navybsn

Oh shit, are you still going.
Ok you win the internetz for the day, hell take it for the week, and I promise I'll never take the piss again*.
 
 
*promise will likely not be honoured

Got a few tings queued up on Spotify I want to listen to that have come out in 22:
Ken Mode Dream Unending Cloud Rat King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-Omnium Gathering Russian Circles Candlemass Asphalix Wake

Here's a picture I took at the Hobart gig.

 

Just means you can bypass the effects of the tubes with a push of a button rather than disconnecting it from your system. Makes the piece of gear just a pass-through. Handy if you want the tube stuff for certain music and not for others.

S.O.D - Speak English or Die

Pretty much nailed my feeling on it. Mid-fi is great because you get good sound with the type of music we all lean towards without the unbelievable costs. I don't want some fancy jazz or classical to sound amazing on my gear at the expense of the other stuff I listen to more often. I want everything to sound good no matter what I'm playing. Maybe one day I'll have a dedicated listening room with proper acoustics and dampening. I'd probably put a crazy system in there somewhere around the 10k range. Still budget for the serious guys, but all I'm really willing to tolerate.
I listen in the living room and my office. I like to hear music throughout the house. I stream to those 2 and the bedroom. I do laundry, cook, clean, and work around the house with the tunes going. Or like now, I have it cranked and I'm sitting on the porch drinking a beer. That's not a job for 10k speakers much less 100k speakers. Hell, I felt guilty spending 1k on a set. Both my setups sound perfectly fine for what I do. Would I like to upgrade? Fuck yeah, but I'd be assed as to what I would get.
Tube gear is cool, but I think the best thing for rock/metal is a tube buffer or preamp with a bypass. All the benefits with the ability to go straight if you need to. My little FX Audio buffer sounds great and cost $35. Pairs nicely with the detailed Allo Boss DAC and the Marantz 2240b. Takes less than a minute to pull out of the system. You don't have to spend a lot of dough to get good sound and get to play around.
My next upgrade will be a new purpose built streamer and a server upgrade. I'm in the middle of the server upgrade now, reripping my entire collection and putting it on a fresh drive. NUC Intel guts. Maybe even wire the whole house with CAT6. Eventually, I'll build a streamer along the lines of the Hi-fi Rose I saw yesterday. Can't bring myself to spend 5k on something like that I could build.
NP:
Opeth - Live at Royal Albert Hall
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Hum - Inlet

I used to love the gear discussions we had over at M-F. I've let the upgradeitus urge go. I haven't listened to my dedicated rig in a while just because it's in a converted spare bed bedroom/office space and more convenient for me to hang with my wife in our living space next to the kitchen with my laptop and toggle back and forth between checking out some nonsense with her on TV or the news and listen to stuff on my laptop with my Be's.
Now that I think about it, we used to have a desktop that I had wired to my system through a DAC with a headphone amp and I could access my digital files as well as computer audio and stream stuff or listen to stuff you guys reo'd directly. Now my wife and I both just use our laptops and I don't bother taking the laptop into the room and connecting to the DAC so the only time I listen to my fig s when I'm listening to my own digital collection and I've become spoiled listening to my laptop without the need for the big boy rig.
Metal is such a hard genre to really get perfect on speakers. I'm not as tech as you but I know you need good low end and impact, and like you said warmth is nice but then you don't want to sacrifice clarity, detail, mids and highs. 
When I was piecing my set up I went to those high end audio shops to and there is an annual audio show here in D.C. where I found a lot cool gear. And they usually had a Head-Fi group for headphone gear. It was cool. But like you said, they're playing classical, jazz, Steely Dan, Floyd and not much else. 
There's this shop in McLean VA near where I grew up that I visited few times. They specialized in tube gear. They had a nice set up with various listening rooms, cozy little private rooms with comfy furniture. It was like a friend turning his system over to you and leaving the keys. They had their set ups connected to Sonos on Spotify or something as a server which was great as I could look up any band and usually I could be alone on one of the listening rooms and crank all kinds of stuff. 
The entry level system was about twice what I spent on mine or more-10-20K. I remember thinking tube gear sounded great with jazz of course, and with a lot of well recorded rock blues, stoner, doom and generally better recorded metal albums-the Steven Wilson kind of stuff recorded on analog equipment-but you know, BWP and Lateralus is going to sound good regardless. 
Those sweet tube amp set ups often don't sound good with a lot of the poorly recorded metal, punk, etc. we tend to listen to. They sound too fuzzy and don't always get the details I want with more complex and tech oriented metal-and it doesn't have to be tech death-there is a ton of crazy, layered, chaotic shit in lots of styles of metal that as I recall didn't really translate through some of the pricy tube systems......

