collector

One man, two ears, and $50K worth of headphones

I've known my share of audiophiles who own lots of speakers, amplifiers, etc., but Wayne McManus has 40 high-end headphones. He's slowed adding to the collection, and now mostly concentrates on out-of-production classics--Sennheiser HE90 electrostatics, Sony MDR R-10, Sony Qualia 010, AKG-K1000, Audio Technica L3000, Grado HP-2--because each one has its own distinctive character and feel. McManus thinks speaker-only audiophiles are missing that aspect of the hobby; they're stuck with one sound. For the price of a pair of high-end speakers you can buy a healthy selection of the world's very best headphones. McManus has invested around $50,000 to date.

McManus bought a motor home three years ago, and now spends every April through August exploring the U.S. and Canada. He's semiretired and takes a small selection of headphones with him on the road.

At home he uses a very impressive hi-fi outfitted with MBL 101E speakers, MBL electronics, and a VPI turntable, but headphones have superior detailing. He put it this way: "You may have heard the same album a hundred times over speakers, but you pick up on new stuff over headphones, and when you move up to IEMs [in-ear monitor headphones] you hear even more of that microscopic effect. But you lose the sense of being at a live concert."

So I was hardly surprised to hear that McManus owns a Smyth Realiser A8 processor that makes headphones sound like speakers. He thinks the Realiser A8 makes it almost impossible to distinguish between the sound coming from headphones and speakers. It improves the stereo localization of all of his headphones.… Read more

Restoring the engine on a 1937 BMW 328 Roadster

I love checking out car restorations and seeing what some people are doing to their old-school rides. Well it doesn't get much more old school than this: a 1937 BMW 328 Roadster, and in Wednesday's blog post we got to see and hear about the work that was being done by Black Horse Garage to improve the body shell. In today's clip we join up with the Black Horse gang to see what work they are doing to the engine, and it should be quite interesting.

This video begins with a Black Horse Garage tech checking out … Read more

Metal fabrication on the 1937 BMW 328 Roadster

In yesterday's post we learned that part of the historic significance of the legendary 1937 BMW 328 Roadster was that the car's engineers (who had previously worked on post WWI airplane technology) had designed the would-be touring vehicle with unforeseen lightweight chassis that reportedly weighed roughly 800 kilograms. This statistic, which allowed for maximum performance on less petrol, helped the 328 become one of the hottest race vehicles of its time period.

And for today's video clip, I found a very recent clip (from just two days ago!) of what the 328 Roadster's body shell looks … Read more

History, technology of BMW's 328 Roadster

In yesterday's blog, I wrote about the 1937 BMW 328 MM Roadster, a rare classic car that will be up for auction at the RM Auctions' upcoming event in Monaco on May 1. We got a glammed-up look at this collectors' car and learned a little about why this car is much sought after, but I wanted to dig even deeper on what makes this Roadster so significant. With that in mind, today's clip is all about the history and technology behind the making of the famous BMW 328.

This car, conceived in 1936, was designed to be … Read more

Rare BMW 328 MM Bügelfalte Roadster comes to Monaco

I read last week that the BMW Classic Center in Munich was throwing open its doors to work on customer's vehicles, both BMW and otherwise. Thinking that it would make a fun blog topic, I went hunting the Web for video of classic BMWs. In this process I stumbled upon a promotional video for the 2010 Sporting Classics of Monaco event presented by RM Auctions that boasted the presence of one of the most notable and valuable BMWs ever made--the 1937 BMW 328 MM Bügelfalte Roadster.

RM Auctions will be bringing this classic BMW to its first-ever … Read more

What comes with the $14,999 BioShock 2 'uber' edition?

Video game "collector's editions" are all the rage, with added soundtrack CDs, posters, and other goodies designed to drive up retail prices. After all, who can forget the actual working night vision goggles included with the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2?

2K Games is sending up the whole collector's edition craze (while pimping their own BioShock 2 collector's edition, which includes soundtracks, an art book, and frameable lithographs) with a jokey promo video for the game's "uber edition."

For a mere $14,999, you get a real-life Big Daddy monster along … Read more

Apple App Store collector's items: 10 rarities

The App Store has been a huge success for Apple and for some developers, but there have been a few hiccups along the way. Apps have made it past Apple's rigorous reviews machine only to be pulled down permanently, or have their developers required to remove key features.

Those who still have some of these apps can consider them collector's items, since they continue to work, despite not being able to be re-downloaded from the App Store. We've rounded up 10 of the most notable pulls (along with one that had to be tweaked for less functionality). … Read more

Unboxing Modern Warfare 2's 'Prestige Edition,' complete with night vision goggles

If simply playing the hotly anticipated shooter Modern Warfare 2 isn't enough, you might be tempted to shell out extra for the $149 Prestige Edition of the game (over the typical $59 standalone game disc).

Inside the oversize box, we found a copy of the game in a metal case, a small hardcover book of production art, and most importantly, a pair of plastic--but functioning--night vision goggles. Said goggles, which required five AA batteries, also came with a small plastic bust of a game character's head--perfect for storing and displaying your goggles when not using them to sneak … Read more

Game library organizer

Collectorz.com Game Collector provides users with a simple and efficient way of managing a video game library. Thanks to its simple way of collecting information and its highly readable results, anyone intent on keeping tabs on their games will love this program.

The program's interface is a little overwhelming at first, but its several different screens compacted together with many icons soon prove to each have a purpose and individually make game management easier. Users will want to take a long look at the Help file to ensure that they understand all the program's aspects. Users build … Read more

Mozilla goes enterprise with Build a Browser program

Despite its 22.51 percent global market share, Mozilla's Firefox browser has yet to crack the enterprise IT barrier. While Firefox is undoubtedly used widely in the enterprise, Internet Explorer is still the default choice for enterprise IT, in part because Mozilla has never made any particular market, including enterprise IT, a focus.

No more. Perhaps responding to criticism that Firefox lacked the tools to help enterprise IT departments manage its deployment, Mozilla is now rolling out a Build Your Own Browser program. The program aims to provide "a good fit for enterprises that want to create a … Read more