Leon

Sony's press release says: 1. Can shuffle just the most-played tracks (requires connect player) 2. time machine shuffle - shuffles all tracks from a given year. 3. sports shuffle - feature like Rio's "Entertain me!", compiles a set of music based on a given period of time 4. artist-link shuffle - pulls together artists of similar genre (requires connect player) The new players are scheduled to receive a firmware update in December, which will offer WMA playback. No words on whether the 4/50x will receive the same. And of course, the new players are able to play all the new A3+ bitrates out of the box.

Oh dear, fellow forum members are sooooo competitive. The new 2GB A608 is like almost 5000 yen more than the 4GB iPod nano... ignore me

407, 207.. my mind drifted off to Frenchie car land for a while The Connect Company was set up within Sony in late 2004. Many critics think that, due to the timing, it had no influence on the HD5 and E10x/40x/50x. So this could be the first product from Sony's restructuring/post-Idei phase. The most pressing matter at Sony now is their sagging TV sales... popular opinion has turned from dissing portable audio to dissing the TV line.

I make websites as a hobby. Loosely following the advice of Valerie Casey, who once had a tutorial on her site, I always think long and hard about the mood, the atmosphere, the feelings I want to convey, because web design is always partly about an artistic REpresentation of the content. I take a lot of time to try to mentally amalgamate the site and its visual deployment, because coolness exists only when it serves the site's purpose. I also look for these things in other websites - stylish, low-key, not an ounce wasted on fleeting technology just because someone wants to show-off, functional as the site's purpose demands OR conjures the required emotion. Just so I'm not off-topic: I think a lot of sites are masculine because they want to project a certain image (let's say, trustworthiness, authority). The only favorite site I can think of now is - you'll need the wayback machine for this - Scandinavian Airlines (scandinavian.net) circa 2000. They had the most elegant thing on the face of the internet, and it flows so well from the corporate image they want to convey. Just for fun, here's a couple of projects I've done for myself over the years. 1998 2005

Apple's probably the only electronics/IT company with any amount of paparazzi attention. This isn't the car industry... there's usually next to nothing on the grapevine about other companies, including Sony. When I typed NW-HD6 into google, I found HD5 reviews saying "I hope they change this/make this better on the HD6", so they're not rumors just wishful thinking. Last year the HD3 became available in Japan on December 10, so Sony can pull a holiday product launch sometimes... I don't know, should be wait for the next rocket to come?

Ripped this in A3+ 192 but wondering if I should do 256 instead. 柴咲コウ / 蜜 1.Fantasista 2.浮雲 3.輝石 4.眠レナイ夜ハ眠ラナイ夢ヲ 5.祈り 6.思い出だけではつらすぎる 7.深愛 8.忽忘草 9.忘却 10.いくつかの空 11.冬空 12.月のしずく(RUI) #2 is one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately one of my favorite c/w tracks ( かげろう ) didn't make it on the album.

I try... cause I'm so guilty of not being that sometimes

UPDATE : the silicone tips I haven't used the tips bundled with the CK5. I think they're probably too supple, so the ear canal and the loop together can sometimes "squash" them. Prospective owners may do well to have a set of Sony tips handy (for instance). So I've been using the Sony tips, and the Apple tips. The sound is largely unchanged - the phones itself is the deciding factor I guess. The tips have an effect but it's not overpowering at all. Sometimes the loop will dig into the ear - they're there to prop things up like a tower bar for car suspension, but they're not going to defy gravity/anatomy. Just don't shove it up against the ear, I guess

Okay, lemme talk about the A8 first. I like the A8, and that pretty much means I'm no longer welcome at head-fi... lol. But there's no way to kill the account or anything... I don't want to email a mod or something... anyway The CK5, being inexpensive and canal phone, doesn't have the delicacy of the A8 or E888, etc. The A8 has the delicate timbre that high-end earbuds are required to have (E888 owners will know). It's more impartial - probably not accurate, but it's very clear this instrument is playing in that corner, the second one's fifteen degrees to the north, and so on. Unlike cheaper phones, the details don't obscure the overall sound stage. By comparison, the CK5 is more "peaky", with more extreme highs and lows.** I could be imagining this, but I think it's less "atmospheric" - less of the mood & brood intended by the recording comes through. **not as extreme as the Sony EX, of course.

