Damage had a pair of MDR-XB40

Sorry, no new pithy posts about new year resolutions (way too late for that), or HOPE about change.  I’m getting back to what I do best.  Reviewing the heck out of interesting low to mid-range headphones and DAPs. This time, Damage focuses his laser vision on the MDR-XB40 Earbuds, recently released by Sony in some random fashion to appease the bass head audience.

All 10 of you (I kid, for the 11th self-professed basshead).

Wait, do I still have an audience?

Now that I’ve got you all hot and bothered, should you blow your hard earned $60 for these guys?  Read on.

Read more…

I had wanted to put in a thought about the Sansa Clip/Fuze (apparently, they are the darling DAP of 2008. I should get one before I even think of posting anything about them though). Instead, some splunking around the web resulted in enhancing your NWZ-A72X/82X series though this takes voiding your warranty to some degree. Ready? Good, let’s go, after the jump.  Not your cup of tea, don’t follow the jump.  Instead, read the next post about Spiralfrog. Read more…

Maxell Peanutz, quite possibly the worst and best buy of 2008

Quite possibly, the worst and best buy of 2008.

Why is this the worst buy?  Well, it sounds like your average $2.99 earbuds.  Muddy and terrible, overbearing bass, 1930s radio quality vocals, and quite possibly nonexistant sounds over… 13 or 14kHz range.  Let’s be generous and say 14 kHz range.  WIthout serious EQ action on your source, you will think to yourself, why oh why did I waste $14.99 (or less than $10.00 if you find them on sale) on this peanut of a headphone?  After all, you can get some seriously good peanuts and a lot of it for the same price (about a year’s worth if you shop around a bit).

But wait a minute…  Are those equipped with double tipped flanges?  And are they compatible with my MDR-EX Style earbuds?

What has been very interesting the last 4 to 5 years is that the eartips on many of these semi-canal earbuds uses the same cushions/flanges/tips as the Sony EXs.  Now, the tips on these guys are slightly (ever so) smaller than the tips on the EX style (and other EX tip using) earbuds.  However, not so much smaller than it makes fitting the double and triple flange tips from the Peanutz impossible, mind you.  Just a little elbow grease goes a long away.

And the new double and triple flanged tips gives you additional isolation and fitting to the EX series.  The double (think small and medium tips glued together for a quick visual) brings extra bass to the party, the visceral, deep, meaningful bass.  There’s a bit of clarity in the mids and the trebles as well, but not as much as you’d suspect.  That’s actually enhanced a bit (not much though) by the triple flanges, which we will get to in a moment.  The enhanced isolation, ever so slight, however, is what most people will be looking for with the users of the EX series and the double flanges.  These Peanutz bring increased isolation and bass to a series of earbuds (mainly the EX-82/5 and 90) which could use a bit of bass boost here and there where its sorely needed.

The triple flanges (think some of those triple flanges pressure relieving earplugs) gives better treble and mid-range performance, though not as much as you think.  The bass, however, sees very little benefit from these tips, though isolation increases ever more so for the triple flanges.  Pair these with the noise cancelling EX style buds and you’ve got yourself a serious contender for a cost effective noist reduction earbuds (see Philips).

And with a small investment of $10 ~ $16, you’ve just given yourself a very nice upgrade.  How nice?  Well, how about entry level In-Ear Monitor level of isolation type upgrade?  Mind you, the EX and EXstyle buds are nowhere near the IEMs in terms of actual monitoring.  But for increasing your enjoyment?  Well, every little bit helps.

Too bad the actual Peanutz are beyond help.  Had the Peanutz sounded actually decent, it would’ve been gravy.

Well, the rumors of his Steveness death was, indeed, greatly exaggerated.  What wasn’t exaggerated, was, the greatness of the 4G Nano.  On the surface, the 4G Nano is bee’s knees (and just as sharp as one).  On the surface, the Nano is set to be one of the most powerful and feature rich DAP to grace the world.

Not. So. Fast. My. Friends (to borrow the parlance of one sportscaster).

The Zune made some noise the day before, and other DAPs has been making noise as well.  Sadly, since they do not bear the beloved fruity logo, those features for the most part went unnoticed.  Let’s review the new features one by one and see where the New Nano stacks up.

1) Accelerometer.  Allows for use of Coverflow.  For the most part, I have no qualms against Coverflow.  However, it has two weaknesses, both of which I noticed on my Touch and on other’s 3G Nanos:

• Album Art and Tagging.  Let’s face it, it’s heavily reliant upon the coverart being properly tagged along with other tags for it to be a compelling feature.  Without it, it becomes an exercise in fuility when fumbling over to find the right album.
• Clickwheel.  On the Touch, the Coverflow is very neat with the touch screen interface.  I didn’t find the experience to be nearly the same with Clickwheel.  Optimized software may change this.

The 2D interface used by the Zune and the Sony Network Walkman makes navigation a breese using the D-Pad.  Even on a bloated Zune 30 (80 as well), using the D-Pad, one can easily find the album, song, or artist.  The 4G Nano’s new navigational interface (Browse Album/Artist while playing) now puts it on the level field against other DAPS.  It’s about time.

2)  Genius.  Also known as SensME (Sony’s new generation Walkman), Rhapsody Channel, or Zune’s newfangled Social Community/Personal Picks.  All of these are designed to sell songs over the internet.  Genius can be very compelling with a subscription plan.  If there ever was one for iTunes.  All of these “features” (read gimmick) remains to be seen, though the Zune’s Social is probably the most compelling out of the three.

3)  Shake Shake Shake.  Sansa Shake for kids grown up.

4)  Vertical Base.  Goes back to the well tested and well loved format.

The Nano is a solid DAP to be sure, but it lacks the WiFi of the Zune, the Bluetoothiness of the Sonys, and finally catches up with both of them in features and navigation.  Welcome to 2007.  We hardly missed ye.

And if you are reading this, that means you’ve just survived the Large Freaking Hadron Collider.  Congrats.  The world goes on and on and…

Wait.  What’s Damage doing, reviewing albums?  Going back to my previous post, it’s more of the realization that the gears are there for one thing and one thing only-delivery of media to my brains.  May as well start reviewing some of the content that belongs on the DAP as well as the gears themselves. 

Unabashedly, I can say that R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands.  However, they’ve been not the same since 1998, when Bill Berry left the band, and left R.E.M. as a three legged dog.  A three legged dog is one thing, from what I can gather: earnest.  In their earnestness they’ve recorded and released four albums thus far:

Up was a very interesting album, and though nowhere near the level of its predecessors (the very underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi, the glam filled fun but ultimately vain and hollow Monster, and the everyone’s favorites Automatic for the People and Out of Time) it was enough to give one hope.  That future of R.E.M. in whatever form and shape without Mr. Berry, was bright.

Then came Reveal and the rather dreadful Around the Sun. 

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A while back, I had reviewed the iPod Shuffle 2G, and was fairly impressed with the whole deal.  Aside from being dead simple to operate, the overall sound quality and presentation was agreeable.  Sure, it won’t win the best DAP evar prize as awared by whatever committee gives away those prizes these days, but it has made a very compelling case for it to be the best entry level DAP.  This over any other iPods, Sansas, Zens, Nanos, and Touches, which all require at least a bit of (even if minimal) technical knowledge.  The true test of the beginner DAP lies in how well a total beginner (a.k.a. the n00b) handles the Shuffle.  Read more…

Things are not the way it seems.  For instance, take the new Zune update.

Sure, things have changed here and there, for the better.  For instance, you can actually edit your metadata.  Figure that one out.  And then, you get yourself a gapless playback.  Finally, the Zune social gets a leg up on this update as well, being able to carry your friend’s cards (and their recent playbacks and faves) along with their music library (space permitting) if you have the said songs in your collection or Zune subscription pass.  This then opens up your library and your listening habits.  That is not bad at all.

However, the software still remains lackluster.  Windows Media Team had the right idea, with the breadcrumb interface well thought out, easy way to edit your data, and generally better thought out in terms of organization.  It’s less of a spreadsheet paradigm that iTunes and other media library manages insist that you use (though it is still one of them Excel sheet at heart).  Zune software, however, still remains quite disorganized and is still a headache to deal with time to time.  A Great deal of tasks are automated and this does help with not having to deal with the mess.  But when it comes down to it, the Zune Software still needs work.

The player, on the other hand, still a joy to use, and sounds terrific.  Go figure, they’ve got the Walkman Curse, right down to the t. 

Quick Hit-Sony MDR-ED12:  For those of us not quite ready to shove stuff down our ear canals.  Cheap as dirt (when they are on sale for $10 at Circuit City or the like), and sounds like it.  The driver housing (16mm) is too large to be worn comfortably for a long period of time.  Either that, or I have very small ears.  Whatever.  Too much bass that’s either bloaty, muddy, or both coupled with middling vocals and shrilly highs makes this unwise for most.  To make matters worse, the SQ changes dramatically with the seal (how flush can you get the driver to the canal holes). 

Not recommended for the price of $25, but if you got one, make your life slightly better by removing the rubber gasket and snipping off the nozzle and housing.  Once the drivers are exposed, cover them with a foamie from Radio Shack and use the gasket to give your ED12 a seal.  Then you have a serviceable pair of earbuds.  This does help to widen the sound stage a bit and seems to give it a better balance.  This still suffers from weak vocals (very recessed in terms of volume and staging, or position), especially for female vocals. 

If nothing else, you get a pair of Earbuds that looks a bit like EX85s.  And I guess that’s something to be thankful for.

I guess.

Final Grade: C- (As is), C (Modded)

Oops, I did it again.  I’ve broken your heart, and lost in the game.  No, I’m not flashing back to early 2000s, when Britney and Lindsay were nice and pure, a perfect role model for any up and coming teenager idols wannabes. 

However, the iPod Shuffle (2nd Gen, clip on) was intriguing enough to elicit a purchase.  After a month of usage, I have to say that iPod Shuffle is dead simple.  But within that simplicity lies a…  well, a very simple vehicle for playing back your MP3s.  No advanced playlisting, no fancy smart or intelligent shuffle, no videos, no wifi.  Pure and simple MP3 playback.

Sure, the Zen Stone plus had this too.  But it was marred by dumb mistakes here and there (navigation being the key faux pas).  The shuffle is an interesting study of media playback.  Do you let your musical destiny be controled by the fwd button (shuffle), or do you take to predestination (playlist)?  Do you dare let iTunes control your musical discovery like a whimsical muse (autofill) or do you take that predestination concept to the max?

No matter your philosophy, you have a very decent playback device.  Nothing fancy, just you and your music.  And some rather notable hiss, though you do not get any Noise cancellation like you did with other MP3 player (and the only one in the market to do so…  pity).  Aside from that, it’s a serviceable unit.

In a way, it’s more Zen then the “Zen Stone,” if you like to think of it that way.

The Good: Small and compact.  Even a zombie can enjoy it.  While eating brains.
The Bad: No LCD.  Battle with one’s inner self may occur as result of thinking too much about Music and predestination or something.
The Ugly:  The new pastel colors.  Hisses just as loud as a certain Sony unit, but no Noise Cancelling powers like that of said unit.

Grade: B-.  To be honest, there is no way the Shuffle will get anything higher than a B.  The shuffle makes a terrific complementary unit to your main iPod or MP3.  The fact that you can use other programs to sync to it only helps.

Sure, but do they make your music danceable?

Clari-fi, the inline adapter that makes your MP3 cleaner, by removing spikes.  Yep, someone stuck some highpass filter in there or something, I guess.

To quote these good people:

• Removes harsh artifacts from digital audio, which simultaneously protects hearing and produces a richer and clearer sound, while retaining the original acoustic tonal quality.
• Allows volume to be turned up to a pleasant level without inducing ear fatigue.
• Allows people to enjoy the improved quality and smoothness of the vocals and instruments in jazz or classical music. Others may enjoy being able to crank up the volume of hard rock or hip hop without abusing their ear drums.

For $60, it’s all yours.  Have at it.

Via: Wired

The JVC Marshmallows.

Or the best $20 investment you can make for your DAP. If you need or want a professional level IEMS, these ain’t it. You need to invest at least $100 for those, and SHURE or Super-Fi would gladly assist in making your wallet that much lighter.

But, for replacing that sad, pack in buds from Timbuktu (which cost Sony or Sandisk about $0.03, adjusted for inflation), these will to the job. Take the EX90s, add a bit more isolation and bass, take away about 25% of the soundstage and make the sound duller, especially in trebles. And you got the Marshmallows.

Wait, wouldn’t it make the sound very ugly? Not really. These have synergy up the wazoo, though not necessarily with iPods and iPod Shuffles. It rather disappoints with Apple gears a bit. However, mate these with more bright and flavored DAPS, say the Sony Walkmens in your life, and the synergy between the two will make you glad you’ve invest a bit extra in these.

These are also your gateway drugs into the world of IEMS. Using the foamies (reminiscent of Shure’s Black Olives) you get the experience of what wearing IEMs are like. From there, well, if you follow the road of wallet lightening… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

These are not professional IEMs, they are fun pack in replacement buds meant to be used as a daily war unit (aka beaters). For that purpose, they more than fill the role. Just not so well with Apple Gears.

Grade: A-/B (iPod gears)