This morning:
In the Woods - Diversum
The Secret French Postcards - Life Got Claws
Hangman's Chair - A Loner
Now:
Scolex - Torn From Beyond
Rush - AFTK
Rush - Different Stages
Torche - Meanderthal 

I thought Five flavored fruit punch was AI generated by the bro-est bro-puter known to man.

So I went to a fancy pants legit Hi-Fi store today. Hifibuys in Atlanta. Super nice folks. Listened to an unobtanium system (D'Agustino, Audio Research, Wilson Audio speakers, and some crazy turntable with an optical/light cartridge) spec'd out around 500k. A second system that I really don't remember the setup other than the KEF towers spec'd about 50k. And a third tube setup (Primaluna) with Vandersteen speakers and a Hi-Fi Rose streamer that came in around 20k. To be honest, I was most impressed with the last one. I could never see actually spending that kind of cash on a system, but it was still really cool to experience them. Dude asked me what kind of music I listened to and I kinda chuckled. I said generally poorly recorded rock and metal. I just let him drive. Jazz on the crazy system, Dire Straits on the second, and Tool on the third. Have to say that I would have loved to hear Archgoat or Blood Incantation on one of them, but it probably would have gotten me kicked out. Anyway, now that I'm home, I'm listening to Tool to compare my stuff to the system I really liked.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Tool - 10,000 Days
Btw - for those wondering, my 1 minute review of each.
1) 500k system - obnoxiously sterile. Analytical to the point of being unenjoyable. I never knew what exactly people meant by analytical, but I do now and I don't like it. Give me some fuzzy warmth. Sounded like the band was in the room about 20 feet away. Could see it being ok with well recorded jazz and classical.
2) 50k system - better, but nothing special. I knew I was listening to a stereo but a really good one. Dire Straits sounded amazing, but lacking punch and a little forward although the music choice could be the culprit. Maybe even a touch bright. I think blues would be best suited.
3) 20k system - more along the lines of what I could do. Good sound, punchy, zero distortion. A 2 channel setup I could deal with every day. Listening to the same music now however, it's not worth the money. There isn't 18k difference between my stuff. I could probably spend another 5k on my own and achieve the same sound. I don't listen audiophile-like though, so it would be rather pointless.

So I went to a fancy pants legit Hi-Fi store today. Hifibuys in Atlanta. Super nice folks. Listened to an unobtanium system (D'Agustino, Audio Research, Wilson Audio speakers, and some crazy turntable with an optical/light cartridge) spec'd out around 500k. A second system that I really don't remember the setup other than the KEF towers spec'd about 50k. And a third tube setup (Primaluna) with Vandersteen speakers and a Hi-Fi Rose streamer that came in around 20k. To be honest, I was most impressed with the last one. I could never see actually spending that kind of cash on a system, but it was still really cool to experience them. Dude asked me what kind of music I listened to and I kinda chuckled. I said generally poorly recorded rock and metal. I just let him drive. Jazz on the crazy system, Dire Straits on the second, and Tool on the third. Have to say that I would have loved to hear Archgoat or Blood Incantation on one of them, but it probably would have gotten me kicked out. Anyway, now that I'm home, I'm listening to Tool to compare my stuff to the system I really liked.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Tool - 10,000 Days
Btw - for those wondering, my 1 minute review of each.
1) 500k system - obnoxiously sterile. Analytical to the point of being unenjoyable. I never knew what exactly people meant by analytical, but I do now and I don't like it. Give me some fuzzy warmth. Sounded like the band was in the room about 20 feet away. Could see it being ok with well recorded jazz and classical.
2) 50k system - better, but nothing special. I knew I was listening to a stereo but a really good one. Dire Straits sounded amazing, but lacking punch and a little forward although the music choice could be the culprit. Maybe even a touch bright. I think blues would be best suited.
3) 20k system - more along the lines of what I could do. Good sound, punchy, zero distortion. A 2 channel setup I could deal with every day. Listening to the same music now however, it's not worth the money. There isn't 18k difference between my stuff. I could probably spend another 5k on my own and achieve the same sound. I don't listen audiophile-like though, so it would be rather pointless.

