Part One
My bus ride every day is really tedious and I’m not very patient. Or I’m not that kind of patient. I’m very patient when it comes to doing something that seems to have a purpose like learning something new or repeating something until I get it right. I don’t have the kind of patience that lets me easily endure a five mile bus ride that takes anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour, depending on traffic and the number of motherfuckers that pull that damn cord. Breathe. With this in mind, I decided to buy a pair of earbuds so I can listen to music. Why didn’t I do this sooner? Mostly because I would usually rather listen to silence than anything else and I kept stubbornly hoping, perhaps naively, that at least one bus ride would offer me a surreal silence, with dozens of people averting each other’s gaze, sitting in respectful quiet. Of course that never happened.
I read a few reviews on the internet, hoping to get the best sound for my money. Several people recommended the Sennheiser CX300 and that appealed to me because the best studio headphones I’ve ever used were Sennheisers. And these certainly have the right price. I set out to find a pair somewhere in this city.
According to the Sennheiser website, the only place I could find them around here would be at Best Buy, so I went down to a Best Buy to check them out. When I got there, though, I was alarmed to find that they charge more than twice what I would pay online. Ridiculous. I laughed to myself (Note: never out loud because otherwise people think you’re crazy) and headed home to order them online and brave the possibilities of the much-less-than-competent DC postal carriers. However, when I got home I discovered that Gizmodo had done an earbud comparison a couple years ago and the Sennheisers didn’t fare so well. Instead, it looked like the Shure earbuds, while much more expensive, had the best price/quality ratio. So I upsold myself and ordered the Shures. I’d like to report here that they sound good, if maybe a little lighter in the bass than I would like.
Of course, just a day after I got them I noticed these comparatively inexpensive earbuds which supposedly have lots of bass and are made out of wood. I love the way wood sounds. I think this is because I grew up listening to music on high-end (and probably stolen) speakers in heavy wooden cabinets, so wood just sounds right to me. Well hell, why not buy these too? They aren’t so expensive. I would like to be reporting to you just how good or bad they sound, but Amazon mailed them to my old address, because some idiot must have picked the wrong address when filling out the order page. As a result, I probably won’t get them for several weeks. I guess I’ll have to make due with the perfectly adequate Shures.
Part Two
I would like to listen to ktru while on the bus. Along with cars, that’s the sort of place that people listen to radio. It’s just the right thing to break up the monotony of driving–or the monotony of watching someone else drive, in my case. But since I don’t live in Houston anymore, the only way I can listen to ktru is on the internet and mobile internet radio is a real pain, with poor sound quality. The only way to get good quality audio on the internet is to have substantial bandwidth and mobile bandwidth is considerably less than substantial. To avoid the buffering and skipping, you have to use a reduced bitrate, which is fine for talk, but sounds like a messy wash for music. And even though you may be using a low bitrate, the stream will still skip. You may be chewing through less data, but your carrier still can’t keep up. And woe is you if you have a data cap. I’m somewhat lucky because I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan from my carrier, but these days carriers are eliminating those plans in favor of tiered data plans. Many people would have to seriously consider whether they want to listen to internet radio at all if it meant using up all of their data allotment. It all makes you not want to listen. I don’t know who thinks that internet radio is a viable alternative to terrestrial radio, but they are misinformed.
Part Three
Instead of listening to ktru because of technical limitations, I have begun listening to things in my collection that I haven’t listened to in a long time. One of these things is Son Volt’s Trace, their first album after Jay Farrar left Uncle Tupelo. I can’t say that I like the rockers on the album so much, but the slow songs which comprise most of the album have the kind of crushing melancholy that I look for in a song. Oh sure, everybody likes the occasional pop earworm or loud guitar rock anthem, but slow the tempo down, throw in a weepy steel guitar, and wrap the whole thing in lyrics about death and I will listen again and again. I imagine that won’t come as much of a shock to anyone. I don’t think my sad bastard proclivities are that unusual–everybody has at least a little bit of a melancholy streak in them, otherwise sad songs wouldn’t exist–but I do tend to favor those songs, probably more than most. So I’m glad those songs exist and I’m glad that I have Trace around to listen to when I want a good bummer.
Those earphones look interesting. I’m curious to know how the wood ones work out.
Not that I use the in-ear kind much. Only if I have to work somewhere onsite but with completely autonomous work (which is why I don’t use them much since I can usually do that kind of work from home).
Otherwise I’ve not been into earphone wearing for walking around, commuting, biking, running etc. I have a problem with shutting out the sonic environment.
I remember when the iPhads came out with those white cords. I was taking the train a lot. All the fashonistas were wearing them (hmmm odd, I don’t remember you listening to music on the train before). I thought many of them must have been struggling with what to play; now that their fashion accessory actually had a function. I see cords less now. People do other things with their iStuff. There’s even a psa poster on the trains now designed so you’re reading an iPhone screen –letting you know you should pay attention to your surroundings from time to time less somebody steal your purse or you walk on to the third rail.
I’m gonna check out that Son Volt –been in to slow and heavy country.
OMG OMG the wood earbuds are by a company called MEElectronics! MUST BUY THESE!
I noticed that and it’s definitely a selling point. Earbuds are a much better product to bear your surname than the ones that bear mine. Those products include stationery and toilets.
Years and years ago, Trace was my go-to album when I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to listen to, and then I listened to it so much I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I also recently picked it up again after not having heard it for at least a year, though I didn’t make it quite to the end.
And Danny is seriously freaking out over how those earbuds have MEE printed on them. Though it’s still not nearly as cool as Angela Instruments.
Wow, Angela Instruments has a sweet logo. It would look especially good drawn on the paper cover of your middle school textbooks.
All my notecards and thank-you cards are made by Crane, and so are my toilets. The stationery is fantastic and it’s the only kind I’ll use, but the toilets are *ahem* crappy.
I can’t get earbuds to stay in my ears. I’ve often wondered if i’m doing something wrong (they seem simple enough to use), or if my ears are just misshaped in some odd way.
As for namesake companies, i have to say I was disappointed that Roberto’s Winds was not the fart-in-a-jar company i was hoping it would be.
I can’t get the ones that come with iPods to stay in my ears, but the kinds with the little rubber or foam tips are meant to be shoved into your ears like earplugs, so they stay put pretty well.
I think this is because I grew up listening to music on high-end (and probably stolen) speakers in heavy wooden cabinets, so wood just sounds right to me.
Is this a case of one wood and one wrong make a right? What other booty did you grow up with?
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I have been using Shure Triple Flange Sleeves over various Shure earphones for the past four years, and I credit them with saving me from becoming one of those obnoxiously loud New Yorkers, deaf to all normal-voicerange conversations.
The wood ones look really cool and I love the graphics with the atomic energy symbol for Angela Instruments.
Streaming versus podcasting- does anyone know the copyright differences between the two? It’s also worth pointing out that receiving an FM signal is free, while one usually has to pay to have enough bandwidth on the internet for music.
So long as you have something worth listening to in your market on a terrestrial radio station (a big/huge “if” in most cases), your signal will currently be better and cheaper than streaming an internet signal from the same station (or a different one). Especially if you’re comparing mobile case uses (e.g., a car/bus ride).
As I’m the only one here who’s positively mentioned streaming radio recently, I assume I’m the “misinformed” one Justin is referring to.
But I’m not seriously arguing this point. It’s kind of a straw man. The reality is that terrestrial radio is competing against a panoply of options (including old tech, such as CDs), and it faces a future in which those options are only going to become more diverse, technologically feasible, accessible, and attractive to consumers.
But I concede that if 1) you had a perfect radio station that were going to last forever in its current format 2) it was all you wanted to listen to and 3) you weren’t ever going to leave its service area, it would be hard to beat FM/AM access to that station. That’s true now, and probably in the future.
I was actually referring to Rice’s president because he keeps making the argument that ktru is not going away, they will still be on the Internet. That is the same as going away for anybody who listens to radio in their car (i.e. most people).
There is no straw man argument here. Internet as a replacement for FM is unsuitable for the reasons I described. You seem to be arguing that Internet is preferrable because it gives you more options, which is really immaterial in the argument for whether ktru’s transmitter should be yanked out from under them.
Fair enough. Apologies.
I don’t know anyone who’s said that KTRU’s better off without its transmitter. Or that a streaming station is just as good as over-the-air. In fact, I think even Leebron would have to admit that’s not the case. I think he’s actually saying “take it or leave it.”
But I suppose I could be wrong. He might instead be saying that streaming internet radio will eventually, and perhaps soon, be better than over-the-air. I guess I’d have to agree with you and Danny that, especially where cost is concerned, it seems “far fetched”. Certainly in the near term, that won’t be true.
How is the bass on those triple flange covers? It seems you have to get a good seal with the Shures, otherwise you end up with about as much low end as the stock Apple earbuds and those flanges seem like they would give a worse seal.
According to this [pdf], you don’t need need a public performance license for podcasts. Or at least, as of 2007 you don’t. This seems weird to me.
whoa heidi, i started looking into buying those sleeves, but do they only work on the SE model headphones? those run over $100 for the cheapest, a bit over my budget for earbuds….
I got mine for around $95 from Amazon, including tax and shipping. That’s pretty pricey, but they sound way better than most earbuds, they stay in your ears, and they will probably last a long time. I have an SM-57 mic that is around twenty years old and has taken much abuse, so one of the things I’m expecting is for these earbuds to be similarly rugged. Or that’s what I tell myself.
The triple flange covers work to block out all external noise, so the bass is freaking awesome and one can keep the volume really low. No comparison to the Apple earbuds- I wouldn’t touch those things.
If KTRU isn’t particular about which municipality (to use the term loosely) to which they broadcast, there are 147 “cp”‘s on the market come March. Starting bids are dirt cheap compared to what they got for Houston 91.7.
147 might sound like a lot –and 27 are in Texas– but take a look at the markets. Blossom, Tx anyone?
I am tempted to rally all my DJ friends and set up shop in Key Largo. 10k opening bid.
Key Largo? Hmm. Sure, I’m in.
For $1500 i’d be willing to go into the radio business. the one in Marquez is $5k, but it’s right between Houston, Dallas and Austin… maybe we can turn Marquez’s FM 84.5 into the band stopover that’s always been needed between those cities.
Roberto, you might not need the triple flange sleeves where you live. The endless sirens, screeching bus brakes, accelerating diesel engines, jackhammers on city sidewalks, and grinding of steel on steel as subways pull up to their platforms take quite a toll on my hearing/nervous system. In the winter, it actually gets better because the snow absorbs some of the sound. I’m too embarrassed to say how much I spent on my earphones, but I think they’re worth every penny.
Justin, back to buses- there are a number of them between New York and D.C. upon which you can test your cell carrier’s streaming capabilities and those nifty earphones: Bolt Bus, Apex Bus, and Hola Bus. Personally, I would choose Hola Bus because of their goofy logo.
I rode the Apex bus to Philly last year and, other than locating the alley that it departs from, I had no problems with it. Well, there was the precocious prattling of a pair of Penn pupils, but you can’t really blame Apex for that.
I got some Bose earbuds for Christmas a few years back. holy moly those things were BADASS. They had a perfect balance of bass with everything else. So clear. I think they were $90, tho. But I’d buy them myself again. (If I could hear worth a shit, that is)