Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own.
In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
So in my previous write-up, while highlighting the benefits of alternative and custom layouts, I declared without much evidence that QWERTY is not that bad at all, and also that it is in the top 2% of all the possible layouts. Well, like so many times in life: it depends.
I did my original research many years ago - the exact value was in fact 1.82% -, but I forgot to mention that this is only valid in a special case: using my personal corpus and ruleset. It makes sense since back in the day I did this to support the design process of my own custom keymaps.
Anyway, it was high time to redo my original experiment, dive in this topic a bit deeper, and reveal the logic and method behind my calculations. Spoiler alert: I was wrong! Or was I? ;)
QWERTY
Everyone knows QWERTY I guess. Christopher Sholes, Remington 2 typewriter, preventing jamming of type bars, path dependence, whatever. I'm not going to cover it here, check this previous write-up of mine if you are interested...
Hello Everyone!
It’s that time of year again. Summer is in full swing, we’re enjoying time with friends and family, and most relevant to our shared hobbies—it’s Prime Time for more sales! We’ve got lots going on, so read on for more info.
Following the trend of the last couple of years, the complete list of sales is too large to list here (check the promo landing page when it goes live for complete info). Listed below will be some particularly noteworthy deals as a sneak peak to what’s coming. :)
▪️ #1 Sitebusters live at 11pm PT on 7/15/2024
▪️ Drop CSTM80 Mechanical Keyboard $99 limited to 100 keyboards (MSRP $149)
▪️ Drop CSTM65 Mechanical Keyboard $79 limited to 100 keyboards (MSRP $129)
▪️ Drop + Sennheiser HD6XX $169 (MSRP $219)
▪️ Drop + EPOS H3X $39 (MSRP $79)
▪️ Wobkey Rainy 75 Keyboard starting $99
▪️ GMK Mecha-01 Keycap Set $99 limited to 200 sets (MSRP $149)
▪️ DCX White-on-Black keycap set $49 (MSRP $99)
▪️ Campfire Audio Orbit Bluetooth Earphones $99 (MSRP...
Hall Effect: What is a Hall Effect switch and will it turn you into a gaming god?
TL;DR: Nope, but there are reasons why you may want to use a Hall Effect Keyboard.
Hall Effect switches are the newest trend in mechanical keyboard switches. From Gateron to Geon, switch manufacturers are starting to release HE switches. With Wooting at the forefront and seemingly the best implementation of Hall Effect technology, many other brands seem to be playing catch-up. We’ve seen releases like the RAKKA, BOOG75, DrunkDeer, and MOD007 HE start to stir up competition. But do you need another keyboard? Is this one going to be the end all be all for you? Is HE Endgame? If you’re like me, a keyboard enthusiast, your answers will probably be: no(yes), no, and no. Do I think that an HE board deserves a spot in your collection? Maybe… Let’s dive into the latest technological update to mechanical switches in a long time, and you can make that decision for yourself.
First, we need to know...
Is it just me or was this place much better when it was Massdrop? Instead of expensive collaborations, it was all about finding good deals that got better with more participation. Anyone know if this place will ever revert to those times or if there are any other sites that might be doing what this site stopped doing?
Drop everything you're doing and go to your streaming account (I prefer Spotify and Tidal) and pull up (search for) Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk then find track 7 (Chasing Rainbows). Strap in and plug in your amp, and hit play. You can thank me later! No streaming account? Try this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_mE0TE9a-Y&t=1715s
This summer my wife and I saw our 24 year old autistic son transition into an adult residential group home where I'm very happy to say he is thriving. He is making new friends and getting out into the community, things he refused to do while living at home. We are so pleased to be able to see his progress.
I have been working on kind of a project this past month. I am converting my son's tiny bedroom into my tiny music room/office and it's been a pretty big undertaking. I've had to rebuild the walls and paint them. I had to buy new curtains and clean a carpet. I put up a ceiling fan and built a table for my headphones. I hauled my six foot desk into the room from the living room and purchased a new desk chair and soon I will finally get my desktop audio system wired up. I have to mount a TV on the wall yet, get some crap out of the room, get it vacuumed. Oh, and I have a partial power outage. LOL My wife and I live in a rental and of course the landlord has been...
Community Rules and Guidelines (updated September 2022)
Drop encourages community interaction and discussion between our members. In order to make the site an enjoyable place for all to spend their time and participate in the Community, we have a few rules and guidelines for members to adhere to. The primary takeaway is to be nice to others and don’t spam or shill products - simple enough, right?
Etiquette
Members are expected to treat each other with respect, and be courteous of each other’s opinions and advice, regardless of their relative experience. In particular, the moderation team will be responding to content which falls into the following categories.