So I went to a fancy pants legit Hi-Fi store today. Hifibuys in Atlanta. Super nice folks. Listened to an unobtanium system (D'Agustino, Audio Research, Wilson Audio speakers, and some crazy turntable with an optical/light cartridge) spec'd out around 500k. A second system that I really don't remember the setup other than the KEF towers spec'd about 50k. And a third tube setup (Primaluna) with Vandersteen speakers and a Hi-Fi Rose streamer that came in around 20k. To be honest, I was most impressed with the last one. I could never see actually spending that kind of cash on a system, but it was still really cool to experience them. Dude asked me what kind of music I listened to and I kinda chuckled. I said generally poorly recorded rock and metal. I just let him drive. Jazz on the crazy system, Dire Straits on the second, and Tool on the third. Have to say that I would have loved to hear Archgoat or Blood Incantation on one of them, but it probably would have gotten me kicked out. Anyway, now that I'm home, I'm listening to Tool to compare my stuff to the system I really liked.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Tool - 10,000 Days
Btw - for those wondering, my 1 minute review of each.
1) 500k system - obnoxiously sterile. Analytical to the point of being unenjoyable. I never knew what exactly people meant by analytical, but I do now and I don't like it. Give me some fuzzy warmth. Sounded like the band was in the room about 20 feet away. Could see it being ok with well recorded jazz and classical.
2) 50k system - better, but nothing special. I knew I was listening to a stereo but a really good one. Dire Straits sounded amazing, but lacking punch and a little forward although the music choice could be the culprit. Maybe even a touch bright. I think blues would be best suited.
3) 20k system - more along the lines of what I could do. Good sound, punchy, zero distortion. A 2 channel setup I could deal with every day. Listening to the same music now however, it's not worth the money. There isn't 18k difference between my stuff. I could probably spend another 5k on my own and achieve the same sound. I don't listen audiophile-like though, so it would be rather pointless.

So I went to a fancy pants legit Hi-Fi store today. Hifibuys in Atlanta. Super nice folks. Listened to an unobtanium system (D'Agustino, Audio Research, Wilson Audio speakers, and some crazy turntable with an optical/light cartridge) spec'd out around 500k. A second system that I really don't remember the setup other than the KEF towers spec'd about 50k. And a third tube setup (Primaluna) with Vandersteen speakers and a Hi-Fi Rose streamer that came in around 20k. To be honest, I was most impressed with the last one. I could never see actually spending that kind of cash on a system, but it was still really cool to experience them. Dude asked me what kind of music I listened to and I kinda chuckled. I said generally poorly recorded rock and metal. I just let him drive. Jazz on the crazy system, Dire Straits on the second, and Tool on the third. Have to say that I would have loved to hear Archgoat or Blood Incantation on one of them, but it probably would have gotten me kicked out. Anyway, now that I'm home, I'm listening to Tool to compare my stuff to the system I really liked.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Tool - 10,000 Days
Btw - for those wondering, my 1 minute review of each.
1) 500k system - obnoxiously sterile. Analytical to the point of being unenjoyable. I never knew what exactly people meant by analytical, but I do now and I don't like it. Give me some fuzzy warmth. Sounded like the band was in the room about 20 feet away. Could see it being ok with well recorded jazz and classical.
2) 50k system - better, but nothing special. I knew I was listening to a stereo but a really good one. Dire Straits sounded amazing, but lacking punch and a little forward although the music choice could be the culprit. Maybe even a touch bright. I think blues would be best suited.
3) 20k system - more along the lines of what I could do. Good sound, punchy, zero distortion. A 2 channel setup I could deal with every day. Listening to the same music now however, it's not worth the money. There isn't 18k difference between my stuff. I could probably spend another 5k on my own and achieve the same sound. I don't listen audiophile-like though, so it would be rather pointless.

Amyl And The Sniffers - S/T
 

New Satanic War master on the way. Album is titled Aamongandr.
 

Misþyrming - Með hamri (Black Metal, Iceland)

https://misthyrming.bandcamp.com/album/me-hamri
New Misþyrming full length releases on the 16th. I'm probably the only one here who cares though, lol.

Five Flavoured Fruit Punch literally made me laugh!

Gotta say, that's a missed opportunity there, they really should have named themselves that!
 

That's awesome, Man. You know, I'm all about listening from time to time outside of your metal comfort zone. Lots of hits and misses but that's how I find some of my favorite albums. 

I thought Five flavored fruit punch was AI generated by the bro-est bro-puter known to man.

I thought Five flavored fruit punch was AI generated by the bro-est bro-puter known to man.

Finally getting to Megadave - tStDatD
Not bad as background work music, and certainly a lot better than one (me) might expect.
Great clean production, attention to detail. Impeccable musicianship. Riffs, song structure and vocal melodies are all recycled. Basically put everything from The System Has Failed forward in a blender and you get this. As good/better and a little more even than Dystopia.
At best this is metal comfort food for the old hungarino. Not going to get my pulse going, the occasional head bob. Its not going to distract me from whatever else I am doing. Good job Dave, you crazy old bastard.

Absu - Abzu

That's marvelous, but I was actually waiting for the new Satanic Goatmaster release.
Make goat, not war.