Vlad Savov
On The Verge since Sep 06, 2011
- 2429 posts
- 2231 comments
About Vlad Savov
I'm a Bulgarian who moved to London at the age of 12. My passions include watertight grammatical structures, rigorous research, and awesome photography. The greatest single piece of technology I've yet come across is the 2010 MacBook Air.
Vlad Savov
On The Verge since Sep 06, 2011
Comment
I’m on a 2011 rig with 8GB of RAM and a GTX 980. Alas, late-game turns take eons to process because I haven’t upgraded the storage (SSD for boot, HDD for everything else). I suspect slow storage is the biggest culprit in that situation. Or maybe I should stop playing at Epic speed on Large maps.
Comment
What hasn’t crossed the Atlantic by this point? I’m on Twitter to a sufficient degree where I feel like US politics is my politics, US entertainment and sport are my entertainment and sport, and so on. It’s cultural homogenisation on a global scale and we’re all just along for the ride.
(Yes, we’re close to the point where the USA wins a Cultural Civ victory. (Nobody said it had to be good culture.))
2 recommendsArticle
6 commentsComment
Is this the same Reddit that threw its hands up in the air arguing freedom of speech was paramount and there was nothing it could do against racists and Gamergaters using it as a platform?
5 replies 17 recommendsArticle
4 commentsRec
Comment
You’re right and I’m shamed for misusing the word. My failure shall remain here as as an eternal reminder to not comment glibly.
Comment
That’s not an "also" reason, that’s the reason I was implying.
1 replyComment
If you’re experiencing real emotional pain over product reviews, the help you need is not of the sort that I can provide.
1 replyRec
Comment
Why can’t people who like the colour red not express enthusiasm for the colour purple? Because we all have preferences, one way or the other. I think I’ve given a fair assessment of the N60s’ strengths and weaknesses along with my own predilections and personal considerations.
2 replies 3 recommendsComment
Via the intermediary owner of Harman. I did want to inject that Samsung connection into the review somehow, but ultimately it felt like an immaterial factoid when considering the quality of these cans.
2 replies 2 recommendsReview
26 commentsComment
That’s like saying "my car produces manure as a throwback to the old horse-drawn days."
2 replies 11 recommendsComment
Well, consider me the Richard Dawkins of gadget reviewers then. I don’t advise people to buy gadgets on the strength of some imagined brand or historic affinity (which a lot of car, watch, and luxury brands love to use as justification to get you to spend more) and I’m now advising against feeling bad for similarly ethereal reasons. Stay in the real, logical world with me. We’ll share avocados and stories about crazy phones like the Optimus Vu.
1 reply 2 recommendsComment
Lacks a headphone jack. WHY!?
1 reply 7 recommendsComment
Sony’s six-month upgrade cycle for the Xperia Z was breakneck, but I never complained about it just because it was so fast. If I’ve expressed discontent, it’s been because Sony didn’t ever fix its camera software or make materially big steps forward. It was the same phone, just massaged this way and that.
With OnePlus, yes, there’s a distinction in the fact that the original was already good and the successor is that little bit better (without trading anything away, except for price). If OnePlus settles into the same reissue-every-6-months cadence as Sony without adding meaningful improvements – i.e. if the company’s improvements slow down while its device releases speed up – then I’ll be sure to criticise the company for that in the sternest of tones.
1 reply 3 recommendsComment
I’m sorry to break up your archetype of the entitled and aloof reviewer, but I happen to have grown up in rural Bulgaria, a place where we didn’t understand ‘disposable income’ because we didn’t have any.
If you would read what I’ve written with an open mind, you’d understand that the point I’m making isn’t dismissive of the OnePlus 3 owner’s feelings, but rather supportive. I’m saying that if you feel annoyed by OnePlus’ actions, you should take a moment for introspection and reconsider the causes of those feelings.
The value of whatever disposable income anyone spent on the OnePlus 3 is not today diminished by the 3T. Moreover, the extent of our expectations from any company should be to see good software and hardware (should there be any faults) support for the longest period of time. Whatever else they do with other products shouldn’t worry us unduly.
1 reply 21 recommendsComment
Artificial obsolescence is exactly the crux of my argument!
OnePlus isn’t introducing anything of the sort. The OnePlus 3 and 3T, in regular use, are practically indistinguishable, and you’ll only tell the extra difference over the long term with the extended battery life. This is just an incrementally better handset that does not, in any way, diminish your enjoyment of the OnePlus 3.
3 replies 10 recommendsArticle
61 commentsRec
Comment
You’re right, but again, I threw the slider all the way to the right to make the difference obvious. Most of Google’s new Photos filters also look tragic by default (because, unlikely previously, where they were at 50% by default, they’re now all the way to 100%), but you just modulate down and use a measure of subtlety.
1 reply 1 recommendArticle
17 commentsComment
Please let me know how you find them once they arrive. You can reach me at the email address and Twitter handle at the top of the article.
Rec
Rec
Comment
The DAC is one thing, the headphone amp is another. You also can’t judge how the Pixel would perform with your headphones on the basis of my listening to these particular ones. Each set of cans has different power requirements. I find I also have to turn up the Oppo HA-2 DAC/amp to max (on low gain) to fully power the CB-1s. So they’re pretty thirsty for power.
Tell me what headphones you want to pair with the Pixel and I’ll tell you if that’s a good combo. Preemptively, though, I’ll tell you that the DAC in this phone is not a thing to worry about.
1 reply 1 recommendComment
I disagree on the Momentums’ sound being great. It’s got a little too much lipstick, which is my best analogy for a bass bump designed to prettify the sound but going overboard. I’ve had both the on-over and over-ear Momentums, wired and wireless, and they just didn’t impress me.
Don’t confuse the M50s’ soul-sundering treble for a more balanced or neutral sound. I think they’re more detailed, definitely, because they shove everything right up in your face, but I don’t really consider their sound balance perfectly representative. That said, I was judging the CB-1s against them less for studio work (where, come on, you should be spending more on your professional gear anyway; I don’t shoot gadgets with a $150 camera) and more for the fact that many people endorse them as a high-quality budget pair of headphones.
Comment
Correction: over-ear. There’s a difference, as these sit on your head, cuddling the ear rather than resting on it.
5 recommendsComment
The H6s you can get married to and settle down with. The CB-1s are just a casual fling (and priced like it). You’ll enjoy both.
2 replies 2 recommends