuff. One box was for males, the other for girls. Opening the Simaudio Mind 180 box kind of reminds me of opening those college toiletries boxes. Mind your own business. In my college years, the UCSC campus only had AM/FM radio, reception of which was poor. Because the Mind 180 uses your gateway and the internet, you can purchase a Tidal subscription. Mind over matter.

Like any other format, you could argue the positives and negatives of CD. But whenever we go back to vinyl, its faults are obvious and insurmountable. We can't wait to mothball or get rid vinyl. To hear the same music, but on CD, is refreshing and a relief.

Back in January 1994, my very first dedicated/outboard CD transport was the Theta Data Basic. In the mid-90s, I used it with a variety of powercords, powerline conditioners, digital cables, DACs, and anti-vibration products. That Data Basic gave a glimpse of what the CD format could do.

The Mark Levinson No. 37 cost twice as much as the old Theta Data Basic, but instead of giving just a glimpse, the No. 37 gave a full view of CD's enormous capabilities. But are you ready to blow the lid off of CD, and take its performance even higher?

Yeah, yeah, the Pranawire Vajra M1/F1 ($5000) costs more than the No. 37 itself. By providing clean AC, the Vajra M1/F1 allows the No. 37 to decode whatever soundstage information is on the CD. By not introducing grain, grunge, and distortion, the Vajra M1/F1 allows the No. 37 to resolve even more recorded details, and to do so with focus and precision.

There was nothing negative about the No. 37 in the first place. But the Hi-Fi Tuning Silverstar fuses firm up the image outlines. So now you "see" the music in high-def.

The backgrounds are slightly quieter, providing greater contrast between music and silence. Music also moves with greater precision. It starts, stops, and decays, without any slop, lag, tension, or artificial acceleration.

Overall, the Silverstar-equipped No. 37 makes the music absolutely gripping and riveting. CDs force you to pay attention to, and just get deeply involved with, the music. Regardless of what is downstream, the Mark Levinson No. 37 sets the tone and pace, presents the highest sonic potential.

Once again, let us go back to the Fall 1992 quarter. Back then, we only had landlines. There were no cellphones. Heck, most of us had never heard of pagers.

That was the beginning of my sweet senior year of college. Upon moving into the Crown-Merrill apartment, I did not hesitate; the first thing I did was hook up the stereo. Thus, we had music, while we unpacked, cleaned, put stuff away, arranged the furniture, and made lists of what we still needed.

And then it happened. A blood-curdling scream emanated from Ron & Tron's room. You see, Ron, a Computer Engineering major, had put together a PC. As part of that, he had a so-called modem, which used the good ol' landline. He disabled call-waiting, and had the modem dial into UCLINK. That was when that awful blood-curdling noise happened.

Ah, landlines, dial-up, phone cords, call-waiting. How quaint. Back then, we had not heard of "Ethernet," and its concomitant and more robust RJ/45 connector. Since we had cable TV and analog stereo components, we we aware of electrical signals flowing through coaxial cable, line-level RCA (and XLR) interconnects, speaker cables, and AC powercords. We could not have imagined signals flowing through Ethernet, which in some ways is a more robust phone line. C'mon; we were in college. College kids were more obsessed with signals flowing through, ahem, other conduits.

That brings us to the AudioQuest Forest RJ/E. It has the RJ/45 connector, which is bigger than that found on old phone lines. Makes me laugh at the memory of college guys yelling about who had the biggest dick. And when ACS said, "Let me be the judge of that," most guys would shy away, while a few idiots would whip theirs out, LOL.

My summer '92 fling was Patricia, not ACS (though ACS did accompany me to audio stores in Berkeley). But at the same time, I had reconnected with my ex, KJ. She and I were on good enough terms that KJ, a Cal student, came down from UC Berkeley, and visited me at my apartment in early October. Since her bf was a computer geek, she knew about UCLINK. Furthermore, she knew how to navigate DOS, and utilize the primitive "messaging" or "email" services.

Just as KJ knew her way around, you need to know which direction to use your AQ Forest RJ/E. For most setups, the Ethernet cable will go from the router to whichever electrical component lies next.

Those plastic tabs on phone cords can be fragile. The plastic tab on the AQ Forest RJ/E's plug is a little more robust than those on phone cords. But do be careful.

The UCSC students were notorious for being hairy, or letting their hair (on all body parts) grow. KJ took off her clothes, revealing a forest of hair on her legs, snatch, and armpits. In this sense, she fit right in, at UCSC! So if the name of the AQ Forest RJ/E reminds us of let-it-grow early-1990s coeds, that's not necessarily a bad thing

My 24th birthday (way back in 1996!) was one of the most memorable. After dinner, ACS and I went over to her place. After kicking off our shoes, and putting down our stuff, she led me to her room. Along the baseboards on one wall were bags and bags of new, never-worn Victoria's Secret (where she still worked part-time) lingerie. She had a cornucopia of styles and colors. There would never be enough time to try them all on. So for my birthday, ACS narrowed it down, and chose to model just (just!) the matching bra-&-panty sets.

As with anything full of variety, some sets just were not the right match for her body. Some were so-so, kind of mundane. But when a set stood out, it had the power to make me drop my thoughts, and want to bum rush ACS.

Ah, those were the days when ACS likened the myriad audio interconnect brands and models to lingerie. She thought it was interesting and fun, that audiophiles could change the sound of their systems, just by using different cables. ACS liked to vary her degree of sexiness, by donning different types and colors of VS lingerie. Except that she had more fun than I, because lingerie, sadly, was significantly cheaper than cables.

It's time to narrow it down, and compare just the original XLO Signature 2.1 to the current-production S3-2. Remember: we use the correct methodology, and have treated both on an audiodharma Cable Cooker, and followed that up with weeks of regular playing time.

The original XLO Signature series, including the S2.1 balanced interconnect, supposedly hit the market in late 1992. Their XLRs were designed and built in-house. As I have chronicled for years, these XLRs are excellent; that is, they do NOT exhibit that ubiquitous rolled-off treble, so prevalent in other companies' plugs. Why change a good thing? The S3-2 still utilizes this over 20-year-old XLR model. The only difference is that the rubber gasket is of different diameter/circumference, in order to accommodate the S3-2's wider girth (get your mind out of the gutter).

Really, this comparison is a matter of "different, but equal." One is not, by itself, better than the other. It depends on what your sources, system, and room truly sound like.

I don't think there was a wide price variation in all those VS lingerie sets ACS had. It was one thing to hold each set up in the air, and get all judgmental about how they looked, dangling from your hand(s). It was quite another, to have ACS wear a set, and ask her how each set made her feel and look. Since she was professionally trained, in knowing how to get the right fit, it was then a matter of comfort. Certain cuts, fabrics, underwires, elastics, metals could feel more/less comfortable, supportive, or mobile. And then there was my opinion, on how each set looked on her.

The original Signature 2.1 will do a good job of not letting the images get blurry or meld into each other (assuming the recording has image integrity). This interconnect does have the ability, cleanliness, and transparency, to let you see through the soundscape. It will do a good job of not interfering with the music's speeds. The Signature 2.1 will not bloat the bass, puff up the mids, curtail treble extension, or slur voices.

The XLO S3-2 will sound fuller, warmer, and rounder, but not to the excessive levels, so commonly prevalent in audiophile interconnects. By having larger images, the S3-2 does possess less space between said images. The S3-2 will not stop the music from charging. So while the S3-2 is not artificially smooth, it does sound a bit less jittery and angular than the original S2.1.

As an example, my Simaudio Evolution 750D and 600i are honest performers. They are relatively free from distortion. While both of these XLO interconnects will easily reveal that the 750D's transport rolls off the treble, it is actually the more transparent original S2.1, which allows this Simaudio duo to reach just a little higher.

