Really feeling the music

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:10 AM EDT

Article Source: International Herald Tribune

et in all this time, almost nobody has brought up the screaming flaw that's built into every one of those things: the earbuds.

That's right. Hundreds of millions of times a day, music player owners jam little white discs into their ears without a thought, rendering themselves both deaf and rude to the outside world.

And that's if you can even get them to stay in. A sizable chunk of the population lacks the proper cartilage formation to hold earbuds in place. (I'm among them. Don't tell anyone.) How about a little sympathy for these long-time sufferers? Where are the self-help groups? Where's the telethon?

Well, technology created these problems, and now it has solved them. Two alternative earbuds are now available in the United States; both neatly solve all of the hearing, safety and fit problems of the traditional disc-style earbuds. Instead of going in your ear, they pass the audio signal through your bones or cartilage. They'd be perfect, if they weren't so flawed in their own ways.

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Red Wolf

That's quite a list of virtues. And besides the steep price, there's really only one significant drawback to the Audio Bones — but it's a doozy: the sound quality isn't great.

Compared with regular earbuds, the Audio Bones sound muffled, with less presence. They're also much quieter; you have to crank an iPod to its very top volume to hear what's going on. Serious audiophiles who already complain about the iPod's audio quality will be aghast.

Bugger! This pair sounded awesome up to that point.

It's a shame, really, because there's promise here. Take away that vibrating gimmick, and you're left with earbuds that deliver rich bass and crisp highs (even to innocent bystanders; audio bleed from these earbuds is fairly pronounced).

Still, no redesign would prevent you from looking strange wearing them. People will think you're wearing Chap-Stick tube caps on the backs of your ears.

Looks like the other contender has different issues. Audio bleed @!$%#s me, which is why I currently have hacked Ear Candy earphones with Etymotic triple flange tips.

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1 vote

#1 - Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:13 AM EDT

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RED WOLF

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Really feeling the music

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