Phil's Superpower of Enthusiasm

A place to write about things I enjoy, for my own edification. Headphones, audio gear, albums, whiskey, wine, golden retrievers etc.

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Lawyer, unabashed nerd and geek. Purveyor and pusher of excellent sci-fi/fantasy, good food, and repartee. He/him. Dog dad/servant to @Goldendenali.

I’m experimenting with Amazon Affiliate status in an attempt to defray some of the costs of headphone reviews; Amazon links may be affiliate links (depending on whether or not I’ve figured out how to use them correctly). Please feel free to buy elsewhere; this is just one way to recoup the costs of this hobby.

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  • Journey to Antiquities on the Viking Venus: Christmas 2024

    Scores:  Cost-agnostic: 9 out of 10 Denalis Cost-sensitive: 7 out of 10 Denalis [Tl;dr: It was a great trip and I was very impressed with Viking overall. The staff was attentive (occasionally too attentive), the ship was clean and nicely appointed, the food was overall quite good and with a whole bunch of options, and the…

  • Top Ten Albums of 2023

    So I still haven’t made it back home so I haven’t had a chance to dig into the data living on my home music server about what I listened to in 2023, but here’s my first crack at a top ten list for the year.1 “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” by The National. Was there…

  • On Being 41 or 42, and some thoughts on 2024

    41 (aka 2023) was a hell of a year, and I think it’s worth taking some time to reflect on and be grateful for the many ways in which 41 was the best year of my adult life, and why I think 42 might be even better. It really boils down to two things: 1)…

  • Bose 700 Over the Ear ANC Headphones

    MSRP $299, $260 on regular sale, $230 renewed from Amazon] [Tl;dr: These are great travel headphones for when you want really good noise cancelation. The sound quality is pretty good, but not what I want for a pure music headphone. They continue to be my go-to plane headphone, but I very rarely reach for them in…

  • Status Audio Between 3ANC Review

     [[MSRP $250, $199 on direct from Status on Father’s Day sale] [Tl;dr: These headphones are really inconsistent in sound quality; they sound amazing for some tracks and genres, and pretty lousy for others. The biggest problem with them is that they’re in the same price bracket as some really exceptional offerings that they just can’t really…

  • Thoughts on the KIA EV6, one year in.

    Model/trim: 2022 AWD Wind EV6 w/Tech package [updated 1/15/24 with review of snow driving, below] Overall: One year and more than 12,000 miles in, I really love this car. It does everything I want it to, it’s really fun to drive, and I have had much less range anxiety than I expected (and I’ve never…

  • Tom Collins

     Tom Collins (adapted from Difford’s Guide): 2 oz Old Tom Gin (I used Hayman’s because it’s the Old Tom gin I have)1 oz Lemon juice (fresh-squeezed, of course)1/2 oz simple syrup (DG recommends 2:1, I only have 1:1 so I used a little extra)2 oz soda water Shake all ingredients except soda with ice.  Strain…

  • Sazerac Cocktail

    (adapted from https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/1752/sazerac-cocktail-diffords-recipe) For wash: 1/3 fl oz absinthe (I used Pacifique) For cocktail: 2/3 oz Cognac  2/3 oz Straight rye whiskey  2/3 oz Bourbon  1/3 oz simple syrup 3 dashes Peychaud’s 1 dash Angostura Wash an ice-filled old-fashioned glass with absinthe. Add the other ingredients to a shaker with ice, shake until well-incorporated and chilled.…

  • Campfire Audio Orbit True Wireless

    [MSRP $249.99, purchased at full price in May from Campfire.com)] [Tl;dr: These are fanstastic headphones. Period. For me, their use case is a little more limited but that’s more a function of how unexpectedly great the AirPods Pro 2 is, and the number of niche headphones I have for specific use cases. I commend these to…

  • On the importance of understanding use cases before buying technology, Part 1 (of undoubtedly many parts).

    One day in September of 2022, I had a remarkably bad technology day. I went into my home office and tried to turn on my PC and it would not start. At all. I had a few things I needed to take care of that morning so I immediately started my 27” 2012 iMac ……