On Earphones And Headphones
08 Dec 2006 10:32 AM / Filed in: Music
Back in the nineties, I used the Koss PortaPro headphones my brother Aziz brought back with him from the U.S. when he visited the family in Morocco (that was in the summer of 1991 brother?), I started to be more stringent about the quality of headphones and earphones in general. At that time, as a student all what I was able to get was some open Sony headphones. While they didn't sound great in comparison to the Koss Porta Pro, they were better than the crap vendors keep bundling with their portable audio systems. The Sony headphones served me well during many years and I even brought them with me to France in 1997. With some of the money I earned in my student job, I got a closed Sennheiser model. While they sounded pretty good, they were pretty heavy to wear and I usually used them before going to sleep or when I was studying at the library.
Things started to get interesting when I got my first real job. I bought the Koss PortaPro and I was very satisfied with them for quite a few years. But as you nurture your mind with reading and mental exercing, you also nurture your ears with great Music. Mine became a bit discomforted with the bass-boosting Porta Pro. Moreover, since they were an open model, they weren't good at isolating external noise that prevented me from listening to Music in good conditions while commuting. The Paris metro and RER are extremely noisy. And inconsciously, I was raising the volume to compensate for the noise. I was damaging my ears. It was time to look for something else. Closed models are great but they aren't good for commuting. And I had troubles with earphones. The models I have tried wouldn't fit my ears correctly. And then Aziz told me about how nice the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX51LP earphones were. I decided to try them and indeed, they were nice. Moreover, their soft silicon earbuds fit perfectly in my ears. That was in 2001.
Last year, when I went to the U.S. visiting Aziz and Mom, I read about the Shure E3C earphones on C|Net. They are quite pricey but I decided to get them anyway. They produce an awesome and crystal-clear sound. I am totally hooked. I use them for commuting and while at home before going to sleep with the foams which isolate superbly well from the external noise. At work, I use the PortaPro to be able to hear when people call me. Since then, Laurent (a coworker and friend of mine) bought a unit too and he feels the same about their quality. Mitch and Régis, two other coworkers and friends got the Shure E2C model and they told me that the noise isolating capability of these earphones also changed their life and gave them a new perspective of their musical experience as listeners. The E2C are less expensive than the E3C but I can't tell you which one to get. You will have to let your ears decide ;-)
Things started to get interesting when I got my first real job. I bought the Koss PortaPro and I was very satisfied with them for quite a few years. But as you nurture your mind with reading and mental exercing, you also nurture your ears with great Music. Mine became a bit discomforted with the bass-boosting Porta Pro. Moreover, since they were an open model, they weren't good at isolating external noise that prevented me from listening to Music in good conditions while commuting. The Paris metro and RER are extremely noisy. And inconsciously, I was raising the volume to compensate for the noise. I was damaging my ears. It was time to look for something else. Closed models are great but they aren't good for commuting. And I had troubles with earphones. The models I have tried wouldn't fit my ears correctly. And then Aziz told me about how nice the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX51LP earphones were. I decided to try them and indeed, they were nice. Moreover, their soft silicon earbuds fit perfectly in my ears. That was in 2001.
Last year, when I went to the U.S. visiting Aziz and Mom, I read about the Shure E3C earphones on C|Net. They are quite pricey but I decided to get them anyway. They produce an awesome and crystal-clear sound. I am totally hooked. I use them for commuting and while at home before going to sleep with the foams which isolate superbly well from the external noise. At work, I use the PortaPro to be able to hear when people call me. Since then, Laurent (a coworker and friend of mine) bought a unit too and he feels the same about their quality. Mitch and Régis, two other coworkers and friends got the Shure E2C model and they told me that the noise isolating capability of these earphones also changed their life and gave them a new perspective of their musical experience as listeners. The E2C are less expensive than the E3C but I can't tell you which one to get. You will have to let your ears decide ;-)