….write this up now!
Music was something I grew up on… I needed to have it when I was doing something, or just plain chilling out…! got my first walkman when I was still in school and then went on to build a decent enough cassette collection. The craze took off when I got into work, I indulged in a nice CD player and then went onto build a huge collection of audio CD’s ( still have a cupboard full of them)…however, something was still lacking. Yeah.. the stock headphones were crap! utter crap.
My first taste of the better quality cans were the sony’s MDR series back in 2002 - saw it a the sony world showroom (went there to ogle at the home theatre systems ;-) ) for a princely sum of 900 rupees. Unfortunately for me, there was no demo piece… I took the bait and parted with that huge (for a pair of headphones) amount. All my apprehensions were put to rest the instant I plugged them in. I had a new standard for audio quality…!
The next huge jump was the progression to the Shure E-3c’s. I got my first iPod back in 2004 and a few hours of listening led to the same conclusion - even the best pack crappy headphones along with their product. I had spent close to $500 on the iPod and a case. The result - craptacular sound again! A little bit of research led me to the incredibly priced E-3c’s… so I ran back to J&R, plonked the dough down and ran out with it. The sound was great…and I discovered something new…a new class of headphones known as inner ear monitors.
Companies like Bose use active noise canceling on their headphones - the downside is that you need a battery to power all that, plus they are damn bulky - a strict no no! The IEM’s (as they are usually called) address the problem differently. They sit deep inside your ear canal and block out the external noise completely. As a result, you get pure aural nirvana :)
I used the shures non stop for almost 4 years. They were awesome to listen to, tiny to carry around and were imperceptible when you wore them. You would be drowned in your music regardless of what was happening around…!
But something’s gotta give - the rubber insulation on the wiring started to give and the left plug went dead…I was heart broken - I knew nothing available in India at that point was going to match up… not even the bose ear plugs ( btw… they sound terrible and are a whole lot costly at around 7k).
Some researching led me to the Ultimate Ears, site and more specifically to the super-fi series. I was torn between the super-fi EB and the triple-fi. Cost benefit prevailed and I got myself one of those.
…which brings me to this very moment. I found the song that does complete justice to this piece. I haven’t had a chance to listen to my music collection thoroughly, and was just browsing thru the songs… a song had avery nice title - “Begun the end has…” from the Transitions Vol.3 by John Digweed. The song is a total masterpiece and takes you far far away on its soothing, throbbing rythm. On the EB, it sounds even more awesome, thanks to the encapsulated sub woofers on each ear.
I’ve been hearing to that song all day yesterday… yeah.. it’s sweet!!!
p.s - I had to do a laptop write up, but this was sounding so awesome, so “I had to…”
p.p.s - If you think I’m going to have hearing issues due to loud volumes, forget it… I’ve got the ipod at 20% max volume. I can still feel the rumble without really cranking it up :)
so long, good nite :)