Infuriating good headphones.

No, this is not another rant on my Windows eXPerience. This time I'll share you my thoughts on the iPod ear buds that came with the iPod 5.5G and what I did about them.

I've been an iPod user since March 2002. My first iPod had a 5GB hard-drive and a physical scroll-wheel. Sometimes when I feel nostalgic I long for the feel of control that was communicated by that wheel. This one I replaced because I had way more music on my PowerBook than would fit on my iPod. My second iPod I bought in August 2004. It was the 40GB that preceded the iPod Photo. I replaced that one in September 2006 because the hard-drive broke down. In its turn I got a 5.5G 80GB black iPod.

All my iPod-using time I've been using the standard issue ear buds that came with the iPods. I even managed to keep hold of that piece of foam to put over the speaker end that goes into your ear. I never got a knot in my cable and I never had ear phone wires break down on me. And before the iPod I had a variety of Discmen and Walkmen, whose standard issue ear buds or phones I used without problems over the past twenty-odd years.

And then, without warning, in the winter of 2007, the ear buds of my new iPod 5.5G failed me. There was a bad connection in one of the wires. So off I went to my local store to get me a nice new pair. Somehow the sales-guy convinced me to spend &eur; 100,- on a set of ear buds that I could not even test. I got the Bose In-Ear Headphones, and the first thing I did when I turned them on was to go to the equalizer settings and reach for the bass reducer setting. I've since then turned off all equalizer settings and now I enjoy my .mp3's in a clarity and nuance that I never could have imagined. This is way better an improvement than to encode all your CD's at twice the bitrate. There is so much detail exposed to me that was previously not presented to me with the default iPod head phones that the difference is almost unbelievably big. I've since then tried the Sennheiser CX300 but for me they didn't even come close to the music I get from my Bose headphones.

However, these headphones from Bose are also very awkward, infuriatingly so. First of all, the cord is very stiff, almost impossibly stiff when compared to the Sennheiser, Sony and Apple headphones I've used in the past. But more importantly, the in ear part of the ear bud is a silicon tip which separates much to easily from the ear bud. They get dislodge in the most awkward places, and they tend to blend-in with their surroundings much to well. And because I can't order a spare set, I have to search very well to be able to get my music in high quality with my Bose ear buds. I've lost them on the street while cycling, lost them under my desk three times at work, lost them in the car, lost them on the street while walking, lost them at the beach, lost them at home several times, lost them to the vacuum cleaner, and the list goes on and on. There is not a week going by where I do not have to search for my ear bud tips. And if the sound wasn't as good as it is I would have switched head phones a long time ago. In fact, the main reason for me to buy the Sennheiser CX300's was because of the dislodging issue.

So, until I stumble upon a good pair of headphones, I'll just search and listen to my good but infuriating headphones,

Zaaf