Echoes of the Garage

Fragments of life in Los Angeles — art, film, street stories, and the quiet rebuilding of a man. Start here: Best Of • About • Subscribe.


“Dark Room, Hot Coffee, and Headphones”

Daily writing prompt
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

The closest thing I’ve gotten to “play” lately is sound.

I have some Sennheiser HD 650s. I’d never really owned wired headphones like that before. Got them on discount on Amazon. Before that I had DT-770 Pros—wired too—and I bought a DAC. The DAC had this thing that said 4.4mm, and then I learned that’s for balanced. Then I learned what balanced even means—basically cutting down noise/distortion in certain situations.

So I got the bright idea to modify my DT-770s.

I looked around in the U.S., couldn’t find anyone, and I ended up sending them to Estonia. It cost damn near what the headphones cost. Then they got stuck in customs because of paperwork. Pain in the ass. But I got them back.

Funny part? I still need to buy the balanced cable for them. 🤦‍♂️

Recently I bought some Bluetooth headphones too—Bose QuietComfort SC (soft case… the budget case, lol). They’re not the “craziest” ones, but they’re dope for what they are. I like being able to tweak the noise canceling. I love tech, but I also love music, and I like messing with the differences: wired is more “reference,” Bluetooth isn’t, but it’s still good and serves a different purpose.

I’ve been listening to everything—AC/DC, The Beatles, David Bowie, Luis Miguel, Vicente Fernández. That’s my fun. Put me in a dark room with hot coffee and I’m good.

And speaking of coffee… I even got into grinding beans. Never did that before. Now I’m looking at roast dates, grind size, dialing it in like a nut.

So yeah—this is my playtime.

Question: What’s your version of play—something you “tinker” with just because it’s fun?

Subscribe: If this hit, subscribe — I post Tue/Thu/Sun, Street Cinema Saturdays, + daily prompts.



Leave a Reply

Discover more from Echoes of the Garage

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading