Click in, phase out

בקטגוריות: Uncategorized

16 Dec 2006

As far as I’m concerned, there are three basic types of earphones that bear consideration. The first is the classic bow-shaped on-ear headphones, ranging from the crappy and cheap to the behind-the-head type to the big, ear-hugging the-world-inside-your-ear type that can really be quite wonderful. The problem with them is that they are usually not very comfortable. They squish your hair or annoy the nape of your neck. They’re made of cheap breakable plastic, or they’re heavy on your head.

On the other hand, we have the ear-bud variety. These are either the simple padded sitting-in-your-ear variety, which tend to fall off a bit for anyone with a not-entirely-http://www.mountainzone.com/gear/assets/ultimateears.jpgstandard ear shape, to the ridiculously high-end ultra-slick sound-isolating somewhat-organic models that can fellate your inner ear, or at least should with what they cost. Since I fall into the non-standard ear category (which encompasses, I suspect, a decent percentage of the population) I don’t really like this kind. They’re fine, usually, but too much of a hassle. That is, unless I go for a custom-molded pair that’s cast in the shape of my own inner ears, which seems not only totally over-the-top but also quite distressing to look at – not to mention the $500-$900 price tag.

This is why my favorite type is the ear-snapping http://www.inkandpixel.com/store/images/MDRQ22LPsony.jpgclip-ons. They’re on-ear like the first kind, but they don’t have the bow messing up my carefully applied coiffure. They stay up close and personal on my ear, without making themselves unwelcome in my ear canals. They can be light and unintrusive.

But I think my favorite part of these headphones is the cyborg-ish aspects. You don’t simply put them on – you install them on your ear. They click into place on their specially-prepared sockets and start working. They don’t fall out like the earbuds and don’t feel heavy and clunky like the headphones. They make you feel all modular and extensible, as if all you’d need to start seeing in infrared is clipping on an extension to your glasses. Add a special pair of gloves and you can suddenly juggle. In the words of that great bard of our age, Keanu Reeves: “I know kung fu!”.

5 תגובות על Click in, phase out

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luckluster

16 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 20:36

The 3rd type indeed looks like the best of both world in theory. I’ve never seen nor heard about it before, so I should get them.

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iod

17 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 06:18

Maybe it’s the shape of my own ears, but that last time always annoys me. I keep trying to adjust it so it doesn’t press down on my ear where the clip is, and I always end up breaking the clip, meaning I can’t use them anymore.

I prefer the earbuds ones.

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yggdrasil

17 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 06:30

That’s because you’re a mutant! A freak of nature! Your ears are abominations before the lord!

Hmm, possibly I’m being too harsh here.

Truth be told, I know quite a few people who don’t like the clip-ons. They fall of theirs ears or pinch their skin. However, since I wasn’t interested in responsible journalism and was just doing a puff piece, I figured I’d just leave that out and force my views upon the world.

I may be overestimating the power of this blog.

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iod

17 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 06:46

No, no, you’re perfectly right on both counts. Still, I’m older than you, so you must show me respect and ignore the huge bulging horror that is my ear.

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themoniker

17 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 13:57

I got a pair of the third kind along with a pair of earbuds with the “MP4” player my dad gave me. Unfortunately, although they were pretty, the handle of one of the ear-covers snapped while it was still in my bag, before I even got to try them out: It took me a while to stop considering the MP4 player as a cheesy portable video player and start viewing it as a rather neat MP3 player with 4 times the capacity of the one I was using at the time; in the meantime it languished in my bag with its accessories, and those pretty headphones with their ridiculous cheap plastic earhooks did not survive.
What I’m trying to say is that those are really fragile things, and that’s not a good feature in a portable music player accessory.

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