Ipod/MP3 magic on the move....

[MrBen]

MP3 files are convenient but sound like shit, losing up to 25% on compression. So after agonising long enough I've just invested in a pair of these beauties after reading THIS amongst other reviews and trying a few out.

I'm not disappointed - these are really very good indeed IMO for the price and will change the way you use your ipod/MP3. You'll listen to it waaaaay much more. I'd almost say its like listening to music in 3D. Or having a religious experience. Especially if you can pick out the the wire brush drumming on that Miles Davis track that didn't otherwise didn't exist. Also great on an 8 hr flight - beautifully cancelling out the mid flight duty free announcement and both engines of a 757.

Still waiting for the next generation quality MP3 format - but these are a decent start.

Caution: Do NOT wear on the late 12 bus back home. You will be mugged.

[????]

Can you hear the Massey Ferguson clunking through to 3rd in the Wurzels "I've got a brand new combine harvester"?

[stevebailey]

Sorry but how can a pair of headphones magically replace the detail lost through compression?

Once it's lost it's gone!

I'm not denying that these may be very good headphones, and I'm in the market for anew pair of 'buds and will definitely check these ones out, but these aren't going to miraculously make everything sound exactly like how the master track would have done, compression is compression, once the details gone it's gone.

Thanks for the heads up on the 'phones though.

[MrBen]

I'm liking your 'phones vibes there Steve. I like to call 'em buds

You're right - they can't replace compression but they can still bring out detail that your standard stock issues don't and underpin it all with a bass that will sing to your soul. And with background noise cancelling to boot.

As Jimmy Iovine says - "You can make bad coffee warm, but its still bad coffee" but these make a huge difference. He likens playing through stock earphones /speakders to playing a Beatles master through a portable tv. Try them out and see for yourself?

I've got the in ear version which retails at 125 squids with phone mic or 92 without. It comes with 10 pairs of different ear bud adaptors for weird shaped ears.

[giggirl]

Are these better than Bose? I have Bose but they need replacing because they're falling to bits after lots and lots of use.

[Jeremy]

At first I thought the MrBen account had been hacked and spammed.

I wonder how much of the price goes towards the celebrity endorsements?

[Brendan]

Get a load of the pretentious arsehole in that article, ?The people we work with spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year getting the sound exactly right.?

Why bother?

It?s the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on marketing telling the vacuous masses what to enjoy that determines what they?re going to buy. It could just as easily be the crazy frog song as the messa da requiem. Sound quality doesn?t matter. They?d buy a recording of Sheryl Cole farting into a can if they were told to. The money spent on production is just knob grease to make those involved feel like artistes and placate them into compliance.

Ps. Fight the power etc?

[Brendan]

And another thing?

Wotthefukis the obsession with bass? It came out of the club scene where pilled up bellends needed the physical stimulus to get their serotonin going and from rap and R&B where they needed a good background thump to drown out how utterly crap and substance-less the rest of it was. Now it?s seems to be the overriding factor no matter what you?re listening to. Bollocks, crap and nonsense.

[giggirl]

Brendan - just for once, get off the fence and tell us what you really think.

[Brendan]

Give us a minute. I?m trying to think of what else is shit about everything and I?ll get right back to you. ;-)

[Brendan]

I suppose and answer could be to just listen to badly produced music. You don?t need fancy earphones to tell that the music you're listening to was recorded in someone?s garage.

[Brendan]

On that note do you want to by one of my band?s eps? I?ve written our name on the CD in marker pen and I used the photocopier at work to make the sleeve.

[Brendan]

Five quid or a fag and a pint of cider.

[giggirl]

?3.50

[????]

What's wrong with garage bands

[giggirl]

Fair enough B but I still need some new headphones because mine are held together with superglue so what to buy?

One plus for Bosse is that they don't leak. I find it really annoying when I'm on the bus and someone has leaky headphones so I try to ensure that mine don't.

[Jeremy]

I just noticed that these headphones are made by Monster Cables. A company renowned for expensive products which provide little or no discernible improvement in sound quality. Hmmm...

[Brendan]

giggirl Wrote:

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> ?3.50

Deal. To be honest most of it sounds like Sheryl Cole farting into a can. But I think there?s a niche in the market for it.

[Brendan]

Anyway I?m looking for new in-ear ones too. Can?t be bothered with the big helicopter pilot ones.* Thing is I?ve tried expensive ones and cheap ones and they both sound the same and both broke after about the same amount of time.

Either way neither of them were any fuken good at revealing the subtle production wizardry underpinning tracks like, Murder the Government and I Hate Led Zeppelin.

*Especially as I don?t have the Clapham standard issue aviators to go with them.

Edit because it's subtle not sublet.

[Jeremy]

Brendan Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Murder the Government

Hey, actually that album's really well produced. Ryan Greene's a wizz behind the desk.

[Brendan]

Well he can fukoff as well.

[giggirl]

So am I OK to replace my falling-to-bits Boses with some new shinny ones then? I'm not remotely gizmo-minded so a yes or no will suffice. I only replace gizmos when they fall to bits, and that would be now. I don't replace them just because a new model comes along; I save my money for more important purchases (shoes).

And Brendan "I hate Led Zeppelin". Well that's just wrong. Also, I?m sure that each and every one of Cheryl Tweedy?s farts has been declared a national treasure and Heat Magazine has a photo-spread lined up. I've absolutely no idea who Murder the Government are but it sounds like an excellent idea so definitely with you on the fukoff call. The ?3.50 is yours when you want it though.

Px

[njc97]

MrBen - you're still fighting a losing battle against mp3 compression and ipod's shit sound quality. Better off getting a player with better sound quality and ripping to flac.

[Brendan]

Or one of these: http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/P10528791.jpg

[Jeremy]

Or one of these

http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/amstrad7000top.jpg