Personal Attacks / Threats - It can be easy to forget, but everyone you interact with online is another human in front of a keyboard. And if they're not, then why bother engaging in the first place? Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and personal attacks / threats will not be tolerated on the site. Repeatedly attacking other users will result in escalation...
Let’s talk about International E-Commerce Shipping!
There’s a common misconception that International shipping at Drop is “slow and awful”. We want to take a moment to provide some details (and data!) about how International E-commerce shipping works, and what the experience looks like from end to end.
Expectations
When people think about courier services delivering packages, they typically think of a Fedex (or UPS, or DHL) truck picking up the box, putting it on a Fedex truck, flying to another country, putting it on another Fedex truck, and then finally delivering it to your doorstep. This is known as end-to-end delivery, and it’s an amazing and incredible service that is extremely expensive.
For example, a 20x30x15cm box that weighs 1.5 kg (this is the typical metric dimensions of a headphone or keyboard shipment) going from NY, USA to London, UK costs $240 for 5-day end-to-end service via Fedex. That is the retail rate charged to a customer that walks into a Fedex depot. For large businesses that ship a lot, you can...
We hosted our first mech keys meetup in years about a month ago (see here for a photo recap). Our team was furiously videoing everything during the event, and posted a bunch of shorts/reels to socials since then. Now they've compiled an excellent recap video showcasing the event.
Grab a coffee, sit back, and enjoy the meetup. :)
We'll see you at the next one! 🫡
I bought my Tokyo60 a year ago and the RGB light worked when I first finished building it. I turned it off after a while cause it was distracting using Fn + Q. But recently, I tried to turn it back on with Fn+Q, W, E, R, T, and Y, but none worked. I tested Fn, Q, W, E, R, T, and Y; each worked individually. Do you guys run into this problem and know how to troubleshoot it? Any advice will be helpful! Thanks!
Hey DKC, as much as I hope you all are enjoying the membership and want to stick around for another year, I also understand that for a variety of reasons some people want to unsubscribe and not renew the membership—and that's fine! Historically this has been done by clicking "Cancel Subscription" on the Keyboard Club transaction found in one's Transaction history. This can be tricky to find, especially if you have a lot of transactions to sift through, so we've added a cancellation button to the Keyboard Club Member page.
Navigate to the Keyboard Club Member page by hovering over (desktop) or clicking on (mobile) your profile photo, then click Keyboard Club about halfway down the list.
This is the page where you can view your current and past DKC coupons, as well as cancel your membership renewal.
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, below your DKC Discount History.
Click "Cancel Membership Renewal" if you wish to do so (sorry to see you go! ❤️). Note...
Drop Mech Keys Meetup Recap - Thanks for Visiting!
As you may have seen, we just hosted our first meetup in quite a while here at Drop HQ (Corsair HQ, but they seem to like us enough :) )!
It was a blast to get to meet so many enthusiasts local to the bay area—it had been 10 years since I was last hanging out with keyboard nerds in the bay, at KeyCon 2014. We had a great time hosting everyone at the offices, checking out all the very nice boards y'all brought, and sharing some of our own projects/spaces! I knew it would be fun to host in the Game Room when I first saw it in person, but seeing it come to fruition was still so cool.
Alright, I'll stop blabbering on now. xD Picture time!
(Oh, real quick - there will be more of these! Stay tuned for more info and to catch the next one!)
A brief reflection and look at how far our community has come since joining.
I’ve been in the mechanical keyboard hobby for a very long time. It started as a high school student’s search for a keyboard for writing novels back in the 2008-2009 school year. I thought I wanted to be an author and I felt I needed a keyboard that I could sit down to at my desk and just write. After researching, joining forums, and saving money, I made my first purchase in the hobby, a blank black Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2. I still own this keyboard and while it is heavily modded now, it remains one of my all-time favorites.
My HHKB Pro2 with MitchCapped Accents
Many people would have stopped there, but keyboards became a hobby. I enjoyed learning about them, and early on, I enjoyed hunting for them in thrift shops. I would dig through bins at Goodwill and Salvation Army while popping keycaps off with paperclips looking for mechanical switches. I searched for a birthday Model M...
Dear Massdrop and Community,
I need Wireless Mechanical Keyboards, and I was hoping there was more interest,
I own a Varmilo VB87M with Cherry Greens, and the bluetooth connection is anything but perfect due to my aluminium case, lots of noise from other wireless devices and the 5M/15F distance from my desktop.
I own a few wired mechanical keyboards but wires are no option for me, so i tend to only connect them for the show or whenever i am in the bios or bluetooth doesn't work for any reason.
