April 10, 2008
Shure, why not?
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.