The XLO Signature's use of magenta and black colors does remind me of ACS' VS lingerie. She actually looked okay, in magenta-&-black. Among the singular solid colors, cream, gold, pink, red, white, and yellow lingerie did not look good on her round, squat, and pear-shaped body. Black, peach, and purple were meh, acceptable, and so-so on ACS. The blue, burgundy, magenta, and teal sets were above average. But this one kind of jade (darker than emerald, but lighter than forest green) green set was totally ravishing on ACS. It made me forget about sports and audio (no easy feat!). Good as that jade set looked on her, it made me want to tackle ACS, rip it off, and dive in

So which XLO interconnect would come closer to the equivalent of NO underwear at all? Due to its greater see-through transparency, that would be the original Signature 2.1.

In September 1992, when I set up our Sony CDP-520ESII CD player; Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp and GFA-535 power amp; and Pinnacle PN-5+ loudspeakers, the AudioQuest Topaz interconnect was obviously superior (less restricted, more revealing) to the Monster Cable IL-400. I just knew I had to go home, return the IL-400, and bring back the AQ Lapis. Oh ho ho. When the college kids witnessed the Lapis' sonic disappearing act, they (don't forget; no one was an audiophile) were astounded. So why do audiophiles insist that there are no sonic differences in cables?

The AQ Topaz was $50 for a 1-meter pair. The Lapis was a whopping $400 for a 1-meter pair. Put it this way. The Adcom GTP-400 itself was $400.

The AQ Forest RJ/E is $39 for a 0.75m piece, $49 for the 1.5m length.

My AQ Lapis, which I bought in late 1991, had silver conductors. The Lapis' particular silver conductors exhibited NO brightness at all. The affordable Forest RJ/E must use silver plating over the copper conductors.

By September 1992, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot correctly predicted that free trade would only benefit corporations, and ship our high(er)-paying jobs overseas.

Yep, the AQ Forest RJ/E is made in China.

This Bose Acoustic Wave CD-3000 has lain in the office of my last job for a number of years. I guess it isn't sexy or prized enough, for anyone to steal it. Yes, it provides audio in a small office or room. But, it's not so distorted, that it can't provide music in a large and open floorspace.

See, when I was in high school during the late-80s, CD players were expensive. You were lucky, to have one in your main system. Having one in your bedroom was a luxury. Nowadays, the only reason people need CD drives is to rip CDs. F--- that. The Bose CD-3000 wants you to play the discs directly. And for that, the CD-3000 provides a top-loading drive. Because you place discs directly onto the spindle, the CD-3000 can play 3" CD singles without an adapter. Yes, I used a CD Greenback. Yes, it played without any anomalies. No, it did not effect enough of a sonic improvement. But if the CD Greenback floats your boat, you will be happy to note that you can indeed safely use one in the CD-3000.

If you do not like the CD-3000's built-in antenna, a 75-ohm F-type coaxial connector is provided. Thus, you can supply your own FM antenna. Great mother of pearl; the CD-3000 sports an analog line input, on a pair of RCA jacks. Thus, you can provide your own source, and use the CD-3000 to listen.

Oh ho ho. The CD-3000 sports a lineout, also via a pair of RCA jacks. So if you do not like the built-in speakers, you can use the CD-3000 itself as a source component and/or preamp. Go ahead and use your expensive audiophile interconnects to feed, for example, a tube amp!

We tried the CD-3000 in a variety of locations. It does not seem to be capable of pinpoint imaging, with razor-sharp outlines. The images are kind of diffuse, large, and ill-defined. But the sound doesn't scream at you. And when you turn up the volume at parties, the CD-3000 doesn't wail like a banshee, or bash you over the head with ear-piercing shards.

Oh ho ho. The Bose CD-3000 uses a "figure 8" IEC C8 jack, commonly found on tape recorders and some DVD players. That means you can, with an adapter, play around with after-market 15-amp powercords. So if you like, and want to preserve, the basic performance of the CD-3000, try an MIT Z-Cord II, which takes what throw-away OEM powercords do, and reduces a little bit of noise and grain. But if you want a cleaner sound, with more see-through ability, try the original Kimber PowerKord, the one with the corrugated plastic tubing. Enjoy!