ipod headgear
Ok…I’m getting a little worried. As previously noted, I’m not a fan of the earbuds supplied with my Nano. No problem…I’ve always found included-in-the-box headgear to be lacking with audio devices. Besides, it’s an excuse to visit local electronics stores…always a good thing.
The last three weeks have seen me rockin’ a set of these Sennheiser OMX 70 headphones. I was looking for something that would 1) stay in my ears, and b) sound decent. Since my main studio headphones are Sennheiser, and I like them, I figured it to be a decent bet. $70 later…which I figured was astronomical for earbud style cans, and off I went.
So how were they, you ask? Not bad, as long as you weren’t moving quicker than 5 km/h, or on a bus, or in a room with noise of any kind. In a perfectly quiet listening environment, they sounded great. Nice detail in the top end, acceptable low-end definition. However, once you busted these things out in the real world…read: anywhere other than inside your reading room, they really started to…well, suck. Today is as good of an example as any….riding the bus to work - a perfect stretch of listening time without distraction, right? Wrong. The noise of the bus driving was overpowering my headphones. I had to crank the volume on the iPod to even complete. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. This experience has been duplicated many times in recent weeks… so back to the store they went.
So I decided to move up one full notch in the scale of these things…considering the Shure SE110 earbuds, which are noise-canceling, but instead opting to try the Bose earbuds, which were only $129, instead of $149.
First listens tell me that while the bass end is very much a found thing now…very punchy and perhaps overpowering, I’m missing high-end detail. Grr….
I don’t want to have to use the iPod EQ presets…I want to hear my audio without boosting of any kind. I guess I’ll try these for awhile, get used to them, and then see how they are compared to the Shure offering. I think $150 is where I’ll draw the line….since we’re talking about listening to lossy audio anyhow. Which makes me find my audio collection on my iPod suspect…I might have to re-rip things at a full 320kbps, CBR. Sigh….I had no idea I’d become so picky.
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