Damage

Etys? Ewwwwwwwwww~ We demand bass around here. Like the Super FI flavored Bass!

The PortaPro's can occassionally eat hair for breakfast. I know it's eaten bits of pieces of my scalp on the occassion. If you're scared of the PortaPros, I'm going to recommend the KSC35s; Clip-Ons, but they are essentially black PortaPro's sans the headband w/ appetite for hair. And as for the SR60s, they're strictly stay at home set of headphones. Not because they're one ugly set of cans, mind you. They leak in a lot of sound from the outside, so they require a quiet environment to get the most out of them. Once you do get over the looks, you'll find one of the best set of cans for sub $100 (in wide open sound, fairly fast trebles, and probably not as bass heavy as other cheaper phones). Remember the Ugly Little Duckling? Mmmhmmm.

It's OK, young padawan... Erm... Yea... My knowledge of such things is also limited when compared to real grognards (such as Dex Otaku and Bangraman). However, as with many things in life, the more you're willing to experience new things, the better you get. Besides, what this place needs is a woman's touch.

Oh, now them clowns want posting rights on the DG? Nevar!! You, on the other hand, why not?

Well, I was thinking yes only if you throw in your iPod and NH3D. I'll throw in a Nano to sweeten the deal with extra iBuds. And extra clown noses.

So, what do you want to trade?

Fear the graphics powerhouse that is my Computer: Athlon XP 2500+ Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB and the 1GB of Uber RAM POWER!1! Hey, as so long as it can run the CPU Hog that is the Windows, I'm happy.

Hmm, I wonder how many of us are in the Greater L.A. Area? There's at least three of us in the area, including me. Used to commute on the 10 daily...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/25/apple-p...ching/#comments See comment no. 1. When further pressed for comment, he had only this to say: " ahahah it's so there. i mean, how dcan you not see it." Conclusion, your webmaster has lost his mind.

I guess no one told the spambot about the friendly and respectable businesspersons in Russia... LOL

The EX series, JVC In-Ear Buds, Senn CXs, Sharp MD33s, Panasonic HJE series, UE SuperFi3's and SuperFi5's all use the same universal buds. Of all of these, the ones provided by SuperFi's are best in terms of quality, IMO. Also, the SuperFi makes double flanges which provides additional isolation, and foamie tips, which are tops in comfort and may provide extra isolation to boot. You can purchase them either directly from here.

It helps when your camera phone has an actual focusing ability, unlike most camera phones w/ fixed focus length. This was one of the reasons why I shelled out the big $ for this phone rather than saving the money for a different gear.

Estimates put it about 500000 altogether. Though, I thik the actual might be more than 500000. There were still people streaming on Wilshire at 6:00 PM in large forces. By the way, all the pictures were taken with the W800i then resized by Flickr. No other processing took place.

Today is May Day, the first of May where there are protests and demonstrations, usually in support of communist/socialist cause everywhere else but in the US. However, this May Day was rather special in the U.S. in that there were several large protests in L.A; Chicago, New York, and other large metropolitan area. As luck would have it, the largest of these marches were helds just several blocks due south of where I lived. Having my phone-camera handy, I took these snapshots. You can see the entire album with my notes on flickr here. Here are some pictures for those of you who hates flickr with a passion: And my favorite. I ask this as a favor to the mods, that should it even have a hint of going out of control, please close it down fast.

