lucis

I recently came across Head Fi. This site has a bunch of discussion forums for talking about all music related hardware. This includes headphones, amplifiers, cables, portable players, etc. The people at this place are crazy! A $100 pair of headphones is considered cheap and pretty useless. Listening to music without a portable headphone amplifier is a strict no-no. $1500 is considered a tight budget for a decent sound system. CDs are considered evil, and real quality lies in vinyl (forget about the oh so lossy MP3s). This is the world of the hard-core audiophiles.

Based on recommendations here, I decided to get a pair for the “ultra cheap” Koss KSC-35. These are widely regarded as the best pair of headphones under $100, and they cost only $30. After using these for about a month, I am really impressed. At first I was concerned by the seemingly soft bass, but after the burn-in period, I think it is far better than what I had expected. The music is sounds more alive. They seem to be better than my older Sennheiser HD-497, and are far more portable.

For some wierd reason Koss decided to discontinue this model though. It was replaced by worse sounding and ugly looking KSC-50. This is still available on the Koss website until they sell out. I’ve heard of people buying them by the truckload so that they can continue using them forever!

It is hard to imagine how the sound quality can improve further. But then thats what I always thought when I was using my crappy Sony headphones. Up next for me is a little DIY project to build a CMoy headphone amplifier, followed by a PIMETA, or a MINT. And then the Sennheiser HD 600. I can dream, cant I?

Nikon finally announced their new consumer Digital SLR, the D70 today. The specs look amazing! Unlike the EOS 300D, this is not a crippled sibling of its pro-cam brothers. Several things are better than the D100, and comparable even to the D1. Well, all this is still only on paper - it needs to be seen how well the camera performs. But I would not worry too much about that - its a Nikon after all! And all this only for $999 (body only)! Only problem is the build quality - it is plastic (I can live with that).

The first review of the D70 is up at digitalreview.ca. There is also some info on dpreview (the full review would take a few weeks, i guess). Also the forums are buzzing with activity: here, and here.

The price of entry level digital SLRs has halved in the last year. The features have increased. The era of hobbyist Digital SLRs is finally beginning to dawn on us. Another couple of years, and film will be all but dead (for most hobbyists atleast).

Amazing analogy over at Penny Arcade…

The iPod is the modern-day equivalent of the Samurai sword.

It is a bit emasculating to admit this, but portable electronics have replaced sidearms in our culture. I draw upon the Japanese katana for my analogy for several reasons. First, the katana was much more than a mere weapon or cutting tool. It was a portable symbol of status, power, and class. The warrior class, the Samurai, were actually quite numerous. At their height they were nearly 10% of the population of Japan. Before 1876, wearing the katana conveyed to the casual observer that the wearer of the long and short swords possessed a rank and status of an elite group.

The simple fact that people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for an iPod, when equal technology is available in a less impressive-looking package, points directly to this analogy. People will pay more for a status symbol, and in doing so, they have made the iPod one of the most important cultural icons today.

The iPod is indeed beautiful, artfully designed, and really still is quite impressive technologically speaking. One of the most intriguing things to me remains that even though the headphones that come with it are of famously poor quality, people seem to hang onto them, since they seem to say, �I am a charter member of the iPod fraternity!�

- Penny Arcade

I would completely agree with the earphones part. I can tell another iPod user from a mile simply by the distinctive white earphones! And though I’ve never liked stock earphones with portable electronics (thanks my obsession for portable MP3 players, I’ve seen quite a few), I continue to use the iPod’s rather crappy earphones!

But I strongly believe that it is not only about pride and having a status symbol. A very big reason for the iPod’s success is that it is very attractive and has great looks and design. The touch wheel, the glowing buttons, the backlit screen - use it once, and you’ll want one for yourself. It is a a fact that Attractive things work better.

Wash and polish your car: doesn’t it drive better?

For a long, long time computers have been badly designed. Not just software (we all know how awful user interface on most software is), but even the beige colored boxes. Lian Li, for example makes awfully expensive ($150+) but really amazing computer cases. With a slide out motherboard tray, removable front panel and power supply tray, these attractive cases really work much better than ordinary $20 ones. And then there is this whole range of great looking products from Apple. It is no surprise that they also have the best Operating System and applications for the desktop. Things like this certainly add to the overall experience when one works on them. Most of us spend a majority of our day on our computers (why else would anyone be reading this) - and this is all the more reason to use hardware and software that one enjoys working on!

Edit: Found this article that talks about the packaging of the Powerbook and the iPod, and the difference such small things make to the complete ownership experience. Lots of thought is put into seemingly unimportant things - but they have a huge impact on the user. Isnt this true for all forms of art?

I got my new iPod today. Wow! I’ve never been this impressed by any gadget! Yea, yea… its just an mp3 player. But I was totally blown away by the packaging, the great attention to small details, the quality, and all the other things most company take care of only as an afterthought. Opening the iPod box has been described as a religious experience by many. I would have to agree on this. Everything is so very neatly packed. Everything looks so clean, so perfect. The headphones, the power adapter, the CD, the cable with plastic tabs at either - awesome design everywhere!

The iPod itself is great as well. I really like the white body and the backlight. The touch buttons and touch-wheel are a great idea. One thing I would have liked is the ability to tap the touch-wheel instead of hitting the center button to select whatever is currently selected. The interface is really simple to use. iTunes transferred about 6GB of music in around 15 minutes. All my playlists were imported. All my song ratings, the top-played songs database etc. I can set song ratings either on the iPod, or the computer, and everything gets syncd the next time the ipod is connected (I wonder how it handles conflicts though). i am yet to play with all the non-music related features it has to offer.

I didnt like that they gave only a firewire cable. A USB cable is another $20. For this price they should have included it. Unfortunately my laptop doesnt have a firewire port

Totally worth the price. Why did I not buy this much earlier! Boy, I want an iBook/PowerBook more than ever now. Apple’s strategy is working just great!