MUsic

Oh boy.  Blogging consistently is proving to be even more difficult than I had initially imagined.

In any case.

So I've decided to get myself a pair of headphones on February 18th.  I know the economy isn't doing so well and a lot of us are low on cash, but I wanted to invest in some decent entry-level headphones for casual listening and when I'm studying.

FLASHBACK!

I had some Sony earphones that was used with my Sony Walkman.

Both just died one day.  

I was sad.

Then I got a Panasonic cd-player that was bundled with headphones.

Those headphones were just awfully uncomfortable to wear.  After about a month of enduring those headphones, I got myself some new Sony earphones that were similar to the dead earphones for the Walkman.  I missed those.

After many good hours put into them, the left side of the Sony earphones gave out and I was forced to purchase some new earphones.  I glanced over the specifications on the back of yet another pair of Sony earphones and some other models available in the section of my local electronics store.  In the end, I just purchased some generic earphones for $5.  Years have passed, but they're still with me now and working.

I lent Gordon my cd-player for a trip he was going to take one day, and he returned it to me years later broken.  There went my portable audio device.  But Gordon has always taken responsibility for his actions, and so he and Milton got me the 3rd generation iPod nano on my birthday.  I was quite ecstatic.  Thank you, cousins.

I was primarily using the earphones included with the iPod and the generic earphones occasionally.  They served me well, but I desired better.  Marlon, my roommate, got some headphones last year in September.  I was able to test out his Bose On-Ear headphones on some occasions he allowed or insisted.  Thanks Marlon.  They were a big improvement from what I've always been using.  The bass was booming and I was able to hear independence of instruments that would normally sound blended together and indistinguishable with my earphones.  It was official then that I was committed to getting a pair of headphones for myself.

For a little over a week, I spent some time researching different headphones, reading discussions and reviews on head-fi, and talking to Michael (mung) for some suggestions.  Out of the many headphones, the choices were narrowed down to the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 or Grado SR80.  After much deliberation, I went with the Grado SR80 and purchased them from Music Direct when it was on sale for $75 on February 28th.  Lucky.  Mung's Shure In-Ear Monitors were dying on him and he purchased the ATH-M50 from amazon and a FiiO E5 amplifier from dealextreme. 

My order was backordered and it took 3 weeks before I was able to get my headphones.  I was so excited when I got them yesterday morning.  Out of the box, they disappointed me.  The bass wasn't what I was expecting and just felt like an awkward balance with the mids and highs of songs.  But I kept listening for about two hours straight and it either grew on me, or the burn-in process is really doing wonders for the headphones because I can't seem to pry myself away from them.  I have also been playing with the equalizer and audio settings to try and bring the most out of my experience with the SR80 and I believe I have found a state where I am content with for now.

Before now, I didn't care much about audio formats up until now.  Lossless or not didn't matter, as long as I got the song.  But in preparation for the headphones, I began getting some lossless formats, such as flac and alac.  The difference is significant and astounding.  

I have yet to try the SR80 with an amplifier, but from what people have been saying, it doesn't make much of a difference.  I'll have to ask to borrow mung's amplifier for a little bit to test it.  On the other hand, mung's ATH-M50 with burn-in time together with the FiiO E5 amplifier sounded marvelous.  The bass-boost from the E5 really help bring out the beauty of the headphones.  I tried listening with the bass-boost off, but the music felt lacking.  Mung agreed.

I'm quite happy with the SR80 thus far.  I can hear details that I didn't necessarily hear in songs before, which is great since I like to figure songs out as close as possible.  Drums.  The headphones leak music more than I imagined though, even at minimal volume, but that's what I get for buying supra aural headphones.  Surprisingly, I've been wearing them for about 8 hours straight, with some 5 or 10 minute breaks in between, and didn't feel too much discomfort luckily.  All I do to relieve discomfort was take the headphones off for about 10 seconds to take the pressure off of the headphones pressing against my ears.

I will be looking forward to what the higher end models of headphones have to offer in the future.  But for now, I'm just going to sit back and listen.