[gerG]

Just got back from a week of cave diving. Sorry that I couldn't bring pictures, but no housing for my camera yet (not like it would make much difference due to skill defficit). Flying through inner-space is the best descriptive.

Now back to audio. I returned to find a box from the Apple Store sitting in my music/gear/crap room where my wife had lovingly thrown it. There was an ipod inside. Delight turned to horror when I flipped open my Ti-book to fire up itunes, only to find that the screen was dead! What the hell is this, the law of conservation of Macs??? Looks like it got bashed in security going through an airport. They had it out of the case while they searched me. Bloody hell.

Caca pasa. I plugged in an external monitor and proceeded to dump music files at a wonderful rate! I dragged things over a genre at a time, so it took longer than normal to fill up 5 meg. Still under 30 minutes.

Navigating files on the ipod is a dream. The thumbwheel plus high pixel display let me fly through artists and albums. Quite the departure from my Archos.

Pictures don't do it justice. It is a gorgeous design, and it drops comfortably into a pants pocket. In the side pocket of a pair of jeans I can easily hit the pause button through the material whenever I need to hear what is going on in the real world. This is a big plus with Etymotics.

The sound is good. I would not call it great, or even as good as my laptop. There is a background noise that appears on quiet passages. Dynamics are good, and power is sufficient to run the ER4S to volume levels beyond what I need. At max volume setting there is no distortion or clipping that i could tell. I didn't listen there too long, however.

I tried out the included earbuds. I normally would not bother, but I was curious. The bass response was better than any "earbuds" that I had tried before. The sound quality was not objectionable, but nothing even close to the Etys. I gave up on them pretty quickly.

I also tried the HD600s with the ipod (aka "poid"). Amusing juxtaposition. The poid is about the size of the ear pad on the HD600s. I wanted an amp with this combo. They played loud enough, but the sound seemed somewhat flat. Could be the fact that my eardrums have been stretched due to pressure differential. I will try the Corda tomorrow. I also need to see if an amp gets rid of the background noise.

I am anxious to try the poid with my DT831s, but they are locked up in a drawer at work (I hope). nfw am I getting close to work until Monday. Hopefully by then my ears will have returned to normal. Whether my mind returns to normal is TBD.

Everybody have a great week. Find something to celebrate!

 

[MacDEF]

Welcome back, Greg!

I'm curious how the iPod would power a pair of ER4P, since I doubt they have enough juice for ER4S. I can't wait to try it!

 

[gerG]

Thanks MacDef.

I've no complaints about the ER4S + ipod combo, except for the background noise. I just got back from an impromptu road trip (I love driving), so I haven't had a chance for audio experiments.

I am very curious about the poid + ER6 combination. There are times that a bit less isolation would be great (like when I need to hear the radar detector). I would also opt for the lower impedence if buying phones specifically for the poid.

fyi, other dyslexic adulterations of the ipod name:
dopi
podi
doip
I intend to use them interchangeably for the specific purpose of amusing myself. Also I am very tired of consumer fodder that is named i-something or my-something.

Have a great weekend

 

[Budgie]

Cave diving! Your my Hero! I love caves! (flunked my diving certification though- snorked a bunch of water down the "wrong tube" and coughed my way to the surface

) Oh well, maybe I will get back to get certified one of these days. It would be cool to get to the advanced level of cave diving. Congragulations, Greg!

 

[gerG]

Dang! Were you working on cave cert or open water when you tried breathing water? It is worse snorking salt water, but you get used to coughing through the regulator.

I felt like I was dieing once on an otherwise beautiful open water dive in Cozumel. 100 ft down and drifting through Palencar Deep marveling at the towering columns of coral in that deep blue water. Pressure does some funny things, and my hearty breakfast, which I had laced with habenero sauce, came back to visit right on an inhale. Ever been maced? Bolting for the surface from 100 ft can cause some nasty side effects, so I inverted and coughed for half the dive. Ironic that my mask was filling up because my eyes were streaming tears and my nose was streaming, well, it wasn't pleasant. I now avoid hot sauce prior to dives.

 

[pigmode]

Hey another diver. Caves (shudders). That's gnarlly! I never had any side effects whatsoever above 140'. Once I hit 150', things would seem just a tiny bit dreamy if you catch my drift. Over here, you usually can't see the surface when you are below 130'. I've done a few below 200' and that is the ultimate! The narc effects are way cool! The fish are bigger and a lot tamer. One time I felt as if I was watching myself dive as I was diving. That was at about 251', my deepest dive. My goal was 300', but I never made it. The narc is unpredictable and it affects everyone differently. For me, 210' was like a second threshhold because the narcosis effects seemed like they doubled or tripled. Intense concentration was required to maintain control. It's a handful with all that, plus your speargun and lobster bag. For anything past 170', I would velcro-strap my twin gauges to my lower forearm as a constant reminder to monitor depth and pressure. Of course, dive computers were new then--nobody used them. These were all air dives, and the majority solo.

 

[neil]

Caves -- big nasty bugs down there?

 

[gerG]

No bugs in the caves. I see the occasional albino crayfish or blind catfish. At least they are blind after they get hit by an HID dive light.

The alure of cave diving is the geology, and an intensly 3 dimensional experience. The cave systems that I have diven are solution systems disolved out of limestone. Gigantic rooms linked by tunnels of varying size (with varying amounts of current). One of my favorite dives starts out as a narrow vertical fissure. You swim between 2 seemingly infinite flat tan walls which are 2-3 ft apart. Look up and you see no top (light disappears into darkness). Look down and you see a silt bottom, and notice that the wall does not quite reach that floor. As you proceed the fissure narrows, so you drop down and peer under the bottom of the walls. There is about a 2-3 ft high space under the rock that goes into darkness in all directions (the water is crystal clear). At this transition your world abruptly changes from a vertical plane to a horizontal plane. You also start wondering what the hell is holding all of that rock up there! Keep following the guideline and you are treated to various other transitions. Among other things it is a really cool mental workout.

That said, please don't anyone venture into a cave system without the proper training and certification. It is a dangerous activity, and most of the drowned divers that have been recovered from cave systems are only open water certified.

Pigmode, it is well known that once you go below 200 feet on air the narcosis becomes permanent

I don't intend to try that on anything but tri-mix (me wimp). I do have friends who go deep just to get narced. Beyond 200 ft is also flirting with oxygen toxicity, which tends to come on suddenly and unpleasantly.

Man am I off topic or what. Time to grab the doip and head for the gym for my first workout in 3 weeks. I will be too sore to type by tomorrow!