Alc Jr
100+ Head-Fier
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- Jun 1, 2009
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I just wanted to share an essay I did for my speech class on hi-fi audio equipment. I know there won't be any converts here, but I just thought I did a good enough job to share. If you have anything to add that would be great.
Music: The dictionary defines it as “an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner”, but most everyone in this room can agree that music is a “rhythmic expression of emotion”. With this as the case, why are we not feeling it then?
Look into people’s ears the next time you wander the halls. No, not to check for the liberal application of Q-tips, but rather for what is in their ears. Presumably, those little white dangers that we call earbuds.
My quest for hi-fi audio began after I had just gotten my first Ipod, and was blasting my low bitrate* tracks through my iBuds on the treadmill. Not able to block out ambient noise, I, someone sensitive to sound, had to turn up my Ipod’s volume halfway to hear the sound being dispersed from them. Needless to say, the next day my ears were in serious pain, and I had to stop using any type of headphone for the next week until the pain subsided.
Not wanting to end up half deaf at 16 like some of my less fortunate colleagues (you know, the one that offers you a ride home with music so loud that you swear he’s trying to break his windshield. No thanks, I’ll walk), I searched for a pair of IEMs, or “In Ear Monitors”, as compact as earbuds, except inserted in your ear to block out outside noise so you can listen to them at a lower level of volume. What started out as a quest for an IEM in the 25-50 dollar range soon became expanded into the sub 100 dollar range, where I bought my first IEMs, a 70 dollar pair of Monster Turbines.
It was when opened up my Turbines, resting in their velvet case with their metal finish that I knew I had purchased something important. I picked out the tips that worked for me, and inserted the IEMs into my ear canal, it was like they weren’t even there.
What was there was an explosion of sound that I had never experienced before: For the first time, I was feeling my music. No longer was my play list just raucous, or added background noise on my commute to school; I was feeling the powerful effect of a snare drum, the punch of a multi-layered bass, and the plucking of strings on an acoustic guitar. I instantly started to appreciate music and branched out into different genres that I never would have thought of listening to, simply because music was now… musical.
This was only supposed to be an upgrade to protect my hearing, but within the month it turned into a full fledged hobby: I purchased my next pair of IEMs some time later, a 400 dollar pair of Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10’s for 100 dollars due to an online sale, and quickly started to upgrade my archives to higher bitrate (the higher the bitrate, the less compression the track has endured when ripped to mp3 format), and FLAC files (CD quality lossless audio). Next week I am going to an audiologist to get my custom ear canal imprints done, so that I can reshell my Triple Fi’s into custom earpieces to increase the sound quality.
You may be thinking “well, this is ridiculous, why would you spend 200 dollars on audio equipment?!”
To me, there is no compromise for sound quality; Little things make it worth it, like hearing a barely audible swear word at the beginning of your favorite song, or being able to locate where the drummer is located in the studio. And then there is the bigger picture, drastically increased sound quality and health benefits. Finally being able to hear music for what it is: An expression of emotion.
Far too often the people that say this to me are individuals that are defined by their music. Wearing a Rocawear cap or your favorite artist’s t-shirt is one thing, but getting to feel every aspect of their message, just as it was heard in the studio is another sense of appreciation on a level of its own.
I suppose all I can tell you is, give it a shot: Skip that pair of new jeans for one week and buy a nice pair of headphones: There is so much to hear, and life is too short to listen to bad headphones.
Music: The dictionary defines it as “an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner”, but most everyone in this room can agree that music is a “rhythmic expression of emotion”. With this as the case, why are we not feeling it then?
Look into people’s ears the next time you wander the halls. No, not to check for the liberal application of Q-tips, but rather for what is in their ears. Presumably, those little white dangers that we call earbuds.
My quest for hi-fi audio began after I had just gotten my first Ipod, and was blasting my low bitrate* tracks through my iBuds on the treadmill. Not able to block out ambient noise, I, someone sensitive to sound, had to turn up my Ipod’s volume halfway to hear the sound being dispersed from them. Needless to say, the next day my ears were in serious pain, and I had to stop using any type of headphone for the next week until the pain subsided.
Not wanting to end up half deaf at 16 like some of my less fortunate colleagues (you know, the one that offers you a ride home with music so loud that you swear he’s trying to break his windshield. No thanks, I’ll walk), I searched for a pair of IEMs, or “In Ear Monitors”, as compact as earbuds, except inserted in your ear to block out outside noise so you can listen to them at a lower level of volume. What started out as a quest for an IEM in the 25-50 dollar range soon became expanded into the sub 100 dollar range, where I bought my first IEMs, a 70 dollar pair of Monster Turbines.
It was when opened up my Turbines, resting in their velvet case with their metal finish that I knew I had purchased something important. I picked out the tips that worked for me, and inserted the IEMs into my ear canal, it was like they weren’t even there.
What was there was an explosion of sound that I had never experienced before: For the first time, I was feeling my music. No longer was my play list just raucous, or added background noise on my commute to school; I was feeling the powerful effect of a snare drum, the punch of a multi-layered bass, and the plucking of strings on an acoustic guitar. I instantly started to appreciate music and branched out into different genres that I never would have thought of listening to, simply because music was now… musical.
This was only supposed to be an upgrade to protect my hearing, but within the month it turned into a full fledged hobby: I purchased my next pair of IEMs some time later, a 400 dollar pair of Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10’s for 100 dollars due to an online sale, and quickly started to upgrade my archives to higher bitrate (the higher the bitrate, the less compression the track has endured when ripped to mp3 format), and FLAC files (CD quality lossless audio). Next week I am going to an audiologist to get my custom ear canal imprints done, so that I can reshell my Triple Fi’s into custom earpieces to increase the sound quality.
You may be thinking “well, this is ridiculous, why would you spend 200 dollars on audio equipment?!”
To me, there is no compromise for sound quality; Little things make it worth it, like hearing a barely audible swear word at the beginning of your favorite song, or being able to locate where the drummer is located in the studio. And then there is the bigger picture, drastically increased sound quality and health benefits. Finally being able to hear music for what it is: An expression of emotion.
Far too often the people that say this to me are individuals that are defined by their music. Wearing a Rocawear cap or your favorite artist’s t-shirt is one thing, but getting to feel every aspect of their message, just as it was heard in the studio is another sense of appreciation on a level of its own.
I suppose all I can tell you is, give it a shot: Skip that pair of new jeans for one week and buy a nice pair of headphones: There is so much to hear, and life is too short to listen to bad headphones.
I always write too much though haha. 500 word essay turns into a 1600 word one 
