Grover Neville

Last time we covered the DAC portion of a good streaming setup, with special attention paid to connectivity and latency, which can make all the difference in audio and video being synched... or not. This time we’ll discuss an often overlooked, but equally vital component for the content-creation and online gaming crowd: the microphone input.

I’ve known of Astell and Kern for a while, in fact they were an early presence over nine years ago at one of the first head-fi meet ups I attended, the summer before my second year of high school.

I recently attended PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) East, which is to my knowledge, the largest gaming show on the East Coast, but of particular interest for me were the headphone setups here.

The name Manley has been legendary in audiophile and professional audio circles for many years now, and I recall my dad lusting after VTL and Manley high-powered tube gear when I was younger, not just because of its sound, but also because it was expensive. But, not so expensive that it was totally out of reach for the average Joe who saved their pennies.