ear plugs

interesting. i had seen them before, going around greenbelt, at the abenson avant place.

of late, have been looking for a fairly good set of earphones as the somic sm002 headset/mic that i use at work is showing signs of age (a distinct rattling when playing higher frequencies). granted, the somic was chosen primarily for the low price; but it's been a pretty decent performer all the same.

the best earphones i've ever used (not owned) were a pair of sennheiser's at the old studio -- but they cost a bundle, and not affordable at the present. i did, once, get a low-ish-end sennheiser with enhanced bass response (meant for dj's), but that selfsame characteristic made for ear fatigue over long durations. i ended up passing it on to my youngest brother, whose younger ears i figure could appreciate the booming performance.

recently -- and another addition to the unaffordable column of things-i'd-like-to-get -- i'd been looking at the bose quietcomfort line of noise-cancelling earphones. other than the breath-taking near-30k price point, the other detail that gives me additional pause about the matter is the fact that they are powered earphones. after some thought, of course they would be. something has to drive the noise-cancellation circuitry after all. so they have, i think, detachable lithium battery packs that give about 15 or so hours of, well, quiet, to enjoy music by.

so that'll be another rechargable thing to stick into a socket somewhere sometime. man, these things can add up.

but then again, not like i'm getting those things anytime.

which brings me to the ear plugs. bose has some in-ear earbuds, priced in the 5k range. um. a4tech has a similar pair (naturally without patented bose technology etc), for 499 pesos.

hmm. go with the low low price.

i tried 'em yesterday, here at work. amazing. you actually stick them in your ear and they stay put by virtue of a rubber doohickey that seals and suspends the thing in your ear canal. and that seal also manages to remove most of the ambient sound around you.

now, you may ask, why go for the in-ear design? well, i've used other earbuds before, but there's something about the structure of my left ear -- no matter the design (or even size) of the "bud," it keeps falling out.

the performance is quite good, and the noise isolation too.

...but for all that, the selfsame isolation would make it a dangerous thing to be using in the great outdoors with your mp3 player while, say, jogging -- you won't hear anything coming.

so: here in the office -- or at home, good. outdoors, the isolation is both a boon, and in the wrong circumstances, well, you can likely extrapolate...