This AV Watch column talks about mastering differently for music destined to be encoded into something else, separate from the mastering for the CD copy. Tidbit from the mastering guy: he tried mastering once so the output will sound good when encoded for MD, but the rep from one MD manufacturer had a problem with it. If anyone can read Japanese and find it interesting, go ahead, do a synopsis or something... I'm falling short on sleep and I don't even know if anyone wants to read this stuff

Ooh that's right Some lovely choices on her covers album too

That's what kuma said at the beginning - some characters are simply not in the Japanese Kanji library of devices, so they don't display even when the rest show up okay

the fatigue part, I haven't listened to these for long enough yet. I'll definitely have to report back. Some bloggers complained that the loop thing digs into the ear after a while... will have to check that as well.

The earpieces (tips) that came with the CK5: Comparison with the Sony M tip (left) Sony M (left) and AT M (right) The "paper" here seems flimsy

The Why I've seen nothing but positive remarks over these canal phones, plus these are inexpensive: the MSRP is only 3500 yen, and I paid close to that here in taiwan (Japanese residents can probably find it in the 2000-yen ballpark). I bought the white variant, the only color officially distributed by the local importer. The What The CK5 is Audio-Technica's first pair of canal phones, nicknamed P.ear by the company. It features "loop support", a semi-oval soft plastic piece growing from the side of the driver housing. This is supposed to maintain the angle at which the earpieces go into your ears, and also relieve pressure, so that it's not depending solely on the repulsive force of silicone. The look is minimalistic. If you take a pocket knife you can cut off the "loop" and it'll just look like a very oddly retro pair of earbuds. Which IS a Technica family look - I was tempted to buy the EC7 and cut off the ear hanger so it'd just look like retro earbuds The CK5 seems strong enough, but the material used is noticeably cheaper than any Sony canal phone. The cable is angel hair caliber - likely thinner than the infamous Sony ones. But given the price, I'm more than happy to think of it as cheap chic, and I find it more likeable than the Pana HJE50. The How AT's silicone earpieces are quite noticeably thinner/softer than the Sony, Sharp, or Apple ones. They're also smaller. When I first put these phones on, the loop only got in the way, but somewhere along the line I managed to make sense of it. Usually when I use earbuds, they tend to go in at a slant from the rear. With the loop present, I tend to insert the buds straight in, and the buds are right up against the "front" side of my ear canal (the side closer to my face). Or you put the buds in, then rotate them. The loop is up against your outer ear, so as you rotate it will push the housing into position. All in all the "loop support" is a way of making sure you insert these earbuds the way AT intends you to, each and every time I can't say it's a must-have, but it's interesting. I have problems with the size of AT's silicone tips. M seems too small and L I can't seem to fit properly. The obvious fix here is to substitute with Sony tips. First impression The last time I bought an AT phone (the ES5 "Earsuit"), it changed so dramatically during the first few hours of listening, including the overall tone. I don't see the CK5 being as dramatic, but please remember that these words are subject to change - I plan to come back to the thread later to add to the review. The CK5 was pleasant to begin with, but then it got so pleasant it turned into a wide-eyed, uhm, Hot Pocket-eating grin. Unlike the Sonys, or even the Sharp MD33, there's no potential for discomfort. For a pair of canal phones it's very light and airy, like a minivan built extra tall just for the showroom appeal of redundant headroom. There's no sibilance at all, and Damage will be happy to hear that, unlike the Apple in-ear phones, the CK5 sound doesn't feel recessed or "boxed-in". There isn't much bass or low frequencies, it seems, but the center of gravity is very low - they seem to "dive" down very well. One reviewer said the bass reminded him of bass on the Sennheiser MX400/500. If you get these phones and find the low end inadequate, you can use Sony silicone tips - they'll give the bottom end a slight boost. The CK5 is very much a Technica phone in that it doesn't seem to "emote" the sound. By that I mean it doesn't alter the midrange in a way that "tugs at the heartstrings", unlike Panasonic which is all about emotive female vocals. Sony and Sharp canal phones also have this spicing-up to a much lesser extent, but the CK5 appears to do with a "dry" midrange. Not inadequate, it's just straight-forward. It also seems to provide less isolation than the Sonys - I'll have to report back on this. Overall The CK5 is a great surprise. I chose this over the Panasonic and JVC canal phones, so I can't say how well it stacks up to those two. But as far as my ears go, I think we can all skip the EX51, EX71, MD33, or the iPod in-ear phones. The CK5 is one of the most pleasant low-end earphones I've ever come across