Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Jane Galt:

By request

"Why don't you blog about something I care about," asks a friend by email, "like those stupid noise cancelling headphones you had to buy?"

The short, not to say snippy, answer is that it is hard to blog about the things that The World's Worst Correspondent cares about, because one has so little opportunity to find out what those things might be.

But the longer answer is that since I do owe said friend, like, twelve housewarming/birthday/partnership/holiday presents . . . well, here's one. And you can't give it back, because I didn't keep the receipt.

I dithered for a while, but I finally ended up getting the Shure EC-3 in-ear noise cancelling headphones, at a price much higher than the one I now note available from a third-party seller on Amazon. I got these because you can use the triple-flange earpieces with them, which I find more comfortable and effective than the plastic ones. (The foam ones block the most noise, but they're the hardest to use; I save them for airplanes.) The EC-2 model doesn't support the flange earpieces.

How do they work? Um, well, "awesome" is the best description, but it's not very specific, is it? They do a much better job of blocking out noise than my previous noise-cancelling headphones, since they actually block it, rather than generating a counter-wave to cancel it out. Those headphones, like the Bose ones, were optimised for an airplane, and did a much less complete job in the subway or office. It's not total silence--I still know the train has stopped--but it's good enough that I can ratchet down my iPod to well under half-volume, which makes me happy about both my hearing and the sound quality.

They don't boost the bass the way the Sony's do, but from my perspective, that's a feature, not a bug. The sound quality is extraordinarily good, and of course, with the noise cancelling, you can actually hear it. Overall, I'd rate it equal to those big puffy things that the friend who asked for this review likes to use. I've killed many a happy hour listening to Bolero on the Red Line, no mean feat.

The biggest downside is the expense, and the fact that you have to get used to having something in your ear. It doesn't bother me, but it's something to think about. Also, factor in the need to buy new earpieces every few months.

They're probably not for everyone. You have to actually care about melodic sound quality, since that's what you're paying for, and they're probably not worth it if you don't fly much, or commute by train. (You shouldn't drive in these; they kill too much sound).

If you do fly, or have a train commute, however, they're absolutely fantastic. And MUCH easier to sleep in than the Bose ones. They'd also be great if you had noisy roommates, but thankfully I don't.

So take that, they're worth what I paid for 'em. Happy birthday.

Posted by Jane Galt at July 1, 2007 7:45 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links