Compared to the even the lowest model of the SA line, the EX90s are quite inferior in many ways. There's no doubting that. However, the MDR-SA phones are almost heads and shoulders above many phones that I've used that are within the price range (say, near $100 ish). Again, the closest phones that match these (and outright exceeds them) are the more expensive Super-Fi 5 Pros, which uses two discreet drivers per ear vs. single drivers or the MDR-E888s, which had a lifespan of about 3 hours total, so I can't really directly compare those and the EX90s. Though I will say that the Mids/Vocals are still recessed compared to the much cheaper HJE50s. Though the flaws on the HJE50s are much more glaring when comapred with these (granular and harsh trebles, crappy durability). Also, I should note that the soundstage sounds much more "3D" ish than the other semi-IEMs of the EX and the like. There's a bit of depth/height separating that's evident here than the EX series (which generally squashed everything in 2D plane, more or less). And they do sound more "open," or at least as open as a closed set of cans get, I suppose. In a way, the EX90s do address the issues that EX71s and by extension other EX series suffered, which were too much bass, too harsh trebles, and near nonexistant mids. If you're upgrading from the EX71s and are determined to stick with Sonys, then these are a good pair, despite their price tag. And hell, they outperform the more expensive Shure E3s with better overall balance; the E3s are very lacking when it comes to bass, but it can be fixed with some EQ dabbling. However, to compare these with the SAs are like comparing the Chevy Cobalt with Corvettes. This is, very much in a way, slapping on the Earjams on E888s, as someone else probably noted elsewhere (most likely either here or Orange Board). But the Earjams, scream horrid execution in every way and manner. Again, these are very fresh out of the box (about 5 hours now), and may take some time to break in fully. Considering that the EX71s do change in characterstics after many hours, I'd see what happens after few days/few hundred hours of burn in...

You can now purchase the EX90LP at your local Circuit City for $99. Plus Tax. Quick observations, you can also find my post at the Orange board if you wish. 1. They blow the EX71s right out of the water with better balance of sound throughout, though the mids sounds still a bit clustered out of the box. The harshness of the trebles and the bloated bass of the EX71s have been more or less eliminated. Mids are much more pronounced vs. the EX71s, however compared to the cheaper Panasonics, they're still a bit recessed or clustered. Bass is very reminiscent of the Super-Fi 5 Pros, which are 2.5x the price. 2. The nozzle filter's been changed to a mesh. If the pictures from Sony's materials are to be believed, then the designers did a bit of surfing on the head-fi, as they use the "foam" mods favored by most members at that forum. The new mesh material, however, will more or less eliminate the "clogged nozzle" problem that was fairly common on the Orange Board. 3. These are less comfortable for my ears because of the enlarged drivers. Kinda like shoving a Griffin Earjam'd iBuds. However, unlike the Griffin Earjam'd iBuds, they sound much better overall (the Earjams, for the record, both sucks and blows, an amazing feat). 4. Quick Edit: Highs seems to be slightly brighter vs. SuperFi 5 Pros. Bass is about tad even, though I think SuperFi's has more. The Mids and Vocals are much better of SuperFis. However, the Super Fi's are a much more efficient set of IEMs. However, is it worth $99? That's the biggest question. No question this outperforms EX series and the HJE50s; this offers a smoother, better balanced presentation w/ more controlled, though still heavy (as Super-Fis are), bass. Currently, I'm considering these as a great alternative to Shure E2s and E3s (better bass vs. E3s). The next IEMs that I'd willingly recommend comes in at $250, and compared to that, the EX90s perform admirably.

I agree, the whole anti iPod things should stop, or at least be toned down, considering this isn't the place to do so (take it over to Head-Fi instead). At the same time, however, talking about iPods in what is a primarily MiniDisc (and Sony) dominated forum is like saying how WinXPs are superior vs. OSX in a OSX forum. Neither welcomed nor wanted. May I suggest that this topic be moved or axed, considering that it's out of scope?

Congrats, Old Man. You need to hurry and have them addicted to the MD ways ASAP! Start them young.

Ah the evil, crash prone, restrictive, OpenMG/SonicStage 1.5. May its name never be spoken in public ever again.

Sometimes, it does all boil down to luck. Though, these days, at least in the US, you only have one or two options when it comes to MD Blanks: Sony or Memorex. And if you can afford the extra $1 or $2, then by all means, get the Sony branded disc (if that'll give you piece of mind).

