Friday Weekly June 6, 2025

General Updates

Little this, little that. What's going on round these parts

Happy Friday everyone. It's getting hot and I have a suspicion it's going to be a bad fire year(*knock on wood*), but fingers crossed as usual for a nice quiet Summer. At least I'm seeing a lot of birds and insects out and about doing their thing so that's nice. Hope you're all doing good and well out there. 
 
We're probably most excited about the Merlin this week, but things at Apos and Salad are still chugging along on multiple fronts and you can see some of the updates below. 
 
There's also another edition of Philosophical Friday in this weeks letter. These usually stem from some internal argument conversation we have and we'd love to hear what you all think about various topics as they come up. Which is to say, I'd love to hear why you think I'm right and Kunal is wrong.     
 
Alright, well let's get to the fun stuff. Take it easy out there. 

Apos 𝒙 Updates From Tom

Tom gives any quick updates he has regarding our Apos 𝒙 projects

• The Rock Lobster is finishing production and we're expecting to launch them the last week of June or first week of July.
• Along with that, the IEM carrying case is going into production and expected to launch with the Rock Lobster.
• THE MERLIN
  We’re crackling with anticipatory energy over here because the Merlin DAC is officially launching as a preorder Tuesday, June 10 at 12:00 AM Eastern Time. From the beginning, it was our hope to launch it under $200, but due to some additional safety features we needed to install and the Amanero USB module licensing, plus the supply chain volatility right now, we had to raise the final MSRP to $225. However, we want to stick to our initial goal as much as we can, and so we’re launching the Merlin at a special pre-order price of $195. Mark your calendars/water clocks/sundials for Tuesday morning for the Merlin’s arrival.
   
  Prepare for the Wizard’s Arrival...

Salad Updates By Andy

Update from Andy on various projects going on over at Salad 

Hey Folks,
 
We received the Halo Headphone Stand sample from the factory this week and are very pleased with how it came out. You can see the results in the picture above with our prototype on the right and the factory sample on the left.  All the important stuff is spot on and they did a real good job. 
 
For changes we want to provide a different logo and see if we can get a hold of a more cream colored felt. The full "SALAD" one feels too big and I want to try using a smaller 1" round logo instead to see if that looks better to me.   
 
Other than those two things, all that's left is to figure out the best way to pack it all up. We want the unboxing experience to be as "ready to go" as possible while making an efficient use of the space so we're playing around with a couple of ideas on how to best attach the halo portion to the base. 
 
As always, if you have any questions or comments for us please feel free to reach out to us at contact@salad.design. Groovy.
 
-Andy / CEO

Philosophical Friday

We like to talk hypotheticals here and this is one topic of conversation that came up. Greater minds have surely thought longer and harder about the subject, but it's fun for us. And maybe you too? Feel free to fly over this one, but also love to hear any thoughts you have. These are often skeleton versions of our ideas so they can be a little jumpy and lacking in meat, but I try to summarize them bones.

Maybe it's more of a me thing, but I have a real problem with getting fixated on "perfect" or "the best" with a lot of things in my life. It's led to a kind of personal philosophy that the perfect tool or product is one that I can use without thinking about it at all. Where there should be no moment I have to stop and acknowledge the interface between me and the action. Things like a keyboard with a key that doesn't always register, headphones that pop and crackle at certain frequencies, or a shoe that rubs the wrong spot can really grate a certain spot in my brain.
 
I suspect the little business manager in my brain would consider perfection to be the fewest calories consumed in a day. Thirsting for 100% predictability. Everything in its right place, and exactly where it was expected to be. Wake up, see sun, eat the same meal, sun goes away, go to sleep. Zero wasted energy. The perfect routine. 
 
Yet somewhere in there is something else wanting nothing but unpredictable excitement. Craving messy novelty. New sounds, flavors, sights. Knowledge. Experience. Imperfection.
 
That special nebulous feeling that makes something "human" when you see or hear it.
 
In this sense, is perfect art perfect and is a perfect life memorable? 
 
I often forget the things that would have been regarded as perfect using my own metrics, yet vividly remember some that would be "the worst" by the same measure. 
 
A tv you have to bonk to chase the static away. An unreliable car breaking down at 3 am with a best friend. The small demon who disguised himself as a cat(miss ya Hobbes).  
 
I once watched a Nileblue video where he tries to assemble the perfect chocolate chip cookie using perfectly pure ingredients. 100% pure perfect chocolate chip cookie.
 
And it was awful. 

Our Weekly Fixations

These are some of the things we're currently obsessed with around here. If anyone out there has something they want to share, then send me your current obsession at alex@apos.audio and I might throw it in the Friday newsletter. Worst case I get to experience something new. Last week a user got me to finally listen to Ghost. Peak 80's metal energy. Thanks again! 

Tom
It's new music Friday, and my favorite drop is the new Big Thief single from their forthcoming album Double Infinity. I've been a fan since their first LP, and imo they haven't missed yet. It's rare to find a band comprised of geniuses who're capable of checking their egos and centralizing good songwriting instead of chops.

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Kunal
I've been battling the flu, but while I lay here dying, I've gone into a David Cronenberg marathon. I've been a fan of his for a long time and watching his films one after the other is a very interesting journey, so to speak. His new stuff that he is doing with his daughter is at another level, if I can get my hands on it. Curious if the community has any Cronenberg movies or stories to tell...

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Alex
Like many kids, my 5 year old is an avid rock hoarder and this has recently led to a desire to get into rock tumbling. I don't remember if I slipped up and mentioned it was possible or if he came to me independently, but I've now spent a couple weeks going pretty deep into the lapidary arts. It's very satisfying watching shabby, dull stones turn into beautiful gems and I'm doing my best not to escalate from $50 hobby starter kit to $1,000 cabbing and polishing setups. I tried explaining to my wife it's an investment, but no luck. Shout out to Michigan Rocks on Youtube for making it all very accessible without skimping on the details.