Sound Advice

My Bose ear buds just broke (again), so I thought I'd try a different pair this time and give a comparison. I ended up picking the Nakamichi MPE-550, which are in the same price range as the Bose (around US$100).

The Bose are clear and crisp, with nice bass response and great dynamic range. The only reason I am switching is because the wire connection has broken twice during the year and a half that I've had them.

I chose the Nakamichis because they claimed great bass response. However, on first listen, they sound really muffled and muddy. While the bass is in fact pretty solid, the mids aren't clear, and the highs are not bright at all. It sounds like I'm listening to music through a pillow..

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Follow up:

After letting them wear in for a couple of weeks and letting my ears get accustomed to them, I have to say, the bass of the Nakamichis is pretty incredible for ear buds. The sub 150Hz range is really clearly defined and never distorts, no matter how loud I turn up the volume. However, the mid-range and highs are still pretty crap.

Bottom line, if you only listen to music with a lot of bass, like rap and hip-hop, you'll get your boom for the buck. But if you want all around quality audio reproduction, Bose wins hands down.

Merry Christmas To ME!

As I posted last month, my daily carry around camera finally died. So it was time for an upgrade! I picked myself up the Lumix GF1, and I'm in love with it already. It's a great camera, with all the versatility of a full-size dslr, but compact enough for everyday use. Sweet!

Best Wishes

Wasted Youth, Pt. 8

Arrived a half hour late, but it's ok - I'm home for Christmas!

Airline: Air Canada

Route: Shanghai - Vancouver

Delayed flights: 8

Total time spent waiting: 10.5 hours

Facebook Me

"Are you on Facebook?"  That's a pretty common question these days whenever you meet someone.  With now more than 350 million active users worldwide, it's pretty hard to find someone who isn't.

I just read Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires, which is a narrative account of how two Harvard geeks concocted an online scheme to meet girls, and ended up inventing Facebook.  From a simple idea created in a dorm room in 2003, to a company that's now valued at between $8-15 billion, it's an extraordinary story about a social phenomenon that has, without us even realizing it, become a part of our daily lives.

Although Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, actually declined being spoken to for this book, it's still an entertaining read - sex, money, betrayal - it's all in there.  But you have to take the story with a grain of salt, as there may have been a few liberties taken with the truth (not unlike some Facebook pages).

Wasted Youth, Pt. 7

Air traffic control couldn't figure their sh*t out, so we were stuck on the plane for an hour and a half before we finally took off. Luckily though, I got upgraded to Business, so it wasn't so bad. But still, it kinda messed up my schedule for the day. Annoying.

Airline: China Eastern

Route: Shanghai - Hong Kong

Delayed flights: 7

Total time spent waiting: 10 hours

Wallpaper

I got some new wallpaper! One of my living room walls is 30 feet long, so I was getting a little bored of staring at a big white blank space. I was a bit concerned that the wallpaper might make my place look smaller, but if anything, it makes that wall look huge! Now, I just hope my landlord doesn't freak when she sees it..

My Hood - The Toy Shop

Around the corner from my place, there's a shop that sells super old skool toys.  Nothing fancy.  No PSP's or XBox's here - just back to the basics. Stuff we kinda grew up on as kids (until I got an Atari 2600 one Christmas, after which I played Combat endlessly).