Voices Inside My Head

It's been a while since I've posted anything, mainly because nothing too drastically interesting has been going on. Lots of work, but how interesting is it to hear about someone else go on about their job? Plus, I've been writing quite a bit and I'm not quite the dedicated author that will sit down to write after a day full of writing.

Because of all my travel I broke down and finally bought a pair of Bose noise-reducing headphones. I'd stayed away from them because of their price, their size, and relative lack of usability. (Where I'd walk through an airport connection with earbuds in, I won't do it with clunky headphones) I'd been using very nice Shure E4D earphones, which get a lot of fidelity in a tiny ear-fitting package, and since they fill the ear canal do a decent job of cutting down outside noise.

For my wife's work (she's a professional clarinetist) we'd done a listening test with several good-quality headphone manufacturers - AKG, Audio-Technica, my Shure earbuds, and the Bose. Somewhat to my surprise and chagrin, we discovered we preferred the Bose above all the others. (I'd considered Grado too, but never quite went down that road.) I say chagrin, because I didn't expect the Bose to perform as well and of course they're very pricey. But I think the noise reduction helps in almost all circumstances to help you hear fine details.

So, we got the Bose for her. Some time later, I borrowed them for an overseas trip to Geneva. They turned out to be a lifesaver because I ended up in the noisy tail of a 747, and they did a remarkable job. After I changed jobs I bought myself a pair of the QuietComfort 3s, the on-the-ear (supra-aural) kind with the rechargeable battery.

I haven't regretted it, and finally come to the main point for this post: it's been fun rediscovering the details of the music in my music library. I, we, all of us, don't listen to music sitting down in our living rooms any more. I haven't upgraded my main speakers for probably 15 years. I should, but nowadays you have to purchase a matched set of home theater speakers and, as I said, I just don't sit in front of them for music any more. We have our house wired for audio, with good speakers in every room, so It's just kind of everywhere.

I find my detailed listening now happens when I'm traveling and have the luxury / necessity of sitting still in one place. One thing that's different with real headphones is that I've discovered deep bass again. And not the ridiculous overemphasized bass of some popular music, simply the true bass of whatever I'm listening to. Of course there's greater detail in all ranges - Joni Mitchell's voice, Jaco Pastorius' lyrical bass, Freddy Hubbard's rich trumpet, the pizzicato of the Tokyo String Quartet playing the Ravel Quartet. I recommend the experience!