I am going to, for the time being, retract what I've stated about ipod sound quality. I'm going to start mowing lawns to get 40 a week for a while, I figure I'll need earplugs, then figure why not get some good sound isolating earphones. Same idea, but with music inserted. Maybe get some language lessons and do something while I mow.
I had bought Anya a set of Etymotic Research 6 isolators, or some variation of the ER6, and she loves them. Said it was like wearing earplugs.
After several days of searching and reading reviews etc, I settled on a pair of Shure SE210's I figured I'd wait on the 420's or 530's so I'd have something to upgrade to later on.
HOLY FREAKING SHIT
That was easily the best $150 I've ever spent. To ANYONE still using OEM earbuds, ditch them and spend the money on a good set of earphones. I went through and turned off most of the sound processing effects on my players. It's now equalized and a light touch of effect. I think I may start looking at lossless encoding. The difference is unreal, instruments I've never heard on tracks before, I can hear specific effects on instruments, I can separate each one out and listen to it individually.....and I can pick out some of the mp3 artifacts. I can only imagine what the 420 and 530 sounds like.... and what a lossless could do for me.
I am having some trouble getting it to settle on Sharon Den Adel's voice, but I think that's only because she's such a high soprano. I'd read only the 420 really grabbed the highs because it's a separate tweeter and woofer, but I didn't expect her voice to be in that range. Things to look foreward to.
NOTE: These are not for running, cycling, walking, or any other activity where audible warnings are less than 100 decibels. You will not hear them and you will die.
Posted by orion at April 10, 2008 06:48 PM