I've had no troubles with Memorex oddly enough. Though they are fairly rare in the US (i.e. I've not seen any with these), there are enough ancedotal evidence that discs with plastic shutters are nothing but trouble. If you can still find them, Fuji's MDs are supposedly tops in class. I've a mix of those, Memorex's Neige Clones, Sony Neige, Sony Colored, Sony Premium Golds, 1G HiMD Blanks, and 2G HiMD Blue Blanks. Of all of these, the 1st Gen HiMD blanks gave me the most trouble.

Simple Guide to using your NH1. 1. Install SonicStage 3.4 availble here or from http://www.connect.com/ 2. If you're so inclined, import your MP3 library. You can either drag and drop from explorer to SonicStage 3.4, or use the Import Function. 2a. Import your CDs using SonicStage. I believe it defaults to 64kbps, but for the highest quality, you should use ATRAC-Lossless or PCM (if you have a large HD), or ATRAC3plus 352kbps. If you're looking for a good comprimise between size and quality, choose ATRAC3plus 192kbps. To import, click on the top of the SonicStage window, MUSIC SOURCE -> IMPORT CD. Click the little toolbox icon and pick your bitrate setting. Alternatively, you can set this manually under TOOLS -> OPTIONS -> CD DRIVE SETTING -> CD IMPORTING -> SELECT FORMAT. In either case, if you're using ATRAC, make sure that the add copy protection box is unchecked!! This will not add DRM to your ripped files on your computer. Import CD by clicking the '-->' icon on the right hand side of the screen. Repeat until you have some content in your library. 3. Click MY LIBRARY on the middle top of your SonicStage window. This will now display your imported MP3s and CDs. If you find that some album information from your MP3s are not to your liking, you can let SonicStage fix this with the data from CDDB. To do so, right click on album, and click on GET CD INFO. It'll take about a minute or two, and it should download album cover (if available from Amazon) and the proper information. 4. When ready, connect your NH1 to your PC using the provided cable. Your PC will install the necessary drivers automatically (if you have SonicStage installed). Once the drivers are installed and ready (and close any explorer windows of your HiMD drive), click on Transfer and select your Hi-MD device. It'll say "Hi-MD (F:)" or something similar. Make sure to have a blank inside, MD or HiMD. 5. Select individual tracks or albums from your My Library screen. When ready, you can click the "-->" icon or just drag and drop from My Library to your Device area. It'll take a bit of time, so leave the unit, go surf the web, post some things here, make a cup of joe, whatever to kill some time (it takes about 20-25 minutes to fully fill a 1GB disc). 5a. You can also adjust what bitrate to trans-code your MP3 to ATRAC by clicking the toolbox icon. It's fairly close to the one related to the CD Importing. Remember, with your NH1, you can't play MP3 files without the conversion to ATRAC first. Generally speaking, the transcoded file will sound worse than the original file, though your ears may tell you otherwise. Do some testing to see which bitrate you're comfortable converting your MP3s to ATRAC with. For now, we'll assume that you're transferring your ATRAC files, so if you do click on the toolbox icon, make sure the "STANDARD TRANSFER MODE" radio button is selected. 6. Once the little red LED on your NH1 stops flashing and transfer is complete (SonicStage will, at this point, make a horrid noise), you can now disconnect your unit from the computer by disconnecting the cable. Or you can press stop on your NH1 and eject the disc. You can then insert another disc and repeat the process. 7. Disconnect your unit (since I believe this is your only one), and enjoy your freshly created MD.

Ah, dang it, that just made me crave a nice King Taco burrito, w/ Burn your mouth off RED Sauce.

Don't get pissed old man, just go to the local Cost Plus World Mart or wherever they sell imported good from UK and spend some $5 for a new bottle. One of those guilty/not so guilty pleasures I think you deserve. And aside from the high sodium, I don't think you need to worry about Marmite and sugar levels (it has very little of it). Besides, it offers very good amounts of B-complex vitamins so, it's something plus for the gooey brackish paste. I'm pissed that I'm still talking about marmites to this day.

Yep, the MP3s transferred as is has that playback problem. Personally, if you can wait another month or so, I'd just get the RH1 and be done with it.