Sinocelt
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2005
- Posts
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Today I went to Computex, the foremost computer expo after CES. And what impressed me most there was not Dell’s new XPS13 2-in-1 (though it’s a little jewel) or Asus’s dual-screen notebooks (though I now lust for one), but … a pair of headphones.
That’s how I know that, despite years of absence from these boards, I’m still a true Head-Fier.
Alas, I went to Computex quite unprepared. I didn’t even carry a phone, business cards, or a bag to collect leaflets. This time (my second Computex) I was just there, intentionally, as a tourist. And when a friend of mine told me, “Look, headphones! That’s your thing!” I answered, “Yes, but no, it’s a computer show, all they’ll have are gaming headphones — I’ve got better stuff.”
Then my feet led me in that direction anyway. Funny thing, feet.
I discussed with a few vendors there, but the only headphones I tried are the ones I’m going to talk about. I wish I had taken close-up pictures of the headphones and pictures of them in/on my ears, but as I said, I simply didn’t think about it. Didn’t think about Head-Fi even (!!) until nearly the very end. So the pictures I can post as those my friend took (because, unlike me, my friend wouldn’t be caught dead without her phone).
So … the TrueOpen look like earphones with a hook, but the short tube doesn’t get into your eardrum; it lies at the top, just inside the helix. It’s very comfortable — more comfortable than any other headphones and non-custom earphones I’ve tried.
And they deserve their TrueOpen name. When the music started playing, I turned round, because, though I knew I had headphones on/in my ears, my ears still told me the music came from some distance to the left. I only had one binaural (I guess it was binaural) track to listen to, but it sounded very good, and the sense of space was better, not only than that of any earphones I’d ever owned or tried, but also, if my memory doesn’t betray me, from that of any open headphones I’d tried.
I don’t own open headphones. I’ve lived mostly in noisy environment, and so I favor closed headphones and, on the go, earphones with Etymōtic-levels of isolation — to protect my hearing in the subway and my choice of music at the gym. And so it doesn’t seem I’d have any use for the TrueOpen, however it wowed me.
Still, of course, I wanted a pair, but I didn’t think I could buy one (Computex isn’t a show where you go to buy stuff; it’s a show for professionals to connect with other professionals). My friend later told me that I could have, in this specific case, for 2400 NTD (about 75 USD). I was sorely tempted. Finally, the decision was no longer one I could take, because by the time I’d found the XPS 13 2-in-1 I’d been hunting for and was done playing with it, it was nearing 4 p.m. — Computex was ending.
That’s how I know that, despite years of absence from these boards, I’m still a true Head-Fier.
Alas, I went to Computex quite unprepared. I didn’t even carry a phone, business cards, or a bag to collect leaflets. This time (my second Computex) I was just there, intentionally, as a tourist. And when a friend of mine told me, “Look, headphones! That’s your thing!” I answered, “Yes, but no, it’s a computer show, all they’ll have are gaming headphones — I’ve got better stuff.”
Then my feet led me in that direction anyway. Funny thing, feet.
I discussed with a few vendors there, but the only headphones I tried are the ones I’m going to talk about. I wish I had taken close-up pictures of the headphones and pictures of them in/on my ears, but as I said, I simply didn’t think about it. Didn’t think about Head-Fi even (!!) until nearly the very end. So the pictures I can post as those my friend took (because, unlike me, my friend wouldn’t be caught dead without her phone).
So … the TrueOpen look like earphones with a hook, but the short tube doesn’t get into your eardrum; it lies at the top, just inside the helix. It’s very comfortable — more comfortable than any other headphones and non-custom earphones I’ve tried.
And they deserve their TrueOpen name. When the music started playing, I turned round, because, though I knew I had headphones on/in my ears, my ears still told me the music came from some distance to the left. I only had one binaural (I guess it was binaural) track to listen to, but it sounded very good, and the sense of space was better, not only than that of any earphones I’d ever owned or tried, but also, if my memory doesn’t betray me, from that of any open headphones I’d tried.
I don’t own open headphones. I’ve lived mostly in noisy environment, and so I favor closed headphones and, on the go, earphones with Etymōtic-levels of isolation — to protect my hearing in the subway and my choice of music at the gym. And so it doesn’t seem I’d have any use for the TrueOpen, however it wowed me.
Still, of course, I wanted a pair, but I didn’t think I could buy one (Computex isn’t a show where you go to buy stuff; it’s a show for professionals to connect with other professionals). My friend later told me that I could have, in this specific case, for 2400 NTD (about 75 USD). I was sorely tempted. Finally, the decision was no longer one I could take, because by the time I’d found the XPS 13 2-in-1 I’d been hunting for and was done playing with it, it was nearing 4 p.m. — Computex was ending.
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