New Toys

[octothorpe]

I seemed to have left my headphones at The Eagle the other night. This forced me to use the bundled headphones that came with the iPod. Good gods they suck. They don't stay in my ear, and the block out 0% of the ambient noise, forcing me to crank up the volume. ick.

So I decided to fix that with These...

Shure E4C headphones.



Sonically they *are* better than the E3C headphones I misplaced, so I am a happy camper.

Comments

Ambient noise

[poodler.livejournal.com]

The ONLY thing I like about the ibuds is the fact that I can also hear what's going on around me. Thanks for posting, though, I may check out your choice for an upgrade.

Re: Ambient noise

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah... sonically they're so much better than the bundled headphones, and the Shure earphones come with various ear fittings so you can find a flange that works for your ear canal.

[qnetter]

Of course, there are lots of people who insist that earphones *not* block ambient noise, for work and travel safety reasons...

(Not me, though.)

Have you ever tried the Etymotic 6 and/or 6i?

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally... but really big noises you can here, unless you still insist on cranking the volume.

For the record, with the iPod headphones, I have to crank the volume to 4/5ths max if I am on the streets of manhattan, but with the Shure earphones, the max volume is 1/5th, usually slightly less.

The isolation is *exactly* why I wear them in my office. Of course, you also have the ability to only put on one earphone.

Yay for better quality!

[nanne.livejournal.com]

I wish they were in my price range :-) It would really help with all the classical music I listen too--the iBuds don't have a good dynamics range.

Re: Yay for better quality!

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Of course, MP3s have poor dynamic range as well. I'm curious, what is your encoder and bitrate for your classical music? I've found anything less than 230VBR MP3 is useless, and even at that bitrate, I'm missing some of the more subtle bits that I can hear on the CD with the same headphones.

Re: Yay for better quality!

[nanne.livejournal.com]

I use the apple lossless decoder--not sure about the bitrate. Dynamic range has always been a problem; the only time it was not it was when I still owned a great set of loudspeakers with a beautiful low register and such clear response even when the music was pianississimo. Really nothing beats a live performance, as I noticed when doing the Mahler 2 this summer.

Re: Yay for better quality!

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Well, with the Apple Lossless codec, the bitrate doesn't matter, as you are losing *none* of the dynamic range from your CD.

Luckily, *good* classical recordings have a very high dynamic range. Bad recordings however, have fallen prey to the DRC of pop music, making everything "equally loud", killing the music.

I highly suggest getting a pair of these, or the almost as good, (but lacks a strong and tight bass) E3c.

What a lame excuse get the newer model

[rockey1.livejournal.com]

I know you have had your eyes on the newer model Christopher. If I recall you said after I had ordered mine, (due to your suggestion) like you lost you should have just sold me the ones that you just lost so you could get the upgraded model. Never the less sorry to hear that you have become separated from them. I hate the ones that came with my iPod and love the ones like you lost that you suggested that I buy and did. I know how it must suck to have to go back to the original ones.

Re: What a lame excuse get the newer model

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am *such* a happy camper. The odd thing about the prior headphones... I am not 100% convinced I left them at The Eagle, but I know I had them during dinner, and we went from dinner to the Eagle, where I proceeded to take crap out of my bag. I didn't use them at all on the train ride home, as I just wanted to sleep. I got up the next day trying to find them, to no avail.

OK, I'll ask ...

[joebehrsandiego.livejournal.com]

Did you have your IPod on at The Eagle?

I would seem to be a good way to have one's people-watching, and cancel out annoying bar music and catty chatter from other patrons. ;)

Photo commentary:

I enjoyed the photo of you and Stephen/kitchenbears. I got to meet him (even a short bout of dancing) at Hairrison last summer. He's good people.

I'm goad you liked David's photo that included (part of) me ... all I saw was the double chin. I guess we are often our own worst critics.

Re: OK, I'll ask ...

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

No no... I didn't leave the iPod at the Eagle. That would have been both amazingly funny, and very, very sad. Stephen/kitchenbeard is a very good egg, indeed. He was here over the week-end, but we didn't get together due to a scheduling conflict and a mis-understanding.

[egbubba.livejournal.com]

Cub Daddy got us a pair of those last year. He loves them. I still prefer the Bose, but I have this thing about not liking things jammed into my ear canals. Of course, the Shure headphones are not so damn pricey and a lot less bulky.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I need to get a set of those. Mostly I use buds as to not blot out the ambient sounds, but there are times that I need to.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

I call those days, week-days. My office is very loud (it's a loft, with hardwood floors, and taaaaaaall ceiling. My earphones are my best friend.

It's funny, Terry, the sales lead, sits behind me. She and one of the principals, Jeff, tried getting my attention. I didn't even have any music on (but I did have a white noise generator on), and they had to tap me on the shoulder to get my attention =)

E4C vs. E5C

[fuzzyset.livejournal.com]

Was price the only reason you picked the E4C vs. the E5C? Any tips for where to find the best prices for these babies? The list prices are just unconscionable, but from what I've read, one or the other would be my pick.

Re: E4C vs. E5C

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

With high-end audio, there comes a law of diminishing returns. I make my purchases based on "is the subjective sound quality worth the bump in price". That's how I purchased my B&W Nautilus 800 series speakers, and that's how I purchased the E3C, then the E4C. Shure actually lets you testdrive the earphones, so I checked out the E5C. Yeah, they were fantastic, but I didn't think they were worth the price increase over the E3/E4. (When I got the E3Cs, the E4C didn't exist. The E4C is now more-or-less at the same price point as the E3C *was*.)

As for where to purchase, I always check out google's price comparitor: froogle.com

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

You're such a squire, my lord! :0) Great electronics learning from you. Thanks.