I love to see the Exclusive Massdrop Keyboards, The new CTRL is awesome, And i am going to buy it, Only i love to sit on my couch with my keyboard on my lap, Even though i am going to buy the CTRL it is probably gonna collect dust since i like to sit confortable and i dont have a traditional desk setup.
Functions like Tenkeyless, Hot Swappable Switches, Fully programmable, And at least 2.4Ghz radio would be perfect. Something like an easy switch between USB/RF/BT would be even better...
Image credit @Evshrug
In my time browsing various headphone and audio forums, I’ve observed again and again a somewhat amusing contradiction. If you go to a sound science forum and ask “What is an audiophile,” they will tell you an audiophile makes purchases based on emotion and nostalgia, with little regard for research, price to performance, and specs which would allow a system to be EQ’d into any sound (including the “ideal” sound). Meanwhile, there’s an opposite camp that will happily buy anything just because it makes them feel good, because “that’s the point of music,” meanwhile they would define an “Audiophile” as someone who pays more attention to gear, specs, and listens to tone sweeps more than music. Conundrum! Paradox!
I’ll do you better: ‘WHY’ Audiophile?
The truth is the word “Audiophile” comes from two roots: Audio* is easy enough to understand, while -phile comes from the Greek root “philos,” which carries a meaning that doesn’t directly translate to...
Hey there everyone! Today I'm sharing with you all a set Drop, BarelyTribal, and Myself have been working on the past few months.
This set is based on a stealthy ghost dragon that can infiltrate through it's enemies defenses with ease. This set features a bold pairing of teal and coral, we really wanted the set to be over the top and stand out in your builds/setups.
We'd love to hear your thoughts below. I've also been communicating closely with drop and we think if there is enough interest we could make a match desk mat and maybe even some other peripherals.
IC Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lfP69ea3DIEwRNUC1IcgkCQtJygU1nilyYOZYjTgmek/
DCX Dragon Darts on Dalco 559 Mini
Hi everyone! We are beyond excited to announce a major update here on Drop.
Introducing: Battlestations
Our new community, Battlestations, is now live! You can find our launch landing page here. Please read the official announcement from our CEO, Jef, for an additional perspective on why this new community means so much to us.
The new community allows us to feature products outside of the two mainstay communities that you’ve come to know and love: Mech Keys and Audiophile. We know as well as you do that curating the perfect workspace is a very personal endeavor, and also non-trivial. Finding just the right thing for your setup can take a lot of work. We hope that by adding this new community here on Drop we can provide a space for highly-regarded and unique desk items that will be sure to complement the accessories you have already carefully selected for your setup.
Along with the launch of our new community, we have a whole host of auxiliary events and giveaways to...
So I bought the HD6xx a few weeks back and when I finally got the packages i got some Noir 99.
ever happened to any of u guys and how did it get resolved
The cable on my HD6xxs started to malfunction and after contacting support I was explicitly promised a new unit free of charge but instead was issued a refund. When I asked for the original agreement to be honored I was told there is nothing they were willing to do and: "Feel free to place a new order for the headphones if you wish though." After a few more emails I was given a $20 credit and conceded to "[feeling] free to place a new order" but because of current exchange rates and duty I had to pay an additional $65 or so. They refuse to reimburse me. Very unlikely I will be ordering from here again.
Be careful claiming warranty, I was explicitly promised a new unit free of charge but instead was issued a refund. When I asked for the original agreement to be honored I was told there is nothing they were willing to do and:
"Feel free to place a new order for the headphones if you wish though."
After a few more emails I was given a $20 credit and conceded to "[feeling] free to place a new order" but because of current exchange rates and duty I had to pay an additional $65 or so. They refuse to reimburse me. Very unlikely I will be ordering form here again.
Our good friends over at Elgato (also part of the Corsair family) are launching a new product line today, Elgato Neo. We thought these would be a great fit for the Drop community, considering the attention to both function and form.
We're very excited to be able to host this suite of creative-focused products on Drop.com. To celebrate the occasion, we're hosting a launch event of our own with daily coupon codes and a giveaway at the end!
Head on over to the event page if you haven't already to check it out.
All Elgato Neo products can be found on the event page linked above, or on their individual pages below—note that any Elgato Neo products purchased through Drop will get 10% back through Drop Rewards:
▪️ Elgato Stream Deck Neo
▪️ Elgato Game Capture Neo
▪️ Elgato Key Light Neo
▪️ Elgato Wave Neo
Be sure to join the giveaway on the event page! (Direct link to giveaway)
What coupon have you rolled so far?
And as always, our usual reminders:
▪️ Drop Keyboard Club—see...
About
Photos, insights, discussions, you name it: Consider this home base for all your interests. Take a look around and discover more about what you love.